Customer Reviews

Bioenergetics: The Revolutionary Therapy That Uses the Language of the Body to Heal the Problems of the Mind

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lowen's book does what they all do -- it gets us back in touch with our genuine, inner selves by making the emotional expression of oneself through the body the vehicle for authentic self-expression and spontaneity. It liberated me to feel more spontaneously without self-judgment and self-criticism, and to express my feelings without fear of judgment by others. If you're having trouble feeling or being fully conscious of yourself and your feelings, read Lowen's books and give some thought to Bioenergetic psychotherapy -- both will help tremendously.

Let me say at the outset that I believe Bioenergetics the therapy gave me my life back. Some of the ideas seemed 'far out' when I first heard of them, but Dr Lowen had described my situation so accurately in his writings that when he was describing the character that fits me, it felt like he was describing my life. I had never had the sense of being understood before. When I actually began practicing the therapy, I was able to experience a type of feeling that no other modality or idea had provided. Bioenergetics is not for the highly defensive--it holds up a mirror to our bodies and actual results in life that is usually not pretty in the beginning. or even middle, since growth takes time.

Many reviewers reference Dr Lowen's "famous" comment. He told that non-flattering story about himself to illustrate an aspect of his early character to help illustrate the 'problem' of character armor, not to report his motivation to write the book. The 'famous' remark was made to Wilhelm Reich in the early 1940's and the book was written in 1975! Another reviewer has referenced the fact Lowen did not incorporate much from other body-mind theorists (other than Reich). This is true. Rather than provide sheer high numbers of 'fingers pointing' (to the moon) Lowen wanted to provide one really good finger that could actually guide people. The possible strain of absolutism in his work I don't think is so much arrogance but rather the conviction, arising from long experience, that dabbling at growth just doesn't work.

Bioenergetics the book was written to 'manualize' and define concisely bio-energetics to an unfamiliar public. Because of that, it can appear that the concepts are asserted out of nowhere which is not perhaps the best introduction, especially if skepticism is strong. A perhaps better introduction to Lowen's work is Joy: The Surrender to the Body and to Life (Compass) If one reads Lowen's work with half an open mind, one's point of view will change about the body and its role in happiness.

This book contains great insight and a very helpful, refreshing perspective of the human condition. However, it is also unintentionally humorous--and quite unhelpful--from the perspective that Alexander Lowen's primary aim is to be famous. He says so in a direct quote at the beginning of the book, and underscores his aim by citing his own work in footnote after footnote.

Half of the focus of this book is on delivering information. The other half is on delivering Alexander Lowen. That didn't work for me.

I really enjoyed this book by Alexander Lowen, as I have done with many of his other works. He has a good writing style and he has much of interest to say. But his work is overshadowed by a few crucial flaws. Firstly, his ideas are presented in isolation from other discoveries and work done by scientists on the mind-body area throughout the 20th century, so it lies almost entirely outside, and unconnected to, the scientific exploration of the area. He writes as if he is the only one studying this topic. He doesn't even reference other somatic-orientated writers, either to agree or disagree. The lack of footnotes to other researchers at the end alone bear this out. Second it must be recognised that his theories boil down to personal conviction and not scientific rigour. His theories are based exclusively on his own case studies. So the research base is immediately limited and biased. For instance, his idea that body shape correlates to personality is laid out in great detail and "supported" by his own case studies and little more. His theories are never subjected to any peer-reviewed scientific investigation. It should be recognised that it would be possible to test some of his hypotheses around personality and the body, but he has never pursued this throughout his career. And therefore much of his theory is unsubstantiated and remains little more than conjecture (i.e, the contrary could easily be the case). Apart from this, his ideas on approaches to treatment is questionable. No doubt some might be beneficial to some, but as to what parts might be the basis for addressing psychological problems can not be examined impartially at this point. In summary, Lowen is no doubt interesting and influential, but his ideas are far from laid on a firm scientific foundation. And in a world swamped by competing incompatible psychotherapies, we need and should seek just that.

A most extraordinary book that for me bridged the gap or pulled together the more esoteric manifestations of dis-ease, basic psychology and the physical body.

Personally it helped me to see the connections between my mind and my muscles, in particular the hidden (from my conscious awareness) tensions therein. It gave me insight into the modern dis-ease of TAT (tired all the time) and the manifestations of ME and Fibromyalgia, for example.

It's not an in depth book but it gives you enough information to open up your mind to new possibilities and techniques, then it is down to you how far you wish to study this fascinating subject.

Yes, it is a bit long winded. He seems to rambles about what is in his head without regard to the scientific method in much of his book. So what you get is a bunch of theories and opinions and personal experiences.
A lot of what he touches on is already presented from a different point of view in certain books of mysticism (although he views mysticism as a way of escape towards the end of the book, which can be partially true). He touches ideas which are already discussed to some extent by kineasiology, chakras, chinese face reading fortunes, freud, huna, yoga, the books "Urban Shaman" and "Dianetics". He also discusses the Bates method of improving vision without actually revealing the techniques.
Although to his defense, this was published originally around 1975 - a time in which such subjects were still evolving and a lot of these subjects were not as well known as they are today because they were not considered mainstream (or even published).
I will say that this book can still be useful for some people. His methods for treating and releasing fear within a person can be useful to some extent for some people. He doesn't actually necessarily give much in the way of techniques or advice to the reader other than a few pages. But you can infer what to accomplish by his experiences.
There are probably better books out there - I can't say that I've really studied this subject a lot.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to someone who is strictly interested in new age mysticism. For someone who is interested in bioenergetics, and the link between physiology and psychology, this can be a good book.

good takeoff from wilhelm reich's work; integrates body work with psychotherapy exercises; still hung up on freud's concentration on sex; as opposed to carl jung

okay, i usually enjoy reading body/mind texts, but this one was a bit dry. there is usefull and thought-proviking information within it, although i had to skip around and skim to find it. sometimes long-winded, sometimes self-reighteous, it is worth the read, but buy it used.

Seriously grandiose author who seems to attribute a whole 'new' theory of human nature to himself, over and over again. Reminds me of one of those old professors who can't stop talking about himself when he is supposed to be teaching objective material. I am sure that whatever gems are in the book must be more readily accessible elsewhere.