When patients can’t find words to describe their experience, we can often find clues . . .
. . . in their posture, in the ways they move, and even in the limitations to their movement.
According to Pat Ogden, PhD, when a client has a greater range of movement options – or “movement vocabulary”
– they’ll have more options for responding to life’s stresses.
And that can increase their resilience.
In the video below, Pat describes how she helped a client who had suffered years of abuse begin to expand her movement vocabulary.
Take a look – it’s about 5 minutes.
How have you used body language and movement in your work with clients? Please leave a comment below?
Great insight
I am learning SE right now and this helps me and my clients to build up again defense mechanisms, espress anger, sadness aso with the mocromovements I feel myself and see my clients doing! It is fantastic how quickly behaviour and lifes are changing! Never seen that before working with cognitive approaches before!
Marion Rosen created a playful way of expanding the body vocabulary as well. Rosen Method Movement is a playful way for this client care.
I was a student bof Emilie Conrad for thirteen years in Continuum movement. I implemented that knowledge base into deeper awareness for the clients with inclusion of breath and sound. It definitely increases the likelihood for a broader expansion of personal power in addition to increased body language.
Thank you! I’ve become more aware of how important it is to work with clients with their body language and movement. I’m going to try to use this more in actual sessions. For a long time I’ve encouraged clients to take yoga and dance to music at home.
I watch for children’s body movements so I can see how I need to proceed in helping them calm down, so they are able to express themselves. There are times I will get out the sand or play a game with them in order to change their body language. This helps distract and relax them so they are able to tell me what is bothering them.
Thank you for the psycho edu ,it is, as always, the most interesting part.
i work with cultivating body awareness, teaching the client to attend to their unique way of holding & defending and then tracking how it plays out in the here and now when stressed, what thought or emotions lies behind the body holding & in the moment making a choice to change what they do physically. They then begin to notice day to day, & practise choosing & being curious about what emerges or rises up from any change in what they choose to do. One woman today began to feel how she braced against her own anger and when softened her solar plexus she touched into being able to feel how she held herself & the emotions held there. Both then can shift, resolve & change; is is an on-going self care.
Very helpful. Thank you.
This is new info for me. I’ll be more aware now about my clients body movements and able to read their feelings
more accurately. Thank you. You always provide very valuable information.
Thank you.
Fascinating! I will look more into this … thank you so much. I love all the comments too!
As an Occupational Therapist and a Core Specialist using Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration I use movement in every session and have seen remarkable changes not only in motor skills but also cognitive skills and emotional resilience. Reflexes are by definition innate movement patterns provided by nature for our protection and survival. In the face of trauma – be it physical, psychological, genetic, etc – reflexes can become unintegrated. MNRI reflex integration techniques help the individual link the sensory system and the motor system and allow for improved processing of information in the brain.
In this video Ms. Ogden describes “reaching out” for items – which we address through the Robinson’s Grasp reflex. This reflex facilities many fine motor skills but also psychological skills such as perseverance (“hanging on”) and understanding (“grasping” concepts). She also describes “pushing” as a way of developing confidence which we address through the Hands Supporting reflex. This is the reflex that causes our hands to come out in front of us if we trip and begin to fall. Functionally it is present to protect our heads however it is also beneficial for boundaries – physically and emotionally. We use this reflex to help individuals who bully others – but also for those that are being bullied.
MNRI has often been described as the “missing link” for occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, massage therapists, psychologists, teachers, etc. I would highly suggest anyone interested in using movement during their therapy sessions to take the Dynamic and Postural Reflex Integration course! www. masgutovamethod.com
Yes, all the time– I am a board certified dance/movement therapist and licensed professional counselor; tuning into and utilizing movement is central to how dance/movement therapists work. Pat Ogden’s sharing about posture and resilience is something all dance/movement therapists know well. Connecting to the nonverbal patterns of the client and working to expand the movement vocabulary is an essential component of our work. We share the belief that when we expand our movement vocabulary, we expand the options available to us. The Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP), a systematic, developmentally grounded and in-depth movement assessment tool based entirely on the nonverbal was developed by Dr. Judith Kestenberg (psychiatrist and psychoanalyst) and the Sands Point Movement Study Group; it is used by many dance/movement therapists and clinicians and provides a refined language as well as a psychological interpretation for what is seen in the body.
