Body Image & Self-Awareness

Introduction

I recently completed teaching my most recent online Neuro-Somatic-Variation (NSV) Series, this time around the theme of Body Image & Self-Awareness. Writing this blogpost affords me the opportunity of explicit reflection about key aspects of this deep psycho-somatic experience. If you have read my previous Blogpost on the NSV approach you will be aware that it integrates Feldenkrais Lessons, Integrative Neurobiology and Micro-Phenomenology in the context of small group discussion. (See, https://www.somaticwell.com/post/my-year-of-nsv-neuro-somatic-variations) As with previous sessions, this recent NSV series consisted of six, two-hour sessions, conducted via zoom over a period of 12 weeks. I was privileged to have about 15 participants enrolled from Europe and North America and Israel – a testament to the increased awareness and interest in this top-down bottom-up approach that I have been developing since the middle of the Covid pandemic. The series was taught in the context of major global shifts and turmoil – the ongoing war here in Israel and Ukraine, the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and environmental catastrophes. Having taught the NSV approach for a number of years now, I increasingly appreciate how the NSV teaching provides a kind of grounding in my somatic self, building personal resilience and developing global community in response to societal challenges.

One of the most compelling elements of teaching NSV is the unpredictability of individual participant’s responses to the sessions – a mixture of chance and choice emerging from the integration of thematic teaching, exploring specific Feldenkrais based movement ATM lessons and group discussion. I find that as the sessions progress and each participant moves deeper into their own awareness and understanding of the NSV process – material from unconscious experience rises to conscious experience and language, making participation in the NSV groups such a personally rewarding and salutary experience.

Since teaching the NSV series I have noticed a significant number of Feldenkrais teachers writing about and promoting workshops on the theme of body image. Is this a recent “thing” or something that has been prevalent for a while? Personally, I landed on the theme of Body Image & Self-Awareness at almost the last minute. One of my regular NSV participants is presently working in the psychiatric context of eating disorders and addiction, and I had the idea to develop a NSV program that could be applied in this context. My attention was first drawn to the theme of Body Image in reviewing the videos on “The Primitives” taught by master Feldenkrais trainer Denis Leri (1945-2016). This training series for Feldenkrais practitioners is based on a series of Feldenkrais ATM lessons emphasizing awareness of the “Five-Lines,” i.e., the line of the spine from the base of the skull to the pelvis, the two arm lines emerging from the shoulder joint to the hands, and the two leg lines emerging from the hip joints to the toes of the feet. I soon realized, however, that this theme of body image is a completely foundational element in all Feldenkrais lessons, and at the same time is a central phenomenon in all realms of human action.  

In the preface to his classical text, “Awareness Through Movement,” Feldenkrais wrote that: “We act in accordance with our self-image. I eat, walk, speak, think, see, love, etc. in accordance with how I feel when I perform these actions. This self-image of ours come to us partly through inheritance, partly through upbringing and partly through self-study (…) Of the three active factors that shape our self-image, only self-study is to some extent in our hands.” [1]

Feldenkrais on Body Image

Let’s dive deeper into what can be gathered about Feldenkrais’ thinking about body image and how my NSV Series went beyond this basic conception. In a lecture on “The Body Image” from his Alexander Yanai lessons, Feldenkrais described four different identifiable kinds of body image: “There is a concept in the field of psychology and neurology of body image. There is also a concept of body image in anatomy, or to be more accurate, in physiology. There is a functional body image in action. There also is the body image that you see. There are four bodies or four notions of body image.” [2]

It is not so obvious what Feldenkrais intends by these different kinds of body images.

The two most obvious kinds of body image referred to by Feldenkrais is the body image that you see and the physiological image. The “body image that you see,” is the “objective” sense of one’s body image that one obtains through looking in the mirror at one’s own body. For example, someone looking at her body shape in the mirror and exclaiming, “Ooh, I have put on so much weight!”

