The impact of energy

Finally, let’s consider some of the impacts which energy (whether tangible or intangible) has on human behavior. First Energy impacts on critical points of Decision in our lives. High levels of accumulated energy are often needed to complete an important task. However, especially high levels of energy (especially when blocked) can lead to dithering (moving back and forth quickly) and polarization (bigger time/bigger picture swinging back and forth). Energy engages the activity—but the activity is ill-directed and filled with ambivalence. Like the energy found in Lightening, there are sporadic flashes of Energy in the actions taken by human beings. Energy is being converted to action; however, this action is neither consistent nor productive.

We can also see and feel the impact of Energy when we are engaged in activities that reside in the threshold between anxiety (overwhelming challenge) and boredom (lack of challenge). This threshold, called Flow often sets the stage for a highly effective use of energy. The threshold of Flow is also the threshold of learning (between demand for accommodation/challenge) and demand for assimilation (support).

Finally, Energy is engaged and helps to direct the setting of life priorities. Throughout life we are balancing different sources of energy (physical and psychological nourishment) as well as different uses of energy (constructive and destructive to self and/or other people).

Reich and Feldenkrais on Energy

We turn to the historical analysis offered by Matt Reese in his introduction to Feldenkrais’ The Potent Self [2002, p. xiii]. He is considering the perspective of both Reich and Feldenkrais on Energy—especially when compared to that offered by Freud:

. . . Freud was convinced that the needs of society make sexual fulfillment and the satisfaction of the desires of the “id,” or instinctual self, impossible: For Freud, the best we can do is to sublimate or, redirect, our vital urges. In contrast, Feldenkrais, and Freud’s disciple, Wilhelm Reich, believed that appropriate psychological conditions can allow individual fulfillment, and bring into play more optimal levels of bodily function. In parallel to Reich, Feldenkrais emphasized that our conflicts are embedded in our bodies, and ask for specific attention in the body.

Though Reich’s practical approach differed from Freud’s, their ideas about the nature of sexuality had much in common. Concerning sexuality; however, Feldenkrais differed from the Freudians both in practice and theory. The Potent Self begins with a critique of the Freudian perspective. Freud and Reich’s therapeutic process aimed to release the emotional pains held in our muscular tensions by emotional catharsis. For both, repression and its alternatives are treated as the blockage and movement of energy.