A Little Info!
This page is dedicated to all the work I engaged in surrounding my senior year capstone project. Below, you can find a video of me reading my final product, my research paper, as well as the written version of my paper, followed by several process reflections, and finally, my bibliography. Enjoy!
Polyvagal in Practice Video
Cover Letter
Choosing movement therapy as a topic felt exciting. I knew this was the right choice because I was deeply interested in it, but I also knew it was incredibly broad. There are millions of types of movement therapies and practices used to treat countless conditions. I hoped that once I began researching, I would begin to see what I found most interesting and compelling about using movement as a tool for healing, and would be able to narrow my topic down into an argument. Initially, the research was overwhelming, but eventually, I stumbled upon polyvagal theory, and I began to truly understand why movement practices are so effective. I knew this was the common thread that could link the insight of every practice, class, and therapy session that utilized movement. I continued my research in polyvagal theory, but I wanted to honor what had first drawn me to movement therapy: the idea of embodiment. I decided to focus my paper on these two things, which proved to be easy as there are so connected. As I began to build my paper, I struggled a lot with the organization of my ideas, but after many drafts and peer edits, I began to grow confident in the structure of the argument I was building. It was researched based, yet also personal. In the end, I am proud of the paper I wrote. I feel that it meets the expectations and learning objectives I set for myself many months ago, and I am confident I chose the perfect topic for myself.
Polyvagal in Practice
As a society, we are crippled by the pressure to produce. From the deep roots of American exceptionalism to the constant pressure we face from seeing everyone’s best and most curated selves on social media, we are constantly fed the idea that we must have something to show for ourselves. We must be constantly producing, creating, working, and achieving. Because of this, we begin to subconsciously attach our worth to these indicators of success: the colleges we attend, the cars we drive, the houses we live in, the clothes we wear. We seek to meet these expectations, gain external validation, and feel safe. As men, we provide. As women, we care-take and serve.
Because we are so driven to seek safety in external validation of our worth, we lose trust in ourselves. When faced with big decisions or uncertainty, we consult friends, professionals, and the internet and we forget to look inside ourselves. We seek answers from “experts” rather than consulting our inner wisdom, the intuition and knowing in our bodies. We forget to live from an embodied place. So how do we access this? Our inner wisdom. How do we become embodied? How do we learn to trust ourselves?
So much of our disconnection comes from a disregard of a critical aspect of embodiment: the body. For many years, variations of psychotherapy have tried to focus on challenging our thinking to change our emotions and behaviors, helping clients seek truth in the mind, but ultimately neglecting the healing that was only possible through accessing the wisdom of the body. For decades, movement therapies have yielded positive change for patients, but the emergence of Steven Porges polyvagal theory more thoroughly explains the role of the nervous system in healing and becoming more embodied.
Previously, it was believed that the autonomic nervous system was made up of only two parts; relaxation and stress. Polyvagal theory revealed that there were actually three parts and the ways in which they affect our interactions, self-regulation, and sense of safety are much more complex than this previous dichotomy. According to Polyvagal theory, the vagal nerve, which calms our nervous system when we experience fight or flight actually has two parts: The ventral vagal nerve, which helps slow down the nervous system through co-regulation with other mammals and the dorsal vagal nerve, which slows down the nervous system through a reptilian freeze response, resulting in immobilization or depression. The third part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) or the “polyvagal ladder” is the sympathetic nervous system which activates our fight or flight response. The ventral vagal response is at the top of the evolutionary ladder, a mammalian response or the “green light”. The sympathetic fight or flight response is the “yellow light” and the dorsal vagal collapse is the “red light” of the polyvagal ladder. (Van der Kolk)
These three parts of the ANS respond and react to the body’s neuroception of our surroundings. Neuroception is our body, specifically our nervous system, continually scanning everything we are coming into contact with and perceiving whether or not we are in danger. Neuroception is below our conscious awareness. Because of our outdated concept of the ANS, many people lack an understanding of and connection to a significant part of us that determines our mood, our anxiety levels, our motivation levels, our ability to seek comfort and interact with others, and our ability to safely explore the world around us. This lack of connection to our nervous system holds us back from understanding a huge part of our lives; it keeps us from acting from an embodied place. The key is to bring perception to our neuroception, to begin to recognize how our body responds to its sense of danger and safety.