The second image that is relatively clear to understand is that of the physiological, or anatomical image. Thus, Feldenkrais in his lecture states that the physiological body image is formed from primitive [sic] which together form a shape of a homunculus in the motor cortex of the brain. Feldenkrais continues: “I am referring only to primitive movements, the simple contraction of a muscle. You find a small image of a human being if you stimulate cell after cell in the cortex. That means an image is formed on the brain by those cells. For instance, when you touch the cells that command the muscles of your hand, you slowly find all the cells that command the hand and they gradually assume a given shape. That shape is called the homunculus, like a small person… That small image on the brain is called the body image in physiology…. It exists and is correct only for primitive movements. That means the simplest contraction of a muscle.” [2]

In a sense, this physiological sense of the body image is the key body image awareness emphasized in Feldenkrais lessons. This sense of the body image in terms of “the simplest contraction of a muscle” imprinting an image on the neo-cortex is arguably the essence of what Feldenkrais is most referring to in his use of the term body image awareness in the Feldenkrais Method. It is this physiological sense that is most strongly reinforced in the Feldenkrais lessons described above explicitly working with the body image. At the same time, the aim of most if not all Feldenkrais lessons is to improve the third definition of body image, i.e., the “functional image in action.” This third concept of body image integrates both conceptual and pre-conceptual elements. As a practical method for developing neuro-plasticity, the Feldenkrais Method is always simultaneously developing and deepening the connections between neurological structure and human function. (See, https://www.somaticwell.com/post/the-feldenkrais-method-as-clinical-neuroplasticity)

Most Feldenkrais ATM lessons start off with a body scan. The body scan is a core and inalienable element of the lessons. During the body scan the individual gets in touch with his/her fundamental body image, while lying on the floor in a neutral position, i.e., with muscles resting in base tonicity. As mentioned, the ATM lessons focusing on body image emphasize the so-called “five lines” representing the primitive “stick” figure of the core musculoskeletal coordinates. Other key conceptual elements in these lessons include lengthening the spine, lengthening the limbs and moving slowly, so slowly that there is almost no distinction between thought and action. In this way, these lessons reinforce one’s core body image awareness in resting, and awareness of one’s individual body image in relation to action.

I am not sure exactly what Feldenkrais’ description of body image in relation to psychology and neurology refers to. Yet, Feldenkrais’ somatic understanding of body image was explicitly influenced by the work of the Austrian psychiatrist and psycho-analyst, Paul Schilder (1886-1940). In his lecture, Feldenkrais notes that Schilder described four kinds of body image, 1. The image you see; 2. The physiological; 3. The emotional; 4. The spiritual.[2]

Body Image & Body Schema in Psychiatry and Philosophy

Diving deeper into the issue of body image in relation with self reveals however a more complex picture than described so far. Indeed, one of the problems in trying to differentiate different kinds of body image awareness is that they are all inter-related. Secondly, the secondary philosophical literature around body image, drawing on the neurological and psychiatric literature affirms the complexity of this seemingly mundane term. Attaining a fuller understanding of body image requires both conceptual (top-down) and experiential (bottom-up) work as exemplified by the NSV process. The NSV group that I directed explored this theme of body image and self-awareness both through engaging with philosophical material and first-person embodied experience.

Before diving into the content of the NSV Series itself, it is useful to summarize key elements of the philosophical literature around body image and the related concept of body schema from Schilder to the present.

Schilder’s conceptualization of body image and related concept of body schema can be traced in several of his writings. In his German book, entitled “Body Schema” (Das Korperschema), published in 1923, Schilder defined the term body schema as a ‘spatial image that one has one from yourself.’ [3] In his English-language book, “The Image and Appearance of the Human Body,” published in 1935, Schilder defines the body image as the ‘picture of our own body which we form in our mind.’ [4, p. 11] As Ataria, Tanaka and Gallagher note, Schilder is not consistent in his terminological usage of the terms body image and body schema.[5] Moreover, Schilder himself, drew on the earlier work of two other neurologists, Head and Holmes, who introduced the concept of body schema to help explain the cognitive and somatosensory deficits of patients with cerebral lesions. [6] Ataria, Tanaka and Gallagher continue that, ‘They [Head & Holmes] considered body schema an implicit frame for the entire body, referred to when recognizing the present posture or locating body parts.’ Head and Holmes argue that ‘postural recognition is not constantly in the central field of attention.’ Thus, they suggest that ‘every recognizable change enters into consciousness already charged with its relation to something that has gone before, just as on a taximeter the distance is presented to us already transformed into shillings and pence.’ (…) Basically, body schema is an implicit function underpinning our postural and motor control, and it rarely comes to our conscious attention.’ [5, p. xix]

There are some important points to note in this definition of body schema by Head & Holmes that have influenced more contemporary analyses. These include: the distinction between cognitive and pre-conceptual elements of body image; 2. The importance of what is now called proprioception in terms of body schema.

