SEXUALITY: BODY-ORIENTED DISCOURSE

Video: SEXUALITY: BODY-ORIENTED DISCOURSE

Video: SEXUALITY: BODY-ORIENTED DISCOURSE
Video: What is Sexual Orientation? LGBTQ+ 2024, March
SEXUALITY: BODY-ORIENTED DISCOURSE
SEXUALITY: BODY-ORIENTED DISCOURSE
Anonim

The classics of the body-oriented direction in psychotherapy W. Reich and A. Lowen considered sexuality, which, on the one hand, significantly affects the formation of character and the formation of personality, and on the other hand, is a regulator of human health.

According to V. Reich's sex-economic theory, orgasmic potency - "the ability to completely release blocked sexual tension" determines the state of mental health. The basis for the formation of orgasmic potency is the natural need for love. The influence of cultural and social prohibitions, education in authoritarian families are considered as factors that block energy in the body space, as a result of which a muscle shell is formed, which leads to the impossibility of a complete discharge of libido and the inability of a person to show natural and true emotions, which in turn makes it impossible to form genital character (genital character - "ideal" character, the opposite of neurotic; Reich saw the task of therapy "in transforming neurotic character into genital and in replacing moral regulation with sexual-economic self-regulation.").

A. Lowen gave sexuality a decisive importance in the formation of psychological health, defining it as "a quality of personality, a part of existence", "an expression of love and the exact opposite of death." Sexual satisfaction is reflected in a person's cheerfulness, the ability to experience happiness. Only in a sexually mature personality can there be a harmonious and "living" body.

Lowen insisted on the unity of sexuality and spirituality. Anyone who does not feel the connection between sexuality and spirituality has lost contact with where it arises - with the heart.

Thus, spirituality is a function of the whole body. Spirituality apart from sexuality is an abstraction, and sexuality without spirituality is just a physiological act. A similar gap occurs in the case of isolation of the heart, when the connection between the two poles of the body is broken. Love, penetrating from the heart to the head, gives a feeling of unity with the Absolute - that which is present everywhere. When the feeling of love fills the hips and legs, one feels a connection with the Earth. The flow of excitement down and up the body is pulsating, which means that it is not able to move further in one direction than in another. The conclusion from this is that we are spiritual as much as we are sexual.

When the spirit is fully involved in any act, then this act becomes spiritual, thanks to the transcendence of our Self. The most tangible is the transcendence of the Self in the sexual act, when it leads to the union of two people; lovers transcend the boundaries of their consciousness to connect with the power of the universe.

For only a small minority of people, sex is an extraordinarily exciting experience involving the whole body. The surface of the body is charged, the skin is hydrated, the eyes shine. The erogenous zones become heavily filled with blood as the heart, which is also excited, sends blood to the surface of the body. An electric shock runs through the whole body when the eyes of the lovers meet. The desire for contact is very strong. During the kiss, the body becomes soft, the stomach is filled with warmth. At this point, the genitals are filled with blood, but the blood supply is not yet maximum. The desire for deep intimate contact leads to sexual intercourse. At the moment of penetration, there is a momentary calm before a rhythmic dance begins, which ends with an orgasm.

In orgasm, a person's ego drowns in the flow of energy and feelings. This requires a strong self, since a weak self can be intimidated by this risk of flooding. It's like on a roller coaster, to get real pleasure you need to keep your eyes open and enjoy the dizzying ups and downs.

After the orgasmic release, the lovers are seized with deep peace. Before self-awareness returns, sleep may occur. The French called this condition "a little death". After this experience, the person feels reborn.

Sexual intercourse gave impetus to the first method of making fire (rapid rotation of a stick in a hollow of a piece of wood until it becomes so hot that dry chips flare up). Friction-heat-flame - this is the sequence of these two actions, the purpose of which is flame. But for some people, the intercourse ends with the striking of only a few sparks, and not with a flame that turns the body into a pure spirit. And this is precisely what the transcendental experience consists in.

The inability to experience the transcendental state is caused by the lack of passion in the game of love. This passion is suppressed by painful early childhood experiences. During the oral stage (the first three years of life), the baby's needs for feeding, support and close contact are met by the mother. The act of breastfeeding is the most exciting and satisfying for the baby. Early weaning is felt by the child as a loss of the whole world, which “breaks the heart”. The infant needs contact with the mother's body if it is not breastfeeding. This contact stimulates the infant's breathing and strengthens its metabolism. If this contact is absent, the child is shaken and broken. The fight against pain begins: holding back the breath and tightening the muscles of the chest. As a result, a person is limited in his ability to surrender to love, suffers from sexual alienation due to the fact that he cannot survive all this with his heart.

The inability of parents to tolerate high energy levels of children also has negative consequences. Education "below the grass, quieter than water" leads to the fact that children by the age of three lose their vitality. A psychologically healthy child (and a person in general) can be identified by the gleam in the eyes, blush on the cheeks, mobile facial expressions, and an easily flowing voice. Children who have lost their vitality look apathetic, speak in a weak voice, their eyes are dull, and their pupils are motionless. These are children who were wheeled in a stroller by an indifferent mother.

