Physical Dynamics of Character Structure

Physical Dynamics of Character Structure
Homayoun Shahri, PhD, MA, LMFT
http://www.ravonkavi.com
Homayoun.shahri@ravonkavi.com

Language of the Body
● "Reading the language of body requires that one be in touch with his own body and
sensitive to its expression. Bioenergetic therapists themselves therefore undergo a course
of treatment designed to get them in touch with their own bodies. Few people in our
culture are free from muscular tensions that structure their responses and define the roles
they will play in life. These tension patterns reflect in traumas they experienced in growing
up - rejection, deprivation, seduction, suppression and frustration. Not everyone has
experienced these traumas with an equal intensity. If, for example, rejection dominated the
life experience of a child, he will develop a schizoid pattern of behavior that is both
physically and psychologically structured in his personality. This becomes second nature to
the individual and cannot be changed except by a recovery of one's first nature. The same
is true for all other patterns of behavior." Bioenergetics - Alexander Lowen, MD

Function of nervous system (Poem)
The nervous system has a lot of functions
Which commences to keep you from dysfunction
One of them is to gather information
That we get from sensations
Then send it to the brain through neurons as a vibration
An impulse to the central nervous system power station
Motor neurons then call on the effectors
To the brain they are the directors
Either the somatic or autonomic system
There are a lot of reactions in your body; I’m not gonna list them

Human Nervous System
● Central Nervous System (CNS)
– Brain, Spine
● Peripheral Nervous System
– Somatic
● Afferents (Sensory)
● Efferents (Motor)
– Autonomic
● Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)
● Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)
– Dorsal Vagal Complex (DVC – unmyelinated)
– Ventral Vagal Complex (VVC – myelinated)

Central and Peripheral Nervous System

Mirror Neurons and Vagus Nerve
● Mirror Neurons
– A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires
both when an animal acts and when
the animal observes the same action
performed by another
● Vagus Nerve
– Tenth Cranial nerve responsible for
mammalian social engagement and
freeze response, and many other
functions, such heart regulation, etc.

Optimal Window of Arousal
- Sympathetic Nervous System
- Hyper-arousal
- Social Engagement System
- Ventral vagal complex
- Optimal window of arousal
- Hypo-arousal
- Dorsal vagal complex

Introduction to Systems Theory
● A system can be viewed as a group of interacting,
interrelated, and interdependent elements and bounded
processes.
● Systems transform inputs that are consumed into
outputs that are produced.
● Systems are characterized by their boundaries, which
separate them from their surroundings. This boundary
may be real or notional but it defines a finite volume,
within which the system operates and exchanges
energy or matter with its surrounding. Systems are also
characterized by their internal laws of functioning.

Introduction to Systems Theory (Cont)
● The dynamical system concept is a formalization in which the
behavior of the system is said to be dependent on the time and
position of the system in space.
● Complexity in a system indicates how relationships between parts
give rise to new behaviors and how a system interacts and forms
new relationships with its environment and surroundings.
● Complex systems are open and dynamical, and tend to be self-
organizing.
● Self-organization is the process by which the system may form a
structure or pattern in its behavior without an external entity or
element that’s affecting it.

Life Viewed as a System
● Open, Complex, Dynamical, and Self Organizing Systems

Recognitions (Irving Feldman)
Not the God, though it might have been,
savoring some notion of me
and exciting the cloud where he was hidden
with impetuous thunder-strokes of summoning
- it was merely you who recognized me,
speaking my name in such a tone
I knew you had been thinking it
a long, long time, and now revealed yourself
in this way.
Because of this, suddenly
who I was was precious to me.

Wilhelm Reich, M.D.
● Student of Freud, and president of Vienna psychoanalytic
society
● Recognized as the father of somatic psychology
“Only the liberation of the natural capacity
for love in human beings can master their
sadistic destructiveness.” Wilhelm Reich

Wilhelm Reich – His Early Theories –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-CFLl9RL5A

Alexander Lowen, M.D.
● Student and analysand of Wilhelm Reich and founder of
Bioenergetic Analysis
● Introduced “Language of the Body”.
● How to determine the inner workings of body (psyche) by
observing it.

