"The retrieval of previously formed memory triggers the lability of that memory for a short time and its reconsolidation."

Updating memories is critical for adaptive behaviors, but the rules and mechanisms governing that
process are still not well defined. During a limited time window, the reactivation of consolidated
aversive memories triggers memory lability and induces a plasticity-dependent reconsolidation
process in the lateral amygdala (LA). However, whether new information is necessary for
initiating reconsolidation is not known. Here we show that changing the temporal relationship
between the conditioned (CS) and unconditioned (US) stimulus during reactivation is sufficient to
trigger synaptic plasticity and reconsolidation of an aversive memory in the LA. These findings
demonstrate that time is a core part of the CS-US association, and that new information must be
presented during reactivation in order to trigger LA-dependent reconsolidation processes. In sum,
this study provides new basic knowledge about the precise rules governing memory
reconsolidation of aversive memories that might be used to treat traumatic memories.

Joseph E. LeDoux, PhD, is an neuroscientist whose research is primarily focused on the biological underpinnings of emotion and memory, especially brain mechanisms related to fear and anxiety.

Antonio Damasio, M.D. is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and an Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute Dr. Damasio is the author of several books.

An emotion consists of a very well orchestrated set of alterations in the body. Its purpose is to make life more survivable by taking care of a danger or taking advantage of an opportunity.

Question: What is happening in our brain when we feel an emotion?Antonio Damasio:  Feeling of an emotion is a process that is distinct from having the emotion in the first place.  So it helps to understand what is an emotion, what is a feeling, we need to understand what is an emotion.  And the emotion is the execution of a very complex program of actions.  Some actions that are actually movements, like movement that you can do, change your face for example, in fear, or movements that are internal, that happen in your heart or in your gut, and movements that are actually not muscular movements, but rather, releases of molecules.  Say, for example, in the endocrine system into the blood stream, but it's movement and action in the broad sense of the term.And an emotion consists of a very well orchestrated set of alterations in the body that has, as a general purpose, making life more survivable by taking care of a danger, of taking care of an opportunity, either/or, or something in between.  And it's something that is set in our genome and that we all have with a certain programmed nature that is modified by our experience so individually we have variations on the pattern.  But in essence, your emotion of joy and mine are going to be extremely similar.  We may express them physically slightly differently, and it's of course graded depending on the circumstance, but the essence of the process is going to be the same, unless one of us is not quite well put together and is missing something, otherwise it's going to be the same.And it's going to be the same across even other species.  You know, there's a, you know, we may smile and the dog may wag the tail, but in essence, we have a set program and those programs are similar across individuals in the species.Then the feeling is actually a portrayal of what is going on in the organs when you are having an emotion.  So it's really the next thing that happens.  If you have just an emotion, you would not necessarily feel it.  To feel an emotion, you need to represent in the brain in structures that are actually different from the structures that lead to the emotion, what is going on in the organs when you're having the emotion.  So, you can define it very simply as the process of perceiving what is going on in the organs when you are in the throws of an emotion, and that is achieved by a collection of structures, some of which are in the brain stem, and some of which are in the cerebral cortex, namely the insular cortex, which I like to mention not because I think it's the most important, it's not.  I actually don't think it's the number one structure controlling our feelings, but I like to mention because it's something that people didn't really know about and many years ago, which probably now are going close to 20 years ago, I thought that the insular would be an important platform for feelings, that's where I started.  And it was a hypothesis and it turns out that the hypothesis is perfectly correct.  And 10 years ago, we had the first experiments that showed that it was indeed so, and since then, countless studies have shown that when you're having feelings of an emotion or feelings of a variety of other things, the insular is active, but it doesn't mean that it's the only thing that is active and there are other structures that are very important as well.

The 5Rhythms – Flowing Staccato Chaos Lyrical Stillness ™ – are states of Being. They are a map to everywhere we want to go, on all planes of consciousness – inner and outer, forward and back, physical, emotional and intellectual. They are markers on the way back to a real self, a vulnerable, wild passionate, instinctive self.

