Riverbend

Therapeutic Movement Relationship is described as the therapist’s ability to interact with a client through movement as a way of “reflecting a deep emotional acceptance and communication”

 

In other words, it is a way of meeting the client where they are at emotionally through the body

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Mirroring happens when a therapist reflects back via her own movement and verbal narration what she perceives and experiences in the body of a client

 

Mirroring, as opposed to mimicry, involves: 

• the incorporation of meaning into the movement and not just the action of copying the movement itself 

• the expansion, broadening, and clarifying of the clients non-verbal and symbolic communication

 

Mirroring helps to validate the clients direct experience of themselves and allows dance movement therapists to embody the feelings and lived experience of another

 

Kinesthetic empathy refers to a therapists’ emotional reactions derived both from observing and from experiencing a client's movements by trying them on ​

 

Using kinesthetic empathy allows a therapist to be both empathetically and physically present

 

*Important Note: Similar to understanding grief, the therapist cannot entirely understand how the client is feeling, but instead understands how it feels to be in relationship with the client in the experience

 

Kinesthetic awareness is an individual’s internal sense of his or her physical self ​

 

Kinesthetic awareness can be awakened, developed, and encouraged 

 

When working with individuals who are experiencing grief, kinesthetic awareness can be used to allow the client to become more aware of their somatic symptoms or body memory surrounding their loss, in order to help move through the grief process. 

 

As this kinesthetic awareness is awakened in both the client and the therapist, the therapist can become a witness of the grief process.

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(Levy, 2005), (Tortora, 2006), (Young, 2017)

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