Bio-energetics (Alexander Lowen, various works, Cranfield 1994, Jim McNeish)
The work of Alexander Lowen is distinctive in many ways, but three stand out again and again.
The first is an intrinsic link between personality/character formation and physical form. For Lowen both are distinct expressions of response to specific formative needs in early childhood. Five predominant patterns of physical-psychological form arise, which can be easily recognised as present throughout history (in myth, film, and psychological archetypes).
The second is the interrelatedness of the body and psychology, meaning that changes in the patterns of the behaviour of the body can have an impact on character. An example of this might be when a person who is overly intellectual takes up a hobby such as dance that forms a much stronger intrinsic link between mind and body, resulted in more grounded thinking and more creative flexibility. Another might be an overly ‘civilised’ responsible type, who takes on too much and resents it, yet instead of bottling up their anger, takes up boxing, and finds that the release of aggression in a physical form gives them a new freedom in expressing anger and defending boundaries where necessary at work.
Lastly, the highlighting of the power-orientated character type as a distinct category enriches typologies such as MBTI and DISC, whose construction favours more rational categorisations. Lowen helps us look beyond the ‘rational/emotional’, or ‘intuitive/practical’ dichotomies to discern how those whose who find security in power leverage whatever works best to accumulate or defend power in a given context. More broadly, his work helps us look at power dynamics in specific moments of organisational life. For example, in training on how to give an appraisal, it may help both individuals to act ethically if they are conscious of the power dynamics present in the relationship between appraiser and appraise and on how this might affect the judgement of performance.
The Cranfield article and examples show how some of Lowen’s discoveries can be applied in non-pathological forms. A particular contribution is to distinguish ‘high-functioning’ and ‘low-functioning’ versions of type behaviour. This positioning offers individuals the possibility to see themselves as active participants in harnessing what is most familiar to and established in their personalities and being able to direct their own beings towards fruitful refinement and expansion, as a matter of ethical choice.
These four elements in particular form part of the underlying structural dynamics of our work, and may be active either unseen (in the mind of the facilitators, or in the communication styles) or actively (raising awareness in leaders and followers of aspects and choices which may previously have been obscured).