In Flowing, we physically practice the art of being fluid in our bodies. Flowing is the pipeline to our inner truth, the impulse to follow the flow of one’s own energy, to be true to oneself—listening and attending to our needs, receptive to our inner and outer worlds. When we open up to the flow of our physical beings, all other pathways open. It is one of the most beautiful and fascinating ways of dancing—to be in, to be around, and to watch. Men and women that embody the Rhythm of Flowing are supple, flexible, surrendered and trust their feet to lead them where they are meant to go.

In Staccato we physically practice the power of masculine energy. It is percussive and strong and promotes connection with the rest of the world. Staccato is the gateway to the heart. It shows us how to step out into the world connected to our feet and our feelings. This rhythm is the ruler of our linear world, the ruler of the warrior part of us, the part of us that shows up as truth and clarity. It is the part of us that stands up for what we care about, who we love, and what we love. Staccato is the fierce teacher of boundaries. And it is the protector and ambassador of our fluid being. Visually, a man or woman fully embodied in the Rhythm of Staccato is defined, clear, connected and not fearful of the transparent expression of their heart. Whether dancing Staccato alone, in partnership, or in groups—it is always a powerful experience.

In Chaos we physically practice the art of fully releasing our bodies - we let go of the head, spine, hips and feet and move faster than we can think. Chaos breaks us free of our illusions and throws us headfirst into the beat. It takes us on the journey from “I can’t” to “I will”. The simple practices of Chaos immediately bring us back to our bodies, to the moment. This rhythm liberates us from all ideas about who we are and gives us a real experience of being total, free, intuitive and creative. Chaos is the gateway to the big mind. Dancing Chaos is the practice of going into the unknown, not fearing what’s on the other side. Visually we look like a big, hot, giant, sweaty mess overflowing with cathartic energy. This is our big dance, our break out dance, our break through dance.

In Lyrical we practice the art of coming out of Chaos. It is the physical, energetic, emotional and spiritual dancing rebirth. The practice of Lyrical teaches us how to break out of destructive patterns and surrender into the depths of the fluid, creative repetitions of our soulful self, bubbling up from the deepest parts of ourselves, to the integrity and dignity that we often forget is within us. Lyrical is expansive and connects us to our humanity, timeless rhythms, repetitions, patterns and cycles. Lyrical is more of a state of being than a Rhythm, as it can be a crystal clear expression of any of the Rhythms in their lightness. We become light in our feet, like birds flying in the air—but make no mistake, in Lyrical we are grounded and fully empowered.

Being Still and doing Nothing are totally different. Stillness moves, both within and all around us. The dance is our vehicle, our destination is the Rhythm of Stillness; our challenge is to be a vessel that keeps moving and changing. Physically, in the dance of Stillness, we move in slow motion—like highly unpredictable meditative Tai Chi masters. Shapes from the past, the present and the future come through us—shapes of the Feminine and the Masculine and the magic dance they do together. Moving in Stillness and being still in motion fuses the accumulation of our bodies’ life experiences into our true wisdom. Eventually we dissolve into sitting meditation, where all the other Rhythms of our journey converge in the vital resonance of Stillness. Each time we dance into Stillness, we practice the art of making humble and mindful endings interpreted by our higher connected self. This carries through to all of our endings in life—the end of this dance, this day, this relationship, or this life cycle. Good endings mean taking responsibility for the whole journey, distilling wisdom from our experience so that we may begin the next wave or cycle clean and not carrying the past with us.

http://www.5rhythms.com/

Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love — and people who had just been dumped.

Anthropologist Helen Fisher studies gender differences and the evolution of human emotions. She's best known as an expert on romantic love, and her beautifully penned books — including Anatomy of Love and Why We Love — lay bare the mysteries of our most treasured emotion. 

Helen Fisher's courageous investigations of romantic love -- its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its vital importance to human society -- are informing and transforming the way we understand ourselves. Fisher describes love as a universal human drive (stronger than the sex drive; stronger than thirst or hunger; stronger perhaps than the will to live), and her many areas of inquiry shed light on timeless human mysteries, like why we choose one partner over another.