This is fascinating stuff. I have tested the movement literacy of adult learner swimmers in calf depth water and in chest depth water to check what range they can really do, purely out of curiosity. It makes such sense that learning to free up your movement in safe spaces impacts upon your emotional resilience because the inverse is true but at last everyone can see this very clearly through great communicating practitioners like Pat and begin to take advantage of it. I love NICABM.
The body keeps score…
Drop into the body
Let go the pain
Push, reach, grasp, pull
Resiliant reality
Honor your brain
I love this! Thank you for sharing!
It sounded like this woman felt self blame for not being able to protect herself. “I allowed myself to be abused.” She felt powerless. When really she could not get away from this abusive relationship. She was helpless in the face of her abuser acknowledgement of this.
I work with survivors of people who were raised by parents (and other attachment figures) with a severe mental illness. I use body language and movement awareness within a role-play or psycho-drama context. I’m wondering how to further incorporate Pat Ogden’s work into my clinical practice as a therapist, i.e., how to bridge my research into extending the body’s intelligence. Many Thanks.
Suzette Misrachi
CaN-ACOPSMI specialist
I’m working with a client at the moment who has recently begun to recognise how right side dominant she is. Through our work together there has been a focus on developing more balance and moving away from this or that thinking (eg control or chaos); one of the key practices for her has been that of being kind, to herself and others. With a traumatic abuse history, her tendency has been to keep everyone at a safe distance and to be a strong and capable woman, albeit in a very controlled, rational thinking way. Our latest work with bringoing balance into her body is an extension of this work as she recognises that her left side is her repressed emotional side; she feels uncomfortable with using this side and finds it frustrating which reflects how feeling and expressing emotions is for her. Rather than focus on dealing with the discomfort of bringing more balance to her body (and by extension her mind) we are working again with the practice of kindness; that in allowing her left side to contribute and do more work it is being kind to her right side which has carried a heavy load for a long time and is now experiencing neck and shoulder tension on that side. It is proving to be powerful work.
Thanks Pat! So lovely to have movement patterns/vocabulary and postures to be the focus of this discussion as this is a potent and effective entry way into positive change.
Through my training in Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals and in the work of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and others in the realm of Dance/Movement Therapy I came to understand my own (what I refer to as) default patterns. These patterns, may well have served a purpose and were likely very helpful to the survival of my psyche when formed. However they got “locked in” so to speak and actually began to limit my growth and development and ability to experience life wholistically.
Most of these patterns are unconscious and through bringing them to awareness, as well as realizing that there are other choices for my movement and postural vocabulary was life changing. These patterns are stubborn sometimes, yet I am getting better and better at catching myself in them and finding a way through them to a new and more healthy way of moving and standing and sitting and breathing that suits the situation that I am in more optimally. Movement is life!
This work is of huge benefit to the therapeutic process (especially when dealing with early trauma) and in my view no counseling education program should be without it.
I am an advanced certified practitioner in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and I use movement when appropriate. Doing a movement is not always appropriate. For some clients, even trying a push can feel like too much. It is so important to be attuned, to be collaborative and always explicitly get the clients agreement–not a “I’ll do it because you’re asking me so I should do it” but a real willingness to give it a go and a real place of it being safe to give it a go.
I resonated with Pat’s comment. As co-developer of “the body double ” role in the Therapeutic Spiral Model ™ of Psychodrama, I use the position of my own body to “double” the client’s body and “feel into ” what s/he may be feeling and then use my body and words to lead her ( or him) into a posture of safety in whatever form is needed in the moment . Thanks for sharing Pat’s work . Linda Ciotola
This is not at all surprising. Dance/movement therapists have long applied the principle that expansion of movement repertoire enables clients to more fully experience and express themselves and engage with the world. As a Certified Movement Analyst, Dance/Movement therapist and clinical counselor, detailed observation of all aspects of my client’s movement assists understanding of my clients and informs strategic creation of movement based interventions on a daily basis for a broad range of client issues. A client’s movement often provides more reliable information about what is going on than a client’s verbal expression. It is a joy to help client’s build their awareness through movement.