Language of the Body –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIi0ED2GSs8

Drive, Repression, and Identification
1. Impulse (drive) seeking expression
2. Environmental negativity
3. Redirection of the original drive
4. Drive turning against itself
5. Drive seeking alternative expression
6. Muscular Armor blocking the drive
“I came to consider the instinct as nothing more than the motor aspect of pleasure.", Wilhelm
Reich, The Function of the Orgasm

Old Object Relations, and Introjects
7.Identification with environmental negativity, and introjection
“And the truth must finally lie in that which every oppressed individual feels within himself
but hasn't the courage to express”, Wilhelm Reich

Mother, Father, Child Triad
● Formation of the psyche of a child
“Psychic illnesses are the result of a disturbance of the natural capacity for love.”,
Wilhelm Reich

Character Structure
● Sum total all repressed ego instincts (drives) and their
frustration, resulting in introjects, formation of false
self, and formation of muscular armor
“The root cause of all neurosis is disappointment in love”, Wilhelm Reich

Self-Portrait (David Whyte)
It doesn't interest me if there is one God or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need to change you.
If you can look back with firm eyes saying this is where I stand.
I want to know if you know how to melt into that fierce heat of living falling toward the
center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love and the
bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God.

Character Armor
The CHARACTER is the totality of the mechanical, automatic
and unconscious ways of reacting, by which the individual maintained
his or her psycho-physical balance; a balance that makes
sure that the feelings, emotions and bodily impulses which
for various reasons have been blocked, remain separated
from the consciousness of the individual. (Alexander Lowen)
Reich named this CHARACTER STRUCTURE -
the Character armor, because of its function as a defense.
This armor has a bodily side in the form of chronic
muscular tensions, where the repressed material is hidden.
(Alexander Lowen)

Early Bioenergetics (Alexander Lowen, M.D.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or8UGnIy1o4)

Working with Character Armor -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0WSqbTX9Xc

Hypo – Muscular Structure (Early Trauma) Bodynamics
●
Hypo-responsiveness – If a child is repeatedly or severely frustrated early in the time period
when a particular psychomotor action is coming under voluntary control, the muscle can become
weakened in its responsiveness. This weakened response can also be created when the child
has been confronted with an overwhelming task or was taxed too early in this aspect of
development, before having the strength and solidity to tolerate this particular stress. We call this
tendency the hypo-response. As an adult, the person literally does not sense much impulse in
the muscle and therefore the psychological function is not so available. Use of this muscle will be
accompanied by varying degrees of resignation, slowness, or loss of impulse. When a hypo-
responsive muscle is activated the person may feel tired, the movement may feel too difficult or
painful, and he may be easily distracted or want to give up. At times despair, sadness, and
helplessness might arise. These feelings mirror those that took place during the time of the
muscle’s imprinting.

Hyper – Muscular Structure (Late Trauma) Bodynamics
● Hyper-responsiveness – If a child is not frustrated early or severely, but only somewhat later in the imprinting time period,
then he will have already mastered some of the physical and psychological abilities related to this muscle and its action.
Now, in varying degrees he has to hold back, rigidify, or fight for his right to express himself. A different imprint will be
developed, one we call a hyper-response. This hyper-response is actually what people are broadly referring to when they
speak about body armor, a concept originated by Reich and recognized by most contemporary psychotherapists. In the
adult the impulse in the hyper- muscle will tend to be restrained or strongly held back, or may be compulsively and
repetitively activated. When a hyper-responsive muscle is activated a person may feel varying degrees of control, hardness,
intensity, rigidity, and/or an overdoing. With high degrees of over control, a person feels cut off from others and from their
own energy, and lacks flexibility and resiliency. He loses his resourcefulness. Interestingly, in a stressful culture such as
ours, some degree of hyper-responsiveness in certain postural and boundary muscles is usually needed to be able to
tolerate the stresses of the world. A person without these is vulnerable to being overwhelmed.

