ABOUT BODYNAMIC
What is Bodynamic?
Bodynamic is an evidence-based somatic developmental psychology system developed in Denmark in the 1970’s by a group of people led by Lisbeth Marcher. Empirical research done by this group showed that our psychological skills are rooted in our body and develop in childhood, highly intertwined with motor skills.
This research resulted in the development of several of models, which are the foundation of the Bodynamic system. They provide a comprehensive, unique, and body-oriented framework for developing psychological skills – and grow – beyond childhood.
'Summer school'
I consider Bodynamic as the ‘summer school’ of ‘School of Life’.
In case you are not familiar with the concept of ‘summer school’, it enables you to catch up, during the summer, on any subject that you, for any reason, have struggled with during the school year. For example, it could be math, literature, biology, or French. Summer school helps you get up-to-speed before the new school year starts.
In a similar way, Bodynamic provides a means to ‘catch up’ on any psychological skill that you, for whatever reason, did not fully learn in your childhood’s ‘School of Life’ – and which is now holding you back. For example, it could be connectedness, stress-management, feeling self-worth, or satisfying your needs – skills that we should all have learned in childhood.
The Bodynamic framework gives you a second chance.
The Bodynamic framework provides a structure and a precise map, as well as concrete tools, to ‘rewind the developmental timeline’ and help you build the skills/resources that you need, at any age in adult life. It is never too late!
But there is more. Through the Bodynamic process, new psychological skills are developed by working with the body. They become rooted in the body – embodied. As a result, you gain a sense of inner support that you can always lean into, that is always there for you. You learn to use your body as a resource on your path towards whatever goal you yearn for.
The body as a resource
Our psychological resources are rooted in our body.
While mainstream behavioral sciences still seem to primarily focus on cognition and the brain, empirical research done by the Bodynamic team in the 1970’s showed that psychological resources are not just ‘mental’. They are in fact rooted in muscles. This may initially sound strange. And you have the right to be dubious. But by now, this research has been validated by decades of work with clients around the world.
Interestingly, our language is full of expressions that support this finding. Idioms like “setting one’s foot down” (set a boundary), “keep a level head” (keep focus/direction while containing stress), or “stomach something” (endure unpleasant emotions) suggest indeed that our psychological skills are rooted in the body – or embodied. Most of us are simply not aware of it.
The Danish research empirically determined the psychological function of 125 muscles. The results laid the foundation for the Bodynamic system and are published in the Body Encyclopedia (L. Marcher, S. Fich, 2010). This trailblazing work has provided a unique framework and map for developing new psychological resources and grow, by working with the body. It is the foundation of my coaching practice.
The body is a treasure chest of psychological resources hidden in plain sight. It is just waiting to be discovered.
An example: the skill of saying NO
How a psychological resource develops, rooted in the body
We may consider that childhood motor and psychological development happen in parallel, independent of each other. Reality is that motor and psychological development are not two parallel lanes that never cross. Rather, they are lanes that intertwine. This is is reflected in the expression ‘psychomotor development’.
However, not all psychological skills are traditionally considered ‘psychomotor’. While I believe most of us would agree that saying NO is a psychological skill, I don’t believe it is generally considered a motor skill – or even that is has anything with the body to do at all.
However, the reality is that we are not born with the capacity to say the word ‘NO’. So the young child says NO with the body – and this requires motor skills.
The newborn infant does not yet have many motor skills. The infant only moves through reflexes. So it can only say NO by closing the eyes, or looking away. But soon motor skills start to develop. And the child will gradually learn to close their mouth, to spit something out, to turn their head away, or to push away with their arm. These are all bodily ways of saying NO.
As the motor skills develop, so does the psychological skill of saying NO. The child gets more and more ways of saying NO. There is an intertwining of motor and psychological skills.
And at some point along this development, the child will be able to say the word ‘NO’. But this verbal NO has been preceded by all the body language NO’s. And the body language NO’s remain the foundation for the verbal NO through life.
In fact, when clients struggle with saying NO, we often go back and work with these muscles and movements with them.
So even though the psychological skill of saying NO is not traditionally considered a psychomotor skill, it is rooted in the body, and supported by the above movements, and the associated muscles.
The same applies to other psychological skills. They are rooted in the body, supported by movements and muscles, just as our language suggests.
This groundbreaking Bodynamic framework is the foundation for my coaching practice.
Interested in trying it out? Or questions?