Soma: An Anarchist Therapy Vol.

III: Body to Body - A synthesis of Somatherapy Translation of: Roberto Freire & Joo da Mata (1997) SOMA - Uma Terapia Anarquista; Vol. III: Corpo a Corpo.
Fulltext in Portuguese & English: http://www.somaterapia.com.br/soma.html Traduo: Ceri Buckmaster

Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................... 2 Part One: Soma a revolutionary cocktail
1. The totality of being .................................................................................... 3 2. Reich and the mysteries of the organism..................................................... 5 3. 4. 5. 6. Capoeira: the mandinga of the slave with a burning desire for freedom .... 7 Living the present ........................................................................................ 8 The production of madness........................................................................ 10 The pedagogy of freedom.......................................................................... 11

Part Two: How Soma works

1. Methodology.............................................................................................. 13 2. Therapeutic process ................................................................................... 16

Part Three: Soma, anarchism and ecology .......................................... 17 Notes.......................................................................................................... 18

1

Introduction
Soma is a therapy that also moves into the area of pedagogy, and in which we gain awareness of how we learn and the best way for us to learn. To do Soma is to strive to be free and so to be revolutionary and happy. It means transforming life by the union of three fundamental and inseparable elements: beauty, happiness, and pleasure, which are the components of teso 1. Sem teso no h soluo. Without teso, theres no solution. Our health depends on the permanent presence of everything that is tesudo (full of teso) for us. For this reason, the therapy is also a beautiful, happy, and deliciously pleasurable act. We look to eliminate the tendency to associate therapy with suffering, discomfort and formality. This association is common because this is the way that traditional psychology functions. Instead, we make fun of our suffering, we play with our discomfort and we are informal when we deal with formality. We believe that this is the only way to be healthy and full of teso. This does not mean that in the therapy people dont recognise, feel and live their pain and difficulties, but rather that they dont make martyrs of themselves, which makes their problems difficult to resolve. In Soma, we use the ideology of pleasure (health) as an antidote to the ideology of sacrifice (neurosis). We go about undoing the authoritarian knot of our bourgeois capitalist conditioning, which demanded the sacrifice of our desires in exchange for social acceptance. This new ideology gives us energy and the teso to fight against the bourgeois ideology that makes us neurotic. Consequently, everything becomes fantastically alive and real because fighting for what we are and what we want gives us the certainty that we are alive. Living means confronting risk and enjoying freedom. Surviving is the exact opposite: it means conforming within safe limits. We fight for the fullness of life, as we need to take on any obstacles face-to-face. A healthy person fully understands what this involves; a neurotic person doesnt, having lost the capacity to react. The only way not to get lost in the mediocrity of neurosis is to learn how to fight to
2

be free. Soma exists so that people can live their lives in the widest sense possible, as soon as possible. We soon realise that the act of living is extremely simple. Thinking and acting along these lines, Soma is objective and practical. We work to help people identify and combat external agents that are blocking or preventing the fulfilment of dreams and goals in their lives and in doing so, we help people to truly be themselves. However, not everyone wants to fight for the freedom to be themselves. Authoritarian social structures are only maintained because there exist authoritarian individuals. Capitalists, reactionaries and conservatives maintain ideologies that perpetuate the oppressoroppressed formula and conserve the authoritarianism present in all social relations. However, its in the formation and maintenance of the bourgeois family that this formula is witnessed in the clearest way while, at the same time, is at its most disguised. The way in which families are organised today makes the full, vital realisation of an individual practically impossible, as love is used to limit freedom and desire. This is the most powerful weapon that the family has and it is used to attend to the expectations of the state, of society, and of the market. In rejecting this, the consequence is marginalization, even madness. Soma is an invitation to these revolutionaries, to those who object and to all those who identify with this urgency to be free. Only these people can understand life as we see it because they prioritise love and enjoyment . Only for these people does Soma have any kind of meaning and function. It was in this spirit that Roberto Freire created Soma at the beginning of the seventies, and has continued to develop it until today. It was born out of the military regime (1964-1979), when Freire and his comrades in the political struggle experienced the explicit repression of their freedom by the dictatorship. Militants were too paranoid of being denounced to seek out psychological help. Family members denounced other members, and work colleagues denounced each other, to the extent that no militant would trust a psychologist. Freire abandoned psychoanalysis and set off on a search for a

therapy that was fast, efficient and liberating. He thought that the therapy had to be brief, similar to a war hospital solving problems that crop up so that the person can quickly return to the battle of life. He created Soma, a carefully selected and shaken cocktail of the revolutionary knowledge we have available to us in the works of Wilhelm Reich and David Cooper. For thirty years, Soma has been an instrument in the fight against the authoritarianism and limitations to human freedom present in society, be it a military dictatorship or todays neoliberal farce of a democracy. When we eliminate authoritarianism, we encounter the originality in the lives of each one of us. Each human being is unique and different. Driven by economic power or by the state, authoritarian societies need to standardise human behaviour in order to facilitate control and domination.

