Page i Body of Knowledge Page ii SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology Richard D. Mann, Editor Page iii Body of Knowledge An Introduction to Body/Mind Psychology Robert Marrone State University of New York Press Page iv Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1990 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Marrone, Robert L. Body of knowledge: an introduction to body/mind psychology/ Robert Marrone. p. cm.—(SUNY series in transpersonal and humanistic psychology) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0791403874.—ISBN 0791403882 (pbk.) 1. Mind and body. I. Title. II. Series. BF161.M365 1990 150.19'8—dc20 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Page v To Robert Hall, M.D., whose depth of compassion and breadth of knowledge have touched the lives of so many, in so many ways. Page vii CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Part One Groundwork 1 1. Bodies of Knowledge 3 2. Talking Heads 11 3. Sigmund Freud and the Talking Cure 17 4. Wilhelm Reich and the Body Politic 25 5. The NeoReichians 31 6. Screamers, Beamers, and Assorted Dreamers 39 Part Two Framework 49 7. Love, Knowledge, and the Body/Mind Paradigm 51 8. The Holographic Model 61 9. The Healing Model 69 Part Three Bodywork 83 10. Stress, Madness, and Disease 85 11. Anatomy Lessons 99 12. Body Reading 109 13. Body/Mind Healing 119 Part Four Wonderwork 137 14. The Farther Reaches of an Embodied Psychology 139 Index 151 Page ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks, to my best friend and soul mate, Elayne Marie Azevedo, for continually showing me what it means to love and be loved; to my son, Jason, for always reminding me to kindle curiosity towards life; to my parents and family for their unswerving support through the many pingpong games I've played in this life; and to good friends, old and new, who have encouraged me, including Steve Holsapple, Dee Eggleston, Tri Thong Dang and Pauline Haynes. Thanks, to graduate student friends who have contributed greatly to this work, especially Dennis Norris and Gene Sweaney; and to colleagues who have encouraged my changes, as well as my work over the years, especially Professor Emeritus, David Lucas. And to others who have helped me track down hard to find material or offered heartfelt advice, including Professors Bruce Behrman, Arnold Golub, Joseph Heller, Lawrence Meyers, William Westbrook and Librarian, Stan Frost — all of California State University, Sacramento. Thanks, to the many teachers and guides I have come to know over the years — and who have provided so much needed perspective and wisdom, including Dr. Victor Lovell of Prometheus Center in Palo Alto; Alyssa Hall, Michael Smith, Andrew Leeds and Richard StrozziHeckler of the Lomi School; the late Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, of Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado; Dr. Martin Rogers of California State University, Sacramento for supervising my clinical training; and, to the late Dr. Alan Watts for encouraging me to "chase after the synthesis until it catches you." Page xi INTRODUCTION There is a time for keeping still and there is a manner of keeping still which relates to every experience involving movement, whether the movement is physical, mental, or spiritual. —I Ching Movement and stillness, expansion and contraction, as they manifest all around us, offer a glimpse, perhaps, into the heart of the matter. Consider, that before we experience a single sensation, emotion or thought — even before we take our next breath, there is both movement and stillness at the core of who we are. And even when the mind comes to rest and the breath is soft and still, what is still going on? It is the beating of our hearts. Movement and stillness. With each passing moment, it beats in our chest, twisting, expanding, contracting, over and over, onehundred thousand times each day — three billion beats in an average lifetime. 1 It is a muscle — not a concept. We do not create it. We do not beat our hearts. Please pause for a moment now — and focus your awareness on the sensations emanating from the middle of your chest. Can you feel your heart beat? Can you hear it? Is it soft and rhythmical? Are you breathing in tune with its beat? As you exhale, can you feel your heart relax? Are you unclutching your heart now? To answer such questions, we must first bring our awareness to the body/mind experience of who we are — now — in this very moment. Our thoughts and concepts may come and go, memories may fade, and our images of who we think we are may rise and burst like bubbles on a lake. But the body is always with us because, fundamentally, we are body, we act through body, and we perceive the world and each other through bodies. We are livedbody,2 and our experience of beingin theworld is created and given form through our bodies. It is from a murky, undifferentiated state of pure embodiment — of body/mind unity — that we first act upon the surrounding world and, in so doing, experience ourselves as different from it. Page xii Observe the newborn infant or toddler exploring the world. The child's initial sense of unity with its surroundings is repeatedly ruptured in its interaction with those surroundings. Consider little Jennifer, as the infant's pleasureseeking lips search for mother's nipple, the simple imperative takes form . . . "mommy not I." In the collision between baby and coffee table, the statement is uttered once again . . . "coffee table not I." And, too, as a toddler, drawn in fascination to the movement of sticky fingers, Jennifer touches each one accompanied by the statement, "my finger, my finger." And so on, by way of these experiences of livedbody, our senseof self or ''Iness" begins its seemingly endless process of delineation and affirmation. To experience embodiment is to experience being, thoroughly, "in the livedbody" — from momenttomoment — sensing precisely those bodysensations, feelings, and thoughts which give form to our senseofself. And yet, consider the body described in textbooks and encyclopedias. They are composed almost exclusively of descriptions of structures and functions; with elaborate illustrations of neurons, organ systems, and such. They present us with information about a concept of body, but say virtually nothing about the experience of livedbody. The same may be said of modern psychology. Here too, with noted exceptions, it is assumed that we experience our bodies in the same way a disinterested observer notices, say, a bus, a flower, or any other "thing" in the surrounding environment. For instance, in James V. McConnell's 3 introductory psychology textbook, now in its fifth edition and one of the bestselling books of its kind, he states, that ". . . with minor exceptions, the physical changes that occur in your body are pretty much the same no matter what type of emotional upheaval you are undergoing." He says that the body doesn't determine our emotional reaction to a situation, instead it is " . . . how you perceive and feel about a situation that determines your bodily reaction rather than vice versa." However, the question of who it is doing the feeling and perceiving, if not an embodied being, is never addressed — although a disembodied mind is highly suspect. From theories of personality to theories of psychopathology, present day psychology begins with the disembodied mind and then proceeds to appliqué it with personal meanings which are thought to produce a bodyconcept or body image. So too, in our most cherished beliefs about medicine, psychotherapy, healing, and personal growth, the body and mind are arbitrarily split and isolated. There are doctors to heal the body and other doc