These notions of body schema entered philosophical, aka phenomenological literature, primarily via the work of French phenomenologist of perception, Maurice Merleau-Ponty. In a series of lectures taught in 1953 at the College de France Merleau-Ponty elaborated his conception of body schema as a form of embodied praxis presenting spatiotemporal contents in terms of the term ‘I can.’ [7] (The expression of the term ‘I can’ was originally posited by the phenomenological philosopher Edmund Husserl to refer to the ‘practical possibilities’ of concrete individuals.) 

In his phenomenological analysis of body schema, Merleau-Ponty builds on Schilder’s description of variations of muscular tonus in relation with the so-called Kohnstamm’s phenomenon. (This phenomenon first described by German neurologist Oskar Kohnstamm, refers to the sustained involuntary contraction of a muscle following a prolonged voluntary contraction.) In other words, a particular resting muscular tonus establishes the baseline, a ‘normal resting position’ which determines the body schema ‘as norm, zero of divergence [écart], level [niveau] or a privileged attitude’, in which nothing is sensed as a figure. [8, p. 41] Stated in the language of movement and action: one’s body schema is present as part of a pre-conceptual consciousness when our neuromuscular tonus is at its resting state; one’s body image emerges from this state through increased tone and the awareness of these changes of movement in space via proprioception. Both one’s body schema and body image are dynamic states.

American philosopher, Shaun Gallagher especially has attempted to place the related concepts of body image and body schema on firmer philosophical ground by clarifying their terminology. According to Gallagher, body image refers to a system of perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs pertaining to one’s own body. Body schema, on the other hand, refers to a ‘system of sensory-motor-capacities that function without awareness or the necessity of perceptual monitoring. Furthermore, Gallagher suggests that a double dissociation exists between body schema and body image, although, essentially, ‘body image and body schema refer to two different but closely related systems.’ [9, p. 24]

Gallagher defends this dual perspective through the neuro-psychological case study of Ian Waterman. Waterman, sometimes referred to as IW in the scientific literature, became deafferentiated from the neck down at the age of nineteen – following a viral attack to his nervous system while working as a butcher chopping meat. As a result of peripheral neuronopathy from damage to his dorsal root ganglion cells, Waterman lost his sense of touch and proprioception below the neck. Initially he was unable to walk and control his movements. After a lengthy rehabilitation, including intensive visual and cognitive exercises, as well as somatic exercises in his imagination, Waterman taught himself to walk again and to function relatively “normally” to the external observer. [10] Based on this finding, Gallagher has suggested that Waterman’s preconceptual body schema has been replaced by an enhanced body image, that is, a conscious visual awareness of his body. [9, p. 52]

This brief summary of the philosophical literature around body image and body schema highlights a number of important points. Firstly, the importance of phenomenological approaches that emphasize the centrality of perception for making sense of conscious experience. Secondly, these phenomenological approaches highlight a basic conceptual distinction in making sense of the mind-body connection, so that perceptual experience is divided into core dichotomies, such as the conceptual and the preconceptual, or the voluntary and the involuntary. French philosopher Dorothée LeGrand has written for example, that “Each act of consciousness is adequately characterized by two modes of givenness, the intentional mode of givenness by which the subject is conscious of intentional objects and the subjective mode givenness by which the subject is conscious of intentional objects as experienced by himself. The former corresponds to consciousness of the self-as-object when the intentional object is oneself and the latter corresponds to consciousness of the self-as-subject.” [11, p. 205] For example, Le Grand emphasizes the felt sensation of “voluminosity” of one’s body, having a location and an orientation, as a key perceptual experience of one’s subjective mode of givenness corresponding both to one’s internal sensations and the experience of the external world as disclosed by one’s body. [11, p. 217]

While philosophical analyses are exemplary in terms of clarifying these different conceptual elements of body schema and body image, they are less successful in actually integrating these elements thereby integrating the intentional and subjective modes of givenness. Integrating these dichotomies requires more than conceptual understanding, but experiential exploration together with reflective analysis. It is precisely this top-down, bottom-up process that is exemplified in the Neuro-Somatic Variations process. The recent NSV series I led, provided a roadmap for exploring these two modes of givenness, in relation with body image and body schema. Key conceptual themes explored in various sessions included, for example, tonus, proprioception, gravity, interoception, the just noticeable difference, the minimal self, the use of “as if” free fantasy variation and more. Cognizant of LeGrande’s emphasis on voluminosity as a key phenomenological concept, I included explicit reference to the sense of voluminosity of one’s spine in the five-lines body scan that I taught at the beginning of each Feldenkrais based movement lesson. Two other key somatic techniques included, slowing down the movement so that the thought and action became more synonymous, and minimizing the force of the movement (muscle tonus).  In a sense, the NSV context provided a series of sessions exploring the relation between body schema and body image, similar to what Ian Waterman developed for himself in the isolation of his hospital bed following his neurological injury. In a state of rest, with minimal body tonus, one’s core body schema is close to its null point. Starting with the body scan as well as in micro-movements together with proprioceptive awareness, one’s body image starts emerging from the body schema. Both the preconceptual body schema and cognitive body image, and their interrelation, are dynamic entities that can be explicitly explored and strengthened. Particularly as predominantly preconceptual, I am challenged to find language that can fully describe the subjective experience of body schema in relation with body image that was explored in the NSV process.

