Expand Your Ability Podcast Interview
“Exploring the Emotional Body”
Laura Bond interviewed by Jeffrey Schwinghammer
February 26, 2024
LB: "We are all emotional beings."
JS: I'm going to be a vulnerable here...even though I am feeling better overall than I have ever felt before, I have had a difficult history with my emotions. My frame before was that emotions happen to me. They drove the bus. What I have learned since is two primary things, 1) that emotions are information (not truth) and 2) we can influence our emotions through movement. Thankfully, I have a lot more to say over my emotions today thanks to working with Laura Bond and her approach.
JS: We can choose how we feel to a greater degree than we think.
JS: My guest today is Laura Bond, the creator of the Emotional Body Method. Her work has helped me to understand my emotions through a curious, compassionate, and playful approach that is a perfect complement to Feldenkrais and other embodiment work.
JS: The Emotional Body Method aims to help people understand their emotions, be more comfortable with themselves, and improve their expression and presentation skills. Insecurities and old habits can interfere with how we express ourselves. In fact, we often operate in a mix of emotions. When we don't have clear expressions of emotions, other people don't understand us as well, they get mixed messages or confused, and we can feel powerless.
JS: The method focuses on the 6 primary emotional patterns that we were all are born with. The patterns are explored on all levels: posture, facial expression, breathing and vocalization. Through mixing within this simple palette of 6 comes the rich rainbow of all human expression.
JS: Another thing I really like about the Emotional Body Method is that it doesn't go into difficult stories or psychological concepts. Instead, it's physical explorations.
Summary
In this episode expect to hear:
- The scientific origins of the emotional effector patterns.
- What are the 6 emotional patterns.
- What is emotional regulation and the importance of calming the nervous system.
- On unlearning old habits through repetition and variation.
- Why does the Emotional Body® method use a letter and number system? (1a,1b,2a,2b,3a,3b)
- The 7th pattern, zero, and it's use for finding emotional neutrality.
- How the Feldenkrais Method® inspired the Emotional Body® method.
- Entanglements with our emotions, where two or more emotions are unconsciously mixed.
About Laura Bond
Laura Bond is an internationally recognized master instructor and teacher trainer in the emotional effector patterns, and the Emotional Body® method. She is a master teacher of Alba Emoting™, having studied an intensive teacher-training path in Chile with its founder, Susana Bloch. Laura is a full professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville and a certified master teacher of the Estill Voice™ technique. She teaches physical emotion regulation methods in university classes, private lessons, and through national and international workshops. She is the author of two books: TEAM for Actors: A Holistic Approach to Embodied Acting, and The Emotional Body: A Method for Physical Self-Regulation. She recently published a chapter on “The Emotional Body: A Somatic and Trauma-Informed Practice for Cultivating Expressive Capabilities for the Actor and the Individual” in the new book titled, Trauma and Embodied Healing in Dramatherapy, Theatre and Performance published by Routledge Press. Available by March 11th, 2024!
www.emotionalbodymethod.com
Routledge Press Book Contribution
About Jeffrey Schwinghammer and his Expand Your Ability Podcast
Jeffrey is a Feldenkrais method® and somatic movement practitioner who helps individuals get in touch with their body so they can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play.
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Download a free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method
