Therapeutic Body Expression

Presentation

Therapeutic body expression is a dance therapy approach that emphasizes spontaneous and creative movement as a pathway to internal psychological processes. It fundamentally differs from artistic dance in its orientation: the aim is not to produce aesthetic, controlled or performative movement, but to use the moving body as a space for exploration, expression and transformation.

This approach inherits from modern dance pioneers (Isadora Duncan, Mary Wigman) who freed movement from academic constraints, and from clinical dance therapy developments that structured this freedom within a therapeutic framework. It is accessible to anyone regardless of physical ability or dance experience.

Founding axiom: the process of moving is inherently therapeutic; the aesthetic result is secondary.

Body Schema and Body Image

Body schema is the neurological representation of the body in space — position, boundaries, coordination — largely unconscious and based on proprioceptive, vestibular and tactile information. Body image is the psychological, emotional and social representation one has of one's own body.

Therapeutic body expression works on both dimensions: re-inhabiting one's body (body schema) and transforming the way one perceives it (body image). Exercises include conscious self-touch exploration, expansion/contraction movements, mirror work, body drawing before and after sessions, and exploration of "forgotten" or "forbidden" body zones.

Warm-up and Movement Techniques

• Body scanning in movement: mentally traversing each body part while associating micro-movements, observing zones of tension, emptiness or pleasure.
• Breath and movement: linking each inhalation to expansion, each exhalation to release.
• Segmental movement: isolating one body part and exploring it in all possible directions, speeds and intensities.
• Movement chains: letting a movement initiated in one body part progressively spread to the entire body.
• Quality contrasts: exploring slow/fast, heavy/light, fluid/sharp, large/small to enrich the body vocabulary.

Music is used as a tool but alternated with silence, allowing patients to discover their own internal rhythm.

Clinical Applications

Eating disorders

Anorexia, bulimia and binge eating involve deep disruption of the body relationship. Therapeutic body expression progressively restores proprioceptive awareness, explores pleasant bodily sensations, develops realistic perception of body boundaries and builds a compassionate relationship with the moving body.

Depression

Depression manifests physically through psychomotor slowing, postural withdrawal and reduced personal space. Body expression work re-engages the body in a non-directive way, explores vitality and lightness qualities, and recovers a sense of agency.

Older adults

Adapted body expression maintains body awareness, stimulates coordination and balance, fosters social bonds in institutions, and preserves identity despite bodily changes of aging.

Contraindications

• Acute decompensated psychotic episode
• Severe dissociative states (free movement may amplify symptoms)
• Severe body dysmorphic disorder (group observation may be anxiety-inducing)
• Acute physical injuries (adapt movements)
• Major resistance to body-based work (respect the patient's pace)

Therapeutic body expression is complementary to medical or psychotherapeutic treatment. The therapist must be trained in managing intense emotions and body-based transference phenomena.