Almost unique among scientists, Fisher explores the science of love without losing a sense of romance: Her work frequently invokes poetry, literature and art -- along with scientific findings -- helping us appreciate our love affair with love itself. In her research, and in books such as Anatomy of Love, Why We Love, and her latest work Why Him? Why Her?: How to Find and Keep Lasting Love, Fisher looks at questions with real impact on modern life. Her latest research raises serious concerns about the widespread, long-term use of antidepressants, which may undermine our natural process of attachment by tampering with hormone levels in the brain.

Social media is dominating most of our attention throughout the day. Yet, is it truly changing our face-to-face relationships? Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine reveals how social media is actually physically rewiring our brains.

Dance has been used therapeutically for thousands of years. It has been used as a healing ritual in the influence of fertility, birth, sickness, and death since early human history. Over the period from 1840 to 1930, a new philosophy of dance developed in Europe and the United States, defined by the idea that movement could have an effect on the mover vis-a-vis that dance was not simply an expressive art. The actual establishment of dance as a therapy and as a profession occurred in the 1950s, beginning with future American Dance Therapy Association founder Marian Chance.

The theory of dance movement therapy (DMT) is based mainly upon the belief that body and mind interact. Both conscious and unconscious movement of the person, based on the dualist mind body premise, affects total functioning, and also reflects the individual’s personality. Therefore, the therapist-client relationship is partly based on non-verbal cues such as body language. Movement is believed to have a symbolic function and as such can aid in understanding the self. Movement improvisation allows the client to experiment with new ways of being and DMT provides a manner or channel in which the client can consciously understand early relationships with negative stimuli through non-verbal mediation by the therapist.

Albert Pesso is the co-creator, along with his wife Diane Boyden-Pesso, of Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor, a widely respected interactive technique that helps clients create new memories to compensate for emotional deficits in the past.  He has been called one of the three living masters of body-based psychotherapy and was chosen to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award by the United States Association For Body Psychotherapy.

Now, octogenarians, Al began his career as a dancer and choreographer, studying under the renowned Martha Graham while Diane received her training from the legendary Jose Limon and Ziegfield Follies star, Harriet Hoctor. They met as students at Bennington College, then married and danced together in New York City for several years.

In 1956, Al and Diane established their own dance center in Massachusetts. Five years later, the pair developed what would become the foundational theory of PBSP. As they encouraged dancers to allow their bodies to act out their inner feelings, Al and Diane observed that the resulting emotional outpouring was cathartic, but did not necessarily help the individual heal his or her emotional scars. 

They went on to develop an interactive model that drew on spatial relationships, specific wording, and physical touch to provide a response from the outer world to each of the inner needs expressed by the individual. This, the pair ultimately concluded, facilitated the creation of new body-based memories to complement the memories of emotional deficits in the past. 

Both Al and Diane retained a foothold in the dance world — he as a tenured associate professor and director of the dance department at Emerson College, she on the faculty of Wheaton College, Emerson College, and Sargent College of Boston University — even as they developed and began teaching their new form of body-based psychotherapy. 

In the 50 years since developing PBSP, Al has served as director of Psychomotor Therapy at both McLean Hospital (Belmont, MA) and in the Pain Unit of New England Rehabilitation Hospital; as adjunct professor for California’s Fielding Institute; and as a consultant in psychiatric research at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Boston. He has also taught courses on PBSP in the Harvard University continuing education program and other educational and medical institutions abroad. 

Clients have included top executives of multinational corporations, high profile entertainers and individuals from every walk of life. 

Al Pesso has written or contributed to almost a dozen books, written more than 50 articles, and led hundreds of seminars around the world. 

He has been a featured speaker at the conferences of many psychology organizations, such as: the American Academy of Psychotherapists; the Association of Humanistic Psychology; the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine; the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute; the European Congress on Body Psychotherapy; the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy; the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists; and a host of others on three continents. 