Repression and mass production of all things, including human beings, are achieved through social mechanisms that control the individual. In Soma, we undo these power games and individuals liberate themselves as they rescue their originality, which makes them infinitely stronger, more inspired and more revolutionary. We have no doubt that human brilliance occurs only when we are ourselves. And when we are complete, all beings harmonise with each other. Only the fact that lots of people allow themselves to be controlled by a few makes viable an unjust and disharmonious society such as ours. Only by respecting individual differences can we build a new ethic of social relations, thus creating a new society. This is our dream; our fuel is passion, our vehicle is teso and our fight is the construction and experience of a tesudo, personal and social life, that is here-and-now and anarchic.

Part One: Soma a revolutionary cocktail

1. The totality of being
This characteristic is fundamental to our work, since Soma is not interested in isolated or partial aspects of a persons life. We study the whole person, the indivisible unit, the various areas in their lives, and the relationship between these areas. The division of this whole into independent parts (mind and body, for example) leads to the supremacy of some functions over others. These divisions can serve only for didactic understanding in the study of human beings, but never to evaluate human life. The isolating of one part of the whole in order to study some disorder leads to a limited and insufficient diagnosis. This explains why weve removed the prefix psycho from our therapeutic work. We dont practise psychotherapy as we dont consider the mind to be the focus of therapeutic action but rather the whole soma; the whole person, including the mind as it is part of the somatic whole. Unicist thought (a branch of thought that deals with the individual as unique and complete) has been opposed in various ways during the history of humankind. Christianity believed the spirit to
3

We couldnt start to explain what Soma is and how it works without first mentioning the importance of its name for our work. The word Soma comes from Greek, and means body but not just as we are used to thinking of the body. For us, the word incorporates the bodys extensions, such as its desires and ideals, thoughts and attitudes, ideology and love, profession and social life. A human Soma is everything that a person is, including how and with whom she or he has relationships with. For us, Soma means the totality of being in the widest and most complete sense. We understand Somatology to be the study of phenomena that involve the soma in its interaction with other somas and with the environment. Somatherapy is the practical expression of somatology. Its where understanding can be found that aids the consciousness of a soma in its personal and social life.

be more important than matter. Rationalism linked human existence to thought, and to the valuing of the aphorism I think therefore I am, which determines a hierarchy with the brain at the top. The body, of secondary importance, serves only to sustain the mind. Rationalism has been present in a good part of modern culture. Our way of approaching human life, of including concern for the body, emotions, thoughts, culture, and their social manifestations, is the epitome of unicity. All unicist understanding is supported by the idea that each individual is a universe in itself; a complex, coherent and integrated experience. Human beings who live out their uniqueness have natural mechanisms at their disposal that allow them to determine the nature of their existence. This is the principle of spontaneous self-regulation. We know that, except for the learning of social and cultural customs that are circulating at any particular moment, people are born knowing how to satisfactorily regulate their vital functions. This understanding gives us the practical and unpretentious conditions to do therapy. It is necessary to determine what blocks a persons life, and exactly how he or she is blocked, in order to then help this person to free him or herself. When he or she manages this, the vital functions reorganise themselves naturally. These vital functions relate to the basic experiences of life, such as love, sex, creativity and social relationships. Self-regulation is a biological condition of the human species. Its the capacity that we have to determine our lives, to direct our existence according to the standards, desires and rhythms that we feel and determine as more or less satisfactory for us. Self-regulated people determine the rhythm and form of their lives in accordance with their ideals. They love the people who please them most, they work in an area in which they feel the greatest aptitude and competence, they live with people that give them most teso. Spontaneous self-regulation is therefore determined by the search for pleasure. One of the characteristics of the neurotic state is being unable to regulate oneself and therefore having the tendency to be heteroregulated, which is to rely on others expectations to determine our lives and to live our lives in accordance with the ideals of others. Many of
4

