Laura Bond - Exploring the Emotional Body

"We are all emotional beings."

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 say over my emotions today thanks to working with Laura Bond and her approach.
 
We can choose how we feel to a greater degree than we think.

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 play approach that is a perfect complement to Feldenkrais and other embodiment work.

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.

The method focuses on the 6 primary emotional patterns that we 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. 

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. 

In this episode expect to hear:

• The scientific origins of the Emotional Body.
• 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 is does the Emotional Body 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 Feldenkrais Method inspired the Emotional Body.
• 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® courses. 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.

www.emotionalbodymethod.com

Author Page on Amazon

Routledge Press Book Chapter Contribution: "The Emotional Body: A Somatic and Trauma-Informed Practice for Cultivating Expressive Capabilities for the Actor and the Individual," in a new book titled, Trauma and Embodied Healing in Dramatherapy, Theatre and Performance published by Routledge Press. Available for pre-order Feb 19th and shipping by March 11th!

About the Podcast
Hi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play.

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