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INTRODUCTION

‘We often reject our ignorance, which we unconsciously mistake for knowledge.’ The first time I used this phrase was in my doctoral thesis, which was entitled ‘The cleansing of the mind as a strategy for providing psychotherapeutic support for patients with severe physical ailments.’ For me ignorance has always been a guiding light in my career as a professional psychologist/therapist. And however much satisfaction I obtained from my work as a therapist, I always found there was something missing from the process. The feeling that something was missing was also the basic motivation for my development. As time passed, I realised that what I was really looking for was a deeper level of therapy, one that would touch the causes and the essence of people’s problems. I was not satisfied with working on a superficial level, nor with adopting one-sided approaches to people. My search initially led me to explore the spiritual dimension of man and to writing my doctoral thesis, in an attempt to wed modern psychotherapy with spirituality and prayer. In my quest to find out how to heal people, slowly but surely I was led to understand the essence of all healing, which is none other than human fulfilment. And what prevents human fulfilment is trauma, any kind of trauma that blocks the free flow of energy ‘within’ a human being and the exchange between this energy and the whole of Existence, from which we cannot be separated.

About ten years ago I was given the opportunity to realise that, in my ignorance, I had made the mistake of not recognising a different kind of knowledge. As a psychologist/psychotherapist, I was invited to take part in a TV programme and next to me in the studio sat a woman I did not know. Before the programme began, as they were adjusting the lighting, out of politeness, as we had not yet been introduced to each other, I turned to the woman and quietly introduced myself. After she had told me her name, I asked her what she did for a living. When she told me that she was a psychologist like myself, I wanted to learn more about the way she worked and what ‘school’ she belonged to. ‘Biosynthesis’ was her answer. It was the first time I had heard of this type of psychotherapy and I bombarded her with questions about it. When she mentioned the term ‘body psychotherapy’, at first I misunderstood her. ‘Do you mean that you touch each other?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied, as if it were a perfectly natural question to ask. Then I made my next quip, with a slight note of sarcasm: ‘Do you even hug each other?’ ‘Of course’, she replied, silencing me with the simplicity and guilelessness of someone who knows what they are saying and what they are doing. I thought, then spontaneously muttered to myself, ‘It reminds me of those cheap TV shows where they pretend to know everything.’ Yet this quiet, unassuming woman did not seem like the kind of person who would appear on such a show. Meanwhile, the programme I had been invited to went well, despite my crass behaviour.

A few days before this providential encounter I had been in Athens and I had bought a book that I almost finished in one go at the airport and on the plane on my way home to Cyprus. It was Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine. From the very start I had felt that the book was speaking to me personally.

Not long after the programme and studying Waking the Tiger, for the first time, guided only by Levine’s simple yet superb book, I intuitively observed the body of a young female patient of mine who had been the victim of a rape attempt. I was struck by the way the body was organising itself to deal with the attack: how, with a little support, her fear and tightness turned into a looseness and a resolve to defend her boundaries. A new world was opening up before me. I was excited by what I had seen… I felt like a young child who has ventured out of its village for the first time. That evening, at home, apart from expressing my excitement, I told my wife that I wanted to find out more. After re-reading Levine’s book, I realised that it had been edited and introduced by Lily Anagnostopoulou, director of the Greek Biosynthesis Center. The name seemed familiar but I wanted to confirm it. I rang the TV station whose programme I had appeared on and learned that the unassuming woman who had spoken to me about biosynthesis and body psychotherapy was indeed the director of the Biosynthesis Center in Greece. I found out the relevant telephone numbers and addresses and phoned the Center straightaway. At the other end of the line was the same calm voice:

Yes, soon we’re going to hold a two-day seminar entitled ‘Healing Trauma’, which will also provide an opportunity for people who want to practise body psychotherapy to learn about the educational programme we offer on biosynthesis. Do come and see if it suits you.

I must admit that, in my enthusiasm, I failed to appreciate the subtle irony of the situation.

I did indeed go and… I stayed.

The story of how I became acquainted with Lily, bioynthesis, body psychotherapy and the techniques of holding and hugging was to be a private joke between us for the next few years. I left Palaion Patron Germanou 49 (the address of my home in Cyprus) and at Palaion Patron Germanou 10 (the address of the Biosynthesis Center in Athens*) I learned a new truth which I always try to keep as a guiding light in my life: ‘Be open, therefore. Be OPEN. Don't close off the possibility of new truth because you have been comfortable with an old one. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.’2

Yes, it is exciting to live at the end of your comfort zone. At the age of 50, under Lily’s guidance – and here I would like to thank Lily for all the things she taught me with such love and patience –, and with the help of a very strong group of therapists and patients – whom I would also like to thank as I gained something from all of them – and through the inspired work of David Boadella, I discovered biosynthesis. And through biosynthesis I gained a knowledge of the body as it has been handed down to us by the father of all forms of body therapy, the scientist, visionary, humanitarian and eternally young activist Wilhelm Reich. I discovered, then, that I did not know my body as well as I know it now.

The current address of the Biosynthesis Center in Athens is: 13 Stratarchou Papagou, Halandri

* The current address of the Biosynthesis Center in Athens is: 13 Stratarchou Papagou, Halandri

2. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God, Book 3: Embracing the Love of the Universe, Charlottesville, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2012, p. 100.