Body Mind by Beautiful Mind Launch of the

Body. Mind by Beautiful. Mind

Launch of the Body. Mind Approach to Well. Being Brinda Wachs Beautiful. Mind

Why Body. Mind? (1) • Plato: Body as inferior to intellectual thought • 18 th century thought: Body as sinful • 19 th century: Unconscious drives and repression leads to angst (anxiety) and neurosis (Freud)

Body. Mind in th 20 Century • Separation of body and mind • Body is tense, mind is anxious • Body revulsion and rejection

Why Body. Mind? (2) • The body as a grounding force, precisely because it is earthbound: • “Body I am throughout, and nothing besides; and soul is merely a word for something in body. . . ” (Nietzsche) •

Why Body. Mind? (3) • Mind and body are … a pair of opposites …the expression of a single entity whose essential nature is not knowable either from its outward, material manifestation or from inner, direct perception… two sides of the same coin. (CG Jung)

Why Body. Mind? (4)

Why Body. Mind? (3)

The Body as a Fulcrum • “All we have and are is the body”(Buddhism) • “At home in our bodies” (Kast) • “Body of the earth” – a stabilizing force (Nietzsche)

Body. Mind Imbalance: Anxiety, Depression, Addiction

Yogic Tradition (1) • The body as a temple • We are given the body for a time • Balance is the key

Yogic Tradition (2) • Body & Mind as distinct, but intertwined expression of consciousness. • It may be hard work, but it is not a work out.

Yogic Tradition (3) • Ancient yogic texts: mind-body connection= strength, clarity, acceptance. • Calmness, openness, generousity = relax the mind, improve the physical body.

Body. Mind Psychotherapy (1) • Emotion in body • Find psychic balance through body • Expression of creativity through body

Body. Mind Psychotherapy (2) • Trauma stored in the body • EMDR • Expressive arts: Dance, Movement, Yoga

Body. Mind Psychotherapy (3) • Body awareness & body consciousness • Body acceptance & bodylove • Sleep-Nutrition-PA triangle

Body. Mind Psychotherapy (3) SLEEP NUTRITION PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Balancing Body Acceptance with Well-Being

Limits of bodycentered approach • Doesn’t solve all problems • Still have to work through things psychically, but… • Entry point to know yourself and access creativity

Creativity & Desire

Why Creativity & Desire? • Expression as opposite of Depression • The Empty Chairs: My experience with the healing power of art • Observing results of expressive art in clinical work

Empty Chairs (1)

Empty Chairs (2)

Empty Chairs (3)

Creativity • One of the 5 basic instincts (Jung) • Psychic energy as creative formulation (Jung) • History of creativity: from powers of God to Rousseau’s Romanticism to Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (up to man to create)

Psychic Imbalance • Anxiety, Depression, Addiction, • Mood disorders, Psychosis • Transcendent Function • Expressive arts

Fragmentation & Wholeness • Fragmentary self/world view; man seeks wholeness (Bohm) • The Transcendent Function: leads to the revelation of the essential man (Jung)

Creativity: Asserting Intention § Expression: right to exist (being vs. not-being) (Hillman) § Integrated body-mind conjunctio: expression and stability in the interior world of the psyche and the exterior world of the body. (Jung)

Desire • Passion and the animal instinct • A fickle flame • The soul’s yearning

Creativity & Desire (1) • Through desire-based creative expression we can access emotion (to heal, to change) • Through emotion we can access creativity (to transform – our lives, ourselves)

Creativity & Desire (2) • Through Creativity and Expression we can access Emotion (to heal, to change) • Through Emotion we can access Creativity (to transform – our lives, ourselves)