Fascia and Tendon – Bodynamics
● Fascia and tendon – The experience of Analysts is that psychological imprinting also applies to other tissues
in the body. We believe that most if not all soft tissue may have a neutral, hypo-, or hyper-responsive
dynamic. In particular, we also record certain fascia and tendon responses on the Bodymap. The fascia is a
system of fibers that surround nearly all the soft tissues of the body (organs, muscles, etc.), serving to wrap,
hold together, link up, and support these structures. We test fascia the same way we test muscle, though
the location will be different. Often we have to distinguish between fascia and muscle tissue as they are
intertwined. Psychologically speaking, fascia is a more primitive, less differentiated structure than is
voluntary musculature, and it functions more along with the reflex system than the voluntary system. Thus it
is more dominant very early in life, before the voluntary has had a chance to take hold, and it is also more
involved in shock trauma situations where again, the voluntary has been overwhelmed by the involuntary.
For example, we examine fascia points to detect the presence of unresolved birth issues.

Formation of Character Structure – Bodynamics
● Implicitly character structures come about through breaks
in mutual connection. Every time there is a break in mutual
connection there is break in development. A break in
mutual connection occurs whenever a child is placed in a
dilemma of having to give up an impulse or resource in
order to maintain contact, or having to give up contact in
order to keep the impulse. The early or late character
position for each stage are the ways the child attempts to
maintain a connection to self and other.

Formation of Character Structure – Bodynamics (Cont)
● A child in the early position of a character structure will
tend to withdraw from connection to maintain a sense of
self. The later positions in each structure fight for contact,
but will then give up maintaining a sense of self. While they
fight for contact, they don’t trust the contact and thus don’t
let it in. Additionally, the fighting often breaks the contact,
since from the outside it may be perceived as pushing
away. So we can see that both early and late positions
have compromised their abilities to simultaneously be in
contact and have a clear sense of themselves (own their
impulses).

Hypo, Hyper, and Optimal Window of Arousal
- Sympathetic Nervous System
- Hyper-arousal
- Tense and contracted muscles
- Social Engagement System
- Ventral vagal complex
- Optimal window of arousal
- Hypo-arousal
- Dorsal vagal complex
- Flaccid muscles

Drive – Impulse Object or Pleasure Seeking?
Object Seeking Pleasure Seeking
Drive – Impulse

Drive – Impulse when facing Environmental Negativity
● If trauma was strong and early, drive – impulse would be
weak
– Contact (seeking objects) and pleasure are sacrificed to
maintain a sense of self
● If trauma was not very strong, drive – impulse might be
strong
– pleasure is then sacrificed (repressed) to maintain
contact

The Schizoid Character Structure
● Spastic muscles (and/or stringy muscles)
● Usually walks awkwardly
● Split in the body (top and bottom half, or twisted, or split around the center)
● Breathing is very shallow
● Feelings are repressed
● Eyes are dull that do not connect
● Tensions in the joints
● Tendency to live in the head and fantasy
● Has sex to feel alive

The Schizoid Character Structure (Cont)
● Existence (womb - 3 months): where a basic imprint of one's
right to exist and sense of being alive is formed, from womb life,
birth and early infancy. In an adult, the disruptions from this
stage can manifest as either a withdrawal from connection and
a strong mental life (early trauma – hypo response), or as an
anxiousness about possible loss of connection to others and a
strong emotional energy (late trauma – hyper response).

Exercise 1
● P & C Sit facing each other. C closes his eyes.
● C brings his head down in fetal-like position.
● Slowly C opens his eyes, lifts his head, and reaches for P.
● P remain rigid and expresses hostility and resentment toward C through eyes.
● Eventually C with eyes open says “I am”, and meets the rejecting eyes of P.
● The more C expresses “I am”, the more he faces rejection – Schizoid structure.
● P contacts C out of guilt, and C contacts P out of desperation.
● P & C become aware of what they have to deny in themselves to get affirmation and
what they want from environment.
● (Courtesy of Dr Robert Hilton)

I am Breathing (Mary Oliver)
Breathing just a little
life flows
without thought
of each moment passing
away
draining into the next
every drop of anticipation
sucked dry
of life's rich bounty
unfolding
in the unexpected joy
of being alive.
Breathing together
of all things
I find myself
awakened
revelling in every drop
of anticipation
dripping wet in the ripe, rich fruit
of life
flowing
effortlessly
into the unexpected joy
of being alive.

