Key Concepts in BODYMIND by Ken Dychtwald

I learned a lot from Ken Dychtwald's book there were a lot of topics in it that I was so not familiar with.  For me the key ideas and concepts are:

Bioenergetics is something I have never heard of Dychtwald describes it
"Bioenergetics is a form of psychotherapy that deals with emotional health and sickness from the perspective of psychosomatic unity."
I would like to know more about this field and if it still around or if it has been folded into Somatics.

The Body-Reading process performed by John Pierrakos is something I would like to know more about.

Rolfing is something I always wanted to try.  I attempted it this week but for some reason she gave me a cranial sacral massage instead.

I have talked in 2 other posts about how much I was intrigues by BODYMIND Splits.


I like the idea of 5 Components influencing the formation of the body
1) heredity
2) physical activity and exposure
3) emotional and psychological activity and exposure
4) nutrition
5) environment


I am very interested in his reading of the body and that is what I think I will use most from this book

FEET
FLAT FEET
- ungrounded, hockey puck way of relating to the world
CLUTCHING FEET
- sometimes the tension in the feet is related to unresolved emotional crisis that involved the possibility of movement or running.  people are holding their ground by squeezing their feet.
WEIGHT ON THE HEELS
- false sense of stability, and exaggerated feeling of determination to remain stable and hold control
TIPTOERS
-have a hard time making contact physically or emotional with the earth.  They are floaters, dreamers, artistic and imaginative
LEAD FEET
- weighted down in life, strong need to be grounded and stable, more reliable than creative


ANKLES AND KNEES
- joints are psychosomatic crossroads
- grounding, stability, contact with the earth, self support, ease of movement and change, sense of ease and presence
- injuries are often about resistance to progress
- Sense of ease which we progress through our lives
- when lives are flowing our ankles and knees are flexible
- when we are stuck or conflicted our ankles and knees are rigid


LEGS
WEAK, UNDER DEVELOPED LEGS
- difficulty grounding
- weakness and fragility in self-support system
MASSIVE OVER DEVELOPED LEGS
- rigid personality
- person who is holding on
FAT, UNDERDEVELOPED LEGS
-sluggish in the ability to move through the world, difficulty initiating action or following through
THIN, TIGHT LEGS
-go getters


PELVIS
PELVIS TIPPED UPWARD
- lessening of sexual energy and focus
- holding in sexuality
PELVIS TIPPED DOWNWARD
- heightening on sexual energy and sexual focus
- sexual and feeling oriented
- perhaps obsessed with sexual contact

ABDOMINAL REGION
THE BELLY
- feeling center of the body
- emotions grow out of our guts
LOWER BACK
"Most people with lower back trouble report that they first experienced difficulty with their backs as a result of some injury or back-straining activity, such as lifting heavy heights, sitting on uncomfortable furniture, or sleeping on a too soft bed.  Yet it seems to me that the back disturbannce does not begin at the time of the acute injury, but rather that the injury occurred because the muscles and emotions of the back had been chronically held and contracted for some time, thereby predisposing the area to injury.
- stuck between the withheld sexuality of the pelvis and the stored up self-assertion and anger in the upper back
- compulsive people frequently have tight muscles in the lower back
DIAPHRAGM
- gateway between lower 3 chakras and upper chakras
- controls the way feelings are allowed to release themselves


CHEST CAVITY
CHEST
- a feeling focuser, amplifier and translator
- emotions, thought, reactions and expressions, mix and swirl in the chest continually changing forms and direction
LUNGS
- Bodymind organs involved in the process of breathing
- Many people breath shallowly and quickly when they are upset
- Shallow breathing can be a defense against experience feelings or feeling
THE HEART
- tension in the heart indicates a chronic over-self-protection
CHEST CONTRACTION
- narrow, fragile chested people
- minimal feeling and energy can flow through this region
- feelings are of emotional weakness, insecurity and depression
CHEST EXPANSION
- large overdeveloped chest
- overcharge of energy and excitation
- overpowering need to appear strong and be in control
- buried tenderness and receptivity
- underdeveloped sexuality and feelings


SHOULDERS AND ARMS
SHOULDERS
- mediators between the emotions of the torso and the expressiveness of the arms and hands
BOWED ROUNDED SHOULDERS
- person sees themselves as having the weight of the world on their shoulders
- have more responsibility than they are built to handle
- overburdened by life
RAISED SHOULDERS
- attitude of fear
SQUARE SHOULDERS
- sense of power and ability to carry the burdens
- appearance oriented
FORWARD HUNCHED SHOULDERS
- chronic attitude of self protection and fear of being hurt
- highly vulnerable
RETRACTED OR PULLED BACK SHOULDERS
- person trying not to lose their temper
- annoyed by their situation in life
WEAK, UNDER DEVELOPED ARMS
- holding in energy and expression
MASSIVE, OVER DEVELOPED ARMS
- lack of sensitivity or grace
- insensitive
THIN, TIGHT ARMS
- grasping, clutching, clawing person
- difficulty of holding on to things or people and sustaining relationships
- lack of focus
FAT, UNDER DEVELOPED ARMS
-- deadness or sluggishness of action
- buried within one's own body
UPPER BACK
- muscles that hold anger
- blocked feelings get deposited along the spine