Beverly, could you please direct me to your website? Thank you
Alison, you can find out more about the field of Dance/Movement Therapy via the website of the American Dance Therapy Association: adta.org. (Not sure if Beverly will respond here to your request).
As a relational equine assisted therapist and coach, I see dramatic changes in posture and expansion of movement vocabulary when opportunities are included as a natural response to the work with the horse in the session. In our work with SA survivors in a six-week equine group, we see and hear in the post group responses how the movement with purpose creates a felt sense of empowerment and awareness that is subtle but powerful. I often reference Amy Cuddy’s work outlined in her book Presence… Thank you!
Dancing to songs like Helen Reddy’s, “I Am Woman,” or Katy Perry’s, “Roar.”
Great songs! I love dancing as a way of expressing what I am feeling. I have a couple dances choreographed that I do when I need to get myself going in the morning or when I need to shock myself out of a dark place.
“The more options a person has in their movement vocabulary, the more options they’ll have in responding to life’s stressors and thus the more resilient they will be.” Pat Ogden, PhD
This why my therapy focuses on centered horseback riding lessons, somatic therapy, and therapeutic listening sensory integration. How validating for those of us specializing in wellness therapies too. Thank you!
I am a mental health occupational therapist. I explore movement in many ways through activities. Also I try to bring more awareness to the body through a variety of activities. For example if I see a pediatric client with RAD who is doing lots of pushing away and pulling closer with behaviors, I will engage them in sensory based play with tug of war, pushing games, etc. through these games I make the behaviors more observeable to the client and then explore what it might mean to change the behavior, for example holding on tight or letting go. In this way I work towards greater self awareness and flexibility.
Tai chi practice begins with a good “stance” and uses energies of push, receive, deflect, open and close…. having practiced tai chi for 25 years or so, it seems a natural thing to apply these principles in a physical and emotional/energetic way when working with others. Intent is so much a part of everything, and tai chi incorporates intent into the body. Thank you for promoting movement in your practice!
The connection between body and emotion is not surprising to me. I am amazed that anyone who works with emotional problems could be surprised at such a connection.
As a yoga therapist, I see the impact life experiences, especially trauma have on the physical body. As I work with them to regain present moment connection to their bodies and release held patterns, their demeanors change and their resiliency increases. Thank you for highlighting this important facet of healing. As cognitive therapists and movement therapists learn to work together to more fully serve clients, we can all be better servants.
I have incorporated some movement exercises I gleaned from Pat’s earlier videos and I always found that they led to a positive response from the client…they have definitely broadened conversation and verbal expression and a new or newer sense of empowerment.
I have a client with DID and the first clue that her child is emerging is a distinct change in posture. While I have held and rocked her sobbing child, it didn’t occur to me to work with her posture (folds into self). I will be more mindful to attend to movements and posture with her child part who holds memories of terrifying abuse.
Hello
Wonderful! I’m a 10 fingered Osteopath as well as a resiliency coach. I work with people in my physical practice by combining the body and the psyche to creat changes. And in my coaching I work with resiliency and burnout. I never thought of combining the two!! I use the body to tell me about people’s stories. And as the body unfolds we look at how the persons psycheband stories unfold. Thank you for this video.
I am struggling in a relationship right now and the idea that I might be able to expand my options to bring about positive change awakened a bit of hope in me. The idea of a connection of feelings and outlook to body movement is interesting and new to me.
How does this work with children? I work with young children that have challenges with impulse control and emotion regulation. I believe they do not have the verbal or physical vocabulary to express what is going on for their selves. How can I help?
