Academy of Therapy Wisdom - Online Programs and Training for Therapists

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy

Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

With Laurie Ure, LICSW, Robert Coffman, PhD, and Vincentia Schroeter, PhD

TWLogo_IconOnly_GoldTexture
Laurie Ure, LICSW, Robert Coffman, PhD, and Vincentia Schroeter, PhD.

Hello,

The body holds many clues to one’s past and present state of being. Decoding those clues is a strategy therapists can use to help clients unlock emotional pain, blocks, and patterns that keep them from fully enjoying life.

If therapists don’t know how to translate what they are seeing — or know what to look for — it can feel like looking for hidden treasure without a map.

Bioenergetics is a specific approach that unlocks one’s hidden story and understands their personality via the body and its energetic processes. By observing one's mood, posture, and way of moving, therapists are able to see how the unconscious works on the somatic level and explore beyond the client’s verbal story to reveal their full history.

You may be familiar with “The Body Keeps The Score,” van der Kolk’s work on trauma and the body, which advocates going beyond “just talk therapy.” Bioenergetics differs from talk therapy in that it combines analysis of personality and character with body techniques and physical exercises to recognize and release chronic muscular tension.

Chronic tension detracts from life. It draws upon the body’s energy which could be available for pleasure and joy instead. Bioenergetics offers space for the body to heal itself, helping people to be more free, more relaxed, and more alive.

This therapeutic approach helps clients connect with their body and enjoy life to the fullest degree possible.

And the impact of bioenergetic therapy goes beyond the client. 

Everything the therapist learns to do with their client they also learn to do with themselves. They can translate verbal concepts into somatic concepts, and use their own body awareness to discern and provide interventions in the moment. Bioenergetics helps therapists reconceptualize their relationship with clients.

Join us on an adventure in self-discovery, beyond somatics and into a new world of psychotherapy. Bioenergetics will help you further explore the unbreakable link between the body and the mind.

In this course, we’ll cover the following topics:

Module 1: Overview of Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

Module 2: How Bioenergetic Therapy Works

Module 3: Bioenergetic Basic Tools: Grounding & Personal Boundaries

Module 4: Energetics - Depression, Anxiety, Breathing, Muscle Tension

Module 5: Therapeutic Relationship/Trauma/Character Structure

Bioenergetics is especially helpful for difficult and resistant clients; those who are defensive, angry, or depressed; clients who sabotage or won’t do their homework); and clients who frustrate you with overtalking and complaining.

Everyone has a piece of history that connects to their presenting problem; that connection can be seen in the ways a person moves in their body. People tighten their bodies when they are in emotional pain. They tighten in different places than others, depending on their character style. They use their body to help defend against emotional pain they can’t tolerate. Each of these presentations provides clues to how you can help your clients most.

The bioenergetics approach combines psychoanalytic theory with somatic focus within a relational matrix.

In just the first hour, you will learn exclusive breathing techniques you can use with yourself and your clients. You will begin watching your clients’ ways of standing and moving. You will practice simple grounding and boundaries exercises, and see depression, anxiety, and sexuality in clients from a new perspective. Finally, you will be able to consider character traits and trauma in the body.

We look forward to taking this adventure with you and sharing the deep transformational change of Bioenergetics. Please join us.

Warmly,

Academy of Therapy Wisdom
Laurie Ure, LICSW, Robert Coffman, PhD, and Vincentia Schroeter, PhD; Certified Bioenergetic Therapists and Trainers

The young man wore all parts of his body and drink water to prepare for jogging on the running track around the football field.

More than any other modality, Bioenergetics explores the inseparable link between the body and the mind. From a Bioenergetic point of view, the energetic processes of the body determine what goes on in the mind just as they determine what goes on in the body.

Young woman praying and meditating alone at sunset with beautiful ocean and mountain view. Self-analysis and soul-searching. Spiritual and emotional concept

Consider this...

During our development, growth can get interrupted. That interruption creates pathology and/or dysfunctional behavior. If you don’t address where that interruption is stored in the body it will remain stuck there. Bioenergetics will show you how to unlock the body to return clients to better functioning.

The effect is not just stuck in the brain as a way of thinking, it is also held in the body.

How Bioenergetics Helps Clients

Bioenergetics is not just an overlay of the body onto a talk therapy system. It’s a psychodynamic psychotherapy incorporating the body.