the difficulties presented in therapy are related to the incapacity or inability that people have in defining what they want and like. A neurotic situation is very often directly related to a mechanism in which the individual gives up his or her power to determine his or her life or a part of it. A hetero-regulated person lives out roles and characters that correspond to the expectations of others. The sensation of incompetence and general impotence, especially in the areas of love and sex stem from the lack of energy wasted by heteroregulation. When we adopt external references, it becomes difficult to realise our own pleasures. Heteroregulation is a direct consequence of the values that govern the present authoritarian society determining standards of behaviour for individuals. This happens under the pretence of established morals, laws and norms that emerge from various sources: the state, religion, the market and from the family. From childhood, we live with relationships that mix love and affection with blackmail and authoritarianism, which limit and condition our tastes, preferences and choices. The fear of losing the love of parents makes the child a defenceless victim with no options other than to conform and be submissive. This education is reinforced at school and extends to other social relationships in which there is always some kind of external control and regulation. In authoritarian societies, power substitutes pleasure; in these societies, there will always be heteroregulated people. Our greatest objective in Soma is to lead people to discover who they really are and what they really want in life. This is the discovery of the unique originality of each being. What exists in a person that differentiates him or her from others is the result of the infinite combinations and genetic arrangements at the time of the formation of the human embryo. Science has proved that nature requires the widest possible human diversity. We are, of course, similar in the vast majority of our characteristics - in morphology and physiology, as well as in behaviour. Nonetheless, there exists something unique, belonging to each being that has never been, nor ever will be part of another being. It is

fundamental to the development of the human species that each being exercises his or her unique originality. Healthy people live out their originality, regulating themselves and searching for their uniqueness. This would be the biological purpose of each life. Each time that someone cant express his or her originality, our species and eco-system lose a contribution to its development and another life loses its biological purpose. Neurosis is precisely the rupture with our uniqueness caused by external blocks, which makes a person divided, weak and insecure. These blockages impede the free working of our organisms spontaneous self-regulation, and we become distant from our true and original selves. The paradox that arises is that, on the one hand, genetics is proving that the existence of identical beings is impossible and that this diversity is necessary for the natural development of the species. On the other, we live in societies made up of mass-produced, standardised individuals. The reason for this paradox is simple: individuals that conform to standards of behaviour are easy prey for authoritarian organisations to manipulate. Neurotic people are easily controlled and guided, and authoritarian powers are perpetuated thanks to the existence of these submissive, uncreative, repetitive people. This understanding of neurosis explains why Soma has a specifically political content; not the politics of institutions, but the politics of everyday life present in our every relationship. Our objective is to uncover explicit and disguised power relations and their impact on our lives. The therapy begins to take place as the individual embarks on his or her revolution to break out of the oppressed-oppressor circle and chooses relationships amongst equals in the search for pleasure. To achieve this, Somatherapy can only be performed in groups. As neurosis is born out of social contact, it is here that it shows itself most clearly. In Soma, we create a micro-laboratory in which relationships are formed within the group. These relationships need to be diverse enough to show the various difficulties each person has in defending his or her unique originality with different people.

2. Reich and the mysteries of the organism

Soma sought its political theories of neurosis from the life and work of the Austrian Wilhelm Reich. Born at the end of the nineteenth century, Reich was responsible for one of the biggest revolutions in contemporary psychology. In the twenties he proposed profound changes in the understanding of neurosis. Reich had always been interested in the social study of man. He graduated in medicine, and even before completing the course he became a member and disciple of the Psychoanalytic Society led by Sigmund Freud. In contrast to Reich, Freud had an urban, religious and bourgeois upbringing. He never showed much interest in the social problems of his age. This age was one of transformations in Europe, especially with the growing credibility of socialist ideas that burst out in revolutions like that of 1917 in Russia, and which inevitably influenced various areas of scientific and cultural activity. Differences in understanding of these events created the split between Reich and Freud in their scientific work. Reichs discoveries relating both to the origin of neurosis and to the way it is studied led to his expulsion from the Psychoanalytic Society. Reich believed that a person isnt born neurotic; he or she becomes neurotic. Neuroses are formed in the conflict that occurs between authoritarian, repressive standards of behaviour and an individuals own standards. Reich stated categorically that while there existed any kind of moral regulation that limited mans desires, it would be impossible to speak of real freedom. As well as being a product of social heteroregulation, Reich believed that neurosis took hold in the whole body and not just in the mind. He believed that what made neurosis take hold was an energy imbalance; not just a psychic energy imbalance but an imbalance of the unique energy (which we can call bioenergy, or vital energy) that circulates throughout the whole body. He discovered for the West at the end of the 1920s the idea of vital energy, without being acquainted with ideas that had been in existence in oriental thinking for more than 5,000 years.
5