What polyvagal theory teaches us is that trauma is not just psychological, it’s physiological. When the ANS of a person who has experienced past trauma perceives danger, it responds as if it is experiencing the past trauma all over again. This means it is harder for people with past trauma to comfort themselves or seek comfort in others because their body acts as if they are in great danger every time they are faced with a challenge. Polyvagal theory informs both our understanding of the impacts of trauma and of effective treatments. When we look at sexual assault from a polyvagal perspective, it is clear why victims of sexual assault often don’t fight back or attempt to flee. It’s because they are experiencing a fairly common nervous system response to danger that mimics reptilian instincts to play dead. They are frozen, immobilized, and they cannot explain why, because it wasn’t a conscious choice. Polyvagal theory also helps us understand why people with childhood trauma are much more likely to experience health problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, and various heart problems. Survivors of childhood trauma spend much more time in the dorsal vagal “red zone”, the nervous system’s freeze response. The dorsal vagal nerve is connected to the digestive system and the heart so the more time a person spends in freeze the more the body is impacted. Polyvagal theory has informed PTSD treatments, revealing a need for trauma-informed approaches. Most of all it has exposed a gaping hole in psychotherapy: the disregard of the body.
The goal of understanding and correcting the patterns of the nervous system is not to attempt to live in ventral vagal activation all the time; it is to have the flexibility to move between the three states. Ideally, we should be able to shift easily between the yellow fight or flight response (activation of the sympathetic nervous system) and the green ventral vagal response, allowing us to become connected and curious soon after being activated. Participating in sports, public speaking, and other high-pressure activities, requires fluid movement between sympathetic activation and ventral vagal regulation. In order to strengthen our ability to switch between these states and create healthy autonomic cycles, we must engage in physical practices.(Dana)
Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) has existed for many decades. It emerged as a field in the 1940’s. Pioneers of the movement, most of whom were accomplished dancers, began to realize the benefit of using dance and movement as a form of psychotherapy, and DMT was born. DMT approaches varied from traditional dances, like ballroom, to more subtle forms of movement like yoga and stretching to calm the body,(Gleissner) but every approach was based on the assertion that the mind, body, and spirit are inseparable and interconnected. As movement therapy slowly gained visibility and began to grow more popular, research concluded that movement therapy was shown to have positive effects on stress, anxiety, depression, grief, addiction, problems with relationships, and sexual function, as well as issues related to trauma and abuse.(Somatic Theory)
With the emergence of polyvagal theory came a deeper scientific understanding of why movement therapies are so effective. All types of movement therapies from dance and yoga to play therapy “rely on interpersonal rhythms, visceral awareness, and vocal and facial communication which help people shift out of fight/flight states, reorganize their perception of danger, and increase their capacity to manage relationships.”(Van der Kolk) Simply passing a ball back and forth with a child engages them in rhythmically attuned movement and creates a moment of social engagement. This in turn strengthens the neural pathway for seeking social engagement as a form of comfort when the nervous system is activated. A primary goal of all types of therapy, for both children and adults, is to increase our ability to co-regulate and bring us out of sympathetic activation.
Bringing awareness of the polyvagal ladder into psychotherapy can improve treatment. Deb Dana, psychotherapist and author of Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, says she “engages the nervous system as a partner” in the work she does with clients. This means building an understanding of the parts of the nervous system and mapping out how they function, using the vocabulary of the polyvagal theory in session to unpack the experiences of the client, and engaging in experiential movement and breathing exercises to develop new pathways for the nervous system when its fight or flight response is activated. In an interview with psychotherapist Ashley Marx, LCSW, she described the phenomenon “Name it To Tame it”. Marx teaches clients to notice and name which ANS state they are experiencing; this simple moment of mindful awareness can help clients calm sympathetic activation and move into ventral vagal relaxation. If clients can name that their ANS response to perceived danger is only temporary, this will also calm the nervous system.
The emergence of the polyvagal theory has dramatically shaped therapy approaches of all kinds to treat trauma, anxiety, and depression but the insights of the polyvagal theory are not just for those who have experienced extreme trauma. The need for emotional mirroring and validation is universal for all humans, but we live in a culture that emphasizes independence, a stiff upper lip, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Even though it takes courage to be emotionally vulnerable, our society often perceives it as weakness. Being human automatically means you are subject to suffering, therefore everyone has nervous system reactions that could benefit from understanding polyvagal theory. This is even more true as we become increasingly dependent on technology. Though technology provides us with many ways to communicate and connect with those we otherwise might never speak to, the human nervous system is designed to be soothed by face to face contact. The more kids grow up looking at iPads and working on screens, the less they are toning their vagal nerve through face to face interaction. Whether it is for children in need of targeted practices for connection or adults who have disconnected from their body to survive their busy life, there are countless new forms of group movement therapy emerging to target these issues, using the insights of polyvagal theory.