The Oral Character Structure
● Elongated and narrow body
● Child-like face and body
● Dependent personality
● Knees are locked
● Not much body hair (child-like)
● Complains of lack of energy
● Breathing is not full
● Collapsed chest
● Has sex to seek contact

The Oral Character Structure (Cont)
● Need (1 month - 18 months): where the infant's experience of
having core satisfaction of basic needs is established in the
relationship with the parents, leading to the beginning of self-
regulation. In an adult, the disruptions from this stage can
manifest either as a despairing or distrustful attitude about
being able to get you needs met (early trauma – hypo
response), and not being aware of what your needs are or how
to sense satisfaction (late trauma – hyper response).

Exercise 2
●
P & C breathe while standing and reach out to each other with their arms.
● Both experience vulnerability while reaching out.
● C sits down and reaches for P, and takes P's hand, who is standing over him, and
allows C to take his hand and bring it toward himself, while C says “I need you”.
● P without awareness of C's feelings take his hand and walks away.
● P returns and C reaches again. This time P smiles at C but only touches the tips of
C's fingers not allowing C to hold on or take his hand.
● P then walks around C as if he is preoccupied with something glancing around the
room while C tries to follow P with his eyes and uplifted head.
● C eventually gives up the struggle.

The Joy that Wounds (Rumi)
Love asks us to enjoy our life
For nothing good can come of death.
Who is alive? I ask.
Those who are born of love.
Seek us in love itself,
Seek love in us ourselves.
Sometimes I venerate love,
Sometimes it venerates me.

Narcissistic (Psychopathic) Character Structure
● Body is top heavy (energy in the upper half of the body)
● Tends to control using power or manipulation
● Tension in the neck (resulting in disconnection from body)
● Tension in the waist separating two halves of body
● Tension in genital disconnecting it from feelings
● Inflated chest in Power Psychopath, and raised shoulders
or squared shoulders in manipulative type
● Grandiose image of himself
● Has sex to control and manipulate

Narcissitic Character Structure (Cont)
● Autonomy (8 months - 2 years, 6 months): The child's curiosity and life force
moves them to explore the world through an explosion of psychomotor skills.
An imprint of the child's impulses toward autonomy is formed. In an adult,
the disruptions from this stage can lead to a lack of awareness of one’s own
impulses and feelings (early trauma – hypo response), or to a fear of having
to give up one’s impulses and feelings in order to be in relationship, leading
to the avoiding of commitments (late trauma – hyper response).

Exercise 3
● C sits while P stands over him. C reaches toward P and says “I need your help.” P
responds with a conning and manipulative smile and says “Of course, I'll help you”,
and reaches down and touches C.
● C again says “I need your help”, but this time his helplessness feelings are not
responded to by P, who instead acts indifferent. C begins to complement P on being a
good parent (to inflate his ego). P then comes to help C.
● When C asks for help, P uses C's helplessness to meet P's own ego needs.
● When C says “I need you”, P responds by telling C how big he is and how proud P is
of him, thereby defending P position as a good parent and causing C to deny and turn
against his own helplessness.
● C is conned into believing P and rises up on shaky legs with illusion that he is strong,
and moves around in this position.

Move Into Your House of Joy (Rumi)
If you knew yourself for even one moment,
if you could just glimpse
your most beautiful face,
maybe you wouldn't slumber so deeply
in that house of clay.
Why not move into your house of joy
and shine into every crevice!
For you are the secret
Treasure-bearer,
and always have been.
Didn't you know?

Masochistic Character Structure
● Body is muscular and big (may also be fat – stagnant energy)
● Tendency to complain
● Holds in feelings
● Thick/short neck
● Peripherals of the body are not charged
● Pelvis is tucked in, and back is collapsed
● Has a lot of energy but bound in his structure
● Does not enjoy sex!