The defective distribution of bioenergy, especially in the musculature, leads to the formation of what he called neuromuscular armour. Reich observed that emotions and thoughts always have physical equivalents and vice versa. An emotion always brings about changes in the circulation of bioenergy because of localised muscular contraction and changes in breathing and in posture. This happens, for example, in a threatening situation; the body goes through different physiological alterations (increased beating of the heart, dilation of the pupils, muscular contraction) that prepare the soma for an adequate response to the threat. This is a natural mechanism that allows people to adapt to different stimuli. However, if an individual has been subjected to continual situations that involve fear or insecurity since childhood, the physiological transformations start to crystallise in the body. A response that should be specific to certain situations becomes continuous, and creates a posture and neuromuscular armour which determine a persons way of being in the world; or, in other words, their character. The formation of the neuromuscular armour occurs above all during our childhood development due to permanent blockages in sexuality, as social norms dictate, and constant threats in our emotional life. This armour can reveal itself through constant muscular contractions or through chronic muscular flaccidity. There are parts of the body that are constantly and intensely rigid, such as permanently arched and tense shoulders. This leads to an excessive consumption of our vital energy, as well as preventing its free movement to other areas. In childhood, this armour serves as a protective shield against emotional threats. In adulthood, the armour limits our relationship with the world, making the direct, spontaneous expression of emotions and sexuality impossible. Thus, the armour starts to generate neurotic symptoms such as phobias, depression, anxiety, incompetence, and impotence in the areas of creativity, sexuality and affection. For Reich, the neuromuscular or character armour is the physical expression of neurosis. In clinical observation, Reich discovered a natural and biological agent that is capable of dissolving this defensive armour and restoring the free flow of
6

vital energy. This study gave birth to the revolutionary book The Function of the Orgasm. Apart from giving great pleasure and feelings of well-being, the full and satisfactory sexual orgasm works upon the armour by dissolving it for a moment via a short-circuit which frees the tense musculature and restores the flow of energy. The orgasm thus functions as a regulating agent. However, the neuromuscular armour is often so rigid that it prevents full orgasms and the flushing through of natural energy, thus forming a vicious circle: if there is no orgasm, the armour isnt broken down, the neurotic symptoms increase and this makes the reaching of orgasm even more difficult. Armoured people also have difficulty in finding satisfactory partners and involving themselves fully enough to attain a satisfactory sex life. The full and satisfactory orgasm, with its unblocking function, is a lot more than just ejaculation in the man and vaginal pleasure in the woman. It is characterised by a dissolving of the ego, and provokes involuntary movements and sounds as well as a temporary loss of the sense of time and space. This allows people to enjoy a state of profound relaxation after orgasm. Reich affirmed that therapy was necessary to eliminate the chronic persistence of the armour, allowing the individual to relate freely and directly with the world without defence shields. In the search for this therapy he researched techniques that broke the vicious circle, restoring the circulation of bioenergy. He discovered orgasmic equivalents, which are other means of arriving at the therapeutic effects provided by a real sexual orgasm. There are natural equivalents (dancing, laughing, crying, yawning, stretching etc) and other artificial ones (massage, exercises) all of which are capable of mobilising the armour. Soma works with its own physical exercises; games, dances and varied movements that work as orgasmic equivalents. Apart from producing a good circulation of energy, they lead to a better perception of the body and of oneself, and also aid the identification of blockages. After the conclusion of a bioenergetic exercise, for example, a reserve of energy starts to build up in the participants body. We know that beating neurosis is more complicated than doing

a few bioenergetic exercises and that we need to defeat the armours social and political causes. Symptoms such as anxiety and depression are alarm signals indicating that theres something wrong going on its essential not to put out this red light until its causes are understood. The search for these causes lead us to the discovery of the power relations that repress and block us. When people cant be themselves nor live out their ideas and desires, they enter into a defensive neurotic state. The neuromuscular armour is, therefore, a direct consequence of an authoritarian pedagogical game that teaches us to accept standards that are not our own. In Soma, we prioritise the understanding of the political and ideological conflict we face, since that constitutes the true cause and origin of the neurosis. We also know that the neuromuscular armour in itself isnt harmful. On the contrary, it is a natural defence mechanism we have at our disposal. It is only harmful and pathological when it becomes chronic, and this is determined by our somatic armour, which is the internalised expression of the political and ideological conflicts resulting from repressive and authoritarian behaviour. In Soma, the fight against neurosis involves cleaning out and becoming immune to the power mechanisms that have always acted and will continue to act on peoples lives. This leads to the re-establishment of the free flow of bioenergy that heralds a return to health. All this is achieved through liberating bioenergetic exercises that work as orgasmic equivalents, dissolving muscular rigidity. At the same time, work on political consciousness takes place during group sessions.

