Expression Experiments
A possibility for challenging self-expression consists of working on the physical level. Different bundles of possibilities are offered here, depending on the counselling context and the client’s environment: gestures and physical actions such as standing up, dancing, singing, making sounds, screaming, exercising strength, hitting gongs etc. For the reader who has never experienced such a thing, this may sound peculiar. Nevertheless, this counselling technique can be a path to self-representations which have, so far, been blocked and inaccessible for people, particularly for those who are rather careful, inhibited, controlled and full of inner norms about how one behaves. For those who wish to present themselves more authoritatively in meetings and speak with a weak, feeble and dull voice, an experimentation with volume, with fervour or sharpness of tone is absolutely worth a try. Here, too, it is absolutely crucial: it is not at all about the client practicing to speak louder, this would be an example of using this technique wrongly. Then the overburdening or a pseudo-behaviour increases. Rather, it is about allowing them to make discoveries about how they might feel when they try this out.