Originally, yoga was intended to be a spiritual practice centered around mindfulness and embodiment. Many yoga moves such as the “child pose” are developmental, and are intended to help reconnect us with the wisdom of the body.(Goyeche) Today, yoga has become heavily viewed as a fitness practice, stereotypically for white women. After the emergence of polyvagal theory, new movement practices have developed building on the original intentions of yoga. One of those practices is Qoya. Qoya is a group movement practice that combines yoga with improvisational dance. Each class is centered around a theme or intention and allows participants to move alongside and with different parts of themselves. In an interview with Lucy Smith, who is currently training to be a certified Qoya instructor, she described a class she had taught that was centered around grief. “I was able to move with my past self that needed to grieve unfilled dreams. I didn’t even realize that was something I needed to process”. This particular anecdote supports the notion in Qoya that “through movement we remember”, which is a notion scientifically supported by polyvagal theory. In Qoya, through actively sharing and simply moving freely in the presence of others, the vagal nerve is strengthened. Participants experience a visceral understanding of the benefits of co-regulation and overall connection to what we experience in our bodies.
The mantra used in Qoya, “come as you are, leave as more of you” encompasses the benefits of polyvagal in every form of therapy. Using the insights of the polyvagal theory in movement practices help assess the deeply rooted and physical individual needs of a patient and arm the patient with the tools to assess and calm their nervous system in times of activation, as well as an overall sense of connection to their physical self and embodiment moving forward. Like the Qoya mantra, these practices encourage people to come, ready to be vulnerable and unpack their emotional and physical baggage, and leave having processed that baggage by moving with it, providing them with insights and lightening their emotional load.
Because we are so driven to seek safety in external validation of our worth, we lose trust in ourselves. When faced with big decisions or uncertainty, we consult friends, professionals, and the internet and we forget to look inside ourselves. We seek answers from “experts” rather than consulting our inner wisdom, the intuition and knowing in our bodies. We forget to live from an embodied place. So how do we access this? Our inner wisdom. How do we become embodied? How do we learn to trust ourselves?
So much of our disconnection comes from a disregard of a critical aspect of embodiment: the body. For many years, variations of psychotherapy have tried to focus on challenging our thinking to change our emotions and behaviors, helping clients seek truth in the mind, but ultimately neglecting the healing that was only possible through accessing the wisdom of the body. For decades, movement therapies have yielded positive change for patients, but the emergence of Steven Porges polyvagal theory more thoroughly explains the role of the nervous system in healing and becoming more embodied.
Previously, it was believed that the autonomic nervous system was made up of only two parts; relaxation and stress. Polyvagal theory revealed that there were actually three parts and the ways in which they affect our interactions, self-regulation, and sense of safety are much more complex than this previous dichotomy. According to Polyvagal theory, the vagal nerve, which calms our nervous system when we experience fight or flight actually has two parts: The ventral vagal nerve, which helps slow down the nervous system through co-regulation with other mammals and the dorsal vagal nerve, which slows down the nervous system through a reptilian freeze response, resulting in immobilization or depression. The third part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) or the “polyvagal ladder” is the sympathetic nervous system which activates our fight or flight response. The ventral vagal response is at the top of the evolutionary ladder, a mammalian response or the “green light”. The sympathetic fight or flight response is the “yellow light” and the dorsal vagal collapse is the “red light” of the polyvagal ladder. (Van der Kolk)
These three parts of the ANS respond and react to the body’s neuroception of our surroundings. Neuroception is our body, specifically our nervous system, continually scanning everything we are coming into contact with and perceiving whether or not we are in danger. Neuroception is below our conscious awareness. Because of our outdated concept of the ANS, many people lack an understanding of and connection to a significant part of us that determines our mood, our anxiety levels, our motivation levels, our ability to seek comfort and interact with others, and our ability to safely explore the world around us. This lack of connection to our nervous system holds us back from understanding a huge part of our lives; it keeps us from acting from an embodied place. The key is to bring perception to our neuroception, to begin to recognize how our body responds to its sense of danger and safety.
What polyvagal theory teaches us is that trauma is not just psychological, it’s physiological. When the ANS of a person who has experienced past trauma perceives danger, it responds as if it is experiencing the past trauma all over again. This means it is harder for people with past trauma to comfort themselves or seek comfort in others because their body acts as if they are in great danger every time they are faced with a challenge. Polyvagal theory informs both our understanding of the impacts of trauma and of effective treatments. When we look at sexual assault from a polyvagal perspective, it is clear why victims of sexual assault often don’t fight back or attempt to flee. It’s because they are experiencing a fairly common nervous system response to danger that mimics reptilian instincts to play dead. They are frozen, immobilized, and they cannot explain why, because it wasn’t a conscious choice. Polyvagal theory also helps us understand why people with childhood trauma are much more likely to experience health problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, and various heart problems. Survivors of childhood trauma spend much more time in the dorsal vagal “red zone”, the nervous system’s freeze response. The dorsal vagal nerve is connected to the digestive system and the heart so the more time a person spends in freeze the more the body is impacted. Polyvagal theory has informed PTSD treatments, revealing a need for trauma-informed approaches. Most of all it has exposed a gaping hole in psychotherapy: the disregard of the body.