He has also been invited to make presentations at numerous medical schools and hospitals, including Grand Rounds at Boston University Medical School. 

Al spends much of his time on the road, training new PBSP therapists and counseling clients. Diane, now retired, continues to advise on the development of training programs and new techniques.

PATRIARCHY VS MATRIARCHY (Homayoun Shahri, Ph.D., M.A., LMFT)

Patriarchy and matriarchy are defined in terms line of inheritance. In patriarchy inheritance is transmitted from father to off springs, but in matriarchy inheritance is transmitted through blood relationships. Thus in a matriarchal system off springs inherit from their maternal uncle and not from their father.

Branislaw Malinowski, a prominent anthropologist, lived among and studied natives of Trobriand Islands (near the eastern coast of New Guinea), a matriarchal society on the verge of transformation to patriarchy, during the first decade of the 20th century. His observations were astonishing. He observed a very peaceful, loving, and friendly people. Children's sexuality was not repressed by parents or the society, and they engaged in sexual activities from a young age, and to the surprise of Malinowski very few native girls got pregnant before the start of eloping with a man. By the age of 20 to 25 the native men and women usually would settle with one partner and the woman would move to the man's house, and their elopement started. They would live together as long as there was love between them. Men usually collected fruites, roots, and planted various crops such as yams and taro roots, women took care of children and household matters. Part of man's annual collection of roots and fish, etc would go to his sister (his blood relative). If the couple fell out of love neither would suffer any economic consequences, as the woman was supported by her brother, and man could support himself. They would just separate and find anther suitable partner. Children would stay with their mother, as the role of father was not known to the natives. There was not economic advantage to remain eloped. Margaret Mead in her book, "Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies", gave similar accounts to those that Malinowski described in his field work and studies of the natives of Trobriand Islands.

Malinowski observed that Oedipus complex did not exist in this society (experience during Oedipal period did not result in Oedipus complex) and hypothesized that perhaps Freud's assertion regarding Oedipus complex might not have been as ubiquitous and universal as he claimed. This indicated to Malinowski, and later confirmed by Wilhelm Reich that it is the sexual repression of children, and the charged sexual environment within the patriarchal family that may result in the Oedipus complex, as Freud conceived of and discussed in his writings.

Accumulation of wealth was not possible in this society as the food that they produced was very perishable and had to be consumed quickly, same for game and fish that they hunted and caught. This society was essentially a hunter-gatherer society. This society was very egalitarian and there were no hierarchies present in the society had it not been for the existence of the chief. Fathers generally were very friendly to their children and sons, but the role of maternal uncle was more of a what we know as a father in our society. Stealing, violence, sexual assault, and other antisocial behavior were non-existent in this society.

Trobriand Islanders had a chief. Chief would collect a small portion of all production and keep it for emergencies. What he collected would be consumed in a ceremony and feast, in case no emergency condition arose. That made the chief somewhat richer than the rest of the society. The chieftain realized that if his son eloped (married) their sister's daughter then wealth would remain withing chief's family, due to the nature of inheritance. Thus the chief kept his son abstinent and his sister kept her daughter abstinent. Malinowski recorded that all the antisocial behavior was limited to this group!

The transition to patriarchy began when man started cultivating crops such as wheat which could be stored and kept for a relatively long time. Thus the man who cultivated more wheat and similar crops became richer. In order for him to keep his wealth in his family he probably used a similar strategy as the Trobriand chieftain, thus keeping his sons and daughters abstinent. As the number of these rich farmers grew their sons had to marry daughters of other rich farmers. This is how the concept of dowry started. Thus now there was a price placed on the woman (in the form of dowry) so that only another rich farmer's son could marry the woman of status, and not an average member of the society, hence started the objectification of women. Of course the girl had to be kept abstinent as well so that wealth does not dissipate among commoners. Of course keeping boys and girls abstinent required authority, and discipline. This was the genesis of patriarchy, and authoritarian system of governance, the formation of marriage and later the state. Friedrich Engles in his book, “Origins of private property, family, and state”, also confirms what Malinowski had observed, albeit with some minor differences.

