image from urmc.rochester.edu
Radical Kindness to my Biopsychosocial Self
Fancy words for Integrative Alexander Technique in Pandemic Days
This morning as I fumbled through my litany of annoyances, frustrations, concerns and worries about HCoVid 19 and its effects in my life, the first line of my fancy definition of the Alexander Technique appeared –
Constructive conscious kindness to yourself
And became
Constructive conscious radical kindness to my biopsychosocial self
Radical because we are being asked to expand our practice of kindness challenging us to see that the actions being asked of each of us serve world-wide community kindness.
Daniel Siegel provides a definition of kindness that resonates with how I think the Alexander Technique integrates with our life:
“The visible, natural outcome of integration. Positive regard for others, compassionate intention, and acts of extending oneself in service of others are all different manifestations of the differentiation and linkage of selves within a larger ‘We’ at the heart of being kind. Involves honoring and supporting the vulnerability of others and the self.” (2012: p. AI-44)
WE.
Biopsychosocial, a term introduced by physician George Engel, Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center emphasizes the interconnectedness of self and community:
“I have proposed guidelines for a more inclusive model, a biopsychosocial model based on general systems theory. As the name suggests, its intent is to provide a framework within which can be conceptualized and related as natural systems all the levels of organization pertinent to health and disease, from subatomic particles through molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, the person, the family, the community, the culture and ultimately, the biosphere.
[…]
Overall health reflects a high level of intra- and intersystemic harmony. Such harmony may be disrupted at any level, at the cellular, at the organ system, at the whole person or at the community levels. Whether the resulting disturbance is contained at the level at which it is initiated or whether other levels become implicated is a function of the capacity of that system to adjust to change.” (Engel 1968, p. 175)
In this pandemic moment, all of Engel’s levels of wholeness demand our attention.
The pleas of our government officials and health care professionals is to think beyond ourselves. If we understand ourselves as integrated biopsychosocial beings, we might be able to see more clearly that we are not sacrificing for others, we are sacrificing for ourselves.
At the moment pandemic conundrum arises, while acknowledging the challenge, my practice today is to use the Alexander Technique to call myself to serve my whole biopsychosocial realm, comforting the discomforts I experience at some levels as I integrate all the elements of me – from atom to biosphere - in the service of kindness to every level – in communion with you and you and you and you and you and you…..
Engel, G. L. (1978) ‘The biopsychosocial model and the education of health professionals’. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 310, pp. 169-187.
Siegel, Daniel J. (2012) Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology: An Integrative Handbook of the Mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Radical Kindness to my Biopsychosocial Self
Fancy words for Integrative Alexander Technique in Pandemic Days
This morning as I fumbled through my litany of annoyances, frustrations, concerns and worries about HCoVid 19 and its effects in my life, the first line of my fancy definition of the Alexander Technique appeared –
Constructive conscious kindness to yourself
And became
Constructive conscious radical kindness to my biopsychosocial self
Radical because we are being asked to expand our practice of kindness challenging us to see that the actions being asked of each of us serve world-wide community kindness.
Daniel Siegel provides a definition of kindness that resonates with how I think the Alexander Technique integrates with our life:
“The visible, natural outcome of integration. Positive regard for others, compassionate intention, and acts of extending oneself in service of others are all different manifestations of the differentiation and linkage of selves within a larger ‘We’ at the heart of being kind. Involves honoring and supporting the vulnerability of others and the self.” (2012: p. AI-44)
WE.
Biopsychosocial, a term introduced by physician George Engel, Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center emphasizes the interconnectedness of self and community:
“I have proposed guidelines for a more inclusive model, a biopsychosocial model based on general systems theory. As the name suggests, its intent is to provide a framework within which can be conceptualized and related as natural systems all the levels of organization pertinent to health and disease, from subatomic particles through molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, the person, the family, the community, the culture and ultimately, the biosphere.
[…]
Overall health reflects a high level of intra- and intersystemic harmony. Such harmony may be disrupted at any level, at the cellular, at the organ system, at the whole person or at the community levels. Whether the resulting disturbance is contained at the level at which it is initiated or whether other levels become implicated is a function of the capacity of that system to adjust to change.” (Engel 1968, p. 175)
In this pandemic moment, all of Engel’s levels of wholeness demand our attention.
The pleas of our government officials and health care professionals is to think beyond ourselves. If we understand ourselves as integrated biopsychosocial beings, we might be able to see more clearly that we are not sacrificing for others, we are sacrificing for ourselves.
At the moment pandemic conundrum arises, while acknowledging the challenge, my practice today is to use the Alexander Technique to call myself to serve my whole biopsychosocial realm, comforting the discomforts I experience at some levels as I integrate all the elements of me – from atom to biosphere - in the service of kindness to every level – in communion with you and you and you and you and you and you…..
Engel, G. L. (1978) ‘The biopsychosocial model and the education of health professionals’. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 310, pp. 169-187.
Siegel, Daniel J. (2012) Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology: An Integrative Handbook of the Mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
RSS Feed