The goal of understanding and correcting the patterns of the nervous system is not to attempt to live in ventral vagal activation all the time; it is to have the flexibility to move between the three states. Ideally, we should be able to shift easily between the yellow fight or flight response (activation of the sympathetic nervous system) and the green ventral vagal response, allowing us to become connected and curious soon after being activated. Participating in sports, public speaking, and other high-pressure activities, requires fluid movement between sympathetic activation and ventral vagal regulation. In order to strengthen our ability to switch between these states and create healthy autonomic cycles, we must engage in physical practices.(Dana)
Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) has existed for many decades. It emerged as a field in the 1940’s. Pioneers of the movement, most of whom were accomplished dancers, began to realize the benefit of using dance and movement as a form of psychotherapy, and DMT was born. DMT approaches varied from traditional dances, like ballroom, to more subtle forms of movement like yoga and stretching to calm the body,(Gleissner) but every approach was based on the assertion that the mind, body, and spirit are inseparable and interconnected. As movement therapy slowly gained visibility and began to grow more popular, research concluded that movement therapy was shown to have positive effects on stress, anxiety, depression, grief, addiction, problems with relationships, and sexual function, as well as issues related to trauma and abuse.(Somatic Theory)
With the emergence of polyvagal theory came a deeper scientific understanding of why movement therapies are so effective. All types of movement therapies from dance and yoga to play therapy “rely on interpersonal rhythms, visceral awareness, and vocal and facial communication which help people shift out of fight/flight states, reorganize their perception of danger, and increase their capacity to manage relationships.”(Van der Kolk) Simply passing a ball back and forth with a child engages them in rhythmically attuned movement and creates a moment of social engagement. This in turn strengthens the neural pathway for seeking social engagement as a form of comfort when the nervous system is activated. A primary goal of all types of therapy, for both children and adults, is to increase our ability to co-regulate and bring us out of sympathetic activation.
Bringing awareness of the polyvagal ladder into psychotherapy can improve treatment. Deb Dana, psychotherapist and author of Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, says she “engages the nervous system as a partner” in the work she does with clients. This means building an understanding of the parts of the nervous system and mapping out how they function, using the vocabulary of the polyvagal theory in session to unpack the experiences of the client, and engaging in experiential movement and breathing exercises to develop new pathways for the nervous system when its fight or flight response is activated. In an interview with psychotherapist Ashley Marx, LCSW, she described the phenomenon “Name it To Tame it”. Marx teaches clients to notice and name which ANS state they are experiencing; this simple moment of mindful awareness can help clients calm sympathetic activation and move into ventral vagal relaxation. If clients can name that their ANS response to perceived danger is only temporary, this will also calm the nervous system.
The emergence of the polyvagal theory has dramatically shaped therapy approaches of all kinds to treat trauma, anxiety, and depression but the insights of the polyvagal theory are not just for those who have experienced extreme trauma. The need for emotional mirroring and validation is universal for all humans, but we live in a culture that emphasizes independence, a stiff upper lip, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Even though it takes courage to be emotionally vulnerable, our society often perceives it as weakness. Being human automatically means you are subject to suffering, therefore everyone has nervous system reactions that could benefit from understanding polyvagal theory. This is even more true as we become increasingly dependent on technology. Though technology provides us with many ways to communicate and connect with those we otherwise might never speak to, the human nervous system is designed to be soothed by face to face contact. The more kids grow up looking at iPads and working on screens, the less they are toning their vagal nerve through face to face interaction. Whether it is for children in need of targeted practices for connection or adults who have disconnected from their body to survive their busy life, there are countless new forms of group movement therapy emerging to target these issues, using the insights of polyvagal theory.
