A Way to Embodiment through Aesthetic Relationship: Transformational Body Tracings

Zeynep Qatay and Marcia Plevin

THE METHODOLOGY OF TRANSFORMATIONAL BODY TRACINGS

Various uses of the body outline have been common in arts therapies. They have been used for exploration of the body image (Della Cagnoletta, 2010), or for building a narrative for the sense of self where one can represent various social, cultural influences and traumatic experiences (Jager, Tewson, Ludlow, & Boydell, 2016). Body outline is also used with children widely to support the development of the sense of self and affect regulation (e.g., Steinhardt, 1985). Medical art therapy is another field where body mapping is used extensively, mostly where difficult sensations and pain in the body can be expressed and processed (Luzzatto, Sercno, & Capps, 2003).

Our use of the body outline differs from these methods in several ways. While most of the commonly used body drawing methods call for representations of the body image or bodily experience, the Transformational Body Tracing (1151) is directed at capturing the immediacy of the bodily experience and its transformation over time.

What follows is a description of the way TBT can be implemented in a workshop or training seminar. At the beginning of the process the movers are asked to lie down on a large piece of paper and the contours of their body are outlined. These outlines are then hung on the wall at the eye level of the mover and remain there for the duration of the work. After movers are guided through movement experientials, they are invited to meet their TBT. They are asked to stay closely connected to their just lived-in-body experiences while bringing them onto the TBT, expressing what they are aware of in their bodies at that time. We have chosen to provide three types of art materials for this process, namely, markers with large heads, oil and chalk pastels. After filling in their TBTs, movers also have a time to do reflective writing on both their movement process and their body outlines. The process of going between movement and filling in the TBT continues throughout the seminar or the session. Over time, the TBTs become fuller, more saturated and keep being transformed. At various points movers can also be instructed to observe their TBTs and transfer what they perceive back to their bodies through moving in response to their outlines. This basic methodology can be adapted according to the context, the population worked with and the goals. It can be used in an educational setting, to support development of dance therapy students or it may be used in clinical settings (see Photo 6.1). For an example of TBT being used with a clinical population see Karadayi, 2017.

The TBT has been experimented with and used since 1993 within the Creative Movement, a method called the Garcia-Plevin training program, that began in Rome and has since been taught in various parts of the world. This chapter is based on an investigation of the TBT as used in an educational setting with students of the Creative Movement — Garcia-Plevinmethod. Although the basic form had been employed with variations in different settings, the current formulation of the methodology was spelled out and the name “Transformational Body Tracings” was coined by Marcia Plevin in the context of this investigation.

The student group for the Creative Movement class comprised psychologists, counselors, educators or artists who wanted to learn this method so they could integrate it into their work or for personal development. TBTs were used in intensive three-day or five-day seminars. Students’ reflection papers about their process were thematically analyzed to inquire into the phenomenology of this experience. In addition, TBTs were photographed and catalogued digitally so that their development could be documented. In order to identify the appearance of different body elements on the TBTs, these catalogued images were examined by the authors. The common elements that became evident in the body outlines, the use of color, line quality and so on, were noted. The transformation in the use of these elements and how they connected with each other were also examined.

ON EMBODIMENT

The term embodiment is mainly rooted in the research literature of embodied cognition, which highlighted the vital connections between physically acting on the world and knowing it. In this view, the body is not seen as a passive processor of information. Its active engagement with the world surrounding us is a crucial aspect of the dynamic processes that bring forth perception and cognition (Varela, Thompson, & Rosch, 1991). What we perceive affects the way we move and how we move affects the way we feel, perceive and come to know the world, hence forming a feedback loop (Koch & Fuchs, 2011). The philosophical roots of the concept are generally tied to Merleau-Polity’s (1962 [1945]) vision of the physical and phenomenological body and the importance of the experienced, lived-in-body as the connection point of agency and subjectivity. Through moving and acting on the world we become aware of and actualize our agency.