bioenergetic exercises are only temporary. They diminish tension in the musculature but arent sufficient to prevent the armour taking hold again. Capoeira works as a strong orgasmic equivalent, mobilising practically all the muscles in the body and liberating stagnant energy. The history of Capoeira Angola is similar to that of Soma. Both emerged as ways of freeing individuals in oppressive situations. The slaves invented capoeira to free themselves of the slavery imposed by the whites in Brazil, thereby transforming their bodies into fighting weapons. Reich located seven areas, or rings, in the armour where muscular tension is formed. These are the ocular, the oral, the cervical, the thoracic, the diaphragmatic, the abdominal and the pelvic. The movements in capoeira (the swinging ginga from side to side, the movements of defence and attack) work upon each ring simultaneously as the body is in constant neuromuscular activity, stretching and contracting with the pulsating movement of life. We only work with Capoeira Angola, the mother of capoeira which was developed during slavery in the forests and slave quarters on the plantations as the negros disguised their fight as a dance, as theatre, and as a game. Nowadays, Capoeira Angola is less well-known than its variation (regional), which was developed in the 1930s when Mestre Bimba created the luta regional baiana (regional fight of Bahia). A product of the mixture with martial arts (such as karate and ju-jitsu), regional capoeira has undergone various modifications, becoming more competitive and violent. Capoeira Angola seeks to preserve the traditions and rituals of the past. The mandingas and games characterise the capoeiristas fighting strategy. Mestre Pastinha is considered the guardian of capoeira Angola, regarding it as the mandinga of the slave with a burning desire for freedom. There is no method and it has no conceivable end; not even the wisest, most experienced capoeirista can say he knows all there is to know about it. Capoeira is loving, not perverse. Its both a courteous habit that we create inside of us and something that belongs to the vagabond. Capoeira Angola is characterised by low, slow sweeping movements intended, amongst other
7

3. Capoeira: the mandinga 2 of the slave with a burning desire for freedom
Capoeira Angola was incorporated definitively into Soma when we realised the importance of a more constant and efficient physical exercise to help break down the muscular armour and to help economise energy in order to confront the neurosis. In the permanent struggle we engage in against authoritarianism, the results of

things, to trip the other player up, and these movements activate a large number of muscles, effectively massaging the body. Besides this, capoeira Angola allows us to gain greater consciousness and awareness of our bodies. We researched other kinds of physical exercise that produce similar effects in the disarming of the character armour, such as Tai chi chuan, swimming, African dance etc. However, none is as fast and efficient as capoeira Angola in triggering both the movement of the armour and the willingness to fight, indispensable factors in the process of change. The confrontation with the mechanisms of power that try to prevent self-regulation and the freedom to do and be whatever we want involves a fight. The disposition to fight (or to play, as capoeiristas call it) in the roda3 is linked to our attitudes to the fight in life. The roda is both a training for the fight and a diagnosis as to how we are fighting. Our physical disposition mirrors the state of our emotional life. If people live their daily lives with attitudes of submission, their bodies show this through posture. In the preparation of the body for the fight, we are also preparing our emotions and finding the courage and the belief to achieve our objectives. In this way, Capoeira Angola also acts upon the somatic armour, helping the process of ideological change. Soma doesnt set out to create capoeiristas. This obviously depends on the desire or teso of each individual. It proposes that its participants acquire the minimum necessary skills so that capoeira can be used as a diagnostic tool. Capoeira Angola develops our aggression, but its important not to confuse aggression with violence. Being aggressive is part of the act of living. Life is a constant string of choices, and using aggression in its natural biological form means going out and getting what we want. Each time we give up on the realisation of our desires, we are repressing our impulses that will sooner or later be transformed into attitudes of violent compulsion. Repressed aggression is what generates violence. Capoeira Angola serves as a therapeutic tool that can be used autonomously after the therapy has been completed. It is an autonomous activity designed to maintain the health of those who practise it. After overcoming the initial
8

difficulties, such as prejudice and the fear of risk, capoeira ends up becoming a synonym for pleasure. The songs, the sound of the berimbau, the mandinga, the movements, the roda; everything in capoeira has a playful aspect. This is why you dont fight capoeira, you play it. It is a game, the outcome of which is determined by playful malice and skill. In the roda, the participants play with their complete somas, and are involved in such a way that emotion, reason and the physical fully integrate with each other . Capoeira is more than a simple dance or fight; it is a way of life, and a way of playing with the act of living. Some wouldnt exist without the simultaneous and constant practice of Capoeira Angola. It is the true therapeutic force and the most striking metaphor of Soma. The other parts - the pedagogy of bioenergy, the politics, the sociology and ethics serve to sustain and guide it. Soma therapists constantly practise Capoeira Angola in their lives as a physical therapy and in order to instruct their clients adequately. As they are anarchists, they dont look to become Mestres4 but are always looking to improve their game in the capoeira roda and, mirroring this, their performance in their daily, libertarian lives.

4.

