Authentic Movement
Authentic Movement (AM) is a form of expressive movement therapy which grew out of an inner-directed approach to movement developed by Mary Starks Whitehouse. It was described as unpremeditated, genuine, or "authentic." Whitehouse called her work "Movement-in-depth." Janet Adler developed this approach into a practice involving a mover and a witness. History Whitehouse (1911 – 1979) was a student of famed Martha Graham and Mary Wigman, who became a professional dancer and subsequent teacher. Informed by her interest in and experience with Jungian psychology, particularly active imagination, projection, and polarities, Whitehouse integrated her study of dance and Jung into a new embodied inquiry, "an approach, an orientation" toward allowing "the unconscious to express itself in movement." Joan Chodorow (Jungian Analyst) and Janet Adler (Dance Movement Therapist and PhD in Mystical Studies) each studied with Mary Whitehouse. Chodorow's work is based in Jungian analysis, working with Active Imagination in Movement, developmental psychology, intercultural elements, archetypes, dreams, and play. Adler's teaching of the Discipline of Authentic Movement has focused on the development of the inner witness and the study of mystical elements such as clear seeing, intuition, direct experience, and energetic phenomenon. Practice Exploration When starting a basic AM session, participants start