The importance of the concept of embodiment is supported today by multiple lines of research demonstrating the inseparable ties between bodily experience and development of various psychological faculties such as affect, cognition and interpersonal processes. In developmental psychology, many studies demonstrate that the earliest body-based experiences form the nucleus in the organization of the self and implicit memories (Schore, 2003; Beebe & Lachmann, 2014; Stern, 1985). The Kestenberg Movement Profile also provides us with a refined understanding of how rhythmic and spatial elements of movement and interaction are connected to development (Kestenberg-Amighi, Loman, Lewis, & Sossin, 1999). Hence many forms of psychotherapy today try to find ways to tap into the layers of information that are stored in the body and to reach an understanding of self that is embodied.

Dance/Movement Therapy provides a wealth of methods to tap into the body wisdom, understand the interconnections between affect, memory, intersubjective experience and bodily experience while also engaging the creative, expressive capacities. A number of authors have pointed out that the latest developments in neuroscience provide the area of dance therapy with new concepts and tools to refine our understanding of how this process works (Payne, 2017; Homann, 2010).

Linking dance therapy with the literature on embodiment research, Koch and Fuchs (2011) have actually proposed to define dance therapy as one of the “embodied arts therapies.” As the authors remind us, the body is the only object that can perceive itself from inside and outside (p. 276). It is the point of integration and reorganization of varied sensory data. Our body can move in the space and also feel the experience of moving. If we pay enough attention and bring awareness into it, it can also become aware of the subtleties of how the movement is lived-in the body. This phenomenological information in turn gives birth to the impulse for the next movement. Going back and forth between these two modes of expression and impression, engaging the circular feedback loop, leads to an ever growing state of integration of the sense of self as an active subjectivity (Koch & Fuchs, 2011).

The use of Transformational Body Tracings is in fact a detailed form of engaging this feedback loop while also integrating a visual medium (Garcia, Plevin, & Macagno, 2011 [2006]). We have observed that it leads to a more embodied sense of being in the body while also leading to growth and transformation. The way we will refer to embodiment in this chapter is as a desired state of being present in the body where movement is accompanied with increasing levels of awareness. It can be defined as an achieved state of glowing consciousness into the connections between the moving/sensing body and various layers of self. We believe that exploring different stages in the use of TBT and what happens for the mover at the phenomenological, symbolic and neuropsychological levels provides us with insight into how this process grows.

MULTIPLE CONTAINERS

Bringing together different layers of self necessitates a reliable container. Winnicott (1965) was one of the major psychoanalysts who enabled us to understand the importance of the containing function of the parent for the child and the therapist for the patient. In this work there were many containers that functioned at different levels. Drawing of the TBT itself, where the body boundaries are outlined with the help of another group member, can become a containing experience from the beginning. One mover’s description of her body outline being drawn is a good example:

I let my body lie comfortably on the paper. My body outline being drawn felt like an experience of being contained. I felt myself relaxed, peaceful and contained.

When the body outlines are hung on the walls of the studio, they encircle the space in a way that holds the movers (see Photo 6.2). They mark the boundaries of the space where deepening levels of movement work is to take place. The nonjudgmental attitude of the teachers/therapists, the encouragement of play and the group process also create the trust necessary for the mover to experiment. A reciprocal nurturing field slowly establishes itself between the TBT and the mover, and among the group of movers through moving together, encountering each others’ TBTs in the studio and verbally sharing their experiences during the day. One participant particularly spoke to the sense of safety in the group that allowed her to express playfulness:

The last group exercise which included lots of play and physical contact brought joy and was reflected as a pink contour surrounding my body on my TBT. When I think about how grateful I was towards this safe space and the group which let me play freely, I interpret that pink outline as the womb, containing and safe.

With the ongoing accumulation of movement experiences, written reflections and body memories, the TBT in fact becomes a container for the body sense and the whole person. At the end, it helps the mover understand how one’s body provides containment and support for the self so that it can become a body that one can truly inhabit.