Later in the oedipal phase (three to six years), attraction to the parent of the opposite sex is intense and exciting. But the child does not seek sexual intercourse. Such contact is terrible for a child. In a healthy family, the child's excitement subsides when he enters the latency period, when he is involved in the world around him, which is outside the family.

In unhealthy families, the parent of the opposite sex responds to the child's sexual interest and intensifies the sexual impulses. Some parents who do not satisfy their arousal with a sexual partner seduce their own child. This brings in sexual feelings concentrating on the genitals. These feelings are terrible for a child. He is not able to get out of this relationship, as he is heavily dependent on his parents. It so happens that the child's sexual reactions lead to his humiliation. Parents, themselves participating in the sexualization of the child, blame the latter for this. To protect himself, the child suppresses sexual feelings in the name of maintaining love for his parents. This is how the separation of love and sexuality takes place. Like suppression of any emotion, suppression of sexual feelings occurs through chronic muscle tension. This is illustrated by the bodies of people, the bottom and top of which look as if they belong to different people. The two parts operate and live separately from one another.

People block their sexual feelings if they become a source of shame, humiliation, and pain. Then sexuality is devoid of both joy and spirituality. Such a body is sorely lacking in grace."Bottom" - heavy and sedentary, restraining sexual desire. The tightness of the waist blocks the flow of excitement to the lower parts of the body, and breathing does not reach the lower abdomen.

Finding himself in a situation of rejection of sexuality, its humiliation and condemnation, a person begins to consider the manifestation of his own sexuality as something indecent. These feelings of "indecent" are located in the lower body. This is how the skill of restraining and hiding sexual feelings is consolidated.

The hallmark of truly sexy people is their charm. To be charming means to have a soft body in which impulses of excitement flow freely, radiating vitality. A person who walks in such a way that he feels contact with the ground with each step, and the wave of excitement coming from the toes, coordinated with the wave of breathing, causes the pelvis to move. Such a gait is more characteristic of the inhabitants of underdeveloped countries, over which the ego does not dominate. Westerners are sexually more sophisticated, but people of primitive cultures are more alive.

In a culture of sense control (and even hypercontrol) (“don't lose your head …”, “give your heart free rein …”), when control is unconscious, it manifests itself in chronically tense muscles. Chronic tension in the muscles that connect the pelvis to the legs immobilizes the pelvis so much that it cannot move spontaneously. Such a pelvis "freezes" in the position of retraction back or forward. In a normal state, the pelvis moves forward or backward along with natural body movements and a wave of breathing. When the breathing wave reaches the pelvis, it moves forward with each exhalation; when inhaling - back. At peak sexual arousal, these movements become quick and powerful. This does not happen if the pelvis "freezes" in one of these positions. An immobile pelvis during movement indicates suppression of sexuality. This is more common in women. In men, a more common disorder is the forward extension of the pelvis, which expresses pseudo-aggression. One might think that the "forward position" (pushing the pelvis forward) is a sexually aggressive action, but it is not. Before the pelvis can move forward, it must be pulled back. When the pelvis hardens in the “forward position,” the back forms a curve and the shoulders slouch (tail bent dog posture). Most often, such a forward pelvis is the result of physical blows to the child's buttocks. On impact, the buttocks instinctively retract and tense. But such consequences can have not only physical punishment and their, say, cruelty. The feeling of humiliation comes to the fore, which culminates in the well-known method of punishment, when the child is forced to lean forward, lie on the parent's knee and receive blows with a belt, which the child, like an obedient dog, personally brought and handed to his punishing parent.

During sexual activity, people whose pelvis is frozen "forward", as it were, forcing themselves to perform sexual movements, and those whose pelvis is frozen "back" tend to limit movements.

Lowen proposed a simple and accurate exercise that makes it possible to determine in what position a person holds the pelvis. Stand in front of a mirror so that when you turn your head, you have the opportunity to see your back. See what your shoulders look like? Are they straightened? Is your head up? Is the pelvis set aside? After that, put your feet parallel at a distance of 15 cm, push your pelvis forward. At the same time, do you feel how your back is rounded or bent, and your height decreases? Set your pelvis aside slowly. Do you watch your back straighten? How does each position feel? Which one is your usual pose for you? Then bend your knees and try to relax your pelvis so that you can move it. Breathe deeply and freely. Try to feel how the breathing wave reaches the depth of the pelvis. Do you feel her movement in this area? How can you describe this feeling? Is there any concern with this movement?

Thus, within the body-oriented direction, sexuality occupies a significant position in the structural organization of the personality and significantly affects both human development and the ability to feel and accept love.

Literature:

Reich V. Character analysis

Lowen A. Love and Orgasm

Lowen A. Body Psychology

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