Clients can get "stuck" in talk therapy. They need interventions that go beyond talking to address the roots of their unhappiness. Bioenergetics provides tools to integrate verbal and nonverbal expression, and make the unconscious conscious.

Group of young men having psychotherapy session getting help sharing thoughts and supporting each other
trauma therapy

How Bioenergetics Helps Therapists

Bioenergetics doesn’t just help clients.

Bioenergetics recognizes that two bodies are involved in the therapeutic process: the client and the therapist, collaboratively working in the process of deep change.

You will develop a new lens for both observing and treating clients, and for using your own body awareness to guide you in understanding and treating your clients.

If you find yourself feeling inadequate instead of feeling present in the room, Bioenergetics will give you tools to ground and center yourself before and during sessions. We will also teach you tools to help clients be more grounded and less anxious.

Bioenergetics: A New Way to Think About Psychotherapy

What makes this course unique is its experiential learning — observing demonstrations and then practicing the exercises for yourself. By working with the simple tools, you will begin to be able to utilize these new skills:

A new lens (Bioenergetic Analysis) to observe and treat clients

Basic concepts that will immediately improve your connection to, and understanding of, current clients

Increased knowledge of the value of body awareness and tracking

Understanding of how holding patterns contribute to client suffering

Tools to improve clinical work: grounding, breathing, techniques to contain and move stuck affect

Verbal and non-verbal skills for boundary work

Using the language of the body, including character types, to help you see — in the client’s body — aspects of their early wounding that tie into their presenting problem

Elderly patients smile happily. portrait

Here’s everything that’s included with

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy

Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

1) Five PRE-RECORDED TRAINING sessions

90-minute training sessions with Bob, Vin, and Laurie.

video-call
ebp-Laptop-Membership-or-video

2) Five pre-recorded modules

Watch these self-paced study videos to deepen your understanding of each topic.

3) three pre-recorded practice sessions

These 60-minute practice sessions focus on the techniques covered in the training sessions. Each technique will be thoroughly demonstrated and practiced.

THREE LIVE PRACTICE CALLS
Private Membership Site

4) Membership site access

All your course materials in one easy-to-navigate platform, supported by our dedicated customer service team.

5) Downloadable Video, audio, and transcripts

Every session is recorded and available in video, audio, and written formats so you’ll be able to download and own all the content. Watch the training sessions over and over at your leisure.

Laptop-Phone-TakeHome

Plus Bonuses:

1) Polyvagal Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter

Learn how Polyvagal Theory (PVT) dovetails with Bioenergetic Analysis. PVT helps you look through the lens of safety and danger states in the nervous system of your client. Bioenergetics applies somatic techniques that address these states, by following portals in the body to either support or shift those states. This presentation includes original, easy to follow slides, a demonstration, and useful handouts for clinicians.

Polyvagal Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter
2-TABLET-Bonuses

2) A Touchy Subject: The Ethics of Touch in Psychotherapy with Bob Coffman

Although many therapists have learned to avoid touching their clients, in the appropriate context, touch can be a valuable asset to somatic work. Bob will discuss clinical examples and the ethics of working with body-based interventions. A handout covers guidelines for using touch appropriately.

3) Inviting Joy and Cultivating Vitality: The Aim of Bioenergetic Psychotherapy (for therapists and clients alike) with Laurie Ure

Alexander Lowen said “the path to joy leads through despair.” Laurie describes how bioenergetics focuses on feeling emotions such as despair, grief, frustration, anger, and rage, without hurting oneself or anyone else, lead to feeling joy. She explains vitality as an integrated body/mind state of health including feeling fully, breathing deeply, and moving freely. You will hear a story about Laurie’s work helping a very traumatized client focus on joy.

3-TABLET-Bonuses
4-TABLET-Bonuses

4) Fostering Pleasure and Sexuality in Bioenergetic Psychotherapy with Laurie Ure

Bioenergetics defines sexuality as a body-based orientation to pleasure with a flow of good feeling in the body, which sometimes leads to sexual activity. Laurie explains the energetics of sexuality. She discusses how bioenergetic therapists help clients release physical tensions to open blocked sexuality and work through the often complex emotions associated with sexual traumas. The video includes a simple exercise you can do.

