MOVING THE DREAMBODY MOVEMENT WORK IN PROCESS ORIENTED PsYCHOLOGY tts Tm Clawtedive Moving through the Tao rawing © 1000 Jim Chambertan by Amy Mindell ‘The following ix an example of the application of movement work in process oriented psychology. ‘One day, a client of mine sat down and began to ‘alk very sericusly abou problems she was having ‘making plans and commitments. Ay she talked, her ‘motions were quite intense and linear except for a fleeting moment when one of her hands quickly tossed @ sweater she was carrying into the air, throwing it in a nonchalant manner off to the side. When Vencouraged her to novice this unexpected tossing of the sweater und to forus her wwareness on the quality of that movement, she seemed shy but curious to find out what that motion was about. ‘She picked up the sweater again and seemed 10 enjoy flippantty tossing it into the air. After she did this a number of times, I asked her to stand up and try the same movement but this time without the She stood up und experimented with quick, indirect, licking movements as she threw her arms, legs, head ‘and finally her whole body in unexpected spurts in ‘many directions around the room. She laughed, thor oughly enjoying the sense of abandon and freedom. But sudktenly she siopped and said sheepishly, "I don't know what I'm doing. Itfeels great but con it be helpful?” I suggested that she follow chix myxterieus dance just a bit longer and let its meaning reveal itself to her. joined her in her dance as we threw ourselves in quick lunges and spurts around the room. As we revved asked her to make a face to go along with the quality of her movements and possibly add sounds as well. Her eyes opened wide as she made strong blow- ing sounds with her mouth, I then asked her to “see” what she was doing, or tella story about it, She said she saw and fel the image of a great wind goddess who was foliowing the winds of fate! She continued to unfold the story of this wind goddess as she tumbled cand turned in an unexpected and thrilling way. When she finally landed vn the ground, smiling, she said she reatized that this was the quality she needed in dealing with her everyday problems: not 180 much organizing. analyzing or planning life but instead living tt spontaneously!‘This is an example of a woman who unfolded ber process through the tools of process orieated psychology. ‘The woman is not a dancer, but found her own natural danes by focusing on her spontaneous motions and allow ing them to unfold. She discovered through her dance a new altitude toward her life, end a world of possibilities. Process Work Process oriented psychology. commonly called ‘process work’, was developed by my partner Ammold Mindell and associates in Switzerland and the U.S. over the past 25, years. Process work is a form of psychotherapy which at its core is based on the wacient knowledge of Taoism and the iuherent wisdlan of nature. Tt respects the known and understandable world while delving into the mysterious, dreamlike and unknown dimensions of life. ts application ranges from working with people in near death and coma- tose states to group and political work, relationship work, movement and bodywork, meditation, end art work. Pro- ‘cess work reveals that the seeds of solotions and yreat sources of crealivly are found just in those places we least ‘expect ils ia our most difficult problems, in oar spontanc- ous movements, and in our dreams. ‘Movement, in the most general sense of the wo the core of process work because the term “process” means the flow of experience, the movement which is inherent in life and nature. Like Teoists who spect their lives study- ing and adjusting ts the on-going transformations in nature, the process worker notices and joins the river of our expe- riences and attempts to assist nature in its unfolding, ‘Whether focusing on a body symptom, dream, movement, relationship conflict, a group interaction, or an extreme state of consciousness (otherwise called psychosis), the process worker asks, “What is moving? "What is chang ing?” and allempls to follow nature's winding path. States and Processes ‘A process orientation towards life contrasts with & state-oriented view of events. A static view of life tends to label experiences with names which are only momentarily applicable. Such names as “pain,” “relationship trouble,” cor “noveinent difficlties,” are only static descriptions of dynamic processes which are in the process of unfolding, Once we tap into and follow the movement inside of these ‘momentary states, we discover fluid and creative processes. Like all movement-oriented people, process workers under- stand events by gelling fnio the slreann of expeticuce rather than analyzing life from the outside. Most importantly, process work focuses on the creative spark behind our individual, couple or group experiences. Perception and Channels ‘When T went to Zarich in 1980, T had been trained in dance and was looking for a way to work with poople with ‘movement which delved deeply into each person's individ- ual nature and creativity. 