Wilhelm Reich, an associate of Freud, who was influenced by Malinowski formed Sexual-Political Organizations which he called “SexPols” right around the rise of Nazi's in Germany. He would educate teenagers about sexuality (what is done in High Schools today), and would provide contraceptives to them. At its peak, SexPols had over 40 thousand members across Germany. He documented that not even one SexPol member gravitated to Nazi ideology. From his experiments, documented in his books (SexPols, and Mass Psychology of Fascism, among others), he postulated that fascist and authoritarian regimes appeal to the most repressive and anti-sexual aspects of the patriarchal family (apparent in Nazi slogans). Is it then surprising that most religions as well as authoritarian systems have an anti-sexual nature, and promote marriage (in traditional loveless sense), are against choice for women, and support objectification and subjugation of women?

Where do we go from here? Reich in his book, Sexual Revolution, analyzed some reforms that were implemented early in the former Soviet Union (around 1920s which were all retracted when Stalin rose to power). These included abolition of marriage, declaring that children are property of state, meaning that their well being is guaranteed by the state. Women are also property of state (as men always were), and thus cannot be exchanged with and for money (dowry), nor can then abused. These reforms, according to Reich were very successful.

I believe we can learn from these experiments, and implement them in our society, if are to live in a peaceful society which is connected with nature, does not destroy mother earth for profit, does not repress its children (sexually and otherwise), does not wage wars, nor does it exploit its fellow human beings for economic gain, but provides the conditions for a life of pleasure and joy, love and tranquility.

References:
Branislaw Malinowski – Sexual life of savages.
Branislaw Malinowski – Argonauts of Western Pacific.
Friedrich Engles – Origin of Family, Private Property and State.
Wilhelm Reich – SexPols.
Wilhelm Reich – Mass Psychology of Fascism.
Wilhelm Reich – Sexual Revolution.
Wilhelm Reich – Invasion of Compulsory Sex Morality.


Branislaw Malinowski among natives of Trobrian Islands

Friedrich (Fritz) Perls was born in 1893 in Berlin. Against his family’s wishes, Perls served in the army during World War I. After the war, Perls studied medicine and began treating soldiers with brain injuries. He was drawn to the work of Sigmund Freud as a teenager, and his experiences treating patients pulled him further down the path toward Freudian psychoanalysis. He studied at the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis and in Vienna.

In 1930, Perls married Lore Posner, later known as Laura Perls; the couple had two children and fled the Hitler regime by relocating to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1933. There, Perls founded a training institute to serve the psychoanalytical community. During World War II, Perls again joined the military and became a psychiatrist with the South African army.

In 1946, the Perls family moved to New York where Perls worked briefly with Wilhelm Reich and Karen Horney. Perls eventually settled in Manhattan and began working with the intellectual Paul Goodman. In 1951, in collaboration with Ralph Hefferline, Goodman and Perls produced the book Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality, based mostly on Perl’s own research and clinical notes. Shortly after the publication in 1951, the Perls founded the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy and began conducting training from their apartment in Manhattan. Perls began sharing his theories with all of North America and began traveling extensively to conduct seminars and training workshops.

Later in life, Perls moved to California and became affiliated with the Esalen Institute, in 1964, where he provided workshops and continued to practice and develop Gestalt therapy. In 1969, Perls moved to Vancouver Island, Canada, to establish a training community for therapists. He died the following year in Chicago.

(Excerpts taken from GoodTherapy.org.) 

BODY-ORIENTED TRAUMA THERAPY: Clinical Perspectives. Examines the nature of trauma and its long-term effects, including recent research. Presenters include Dr Stephen Porges (creator of Polyvagal Theory), Dr Peter Levine (Creator of Somatic Experiencing), Dr Pat Ogden (Creator of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy), and Dr Bessel van der Kolk (Researcher and Author: Body Keeps the Score)