Masochistic Character Structure (Cont)
● Will (2 - 4 years): The child's at this age becomes able to separate
her thinking, intentions, and actions; to make choices and put all her
power into her action. In an adult, the disruptions from this stage can
lead to either acting from a self-sacrificing position and having
difficulties in planning (early trauma – hypo response), or holding
back power and appearing angry, while believing that if there is a
problem it is someone else’s fault (late trauma – hyper response).

Exercise 4
● C sits and says to P “I don't need you.” P while standing, responds by reaching down,
and touching C and saying “I understand”.
● C expresses to P some deep feeling such as “I am lonely” or “I am frightened” or “I
feel sad.” P then says “I understand”, picks some food and attempts to put the food in
C's mouth as a response to what what C expresses. Regardless of C says, P
responds with “I understand” and forces food.
● C says “I don't need you” and P looks very sad and distraught and says “Don't think
about me.” P leans over C and C pushes on his chest or shoulders and says “I don't
need you”, while P continues to put his weight on C's arms. Eventually the arms are
forced to collapse and P falls on C's chest.

Guest House (Rumi)
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

The Rigid Character Structure
● Body is well proportioned
● Very energetic and industrious (achiever)
● Heart and sexuality are not connected (diaphragmatic tension)
● Suffers from sexual anxiety
● Holds tension in long muscles of the back to “stand tall”
● He is free (in energetic sense), but cannot “let go”,
else he has to open his heart!
● Has sex to conquer

Rigid Character Structure (Cont)
● Love/Sexuality (3 - 6 years): Where the child learns to love in a
romantic way and learns to integrate heart and sexual feelings. In an
adult, the disruptions from this stage can lead to a split between
loving and sexual feelings (early trauma – hypo response), and a
romantic or seductive way of being in relationship (late trauma –
hyper response).

Exercise 5
● C is sitting down and reaching up to P and saying “I want you” or “I love you.”
● The first time C says it, P responds by making contact with C. C then slowly move his
pelvis front and back while reaching and days “I want you” or “I love you.”
● P sees the pelvic movement connected with the statement and this time turns his
back on C (usually resulting in immediate freezing of C pelvis). When C again makes
the statement without the movement of the pelvis, P responds.
● Now C moves his pelvis and says “I love you,” and then P standing over him move
his pelvis with C, and responds with “I love you too.” (this overwhelms C and results
in freezing of his pelvis)
● Now C stands, reaches out to P and says “I love you,” and P, without moving toward
C and in a self-assured way, says “of course you do”.

Character Structure - Energy
● Schizoid – hold together (existence vs need)
● Oral – hold on (need vs independence)
● Psychopathic (Narcissistic) – hold up (independence vs
closeness)
● Masochistic – hold in (closeness vs freedom)
● Rigid – hold back (freedom vs letting go)

Words of Wisdom (Alexander Lowen, MD)
We deaden our bodies to avoid our
aliveness.
We then pretend to be alive to avoid our
deadness.

Alexander Lowen, MD on Mind & Body

Relational Somatic Psychotherapy (Robert Hilton, PhD)
"We are whole beings, heart, soul, and sexuality. This
wholeness and sense of well-being is maintained through the
empathic core relatedness of our caregivers, and more
importantly, in their desire to repair misattunement. When this
repair does not take place, we become divided and split from
our original spontaneous selves ... If misattunment divided us,
it is empathic attunement that gives us the possibility of
recovery. This kind of attention causes us to feel the
preciousness of our souls and the true value of our love ...
We slowly become free to choose, love and express our
separate and true selves."

Rumi
THROUGH LOVE all that is bitter will sweet
Through Love all that is copper will be gold.
Through Love all dregs will turn to purest wine
Through Love all pain will turn to medicine.
Through Love the dead will all become alive.
Through Love the king will turn into a slave!

Reference
● Shahri, H. (2014). Toward an integrative model for
developmental trauma. International Body Psychotherapy
Journal, 13(1), 52-67. (http://goo.gl/UahNKP)

Physical Dynamics of Character Structure

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