5) Considering Catharsis: Avoiding Flooding While Doing Expressive Work with Vin Schroeter and Bob Coffman

A client can become overwhelmed with strong affect. Many therapists are trained to calm, or down-regulate that affect, in the belief that strong expression has no value. We will demonstrate that strong expression, when managed in an informed and contained way by a trained therapist, can lead to insight and integration. A video clip of working with strong affect will be followed by a discussion by the teachers.

ebp-5TABLET-Bonuses
ebp-6TABLET-Bonuses

6) Shame and Bioenergetics with Laurie Ure

Toxic shame often underlies depression, anxiety, addictions, and relationship challenges. Laurie discusses the differences between toxic shame and shame that can lead to relational repair. She describes the physical aspects of shame and demonstrates a bioenergetic body-based exercise that she developed to help clients release toxic shame.

7) Attachment Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter

Vin discusses how attachment patterns are brought into the therapy room. The goal is to increase awareness of relational dynamics by deepening understanding of the client’s attachment styles.

Attachment Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter
ebp-8TABLET-Bonuses

8) Colonialism and the Body in Bioenergetics. An interview with Certified Bioenergetic Therapists from Brazil: Maria Cristina Francisco, PhD, and Jayme Panerai Alves, CRP

Vin interviews this panel to discuss the social clinic movement in Brazil which incorporates bioenergetic exercises. They will explore the impact of colonialism, systemic racism, and ancestral trauma on the body and what bioenergetic therapy offers to address these important issues.

Maria Cristina Francisco, is a clinical psychologist, Certified Bioenergetic Therapist, somatic therapist, and member of Institute AMMA for Psych and Blackness. She is the author of Black Eyes Crossed the Sea – The Black Body on Stage in Bioenergetic Analysis and Biosynthesis.

Jayme Panerai Alves is a psychologist,  psychotherapist, and trainer in Bioenergetic Analysis. He is the author of Presença no Silêncio, and Exercises for Health, and co-author of The Body in Groups - Experiences in Bioenergetic Analysis, and Beyond the Four Walls.

9) The Scientific Origins of Energy in the Human Body with Dr. Martin Picard

Dr. Martin Picard is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine (in Psychiatry and Neurology) at Columbia University. His research focuses on mitochondria across the brain and body, and the link between energy expenditure and lifespan. He makes a brilliant comparison between the functionality of a cell phone and energy in the human body. Laurie interviews him about his study of mitochondria, which drives the flow of energy in our cells, and the impact of stress.

ebp-9TABLET-Bonuses
epb-10TABLET-Bonuses

10) Treating Trauma In the Body with David Berceli, PhD

David Berceli is an international author, bioenergetically trained clinician, and trainer in areas of trauma. He has traveled the globe with his Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) method to help large populations recover from acute trauma. Vin Schroeter interviews him about his TRE protocol, how it works in the body and why clinicians should know about it.

 

11) The Contemporary Relational Model in Bioenergetics: Interview with Robert Hilton, PhD

Robert Hilton is a senior faculty member of the International Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis, co-founder of the Southern California Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis, and author of Relational Somatic Psychotherapy: Collected Essays of Robert M. Hilton. He will talk about his evolution as a bioenergetic analyst from his early work with Dr. Alexander Lowen to today. He will discuss the changing model of the client/therapy relationship in bioenergetics including personal stories and clinical examples.

epb-11TABLET-Bonuses
epb-12TABLET-Bonuses

12) Grounded Spirituality with Jeff Brown

Jeff Brown is a former criminal lawyer and psychotherapist, author of Grounded Spirituality and Hearticulations, and the subject in the award-winning spiritual documentary, ‘Karmageddon’. Jeff discusses his experiences in bioenergetic therapy and how he incorporates it in his writing about spirituality from a grounded position. He shares his wisdom and his playful spirit!

Here’s what You’ll Learn with

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy

Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

Module 1:

Overview of Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

This module orients you to the concepts and theories of Bioenergetics. We will discuss the history of the approach, and how it differs from other body-based therapies. You will learn techniques used in bioenergetics so you can apply them in your therapeutic practice.

We will cover:

What is Bioenergetic Analysis?

How the Body Defends and Protects

Pillow Tool Demonstration

Diagnosis and Treatment

Contemporary Bioenergetics

ebp-1-Module_Images
ebp-2-Module_Images

Module 2:

How Bioenergetic Therapy Works

In this module, you will learn the basics of using Bioenergetics in a therapy session. We will discuss body awareness and demonstrate a bioenergetic assessment — from start to finish — for you to model. The demo is followed by a discussion of the demonstration.