Originally, yoga was intended to be a spiritual practice centered around mindfulness and embodiment. Many yoga moves such as the “child pose” are developmental, and are intended to help reconnect us with the wisdom of the body.(Goyeche) Today, yoga has become heavily viewed as a fitness practice, stereotypically for white women. After the emergence of polyvagal theory, new movement practices have developed building on the original intentions of yoga. One of those practices is Qoya. Qoya is a group movement practice that combines yoga with improvisational dance. Each class is centered around a theme or intention and allows participants to move alongside and with different parts of themselves. In an interview with Lucy Smith, who is currently training to be a certified Qoya instructor, she described a class she had taught that was centered around grief. “I was able to move with my past self that needed to grieve unfilled dreams. I didn’t even realize that was something I needed to process”. This particular anecdote supports the notion in Qoya that “through movement we remember”, which is a notion scientifically supported by polyvagal theory. In Qoya, through actively sharing and simply moving freely in the presence of others, the vagal nerve is strengthened. Participants experience a visceral understanding of the benefits of co-regulation and overall connection to what we experience in our bodies.
The mantra used in Qoya, “come as you are, leave as more of you” encompasses the benefits of polyvagal in every form of therapy. Using the insights of the polyvagal theory in movement practices help assess the deeply rooted and physical individual needs of a patient and arm the patient with the tools to assess and calm their nervous system in times of activation, as well as an overall sense of connection to their physical self and embodiment moving forward. Like the Qoya mantra, these practices encourage people to come, ready to be vulnerable and unpack their emotional and physical baggage, and leave having processed that baggage by moving with it, providing them with insights and lightening their emotional load.
Reflection 2
As I have been processing the dramatic shift in life that corona has created and getting adjusted to online school, I haven’t done significant work on my capstone project in quite some time. That being said, now that I am figuring things out and feeling more adjusted, I am excited to get back into my project. Because the bibliography was due the week before excursion, and I was very preoccupied packing for London, I feel like I could still benefit from more research that digs into specific branches of movement therapy and maybe some personal experience stories from clients or working movement therapists, so I hoping to look into some of that this weekend when I am less busy with school work throughout the day. Right before we returned to school, I was fortunate enough to be able to meet with a working movement therapist in Atlanta, Jen Liam, who has her own practice and sees clients of all ages. This meeting was extremely insightful and it was also great to see her office and some of the equipment she works with. Even though we technically only need one outside source, I think I will try to look into contacting a few other people to see if any of them would be available to do a virtual interview because that was definitely a super valuable and helpful experience. Though I definitely think I have some catching up to do to be where I would like to be with this project at this point, I am deeply excited by the material and am looking forward to putting some serious work towards my first draft in the next few days!
Reflection 1
I have finally decided on a topic for my Capstone project. After a visit from Lucy Smith to our Acting class, I was reminded of what has truly interested me throughout this entire year; Therapeutic and Interpretive Movement Practices. Lucy shared with us her journey to learning and teaching Qoya, a movement practice that uses yoga and interpretive movement. I immediately looked this up after class, read through the website, and knew that I had to continue researching this. I'm excited to dig deeper into why movement practices are so effective and explore all the practices that exist. I'm hoping to do many interviews because, from what I understand, movement practices are pretty unique and exist within a wide range, so I think it will be helpful to hear from different therapists and instructors that all take different approaches. I'm excited to learn a lot about something I have found myself engaging in in multiple ways throughout this year and I could imagine might be a part of my life for a long time or even a career interest.
Bibliography
Goyeche, John R.M. "Yoga as Therapy in Psychosomatic Medicine." Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, vol. 31, no. 1/4, 1979. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/45114952?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=therapeutic&searchText=yoga&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dtherapeutic%2Byoga&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A80603410586bfb01207c920d807122e6&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 14 May 2020.
This source explains how yoga-therapy practices originated in India and are now being utilized in other countries due to their success in treating a wide range of psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders. Yoga therapies use unique postures, stretches breathing techniques to help users to be more centered. These physical postures target blood flow and core strengthening/support which help the body to physically regulate anxiety. Yoga therapy practices also target anxiety through somatopsychic relaxation practices. All of these practices are intended to help develop a sense of awareness much greater than our usual self-consciousness. Yoga therapies are especially helpful for psychosomatic patients because they typically have high degrees of muscle tension in the shoulder, neck, and head, and are also more likely to have irregular posture.
I thought this source was particularly helpful in explaining why specific physical practices are benefit from specific types of patients, and it provided a lot of detail on how practices may work and which type of patient would benefit from a particular practice.
Leseho, Johanna, and Lisa Rene Maxwell. "Coming alive: creative movement as a personal coping strategy on the path to healing and growth." British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, vol. 38, no. 1, Feb. 2010, pp. 1-15. Academic Search Premier, web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=19&sid=91803a04-c26d-4a5f-ac70-92a6ac65327c%40sessionmgr102. Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.
