Alexander Lowen

December 23, 1910 - October 28, 2008

 

I would like to present my sincere condolences to Mr Alexander Lowen's family. I am truly sorry for this extraordinary therapist and person. I read most of D's books and somehow got a feeling of him himself, though I obviously never met him in reality. Thanks God that such people exist or existed.
Maria
Kiev, Ukraine
My dearest thanks to Al for his wonderful efforts and passion to understand human suffering and the beauty inherent in all of us. I had the pleasure of working with him once in 1975 and for years with John Pierrakos. My studies in Bioenergetics and Core Energetics continue to inform my life and work. I know there are many people in the world better for Al Lowen's contribution. My heartfelt thanks and condolences to the Lowen family and friends. We are better for his touch and his brilliance. In the spirit of peace, Kathleen
Kathleen Bobowski Goldberg
Portland, Oregon
In the mid 1980's, I experienced many sessions with Al Lowen, over a period of many months. When stretched over the bench, feeling total pain, almost agony, I remember saying to myself, "This is the way torture must feel, but at least I have the option to stop when I want." And when I was curled up in the chid's pose and Dr. Lown was pounding on my back, I remember gritting my teeth and thinking, "I won't give in." At times I felt that Dr. Lowen was a bit judgemental, telling me I was so tight. Often I felt I was not "doing" the bioenergetic analyis exercise or movement well enough. But then one time, at a weekend workshop during the group sharing, one participant said about himself, "I don't breathe worth a damn." I found that amusing - to think that we are judging the very basic human ability that all of us have that keeps us alive and that we must be breathing well enough if we are still alive. Another memory was a moment when I shared an experience of someone being verbally unfair to me, and my feeling powerless to do anything about it. Dr. Lowen explained that someone would only be able to do that to him once. They would realize they could not do it again, because of his confident response and ability to set boundaries. I never forgot that. I also just happened to eat in a Japanese restaurant where John Pierrakos waw eating in Manhattan, Tatani, literally a few days (maybe a week) before his passing. In our brief conversation, he shared with me that he would have enjoyed hearing from his former colleague, Al Lowen. I don't know if Al ever did contact him, but I also had the opportunity to share that conversation with Al Lowen at the beautifully poignant memorial after John Pierrakos' passing. So although I did not take a formal training in bioenergetic analysis, I felt very connected to Dr. Lowen and his life process. That work was, for me, a direct contrast with the more gentle Rubenfeld Synergy work which is my main modality.
Dr. Erica Goodstone
Deerfield Beach, Florida
Alexander Lowen you will never cease being a great Man. Thank you for your body of work. Fly home now back to the energetic ocean free from this physical cage. My sincere condolences to the Lowen family.
Tony A
Melbourne Australia
I am saddened by Al Lowen's passing and I know that Al achieved his task in life; his time had come. I meet this news with a quiet and grateful heart. I first met Al when I was a young mother, in the late sixties, when he came to Washington DC to give a workshop. I was enthralled with his knowledge of a method of Body Psychotherapy that I instinctively knew could save my life. And it has. I went to Al’s office in Connecticut a couple of years later for a private consultation. Al told me that I needed more energy in my pelvis to make it fuller. I was proud of my boy-like pelvis, but when Al told me that I could have more feeling, and much more pleasure, I was willing to allow it to grow! He whacked my back, manipulated my neck and I screamed. I felt great when I left there. I went on to study Bioenergetic Analysis professionally and practice it still, 40 years later. Many people thought Al to be pretty tough, but on several occasions I felt his soft and vulnerable side. I saw Al cry at a workshop and felt his heart open, as he shed a tear, at his 80th birthday when I went to tell him how grateful I was for his life and all he’d done for me and for the field of psychology. I visited him at his home in 2006. In his office he had a photograph of himself with his infant son. He also had a photo of his mentor, Wilhelm Reich, holding a baby. Al loved babies and was very clear about how we needed to raise them to create healthy children and healthy happy free adults. This was an important and wonderful gift he gave us all. Thank you Al. Your life touched me in deep and profound ways. I will always be grateful. I hold you in my heart and I will never forget you. Rest now. Be at peace. You deserve it! Pamela L Chubbuck PhD, CBT, Core Energetic Trainer [I have republished an article I wrote after visiting Al at his home when he was 95. I would love to share it with you. Please go to www.core-energetics-south.com]