Living the present

Soma found its methodology for therapeutic action in the discoveries and theories of gestalt therapy. Gestalt therapy originated in the second half of the twentieth century from the research of the German, Frederick Perls. Perls was a disciple of Freud and for some time a client of Reich. He became a psychoanalyst and practised for many years. Being Jewish, he fled from Nazi Germany and settled in South Africa where he participated in the founding of the Psychoanalytic society. After moving to the United States, he broke with psychoanalysis and undertook the research that led him to the creation of gestalt therapy. Perls was married to a physicist who was studying the area of gestalt, a branch of physics. Perls adapted the gestalt theories to psychology. The word gestalt doesnt have a direct translation into English. In German it means

approximately the form and the manner in which situations present and organise themselves in front of and inside us. To illustrate what a gestalt is from the psychological point of view, the following example should help. A person is on the beach, looking at the sea. The gestalt of this moment is his or her dynamic relationship with the seascape. A seagull then flies into view, becoming the new object of observation. Therefore a new gestalt is formed. The seagull becomes the figure, the focus of interest, and the most important and meaningful element in that gestalt. The sea and the sky stay in the background representing everything that is present, but of secondary importance. Each gestalt is always comprised of a figure and a background, corresponding respectively to what is of priority and what is secondary in a situation. We open a gestalt when the seagull becomes the target for contemplation, be it for aesthetic pleasure, out of curiosity or for any other motive. A gestalt is closed when the figure disappears or we lose interest in it. Everything that is alive is permanently opening and closing gestalts. Perls noted a very close relationship between the study of gestalts and clinical observations of his clients in therapy. He observed that everyday situations throw up necessities that the organism determines as being more or less urgent. This is the mechanism of spontaneous self-regulation. At each moment, the organism indicates its figure and background, which represent the physical or emotional necessity that has emerged. Our act of living, therefore, is an eternal process of opening and closing gestalts, as at each moment there is always something that is of greater priority. If we are hungry, for example, hunger becomes the figure or the focus of our gestalt. We need to satisfy the hunger, thereby closing the gestalt to make way for another to open. If a person loves someone, he or she needs to acknowledge this gestalt and confess this love to close the gestalt (what the loved one does with the declaration of love opens another gestalt). Another example is someone who works in a job that he or she doesnt enjoy. This gestalt will only be closed when an alternative, more pleasurable means of economic survival is found. On an even wider scale, another gestalt can be the search for an ideology; how to be,
9

how to act, how to process and react to life situations, how to live with and relate to people socially, how to be spontaneous and sincere in any situation. So all situations in life, from the physiological to the professional, can open gestalts ranging from the simplest necessity to more complex ideological necessities. Another fundamental contribution of Perls was to acknowledge the vital necessity of closing open gestalts in order to attain energetic equilibrium. There is an excessive consumption of vital energy when gestalts arent being closed and the organism isnt regulating its necessities. This lack of energy, as Reich had already affirmed, is the main factor responsible for the appearance of neurotic symptoms and the sensation of impotence and incompetence in confronting life. For Perls, the neurotic person finds it extremely difficult to close his or her gestalts thereby leaving life situations open and without solution. This person removes him or herself from the present, more concerned with the unfinished past and the imagined future, which they fill with expectations. Energy reserves are low, as lots of energy is wasted keeping the gestalts open. More and more gestalts inevitably open which end up accumulating and disorganising a persons life physically and/or emotionally. She or he feels incapable of seeking out pleasure and life becomes unsatisfactory because a person cant realise the love they want, cant obtain the profession they are suited for, dont live out the sexuality that gives them the most satisfaction etc. The neurotic person is therefore no longer responsible for the act of living, not being able to respond to his or her natural desires and impulses as spontaneous self-regulation requires. In Soma, clients acquire understanding and energy to close and open gestalts, as what makes a life unsatisfactory is the existence of many situations without any solution, or with incomplete solutions. The notion of Gestalt emphasises how certain situations truly perturb and disrupt a persons life. This is why we always work by evaluating and studying the present. Unlike the majority of traditional therapies, we dont propose a return to the past, although we do reflect on the pasts influence on the present. We work with the here and now, as this is where we find open gestalts, and from

here we work on possibilities and strategies for closing them in order to prevent the wastage of vital energy. We are therefore concerned with neither a clinical nor a confessional therapy. Therapy takes place through the discussion of what each person experiences in each session, and we look to raise objective awareness of how each situation happens rather than indulge in the interpretation of why each situation happens. At the end of the therapy, we reunite all the hows in order to reach some whys. The practice of Capoeira Angola is also an excellent diagnostic and therapeutic agent of how we are living each gestalt moment. The roda is a permanent exercise for being in the present. The necessity of being alert, attentive to and conscious of the present moment involves agility, ingenuity and a certain cunningness, as capoeiristas put it. Any loss of contact with the present can result in suffering a blow or a fall. Therefore, capoeira teaches us how to be whole and present, and conscious of each situation in life.