This article reports findings from interviews with 29 women ranging from ages 16-67, also of various ethnicities and spiritual backgrounds seeking to understand "how dance/creative movement supports women during difficult life struggles." The three "overarching themes" appearing in the results as described by the authors are empowerment, healing, and connection to Spirit. First, the article introduces the concept of dance movement therapy by tracing it to its roots. The idea of using dance/movement as a psychotherapeutic technique was originated by C.G. Jung in 1916 because he recognized the therapeutic value of movement and creative expression. In 1935, Wilhelm Reich developed his own theories on movement therapy in which he stressed the importance of the spinal cords' ability to move smoothly and freely. His work has strongly influenced somatic psychology, techniques that explore physical movements as part of a healing process. A key belief in somatic psychology is that the body reflects the mind and the mind reflects the body, so, through working the "mind-body" we access and affect both. In the 70s and 80s, Mary Starks White house originated Authentic Movement, which is now typically used in group settings in which there is a "mover" and a "witnesser." The movers moves to the music and then both the mover and the witnesser describe images of emotions attached to the movement. Authentic Movement is said to be particularly helpful in helping people, especially women "re-inhabit themselves" or "bring them back into contact with their instinctual wisdom." After some history, the article states the definition of dance/movement therapy as defined by the American Dance Therapy Association: "The psychotherapeutic use of movement in a process which furthers the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual." This lead to an explanation of why exactly movement can be so effective as a therapeutic practice. The authors describe how dance is "motivated by and expressive of emotion", so dance and movement can lead to a cathartic release emotionally. Movement can also be particularly helpful in treating trauma because it can bring emotional trauma that is stored in the body to the surface.
Perryman, Kristi, et al. "Using Creative Arts in Trauma Therapy: The Neuroscience of Healing." Journal of Mental Health Counseling, vol. 41, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 1-16. Academic Search Premier, web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=14&sid=91803a04-c26d-4a5f-ac70-92a6ac65327c%40sessionmgr102. Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.
This source outlines the neurological benefits of art therapies including movement therapies. The author notes that, like with all art therapies, movement "enhances creativity" which can help clients in getting in touch with and understanding themselves as many of our senses and feelings are "stimulated through the creative arts." Movement therapy can be particularly helpful in treating trauma because it can target fight or flight responses. This article then describes how movement therapies can most effectively be put into practice: after a trusting relationship has been formed between client and therapist and in response to a client's readiness over time. A trusting relationship between counselor and client is key because, without it, the creative right hemisphere of the brain may "shut down or minimize the rational left hemisphere". The authors describe an integration technique called "pendulation" in which clients re-experience their traumatic event in layers, shifting between emotional "expansion" and "contractions." The relationship between counselor and client is key in this technique as well as it is the counselor's responsibility to "evaluate the depth and intensity to which the client is emotionally capable of processing at any given time." According to the Authors, it is incredibly important, in individual movement therapy, to convey the significance of a particular exercise. In order to do this, the counselor must first asses what type of art therapy will be beneficial for the individual client. This can be determined based on the client's response to trauma. Movement therapies are most helpful for clients who experience a freeze or "immobilization" response rather than a flight or flight response because the freeze response suggests the trauma is "more deeply embedded in the lower portions of the brain."
One thing I really liked about this source was the author's initial explanation of why movement therapy is important: because it "enables clients to gain more awareness of behavioral patterns and a deeper understanding of themselves while simultaneously fulfilling the human need for self-expression." I think this aligns heavily with what first got me interested in movement therapy and is highly applicable to the focus of my project.
Rovers, Martin. Touch in the Helping Professions. University of Ottawa Press, 2017. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv5vdcvd.9?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=polyvagal&searchText=theory&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dpolyvagal%2Btheory%26amp%3Bfilter%3D&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A62c731c37cccf9178fe0a72e96844bec&seq=3#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 14 May 2020.
This source explain why and how polyvagal-informed movement therapies can enhance and improve psycotherapy. For so long, touching clients in therapy has been discouraged and cautioned as line crossing or inappropriate, but this book argues that the dialogue surrounding touch in psychotherapy is changing, and touch may even soon become an essential aspect of therapy. The author included recent neuroscience findings and the polyvagal theory to support the idea that the body is a crucial aspect in emotional healing. This source also discussed why touch is crucial to survival and it is important to actively seek out physical connection because as we grow older, we are less likely to be touched often. In fact, according to this source, many adults may be suffering from "skin starvation".
I like how this source spoke to how psycotherapies could be improved by incorporating physical practices, rather just just focusing on movement therapies, and I like how it presented very clear scientific evidence for why touch can be so effective in the healing process. This source also really explored a developmental aspect of why touch and movement can dramatically change healing practices that I had not yet encountered in any other source, so I found that particularly interesting.
