Gentle bioenergetics
In what cases can it help?
Gentle Bioenergetics is suitable from pregnancy to children and young people of all ages, adults, and the elderly in the following cases:
- Birth traumas, childhood traumas, and other traumas
- Emotional upheavals
- Restoring vitality
- Releasing sexual energy
- Fear, anxiety
- Post-surgery recovery
- After administration of anesthetics or painkillers
There are a total of 7 types of armor that hinder the full experience of joy in life:
- Eye area – Immobile facial expression, involuntary blinking, emotionless gaze, watery eyes
- Mouth area – Difficulty in self-expression, tense jaw, constant coughing
- Neck area – Tension, raised shoulders, neck pain, feeling of a lump in the throat, constant swallowing, fear of attack
- Chest area – Puffed chest, restricted breathing, asthma, nail biting, stiff wrists, cold hands, strong self-control
- Diaphragm area – Inability to breathe deeply, hot upper body and cold lower body, anxiety, tension, feeling on alert
- Abdominal area – Tense abdomen, stomach ulcers, digestive problems, weight issues
- Pelvic area – Problems with sexuality, genital issues, fertility, pregnancy, femininity, and masculinity, impotence
How does it work?
Gentle Bioenergetics involves working with all aspects of a person: cognitive, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Although it is not solely body therapy, it focuses on areas in the body where memory may be retained. This includes moments right after conception, subconscious states, and trance states. Traumatic and even joyful experiences during these moments may be suppressed and lost from our consciousness due to the pain experienced or being deemed unacceptable by others. Consequently, we continue to internally suppress these emotions and experiences, hindering the full experience of life. Through the process of Gentle Bioenergetics touch, it is possible to reach the earliest and deepest memories stored in cells and body tissues.
Gentle Bioenergetics helps to restore the natural flow of life energy:
- Immediately after trauma occurs to avoid the need for therapy many years later, or
- To help individuals recover and heal from traumatic experiences and memories stored in the body for many years.
Contraindications
There are no contraindications. For pregnant women and babies, adapted techniques are used.
Terminology
History
Dr. Eva Reich based her technique on the work of her father, Wilhelm Reich. She paid special attention to her father’s gentle touch with children and infants and the resulting expansion of their energy. She observed his research, which confirmed that light stroking on the skin’s surface caused energetic expansion, while heavy touch caused contraction, except in the case of anger. Based on these observations, Eva first developed her Butterfly Touch and later designed a gentle touch pattern she called Butterfly Touch Massage. The name came from her work with butterflies, noting that holding a butterfly’s wings between fingers required a touch so gentle that releasing them would leave no scales on the fingers.
In the early 1950s, working at Harlem Hospital in New York with premature babies, she used the Butterfly Touch and Butterfly Touch Massage – a light, gentle touch – to help them survive. In her later practice, she continued to use gentle touch to dissolve armor rather than breaking it. She found that such a touch level produced amazing results for both adults and children.
Eva dedicated her life to both preventing and healing trauma, which developed into the principle of armor. She advocated for improved birthing practices, healthy child-rearing, and creating supportive communities. She often worked with low-income individuals to improve their quality of life. She has been honored for her contributions to community building worldwide. In this work, Eva taught her philosophy, theory, and techniques in workshops and seminars in 30 countries from the mid-1970s until her retirement in 1992.
Sources
gentlebio-energetics.com
imelineootus.ee/leebe-bioenergeetika
