Customer Reviews

Joy: The Surrender to the Body and to Life (Compass)

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Lowen's latest work 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.

Alexander Lowen's life's work was not just therapy but helping people restore joy in living. All his books are well written, but some include concepts from psychoanalytic roots that confuse slightly a reader untrained in analysis. This book,however, was written for the general but sincere and curious reader. Not that Lowen watered down his ideas any, but they are described in everyday terms. However,his ideas are not everyday ideas anymore. The mainstream culture has alienated most of us from our bodies and from life which springs from the body.

Though at one time the ideas and point of view in this book might have been partly transmitted by folk wisdom, that wisdom has been forgotten or unfairly stigmatized. This is truly a much needed explanation of how a good person can connect to good feelings.