Brigitte Mowat

Touch in the AT context: a developmental perspective 

One of the themes that emerged from my MSc research, in which I explored the impact of counselling and psychotherapy skills on the practice of the AT, was the need of a pupil to feel safe in expressing emotions that surface as a result of hands-on work in an AT lesson. Another theme concerned the lack of understanding about how the release of muscular tension impacts on the emotions.
Although touch is a much less frequent intervention in psychotherapy than in the AT, it is widely researched and discussed in psychotherapeutic literature. This contrasts markedly with the AT, where touch is an everyday intervention, but little discussion takes place on the effect of touch on the emotions and the therapeutic benefits this may have.
A wealth of research has shown that the quality and amount of touch we receive from our carers helps shape our physical, emotional and spiritual development. By way of establishing a theoretical framework for understanding the release of muscular tension, I will present findings from contemporary psychology that correlate human development with the ancient chakra system. This offers an exciting insight into psychophysical integration - a theory that seeks to embrace the physical, emotional and transpersonal domains.