In the field of the psychotherapy There are numerous currents and ways of working. The Integration-Diafreo Body Therapy method is part of those who consider that The human being is a physical, psychological, social, energetic and spiritual unit.Which can only be understood from this complexity, which places it among the humanistic approaches.
Integration Body Therapy-Diafreo (from here on, Diafreo method) has a theoretical and practical corpus that seeks to encompass this complex entity that is the human being, starting from work on the body and the muscles.
The main foundations that it uses are the theory of muscle chains Françoise Mézières and Wilhelm Reich's concept of muscular armor and character development. However, the Diafreo method is neither the Mézières method nor a Reichian discipline, although it uses both. The particularity of the method we will work with during the course lies in its integrative aspectthe result of the inclusion of tools developed within the scientific and clinical fields: anatomy, physiology, kinesitherapy, psychology, psychotherapy and linguistics.
As a therapeutic method, its purpose is in line with the 1948 declaration of the World Health Organization, which, in abbreviated form, states: “health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being, with the capacity to function, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”, to which we add: “…and the ability to live one’s dreams and develop one’s own potential”. It is from this global vision of the person that our professional commitment is oriented towards personal development, the prevention of disease and the promotion of health.
The cycle of need and its imprint on body memory
We inhabit a body. We are a body. A body with organic characteristics, organized around a nervous system responsible for coordinating its structures, facilitating its functions and with needs for contact, nutrition, care, protection and emotional and intellectual fulfillment.
At birth A healthy body is balanced. He remains at rest while his biological and emotional needs are satisfied. When he requires attention, the imbalance and underlying tension lead him to express them and explore the environment. In this relationship The link between individual and environment developsand perhaps therein lies the experience of love.
The first years of life have enormous importance for emotional development and behaviour. The imprint of this learning is left on the brain and will presumably be reflected in the form of dysfunctions when the environment is hostile and restrictive, or in the development of healthy functions when the environment is safe and loving.
The different ones needs The needs that the child experiences (hunger, pain, cold, etc.) involve different forms of response from the whole organism, from the internal organs to the nervous system and from the endocrine system to the smooth and striated muscles. When a need has not been able to be satisfied, the organism produces a type of response marked by a reduction in perception, muscle contraction and a weakening of the respiratory flow. If this type of experience between a situation of need and an inhibitory response occurs continuously, the body will tend to remain fixed in an overloaded posture, forming a more or less rigid body pattern, organizing the mind from sensory restriction.
From muscular inhibition to emotional imbalance
This muscularly contracted body territory becomes opaque to consciousness. Its mobilization will be feared because of the possibility of re-experiencing the stressful events. Thus, in tune with those developed parts, Situations are sought where the body shape feels safeavoiding those that represent a challenge for the atrophied part. In this way, new experiences serve the consolidation of the avoidant psychological structurecharacterized by the blocking of action and a consequent feeling of helplessness, frustration, emotional imbalance and increased anxiety levels.
The first warning signs appear in the form of tension pains various (head, limbs, back, neck, abdomen), while breathing is reduced to a minimal and sometimes paradoxical movement. Behaviour tends to become disorganised and so, for example, we eat excessively or in a deficient manner, we have difficulty sleeping or sleep excessively, palpitations appear without any apparent cause, constipation, diarrhoea and a large number of physical and psychological symptoms. These symptoms are the messages with which the body warns that something is not right.
Body awareness and self-regulation
Sensation is a process by which the organism sends out a precise signal about any change that occurs within it. These changes can be internal (organic) or external (environmental) and generally produce a response that is most often associated with an emotion. Thus, faced with any type of change in internal and/or external conditions, the organism loses its homeostasis, returning to previous levels of rest when the response is effective. This principle of balance/change response/rebalancing is a biological process.
Body awareness is the process of becoming aware of both internal and external conditions that are linked to certain emotional states and associated motor responses. In body awareness lies the principle of self-awareness. Body awareness is self-perception and the process by which one recognizes what is appropriate in a particular situation.
Diafreo method techniques: work on the body structure
The techniques developed by the Diafreo method allow the approach and knowledge of one's own body and understanding of psychological processes that occur in it. Starting from a series of assumptions about healthy body shapes and, after applying tests on the range of body movement in each person, we arrive at the formulation of hypotheses about the flexibility, rigidity or inhibition of certain muscle groups. In this way, the work and attention to the process is personalized for each participant in the group.
They are indicators of body health developed and flexible musculaturesoft shapes, symmetry on the longitudinal axis, alignment of the different segments on transverse axes (mainly scapular and pelvic) and the ability to maintain a dynamic breathingThese body shapes allow for greater plasticity and spontaneity in movements and a more authentic emotional expression of mood and thought.
The techniques of the Diafreo method focus on body work, the contact of the hands with the person's body takes up an important space. The hands serve to relax the painful areas and to help feel a limit to a physical part with little body awareness.
The work begins with the body: releasing muscle contractions, focusing on breathing and stretching contracted muscles in order to bring the body closer to its axis. In this way, by releasing closed pathways, the person can experience greater vitality and fullness. By harmonizing body shapes, rebalancing muscle tone and releasing diaphragmatic movement, a fluid balance is reestablished between organic, emotional and cognitive functions.
The word is a fundamental instrument in body work, since it is the cultural element on which much of human thought and consciousness is based. Just as lived experience allows us to establish certainties about how the events of our lives affect us, the word allows us to elaborate that experience in a story that gives it coherence and meaning.
Thus, the Release of chronic tensions thanks to the Diafreo method It generates new information from organic and muscular structures, information that reaches different neuronal areas responsible for emotional processing and motor action, which, thanks to thought and conscious activity, promote new ways of resolving new and old situations. It is in this way that contact with the body, and more specifically with sensation, allows us to identify diffuse muscular areas in order to reintegrate their (dys)functions into conscious activity.
Diaphragmatic therapy course led by Luis Juárez
He Diafreo-Body Integration Therapy course It is celebrated from March to June and is taught by Luis Juárez to integrate this entire philosophy into our lifestyle.
Course objectives
This course is designed with a dual purpose, that of being a living space, of experience and personal development and to offer basic training in the principles, procedures and techniques of the Diafreo-Integration Body Therapy method, with the aim of
so that the participant has manual and psychological resources and tools to be able to apply them to their personal and/or professional life.
Who is interested in personal work?
The Diafreotherapy course is open to all those people who want to be accompanied in their personal process, improve their quality of life and increase the Muscular and mental flexibility; to those who suffer from pain and tension, both physical and emotional, and to health professionals (therapists, masseurs, physiotherapists, osteopaths, coaches, psychologists, doctors, etc.) who wish to expand their knowledge in an experimental way and acquire conceptual and practical tools on Integrative Body Therapy to apply them in their field of expertise.
Here you have more information about the course.
About the author of the article
Luis Juarez He is a psychologist specializing in integrative therapy. He has been working as a therapist since 2001, treating patients through Family , Integrative Body Therapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, among other techniques and interventions in which he is an expert.