Charles Darwin (1872) wrote that humans and other animals share the expression of emotion through subtle motions (sneers, gestures, or others) and larger motor patterns (running, striking out, or others).
Yet, humans have the capacity to override our impulses which may result in the stifling of authentic expression for fear of judgment or rejection and stepping outside social norms.
A psychotherapeutic environment that reinforces stifling or restriction of movement limits the full range of pathways for accessing transformative healing and may even unintentionally perpetuate patterns of embodied oppression (because of harms of neglect through lack of attention to their existence).
Psychedelic-assisted therapy, which involves a tremendous increase in repertoires of neural firing patterns and “lifting” of ingrained habitual tendencies, has the potential to open pathways for movement impulses hitherto repressed. It is important for health professionals working with psychedelic-assisted therapy to have skills to meet and explore movement with their clients in order to best hold space for their unfolding experience.
Survival-mediated movement patterns and impulses are arrested in the overwhelm of trauma. An important component of psychobiologically-informed trauma healing involves creating opportunities for incomplete survival-related movement impulses to be expressed and “completed” (Levine, 2012).
Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. John Murray.
Levine, P. A. (2012). In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. North Atlantic Books.