Pam Chubbuck
Atlanta, Georgia
Bioenergetics has been a very important tradition for me personally since 1978 and has become integrated into my practice and teaching of other psychotherapists. Without the fearless, pioneering work of Reich, Lowen, Peirakos and others we would not today be in a place where Somatic Psychology is a recognized discipline within accredited degree progams. In Ontario, where I practice and train practitioners, it has not, however, reached that secure status as the provonce goes forward with the regulation of p[sychotherapy. We have formed the Canadian Humanistic and Transpersoanl Association (CHTA)to help ensure that these traditions, including Somatic Psychology, are appropriately represented in the scope of practice. Lowen's work stands as a reference beacon in this sense. To find out more about CHTA email jim@livinginstitute.org or visit www.livinginstitute.org
Jim MCNamara
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Al Lowen helped me define myself as a man as a therapist and to care deeply and passionately about life. This is what I can pass on to those with whom I live and work. This is the legacy of Al's life and work. May you rest in peace as your spirit of joy of living and presence is carried on by all whom you've touched.
Marvin H. Berman Ph.D., CBT, BCIAC(EEG)
Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania
My British stiff upper lip and neck were never the same after attending one of Al Lowen’s pioneering workshops in California during the mid-sixties. He, with John Pierrakos and Stanley Keleman, was presenting his neo-Reichian work in a group setting – a rather new concept and a powerful contribution to the Human Potential Movement of the time. I remain ever-thankful for that weekend as I embarked on life with Charles R. “Chuck” Kelley and the development of Radix Education. If Chuck were alive today, he would want to honor Al. He did pay tribute to him during their lifetimes, however, at the 1st US National Conference on Body Oriented Psychotherapy in Massachusetts in 1996, and his words remain valid today: “I have known Al Lowen since the last years of Wilhelm Reich’s life in the fifties. Al and John Pierrakos were busy organizing their new Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis in New York City. I remember, in the years that followed, attending lectures by Al at the Community Church in New York, thoughtful lectures that became articles printed by the Institute. Many of these evolved into chapters of his early books, such as Love and Orgasm and The Betrayal of the Body. May personal favorite among all of Al’s books is still his first one, The Physical Dynamics of Character Structure, later reissued as The Language of the Body. No better book on character types and the body has ever been written. Al Lowen is an easy person to hate. Those who have taken verbal shots at him are legion. To tell the truth, I have had the impulse to wring his neck a time or two myself. He is aggressive, cocky and opinionated. He is also creative, insightful, and productive, a man who has made the most of his potentialities. Every one of us at this conference owes Al Lowen a large debt of gratitude. His books and the Bioenergetic movement he and John spawned have been the most significant force in body-oriented psychotherapy since Reich’s own work. It has changed the face of body-oriented psychotherapy and personal growth practice. The system I created, Radix, grew from my association with Reich, and it is distinctively my own, but I use bioenergetic concepts and exercises in almost every session. So, I believe, do the great majority of the hundreds of other professionals at this conference – often without even knowing it. Such is the impact of bioenergetics on our field. And so it is our privilege and pleasure today to honor Alexander Lowen, to take this moment to pay homage to him and his work, and to express our gratitude for what he has done for each of us and for the profession that we practice. Thank you, Al!” Erica Kelley
Erica Kelley
Vancouver WA
Now, alas, I am the sole survivor of the original Board of the Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis! I owe a huge debt to the adventure of helping to found the Institute and to Al Lowen. That event shaped the rest of my life both personally and professionally in a profoundly positive way. In part, I owe my continuing good energy, and ability to continue to work and enjoy life at a ripe old age, to the work that we did together. And to John P. as well. Thank you both.
Alice Kahn Ladas
Santa Fe, NM
Through this man and of course the help of others i went through a life changing prosess. I read all his books and I met him in Amsterdam (Netherlands). His contribution and the of John Pierrakos was hige and inmense. Because of these two men I became not only a healthy person but also a B.P.T. More than Greatful I am...
Gees Boseker
Nijmegen, Netherlands
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