Contemporary body psychotherapy (Chiron)

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Bernd Eiden, Jochen Lude, Rainer Pervoltz · 1983 · London

What it is

The Chiron approach is not a manualised therapy. It is an integrative body psychotherapy and training tradition from the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy in London, originally called the Chiron Centre for Holistic Psychotherapy. Six people set it up in 1983. Three of them, Bernd Eiden, Jochen…

Format

• Format. The work is individual, in a room with chairs and a mattress. The client may sit face to face and talk, or lie down for body-focused work. There is no homework, there are no in-vivo tasks and there is no fixed session agenda: the process is "not goal-oriented".
• Frame and contract. Agree session time, frequency, notice for cancellations and confidentiality, plus a working contract, before deeper work starts.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What it is. The Chiron approach is not a manualised therapy. It is an integrative body psychotherapy and training tradition from the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy in London, originally called the Chiron Centre for Holistic Psychotherapy. Six people set it up in 1983. Three of them, Bernd Eiden, Jochen Lude and Rainer Pervoltz, became its directors; the other three were Kristiane Preisinger, Jochen Encke and…
• How change happens. Healing is located in the present-moment relationship between client and therapist, which matters more than any technique. Transference is felt in both bodies, so it can be worked with directly. The therapist holds the client's experience, and this builds the ego strength needed to feel strong emotion. The client gradually takes in more of the relationship and learns what their own body…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Awkwardness or a sense of performance: name it lightly, and it can become material.
• Disclosures that burden the client or shift the focus onto you. Take strong or persistent reactions to supervision.
• Images that turn frightening. Slow down, add resources such as a safe place or the therapist's presence, and ground.
• Silence felt as abandonment, especially in early phases or with attachment trauma. If so, it is not yet the time for this.
• Grounding is working when the client's breathing slows and settles, their eyes become present, and they can reflect while still feeling.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.