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There's courage involved if you want to become truth
There is a broken open place in a     lover
Where are those qualities of     bravery and sharp compassion     in this group
What's the use of old and
    frozen thought
I want a howling hurt
This is not a treasury where gold     is stored
This is for copper
We alchemists look for talent
    that can heat up and change
Luke warm won't do
Half-hearted holding back
Well enough getting by
Not here
– Rumi

The Guest House
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 are 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 whatever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
-- Rumi

Breathing
There is a way of breathing
That's a shame and a suffocation
And there's another way of     expiring,
A love breath,
That lets you open infinitely.
-- Rumi

Reichian Theory
When we are open, we experience pleasure, liveliness, and vitality. Many of us, however, find that our lives and relationships feel painfully constricted. We develop coping strategies early in life to ward off difficult, uncomfortable feelings. These defenses become habitual and can inhibit us from experiencing joyful, expansive feelings as well as pain. We become frozen and trapped in our defenses, and can become physically ill. These symptoms are cries for help from our wounded past, a past that may keep us from being fully available to the present. Our contracted self reveals itself in our character structure and body armor. To find our free, authentic self we must become conscious of our armoring - our self-distortions that turn us into unnatural adults that attack, cling, avoid, deny or pretend. Reichian therapy is an intensive, confrontational, personally demanding process for those who wish to profoundly change themselves and their life.

What is Reichian / Orgonomic Therapy?
Reichian Therapy, developed by Wilhelm Reich, is a method for character transformation that recognizes the essential identity of the mind and body. Also known as Orgone Therapy, Orgonomic Therapy, and Bio-psychotherapy, Reichian Therapy recognizes how "armoring" against the free flow of life energy blocks full emotional expression. The Orgonomic therapist works with the principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy to reveal to the patient\client their character attitudes and their character armoring.

With a functionally deep understanding of the mind/body relationship, the Orgonomic Therapist simultaneously analyzes the patient's character ("Character Analysis") as it presents itself through the ways in which they walk, talk, hold themselves, etc., and the chronic muscular tensions that anchor and support this behavior. This is done through relationship-building verbal dialog, description, analysis, and the release of muscular tension through deep massage. Developed out of Wilhelm Reich's character-analytic technique, which views the mind and body as one functional unit, Reichian Therapy is the classical foundation of Somatic Psychology.

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  Self-awareness and deep insight
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  Emotional and physical release, followed by an increased energy flow
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  Changes in habitual, unhealthy defensive patterns
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  Effective, lasting change

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  Skilled, therapeutic dialog
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  Authentic, supportive, actively engaged relationship with the therapist
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  Character analysis: examine and change unproductive defense mechanisms
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  Body work: massage and deep tissue muscular intervention
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  Facilitation of deep feeling expression
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  Breathing enhancement
• •
  Dream analysis

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  Alleviate symptoms of depression
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  Ease anxiety and panic
• •
  Decrease stress-related symptoms
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  Assistance with eating, sleep, and other disorders
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  Reduce physical symptoms (headaches, nervous disorders, digestive problems, sexual dysfunction, autoimmune issues, etc.)

Reichian Therapy
The Reichian Therapist locates painful constrictions and facilitates expansion. What makes Reichian Therapy uniquely powerful is that it includes body work to address the physical, somatic component - the physical expression of the mind's defenses. Dreams deepen the exploration because they provide direct access to the unconscious.

The Price of Constriction
The growing relationship with the therapist illuminates the protective stance we have in relation to others and ourselves. As we grow and survive adversity, we develop repetitive coping strategies to fend off difficult feelings. These strategies can alienate others, keep us from our true feelings, needs, and desires, and inhibit our ability to actualize who we really are. Our creativity and success in the world becomes minimized. Constricted respiration can be an additional sign of dysfunctional coping. Very few patients, indeed few people, breathe to full energetic capacity. One of the best ways to suppress painful emotions is to hold your breath. Infants and children spontaneously hold their breath in frightening situations. This happens to them many times each day in a dangerous environment. By adulthood, the chest is frozen in chronic breathlessness. Problems of depression, anxiety, phobias, insomnia, emptiness, loneliness, eating disorders, and addiction are defined and understood as reaction patterns to both present and past issues. These patterns have their roots in chronic character styles developed throughout a lifetime. As these behavior patterns are confronted, the character defenses are dislodged giving way to deeper issues and feelings.

The Process of Expansion
The Reichian Therapist usually starts body work by focusing on the eyes and respiration. The eyes (as an extension of the brain) help us to sustain contact with the world and ourselves. Almost everyone has some blocking in the eyes, and it is important that the eyes be reasonably unarmored for therapy to proceed. It is also important to dissolve blocks in respiration as breathing is essential in building and sustaining an energy level that will "push" emotions to the surface.

Reichian Therapy or Orgone Therapy, works from the head down toward the pelvis, leaving the latter for last. At the same time character analytic work is proceeding, peeling back layers of character attitudes that hide emotion, the layers of body armor are dissolved as well. The combined work results in spontaneous emotional release and provides the therapist with a deeper understanding of the character of the patient, yielding insight on "where to go" to deepen the therapy.

Reichian Therapy supports individuals, couples, and groups to experiment with their character and body structure in bold and profound ways that insist on change. Couples struggle as their character stances collide. Productive communication can become paralyzed. Reichian Therapy alters this stasis and teaches effective communication strategies so that the couple can maintain harmony and support the autonomy of the individuals. Group therapy is a process where participants can reveal their habitual, dysfunctional relationship patterns and learn different ways of being/behaving through the confrontation and support of other group members. Group is a very effective, fast, catalytic tool for change.

Beginning the Expansion
Patricia Frisch, Ph.D. is a very experienced, skilled therapist in Reichian /Orgonomic Therapy. She offers individual, couple, and group therapy through her practice in the California North Bay Area. For her professional biography and contact information, click, click here.

Lower-Fee Therapy Option:
Dr. Frisch has a group of professional trainees who offer
lower fee services for patients with financial concerns.
Contact her at 415-388-0622 for an appropriate referral.