Antipyschiatry on the other hand, believes that madness is produced by political mechanisms, and proposes coherent solutions that pose a threat to the established order. The antipsychiatrists stated that what came to be known as madness is used by authoritarian systems as a way of persecuting heretics and rebels. Traditional psychiatry justifies the maintenance of psychiatric hospitals, which are in reality prisons with no social or therapeutic function whatsoever. Antipsychiatry concentrated on the study of schizophrenia, the best-known form of mental disorganisation, which is most crudely and commonly labelled madness. This research led to important discoveries linked mainly to the study of the pragmatics of human communication. Soma doesnt work with people in advanced states of emotional unbalance but with those who havent yet lost contact with reality and are living through neurotic conflicts and difficulties. For this reason, the elements of antipsychiatry we use are those concerned with helping to prevent neurosis. One of the main discoveries of antipsychiatry was that emotional disturbances basically result from disturbances in human communication. There are damaging complications in the way people communicate and relate to each other which lead initially to confusion and, consequently, to the disorganisation of thought and the loss of reality. This occurs from childhood when children are subjected to a paradoxical kind of communication called the double-bind. As its name suggests, two simultaneous messages are sent, one always being the opposite of the other. Its a way of affirming yet denying something at the same time; a yes and a no together, transmitted by either the same means of communication (speech) or by different means (speech and physical expression / gesture). However, the most dramatic breakthrough of antipsychiatry was to articulate how the doublebind only works when there exists a strong affective tie. It appears mainly in family and sexual relationships, and it is how love is used to dominate and breed neurosis in todays neoliberal society. Lets look at an example: An eighteen-year-old girl wants to leave home and live separately
10

5. The production of madness

The understanding of political and social factors that block originality and self-regulation led Soma into contact with research on the power mechanisms responsible for neurosis and even madness. Revolutionary studies about human behaviour led to the creation of a new science called antipsychiatry. It emerged at the end of the 1940s and was developed in the 1950s, initially by Gregory Bateson and after by David Cooper, Franco Basaglia and Ronald D Laing. Antipsychiatry negates practically everything that traditional psychiatry says in respect of mental illness. It was believed that madness was the mental illness caused by hereditary, biochemical or endocrinological factors, although these factors were never actually elucidated. Useless and lamentable therapeutic processes were used, such as electroshock treatment, insulin shock treatment, chemotherapy, and long violent internments in psychiatric institutions.

from her parents; she merely wants to live her own life without breaking off her relationship with her family so she talks to her mother about her decision. The eighteen-year-old receives a double-bind, which leaves her confused and guilty about her choice. The mother says shes happy for her daughter, but, at the same time she cant contain her tears. Shes saying with her words that her daughters choice is natural and healthy, while her tears affirm that this decision is making her suffer. The mothers unspoken communication of how this decision will affect her could lead to the daughter giving up her desire for freedom and autonomy. In this case, two channels of communication were used in the message (speech and facial expression) but the mother could have used just one channel, saying, Your father will understand, like I do, the fact that you dont want to live with us anymore, but be careful with him, you know hes already had a heart attack, he loves you so much ... Whatever the form, a child who has been brought up using love (through the double-bind) to control natural liberating desires ends up becoming apathetic, incompetent or impotent. Its rare for this child to become an autonomous, decisive, courageous person, as his or her ideas and intentions have always been questioned or disqualified. In the case of the eighteen-year-old, there was a paradoxical, double-binding message. There was no direct, sincere, honest language stating a clear yes or no. If the mother had shown her honest opinion, there would have been a clear deadlock. What prejudices communication is the existence of two equally valid possibilities. Such communication is constantly used in the development of individuals in our society, and the confusion that accompanies it starts to deform our understanding and our behaviour. This is the form of communication used by the majority of people who become neurotic. Due to a lack of sincerity, relationships become polluted by lies, blackmail and double-binds. In Brazil, there is a common expression which is often used in a double-binding way; the famous tudo bem (meaning the interrogative How are you? as well as its answer Im fine, Im OK. It is also used to give your consent to a proposal). In various situations, people agree to certain things with a Tudo bem(OK then) even when
11

not liking or agreeing with them. People often feel that things arent OK and then feel confused by or guilty about this feeling. When a person receives mixed messages from someone with whom there is no affective tie, this communication doesnt result in a double bind. It only works when the stakes are raised by emotional involvement and the giver and receiver both play the game. Therefore, the only way to avoid the double bind is if one of the parties doesnt play his or her part. In Soma, we study the double-binds that we receive and also apply to other people we love and have affective ties with. We look at how we are confused and how we confuse others, leaving them weak and dependent. Every person that has been double-binded becomes an expert double-binder, and this is how authoritarianism works on the microsocial level. In the groups, we aim to stimulate a new way of living together in which communication is based on sincerity. As soon as we start examining the double-bind and its effects, we are fighting against the primary mechanism of authoritarianism in relationships. So Soma works on communication in human relations, as it is from here that the first traces of neurosis emerge. The double bind is the main weapon of social domination because it happens daily, in the loving relationship and in the relationship between parent and child. Its necessary to transform the conventional form of social organisation based on the traditional family, which is fundamentally where the mechanisms of domestication of individuals takes place. As Reich put it, the family mirrors and reproduces the state. Men and women, being gregarious animals, need others to survive. Therefore, some kind of human grouping, such as the family, needs to exist, but we believe it needs to be ethically different from the family organisation that we know so that love isnt used to dominate and breed neurosis, but is lived and enjoyed.