I worked with a client with a variety of conditions, eg. allergies, sensitivities to environment, digestive issues. We worked with the language of her body and in accessing those she described herself as trapped and imobile. She was also an artist and a musician so I appealed to that part of her and asked how would she feel in her body if this aspect of herself was more fully realised. With her standing up we played with her moving from one posture to another until some of the blocked energies started to flow. Realising that she could feel differently with just a small change in her movements gave her a whole new way of seeing herself.
Movement has such a powerful effect on our emotions. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks! Good concise information. I like these brief teaching moments.
Excellent, as always Pat!
I work with clients as a massage therapist. Regularly not only do the decreased pain and increased range of motion have positive impact on their movement. Thought patterns and beliefs that trigger the body begin to fade as better feeling thoughts also come more easily, readily, and frequently.
Several times with different clients, when I have observed nonverbal movements, I have asked for them to identify and then clarify what their body movement means. This has given further insight into the circumstance surrounding the experience that we are talking through. At times the body movement may be an indicator of the hidden emotion or denial, avoiding the pain. Thank you for these further insights from Pat Ogden.
The first thing I did to free my self from an abusive marriage was to straighten up and smooth back my shoulders. It was a survival decision that came to me on my own. It was definitely helpful.
great insight, having started out as RMT I am very aware of the connections and have incorporated it through all our client care.
What an amazing insight into the deepest places in a wounded person. Using the hand that tentatively goes up while the survivor is telling how impossible it is to defend herself is so moving. The hope that is generated by taking that movement a step further is wonderful. I love this.
Having trained in BodyMind Psychotherapy, the developmental movements she is talking about inform me with every client, every moment! I am always, even in online sessions, open to how someone might expand their movement repertoire and how that affects them.
Thanks for sharing this. It is such important information.
I suggest movement and posture in my work as a counsellor in the UK. Sometimes when the client feels stuck, asking them to take a posture to represent that part of them that is stuck helps them to move and gives a different perspective.
Thank you Ruth,
Movement of the body is language that can release & heal things that haven’t had a voice.
I am very interested in becoming more familiar with somatic resilience
I liked her perspective. It was very similar to the work of Marion Rosen and to some extent the Alexander work.
This is absolutely fascinating–not only the video, but all the comments. I’m not a counselor or therapy professional. I’m an actor who has been in therapy for many years trying to work through childhood traumas and my own insecurities. What I suddenly realized is that I give my characters the kinds of physicality everyone is mentioning…like giving a powerful female character a wide, upright stance with strong arms and a sure expression, or giving a quirky, unsure character a more protective posture and nervous gestures like foot shuffling or hand-wringing. It never, ever occurred to me to give myself these same postures and movements as a vocabulary to change my own human experiences. What a great idea! I’m going to look up the resources all of you have mentioned so I can learn more and get as good at being myself as I am being other characters. Thank you all for your input! This is GOOD STUFF!
cool
As trauma is stored in the body, it is always the first place to start. Giving the client safety and tools to self-regulate effectively. It is incredible how we can carry a certain posture without even realising.
Yes, the posture of my clients’ shoulder can usually reveal a lot . Restriction, oppressed, close up all of this can describe a revealing past. I have seen teens who grow up being very uncomfortable about their body image. Mirroring technique and Ms. Pat O. suggestions are ideal to reach out to the most sensitive of them. I can see the how and why Ms. Pat O. mostly works with lots of young adults. I am very glad that you are sharing with us about how this can be applied in your dreamlike acting work.
As a wellness coach, and not a licensed psychologist,who wants to work with children with special needs I can use this in the music fitness class I want to have to improve children’s self esteem using movements which improve self esteem.
I used to run art therapy groups in a room that had a labryinth outside and found the clients received a lot of insight while walking the labryinth.
She doesn’t say what to do in session to expand vocabulary.
I think she meant that you could say things like, “What if you tried doing that motion fully? Do you want to do that? What does that feel like? What if you tried this movement? How does that feel?” etc. That’s what I thought she meant. The comments also have some suggestions.
At Equine Time people learn the importance of their own body movement through the responsiveness of horses.
Through equine assisted therapy