Wittig, Joan. "The Body and Nonverbal Expression in Dance/Movement Group Therapy and Verbal Group Therapy." Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, vol. 41, no. 1, 2010. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41719264?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=group&searchText=movement&searchText=therapy&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dgroup%2Bmovement%2Btherapy&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A0c11764e6472dceddfe72646a923a401&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 14 May 2020. This article suggests that verbal group therapies may benefit from paying attention to nonverbal aspects of expression. Using case examples from both dance/movement therapy and verbal therapy group sessions, the author discusses how the integration of mental and physical experience in dance/movement therapy may demonstrates that spoken word may not be a more direct an expression of thought or emotion than the body's movements.
I like how, in this source, the author suggested that, though watching someone move may not give you a clear understanding of their experience, but it can often provide them with a clearer understanding of their experience. This source really helped explain how movement therapies can help those struggling to understand their own feelings, and cannot put into words what they are struggling with. It was also interesting to read specific case studies in this source to get a detailed and close up understanding of how movement therapies can work.
Gleissner, Greta. "What Is Dance Movement Therapy?" Psychology Today, 12 Apr. 2017. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-eating-disorder-recovery/201704/what-is-dance-movement-therapy. Accessed 14 May 2020.
"Somatic Therapy." Psychology Today, www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/somatic-therapy. Accessed 14 May 2020.
Van der Kolk, Bessel. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. 2015. JSTOR.
What is Dance/Movement Therapy? ADTA, adta.org/2014/11/08/what-is-dancemovement-therapy/. Accessed 14 May 2020.
What is Dance/Movement Therapy? ADTA, adta.org/2014/11/08/what-is-dancemovement-therapy/. Accessed 14 May 2020.
This source explains how yoga-therapy practices originated in India and are now being utilized in other countries due to their success in treating a wide range of psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders. Yoga therapies use unique postures, stretches breathing techniques to help users to be more centered. These physical postures target blood flow and core strengthening/support which help the body to physically regulate anxiety. Yoga therapy practices also target anxiety through somatopsychic relaxation practices. All of these practices are intended to help develop a sense of awareness much greater than our usual self-consciousness. Yoga therapies are especially helpful for psychosomatic patients because they typically have high degrees of muscle tension in the shoulder, neck, and head, and are also more likely to have irregular posture.
I thought this source was particularly helpful in explaining why specific physical practices are benefit from specific types of patients, and it provided a lot of detail on how practices may work and which type of patient would benefit from a particular practice.
Leseho, Johanna, and Lisa Rene Maxwell. "Coming alive: creative movement as a personal coping strategy on the path to healing and growth." British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, vol. 38, no. 1, Feb. 2010, pp. 1-15. Academic Search Premier, web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=19&sid=91803a04-c26d-4a5f-ac70-92a6ac65327c%40sessionmgr102. Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.
This article reports findings from interviews with 29 women ranging from ages 16-67, also of various ethnicities and spiritual backgrounds seeking to understand "how dance/creative movement supports women during difficult life struggles." The three "overarching themes" appearing in the results as described by the authors are empowerment, healing, and connection to Spirit. First, the article introduces the concept of dance movement therapy by tracing it to its roots. The idea of using dance/movement as a psychotherapeutic technique was originated by C.G. Jung in 1916 because he recognized the therapeutic value of movement and creative expression. In 1935, Wilhelm Reich developed his own theories on movement therapy in which he stressed the importance of the spinal cords' ability to move smoothly and freely. His work has strongly influenced somatic psychology, techniques that explore physical movements as part of a healing process. A key belief in somatic psychology is that the body reflects the mind and the mind reflects the body, so, through working the "mind-body" we access and affect both. In the 70s and 80s, Mary Starks White house originated Authentic Movement, which is now typically used in group settings in which there is a "mover" and a "witnesser." The movers moves to the music and then both the mover and the witnesser describe images of emotions attached to the movement. Authentic Movement is said to be particularly helpful in helping people, especially women "re-inhabit themselves" or "bring them back into contact with their instinctual wisdom." After some history, the article states the definition of dance/movement therapy as defined by the American Dance Therapy Association: "The psychotherapeutic use of movement in a process which furthers the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual." This lead to an explanation of why exactly movement can be so effective as a therapeutic practice. The authors describe how dance is "motivated by and expressive of emotion", so dance and movement can lead to a cathartic release emotionally. Movement can also be particularly helpful in treating trauma because it can bring emotional trauma that is stored in the body to the surface.
Perryman, Kristi, et al. "Using Creative Arts in Trauma Therapy: The Neuroscience of Healing." Journal of Mental Health Counseling, vol. 41, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 1-16. Academic Search Premier, web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=14&sid=91803a04-c26d-4a5f-ac70-92a6ac65327c%40sessionmgr102. Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.
