Exploring Body-Mind Centering

Book excerpt: Exploring Body-Mind Centering features 35 essays on Body-Mind Centering (BMC), an experiential practice based on the application of anatomical, physiological, psychophysical, and developmental principles. Using the work of BMC founder Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen as a springboard, the book showcases diverse situations—from medical illness to blocked creativity—in which this discipline is applied with transformative results. Exploring Body-Mind Centering is divided into three sections, preceded by an introduction framing BMC as a pathway to becoming aware of relationships that exist throughout the body and mind and using that awareness to act. The first section lays the groundwork for this process, with real-life experiences and exercises that encourage readers to interact with the text. Section two contains valuable case stories describing the experiences of BMC students and practitioners as they work with clients. Section three shows how BMC can be integrated with other disciplines and practices that include the arts, medicine, and yoga. The book concludes with a biography of Cohen, a profile of the School for Body-Mind Centering, and a history of BMC.