1 absolutely loved dance, but felt that I was a bit stuck in my movement repertoire. Process work afforded me a vocabulary to understand my move- meat processes and go beyond my awn perceptual mover ‘ment boundaries. Let me speak generally about process theory and then specifically about movement. Signals are bits of information which manifest in aif- ferent channels—a stomach pain, a gesture, a relationship situation. Channels sre modes of experience, neutral or empry vessels through which information manifests. The channels most commonly identified are the kinesthetic (qovement), visual (visions, dreams, hallucinations), audi tory (outer and inner sounds or voices), proprioceptive (inner body sensations andjor feelings), and relationship and world channels which occur when we focus on our interactions with other people or on events jn the world and environment Process, as we use the torm, refers to the evolving flow of signals as they appear and move through the various channels. The art of process work is to follow and aid the natural flow or movement of process as it winds its own unique path of development. Processes are structured by their relative distance from e's awareness. The term prirmary process refers to ove aspects of our process which are close to our aware- ness, with which we identify in a given moment. In the example of tho wind goddess, we notice that her primary intention or process Was quite serious and focused on problems baving to do with making plans and commit- ments. Secondhtry processes refer ( all events which we experience as “happening to us,” which are farther away from our awareness and with which we do not identity, Tike the toas of the sweater that led us fo the great wind goddess. ‘The terms primary and secondary are different from the terms “conscious” and “unconscious.” This differen is due to several factors. Our primary proves is normally not completely conscious or under our conscious control It is a particular identity which we have adopted and which may be hard to change even if we want to, Also, primary and secondary processes can flip back and fort, depering ‘upon what we are idenilying with in # given moment We use certain clanmels as part of our primary ad wither channels as part of our secondary processes. The channels that we use in conjunction with our primary process are called oceupled channels. These we use regularly with come degree of awareness. Occupied chan- nels can be determined by listening to the way in which w use language, particularly by the use of the active verb form. For example, sentences like “I scc mysclf as 0‘business person” indicate that the visual channel is occu- pled by ‘I’ or by our primary process. An occupied move- Ament channel ruight be indicated! hy stafeanent suchas “Sometimes, I just jump out of my skin.” Occupied move- ment can also be recognized when the movernents, or movement gestures, complete themselves, and also when the movements closely mirror what the person is saying verbally. Unoccupled channels are aspects of our secondary processes. These channels are not used with conscious awareness. We determine unoccupied channels by noticing the way we use verbs passively in our speech. In a thera- peutic context, phrases like “people are looking at me’ indicate an unoccupied visual channel hecans: wiher people sre doing the looking, not me. Unoccupied movement may bbe detected in such sentences as “She can stand up to the ‘boss, but 1 can”t,” or “Ihe tree bent in the wind.” Unoceu- pied movement is also indicated by recurrent, spontaneous and incomplete gestures, movement-oriented accidents, andl ‘unintentional body motions. It is important to notice unoceupied channels because they give us the most repid access to our deepest processes by Virtue of the fact that they are very far away from what wwe are allowing ourselves to notice. That is why encour- aging a client 10 use an unoccupied movement channel by simply standing wp, can reveal both her or his entive life history andl current process in the space of a few seconds. Process work embraces secondary expericnees as the seeds of new life and helps them unfold through the tech. nique of amplification. Amplification means strengthening a signal in the particular channel in which an experience is occuring in order to bring out its full message. My client, for example, amplified her movement First Hy putting hex focus om it, then by standing up and using ber whole body, then by making a face which mirrored her movement and finally by creating a dance. Processes can be unfolded in ‘reat depth by using the technique of changing channels, oor adding on other channels. In this example, I asked the ‘woman fo change channels by making sounds which mir- rove her movements. T then encouraged her to switch channels once again and create a visual image of her expe- rience in her mind, which she further developed into « story. Differentiating Movement ‘The differentiation of movement into primary and secondary movements has been extremely helpful to me in going beyond iy own wovenent repectoire and delving, deeply into my ows and my clients’ “dreaming” processes. Primary movements are intentional and congruent with our momentary identity, We understand them, they make sense to us. in the example of my client, her intense and direct ‘motions are primary because they mirror her primary inten- tion to talk seriously about her problems. ‘Secondary movements are unintentional, spontaneous Process Joumal Drawing, 1989-90, by Luey Mahler. Looking or the Bitd Goddess. / drow [thie] on tho arplano “Tying! biack to Naw York fram Zach whra | idan wight weak Intensive in Dreambody Prooess Work. For me the drawings sometimes offer a surprising and ‘creative new vantage point from which to view a confit, lings or strong omotonal stato, Out of tho crawinge hid den wonders can emerge to transform my primary experi cence of myself as ill or afraid. [LM]