This source outlines the neurological benefits of art therapies including movement therapies. The author notes that, like with all art therapies, movement "enhances creativity" which can help clients in getting in touch with and understanding themselves as many of our senses and feelings are "stimulated through the creative arts." Movement therapy can be particularly helpful in treating trauma because it can target fight or flight responses. This article then describes how movement therapies can most effectively be put into practice: after a trusting relationship has been formed between client and therapist and in response to a client's readiness over time. A trusting relationship between counselor and client is key because, without it, the creative right hemisphere of the brain may "shut down or minimize the rational left hemisphere". The authors describe an integration technique called "pendulation" in which clients re-experience their traumatic event in layers, shifting between emotional "expansion" and "contractions." The relationship between counselor and client is key in this technique as well as it is the counselor's responsibility to "evaluate the depth and intensity to which the client is emotionally capable of processing at any given time." According to the Authors, it is incredibly important, in individual movement therapy, to convey the significance of a particular exercise. In order to do this, the counselor must first asses what type of art therapy will be beneficial for the individual client. This can be determined based on the client's response to trauma. Movement therapies are most helpful for clients who experience a freeze or "immobilization" response rather than a flight or flight response because the freeze response suggests the trauma is "more deeply embedded in the lower portions of the brain."
One thing I really liked about this source was the author's initial explanation of why movement therapy is important: because it "enables clients to gain more awareness of behavioral patterns and a deeper understanding of themselves while simultaneously fulfilling the human need for self-expression." I think this aligns heavily with what first got me interested in movement therapy and is highly applicable to the focus of my project.
Rovers, Martin. Touch in the Helping Professions. University of Ottawa Press, 2017. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv5vdcvd.9?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=polyvagal&searchText=theory&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dpolyvagal%2Btheory%26amp%3Bfilter%3D&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A62c731c37cccf9178fe0a72e96844bec&seq=3#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 14 May 2020.
This source explain why and how polyvagal-informed movement therapies can enhance and improve psycotherapy. For so long, touching clients in therapy has been discouraged and cautioned as line crossing or inappropriate, but this book argues that the dialogue surrounding touch in psychotherapy is changing, and touch may even soon become an essential aspect of therapy. The author included recent neuroscience findings and the polyvagal theory to support the idea that the body is a crucial aspect in emotional healing. This source also discussed why touch is crucial to survival and it is important to actively seek out physical connection because as we grow older, we are less likely to be touched often. In fact, according to this source, many adults may be suffering from "skin starvation".
I like how this source spoke to how psycotherapies could be improved by incorporating physical practices, rather just just focusing on movement therapies, and I like how it presented very clear scientific evidence for why touch can be so effective in the healing process. This source also really explored a developmental aspect of why touch and movement can dramatically change healing practices that I had not yet encountered in any other source, so I found that particularly interesting.
Wittig, Joan. "The Body and Nonverbal Expression in Dance/Movement Group Therapy and Verbal Group Therapy." Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, vol. 41, no. 1, 2010. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41719264?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=group&searchText=movement&searchText=therapy&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dgroup%2Bmovement%2Btherapy&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A0c11764e6472dceddfe72646a923a401&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 14 May 2020. This article suggests that verbal group therapies may benefit from paying attention to nonverbal aspects of expression. Using case examples from both dance/movement therapy and verbal therapy group sessions, the author discusses how the integration of mental and physical experience in dance/movement therapy may demonstrates that spoken word may not be a more direct an expression of thought or emotion than the body's movements.
I like how, in this source, the author suggested that, though watching someone move may not give you a clear understanding of their experience, but it can often provide them with a clearer understanding of their experience. This source really helped explain how movement therapies can help those struggling to understand their own feelings, and cannot put into words what they are struggling with. It was also interesting to read specific case studies in this source to get a detailed and close up understanding of how movement therapies can work.
Gleissner, Greta. "What Is Dance Movement Therapy?" Psychology Today, 12 Apr. 2017. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-eating-disorder-recovery/201704/what-is-dance-movement-therapy. Accessed 14 May 2020.
"Somatic Therapy." Psychology Today, www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/somatic-therapy. Accessed 14 May 2020.
Van der Kolk, Bessel. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. 2015. JSTOR.
What is Dance/Movement Therapy? ADTA, adta.org/2014/11/08/what-is-dancemovement-therapy/. Accessed 14 May 2020.
What is Dance/Movement Therapy? ADTA, adta.org/2014/11/08/what-is-dancemovement-therapy/. Accessed 14 May 2020.