We will cover:

How to start a bioenergetic session

Introducing the Body into a Psychotherapeutic Session

Body Tracking and Awareness in Bioenergetic Psychotherapy

Module 3:

Bioenergetic Basic Tools: Grounding & Personal Boundaries

This module introduces basic tools for grounding and boundary setting that you will use in a session. We will demonstrate grounding and personal boundary work, and explore these practices.

We will cover:

Theory of Grounding and how to use in a session

Personal Boundaries: verbal and non-verbal

Personal Boundaries demonstrations & role plays

ebp-3-Module_Images
ebp-4-Module_Images

Module 4:

Energetics - Depression, Anxiety, Breathing, Muscle Tension

In this module, we will focus on the use of bioenergetics with depression and anxiety. You will learn the tools of breath and release to use with your clients and for yourself.

We will cover:

Breathing and Bioenergetics

Demonstration of breathing over the ball

Energetic dynamics of depression & anxiety

Demonstration of twisting towel

Module 5:

Therapeutic Relationship/ Trauma/ Character Structure

In our final module, you will learn about character structures and see demonstrations of various character types so you can recognize these in your clients.

We will cover:

The Value of the Therapeutic Relationship

The Bioenergetic view of shock trauma

Character structure theory and overview

Character Type Demonstrations - Schizoid, Oral, Borderline, Narcissistic, Masochistic, and Rigid

ebp-5-Module_Images
Academy of Therapy Wisdom - Online Programs and Training for Therapists

Our courses are

At the Intersection of Psychotherapy, spirituality, and social change

WE BELIEVE LEARNING SHOULD CHALLENGE YOU AND CHANGE YOU.

Here’s everything you receive with

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy

Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

1) Five pre-recorded training calls

2) Five pre-recorded modules

3) Three pre-recorded practice calls

4) Membership site access

5) Downloadable video, audio, and transcripts

Plus Bonuses:

1) Polyvagal Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter

2) A touchy subject: The Ethics of Touch in Psychotherapy with Bob Coffman

3) Inviting Joy and Cultivating Vitality: The Aim of Bioenergetic Psychotherapy (for therapists and clients alike) with Laurie Ure

4) Fostering Pleasure and Sexuality in Bioenergetic Psychotherapy with Laurie Ure

5) Considering Catharsis: Avoiding Flooding While Doing Expressive Work with Vin Schroeter and Bob Coffman

6) Releasing Toxic Shame: A Bioenergetic Demonstration with Laurie Ure

7) Attachment Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter

8) Colonialism and the Body in Bioenergetics. An interview with bioenergetic therapists from Brazil: Maria Cristina Francisco and Jayme Panerai Alves.

9) The Scientific Origins of Energy in the Human Body, Dr. Martin Picard

10) Treating Trauma In the Body with David Berceli, internationally-renowned founder of Tension Releasing Exercises

11) The Contemporary Relational Model in Bioenergetics: Interview with Robert Hilton, PhD

12) Grounded Spirituality with Jeff Brown, author of Grounded Spirituality and Hearticulations

ENROLL NOW

Payment of

$997

$647

Join Laurie Ure, Robert Coffman, and Vincentia Schroeter for Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy

accepted-cc-min

If you are a BIPOC helping professional,
please accept our discounted enrollment price for this course by clicking here.
We are glad to have you with us!

Meet Your Presenters

Robert Coffman

Robert Coffman, PhD, is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with over forty-five years experience as a Bioenergetic Analyst and trainer. He is a member of the international faculty of the International Institute of Bioenergetic Analysis (IIBA). He assists as a clinical facilitator for Somatic Experiencing training and has an ongoing private practice in California. www.drrobertcoffman.com

ebp-1picture-with-signature
ebp-2picture-with-signature

Vincentia Schroeter

Vincentia Schroeter, PhD, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over forty years experience as a Bioenergetic Analyst. She is a member of the international faculty of the IIBA, member of SCIBA (Southern California), and past editor of the IIBA journal (2008-2018). She is a co-author with Barbara Thomson of Bend Into Shape, Techniques for Bioenergetic Therapists (2011); author of Communication Breakthrough: How Brain Science and Listening to Body Cues Can Transform Your Relationships (2018); and author of Tilt: Seeking Balance in Troubled Times (2021). www.vincentiaschroeterphd.com