NECK, THROAT AND JAW
NECK
- pedestal on which the head rests
FORWARD HEAD
-  person encounters the world first with his head/rational self and later the body
- head is too great a burden for the body
DROPPED HEAD
- defeat
HEAD TILT
- tilt will reflect the attitude the are experiencing or projecting
- right (Arrogance and defiance) left (Cute, playful)
LONG GRACEFUL NECK
- pride
BULL NECK
- aggression and tightness
RECEDING JAW
- sadness, anger, the urge to scream or cry
PROTRUDING JAW
- defiance
- determination
CLENCHED JAW
- over self-control


FACE AND HEAD
FACE
- Mask you present to the world
EARS
- hearing
- people can decide to lose their hearing when the are old because they want to withdraw and not hear it
- Ear canals maintain a sense of balance in the bodymind
EYES
- reflect the body's state of health or lack of
LARGE ROUND EYES
- warm, loving personality
BULGING EYES
- a lifetime of withheld expressions and sadness
NEARSIGHTEDNESS
- difficulty projecting yourself outward
- traumatized eye muscles
- inwardly focused and shy
FARSIGHTEDNESS
-  inability to perceive and relate to things that happen up close
- want to focus away from oneself and look outward
FOREHEAD
- furrowed brow is diligence and concentration

Reflections on Chapter 2 in BODYMIND by Ken Dychtwald

BODYMIND was written in 1977 but for me it seems as it could have been written yesterday.  There is so much information that I have been trying to piece together from many sources that is presented here and a comprehensive and compelling way.

Although all of the book was extremely interesting to me.  I was especially interested in the major MINDBODY splits.  I have been talking for years about the left right split but Ken Dychtwald showed me that was only one possibility.  I feel very excited by this new information.

For Mr. Dychtwald the front/back split separates the private and unconscious self at the back with the more public social self at the front.

Our unwanted and negative emotions get stored in the back of the body and the back becomes weak because it is toring emotions like anger and fear
In our body is a house the front is like the living room in the house and the back is like the attic or basement.  I had never considered this type of split before but it makes a lot of sense to me.  It is a good answer to why it is hard to work with people with back problems and why many back problems are considered psychosomatic and don't register on an xray or can.

The another split that Dychtwald mentions in BODYMIND that I had never considered before is the
Top/Bottom Split.

 I have often seen these people with very big bottoms and small tops are small tops and big bottoms and I have wondered how did the body create such and imbalance.  Dychtwald suggests that the bottom part of our body is stabilizing . moving and balancing.  In contrast, the top half is seeing, hearing, speaking thinking, expressing, stroking, hitting and holding, communication and breathing. We show out dominant characteristics by how our body shapes or our shapes effect our dominant characteristics.

Another split I was introduced to was the Torso/Limbs Split.

 I have seen these type of people skiny arms and legs and a developed torse and also the reverse. Dychtwald explains that the torso is the core and the limbs allow us to reach out and expand ourselves past our self contained restrictions and limits imposed by our torsos.  We says that weak limbs represent bottled up feelings while over developed limbs forecast a person who is a do-er and/or be-er.

The Right/Left split is the one I am most familiar with.

The Left is the feminine side of the body and the Right is  masculine.  This presents itself in injuires, flexibility or lack their of  and we can also see this imblance when people are expressing themselves by crying or  talking with their hands

The head/body split is one I feel a lot in my father's side of the family.

 The are hyper intellectuals who don't care for their body's.  The either are very obese or under developed and weak.  The body seems to be an after thought to them not connected, more like a purse to carry or luggage.  Ken Dychtwald  explains that the head and face are our most social aspects. They are the mask that we present to the world.  The body below the neck is our private self which is mostly covered with clothing.  Many people put more attention on their face and their intellect than their bodies. He says the body is the emotional, animal and less creative self and this reflects in the splits of body/mind, intellect/feelings and reason/intuition.

I loved that book. Sometimes I got tired on Ken Dychtwald talking about how attractive woman after woman in his encounter groups were.  He might have a three way split which a lot of men I know have penis/head/body.  I will add that split to his list.