What is Core Energetics?
“Core Energetics is an evolutionary process that help people to remove the obstacles around the heart” ~~ John PierrakosFounded by John Pierrakos MD, an american psychiatrist (well known as a pioneer in the body psychotherapy field and the wester spiritual development), Core Energetics is an evolutionary process for working with energy and consciousness to integrate and transform all aspects of the human personality—the physical, the emotional, the psychological, the will, and the spirit. The purpose of the work is to develop consciousness and the free flow of energy to remove the obstacles around our inner Core, the Real Self, source of truth, connectedness, creativity, pleasure, and love. John Pierrakos was a patient and student of Wilhelm Reich’s and co-founder of Bioenergetics Analysis with Alexander Lowen. That work was based on what they had learned about energy and character defenses in their work with Reich. But as time went on, John began to feel that something was missing in the work. In the late 1960’s he meat his wife Eva Pierrakos, a spiritual channel who, since 1957, had been giving Lectures (while in trance) on the spiritual aspects of personal growth. This body of 258 Lectures describes a step by step process for personal transformation from duality to unity, working with the limiting distortions of inaccurate thoughts, undeveloped emotions, and the destructive forces of negative intention, learning how to deal with the destructive forces of personal negativity that keep us from our true divine capacity. In 1972 Pierrakos left Bioenergetics and with his wife Eva they created together a community that studied and practiced these ideas. John was able to integrate the spiritual and psychological teachings of the Lectures with the understanding of human energetics, the body, the character defense system and the psychological development. In the 1975 with the help of Eva, Pierrakos created Core Energetics, starting the first training class in New York. He did not see Core Energetics as therapy but as an evolutionary process where the progress of the individual moves through stages leading to the unification of body, emotion, mind, will and spirit, and a deepening awareness of unity with all of life. John outlined four stages of the work. He called them Evolutionary Stages, beginning with the penetration of the Mask by letting go of false ideals and adaptations we believed we needed to survive when we were young. This was followed by the confrontation and transformation of the Lower Self (the shadow side) allowing for its purification and integration into the Higher Self. Inevitably this process leads us to embody our Core essence and fulfill our Life Task, the work we came here to do. Core Energetics brings consciousness to how we block our energy and recreate defense patterns adapted in childhood that keep us limited and dis-empowered. The core process helps us see how our world view is to a large extent a function of many of these blocked energy patterns, and so we keep recreating similar situations and relational dynamics that leave us frustrated. Awareness is not enough, we also need to mobilize our physical energy (life-force) differently in order to make lasting changes in both our inner world and our outer experience of life. Work with the body is critical in changing our experience of embodiment, because our defenses, belief systems, coping mechanisms, and typical emotional responses are not just psychological, they are also somatic and powerfully anchored in the physical body. The process employs breathing techniques, physical movement and inter-personal relationship. It is dynamic, playful, creative, confronting and supports you in becoming fully and intensely who you truly are. Targeted body techniques open consciousness to suppressed feelings and engage the energy system in ways that allow us to go beyond our “comfort” zone. The Core work taps into blocked sources of energy that can then be integrated and grounded. This creates an expanded sense of who we are to more fully embrace our life, open unknown inner resources, express our creativity, embrace our sexuality, and deepen our connection with others. Core Energetics is life-changing work which opens us to the fullness of our life-force, opens our heart, grounds us in the strength and integrity of who we really are, and supports us in bringing forth our unique gifts as we engage more responsibly with the world around us.
“This process asks you to look deeply at yourself; confronts you in the places where you are unknowingly creating pain in your Life and sometimes in your body. It’s not only about challenging limiting beliefs, it’s about owning negative forces within you, so they can transform. The holistic approach gives you access to your Core, the part of you that fully receives and gives love, that knows your purpose, and supplies the energy to fulfill it.” ~~ Kate Holt, executive director of the Institute of Core Energetics New York