Feeling emotions is a physical experience. A sensation starts to stir, often deep below the muscular armouring and then a feeling such as grief starts to rise to the surface. In an effort to suppress the feeling, the person may hold their breath, tighten in the belly and diaphragm. The feeling may still try to rise so perhaps the shoulders and neck tighten, and the throat contracts, and there may be a prickling of tears behind the eyes as they appear glassy or hard and the person tries desperately to “hold it together”. Such a voluntary process over time becomes an involuntary process.

Held in feelings become powerful as they can permeate our mood, belief system and keep the body in a state of chronic tension. Students at our institute are trained to help free the body by using Reichian, Bioenergetic and Core Energetic techniques and assist clients to dismantle negative belief systems within a psychoanalytical framework. These techniques enable clients to engage in their feelings, feel more alive and carry less tension.