Posted by messadivoce on June 1, 2005, at 14:04:04
In reply to ideas for figuring out feelings?, posted by Shortelise on June 1, 2005, at 13:30:17
A drama class exercise I learned a long time ago helped me with this. My acting teacher is not from a Stanislausky acting background, so he's not about trying to draw feelings out from yourself. He comes from the school of thought, "to move will cause you to feel." So the exercise was to move around, usually walking (called "moving and seething") and repeat "I am... I want... I need... I feel...." and add answers to the questions. At first the results are kind of surface--"I want a handburger, I need a drink of water, I am a woman" but then they can get unexpectedly deep-- "I am sad, I want my T back, I need his approval, I feel abandoned" for example. Even though this is an effective exercise for drama class, I use it myself when I'm at an emotional impasse. I also found that after therapy, I was able to complete this exercise with much more ease.
poster:messadivoce
thread:506301
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050528/msgs/506313.html