Here are some paragraph responses from two NSV participants in their own words:

Participant 1

Body schema and body image:

When I close my eyes and dive into this dual sensory experience of myself, it feels as if I am both the boat and the water, inseparable and intertwined. It's like putting my hand on my face: I am simultaneously the one touching and the one being touched, existing in both roles at once.

In these moments, the interplay of these sensations creates a kind of vortex - a black hole that pulls me in. It feels as if I am being pulled deep into the core of my being. At the same time I feel an expansion in front of me, as if I am floating out into space.

Despite this feeling of expansion, I remain formless, with no defined edges or boundaries. My boundaries only take shape when I invoke them, like casting a spell. For example, my foot only becomes real when I focus my attention on the way it presses against the ground. I become someone when I think of myself in parts and when the wholeness surfaces I become part of everything.

Participant 2

And we experienced in your wonderful ATM how we go back to these rather unconscious schema and now (thanks to Moshes Method) and integrate them in our conscious Body Image.

It is this body schema heritage we bring back to consciousness with our touching/sensing ATTENTION.

THAT EXPLAINS TO ME, WHY EACH OF YOUR ATM 's changed my feeling of volume.

Participant’s sketch of her body image/schema at the beginning and of the second NSV session emphasizing change in sense of body volume and orientation in space:

Conclusion

I plan to continue developing this research into Body Image & Self-Awareness through the NSV process. I am confident that this series can be useful for so many people, and could be successfully applied in the psychiatric context. Some studies do exist demonstrating the ameliorative effect of Feldenkrais for individuals with eating disorders. However, as far as I am aware all of these studies have not looked at the content of individual lessons, nor engaged in the deeply intersubjective exploration that occurs in the context of NSV. Please do contact me if you are a mental health professional interested in incorporating the NSV approach into your clinical setting.

References

1.     Feldenkrais, M. 1972. Awareness Through Movement: Health Exercises for Personal Growth, New York: Harper & Row.

2.     Feldenkrais, M. Awareness Through Movement Lessons from Alexander Yanai. #24. The Body Image: A Lecture.

3.     Schilder, P. 1923. Das Körperschema – Ein Betrag zur Lehre vom Bewusstein des eigenen Körpers. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer, p. 2. (Translated by A. Kalckert. See, “The body in the German neurology of the early twentieth century.”  In, Body Schema & Body Image: New Directions. 2021. Edited by Ataria, Y., Tanaka, S., and Gallagher, S. Oxford University Press, p. 106.)

4.     Schilder, P. 1935. The Image and Appearance of the Human Body. Oxford: Kegan Paul.

5.     Ataria, Y., Tanaka, S., and Gallagher, 2021. “Introduction.” In, Body Schema & Body Image: New Directions. 2021. Edited by Ataria, Y., Tanaka, S., and Gallagher, S. Oxford University Press, pp. xiii-xxix.

6.     Head, H. & Holmes, G. 1911. “Sensory disturbances from cerebral lesions.” Brain, 34(2-3), 102-254.

7.     Merleau-Ponty, M. 2010. Institution and Passivity: Course Notes from the Collége de France (1954-1955). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

8.     Halak, J. 2021. “Body schema dynamics in Merleau-Ponty.” In, Body Schema & Body Image: New Directions. 2021. Edited by Ataria, Y., Tanaka, S., and Gallagher, S. Oxford:  Oxford University Press.

9.     Gallagher, S. 2005. How the Body Shapes the Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

10.  Cole, J. 1995. Pride and a Daily Marathon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

11.  LeGrande, D. 2012. “Self-consciousness and World-consciousness.” In, The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Phenomenology. Edited by Zahavi, D. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 287-303.