Laurie Ure, LILCSW, CBT

Laurie Ure, a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and Certified Bioenergetic Therapist, has over 25 years of experience as a Bioenergetic Therapist. In addition to work with individuals, she leads Bioenergetic workshops and trains Bioenergetic Therapists in the United States and internationally. Laurie directs the Massachusetts Society for Bioenergetic Analysis and has published many articles about the bioenergetic approach. www.laurieure.com

ebp-3picture-with-signature
Money-Back Guarantee

100% Risk-Free Money-Back Guarantee

We are confident you will really enjoy and benefit from this online training. However, if you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, please contact our support team at support@therapywisdom.com within 7 days of purchaase and we will give you a full refund, no questions asked.

Testimonials

Bioenergetic therapy is not a technique or strategy. It is a way of understanding human experience as emanating from the body-in-the-world and informs everything we do in session. The tools of this therapy are powerful because they start with you, the therapist, and your relationship with yourself and your experiences. Bioenergetic training will help you discover your strengths and support you to develop more of them.

- Leslie C., New Brunswick, CA

The bioenergetic training program was a game changer for how I practice and a life changer for me personally. The depth and complexity of human development and trauma experience which was explored and taught in this program has set me apart from colleagues…and because the program has such a strong experiential component, I have grown and developed as a person in a way that I have deep comfort, confidence, and peace with myself as a therapist.

- Ann C., Michigan

The bioenergetic training program became one of the richest experiences of my life. I grew as a person as I came to understand, and to accept, how my childhood shaped my development and the adult I’ve become. The program included an informative didactic component; however, its richness came from empirical, body-based learning with my peers. The sharing of feelings, stories, tears, and laughs built a sense of community that I had rarely experienced before.

- Dan B, New Brunswick, CA

I have worked with many somatic approaches in my career. All have been extremely useful. However, Bioenergetics was my first love, the meeting that caused me to fall in love with my body. As a therapist I integrate Bioenergetics with Somatic Experiencing, Organic Intelligence, Internal Family Systems and other modalities. I can trust the work to go where it needs to…It leaves me unafraid of intensity, even as I encourage ease and containment in the work.

- ML, Bioenergetic Therapist

Bioenergetic Analysis is the only somatic psychotherapy that incorporates relational and analytic concepts into its practice. This Course is a rare opportunity to learn from three advanced and sophisticated practitioners.

- Helen Resneck-Sannes, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist 

Here’s everything you receive with

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy

Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy Contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis

1) Five pre-recorded training calls

2) Five pre-recorded modules

3) Three pre-recorded practice calls

4) Membership site access

5) Downloadable video, audio, and transcripts

Plus Bonuses:

1) Polyvagal Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter

2) A touchy subject: The Ethics of Touch in Psychotherapy with Bob Coffman

3) Inviting Joy and Cultivating Vitality: The Aim of Bioenergetic Psychotherapy (for therapists and clients alike) with Laurie Ure

4) Fostering Pleasure and Sexuality in Bioenergetic Psychotherapy with Laurie Ure

5) Considering Catharsis: Avoiding Flooding While Doing Expressive Work with Vin Schroeter and Bob Coffman

6) Releasing Toxic Shame: A Bioenergetic Demonstration with Laurie Ure

7) Attachment Theory and Bioenergetics with Vin Schroeter

8) Colonialism and the Body in Bioenergetics. An interview with bioenergetic therapists from Brazil: Maria Cristina Francisco and Jayme Panerai Alves.

9) The Scientific Origins of Energy in the Human Body, Dr. Martin Picard

10) Treating Trauma In the Body with David Berceli, internationally-renowned founder of Tension Releasing Exercises

11) The Contemporary Relational Model in Bioenergetics: Interview with Robert Hilton, PhD

12) Grounded Spirituality with Jeff Brown, author of Grounded Spirituality and Hearticulations

ENROLL NOW

Payment of

$997

$647

Join Laurie Ure, Robert Coffman, and Vincentia Schroeter for Engaging the Body in Psychotherapy

accepted-cc-min

If you are a BIPOC helping professional,
please accept our discounted enrollment price for this course by clicking here.
We are glad to have you with us!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Skip to content