6. The pedagogy of freedom

Neurosis is the product of authoritarian relationships that begin in the traditional family; it also guarantees the maintenance of bourgeois society. The power mechanisms that distance

people from their self-regulation, uniqueness and originality lead to a standardisation of behaviour in which it is normal to sacrifice personal projects and dreams in order to keep the social machine working. This means that neurosis condemns life to a meagre pawn piece in the institutional workings of the capitalist system. Its obvious, then, that only an ideological change in the way we live together can break the vicious circle of capitalism. We are neuroticised in order to be more easily dominated and what is even more serious is that we ourselves become neuroticising agents in our relationships with others. In Soma, we have no doubt whatsoever that it is only possible to change this scheme of reproduction and perpetuation of the capitalist system through the practice of anarchism. With the fall of the communist block in Eastern Europe and the end of the Marxist dream of state socialism, anarchism or libertarian socialism is the only ideology that can be considered an alternative to the capitalist hegemony. Anarchism has been opposed since the end of the nineteenth century both by capitalism and by authoritarian Marxist socialism. The main strategy these ideologies use to try and disqualify anarchism is to associate it with disorder, confusion and mess. This pejorative association has been used by those who believe in the necessity of an institutional power, an authority in order to govern the people in which case government would be the guarantee of an organised and just society. History, however, proves the opposite; government merely serves to maintain the privilege of minorities. The word anarchy comes from Greek and means absence of authority or government. Despite what is commonly believed, order and discipline are fundamental for anarchism to take place. The French thinker Elise Reclus states that anarchy is the highest expression of order. Never, however, the kind of order that is demanded or determined by a group of people, a party, a government or any other form of authoritarian organisation. Anarchy is the expression of a natural order, a natural phenomenon that we have at our disposal. Anarchism doesnt propose any kind of predetermined social organisation. Its not an objective to be reached but rather a process of
12

transformation to be set in motion. Anarchist practice moves its participants towards a new society by eliminating authoritarian power and searching for the reestablishment of natural order and self-organised social harmony. Anarchism doesnt seek the possession of power, but the destruction of centralised and hierarchised mechanisms so that each individual acts on their own authority, thereby truly socialising power in the process. Any change in society is only possible from the roots upwards, never in the opposite direction imposed by a government - even if the government considers itself socialist. The anarchist revolution occurs in the building of a new ethic in personal and social relations in which domination is replaced by solidarity. This needs to occur, not in the future with the end of capitalism, but starting from now in peoples daily lives. Soma therefore proposes anarchism in our daily lives. Each person needs to develop and mature individually in order to become autonomous, self-regulating and responsible for his/her life. This is the condition for existing in the fullest, most complete sense. As Somatherapists we look to transform our daily lives with this practice. In our work, anarchism functions as a methodological reference in order to identify authoritarian power games which are the source of neurosis. However, we dont attempt to convert participants of Soma into anarchists precisely because an individuals choice of ideology needs to be an entirely free decision. What we do is show people how it is possible to fight for their freedom, even within an authoritarian society, by adopting the ideology of anarchism. Anarchism is intertwined with all the psychological theories on which Soma is based. People who live according to anarchist principles in their daily lives wont subordinate themselves to any form of authoritarianism from people, the state or corporate organisations in this neoliberal society and, above all, wont utilise mechanisms of power in their affective relationships. They can communicate sincerely and directly. Their character armours are flexible once they have lost the fear of the fight and social and personal confrontation. They therefore conserve energy to close gestalts and

are able to discover their own form and means of creating and loving. The anarchist vision that provides us with the backbone of our methodology can be observed in the self-regulating process of the group and the relationship between the therapist and group. The life of a somatherapist is exposed and open to all. He or she participates in the group dynamic as a member of that group, exercising leadership in a non-authoritarian way. Clients of other therapies can spend years not knowing anything about the life of the therapist, who could have a completely different ideology with opposing values and objectives. In Soma, clients are free to agree and disagree with the therapists ideas. The somatherapist socialises his knowledge and ideology to the group so that members may, during the year / year and a half of therapy, be able to acquire autonomy in their lives without developing any kind of dependency on the therapy, the therapist or the group. In the group, we experiment with a new and revolutionary way of living, working and producing with other people. We explore loving, creative and productive potential always basing new conquests on the ethic of sincerity, openness and solidarity. The transformations

that occur in the micro-laboratory of the soma groups are extended to the everyday relationships of the participants. This is how we achieve the revolutionary social outcome that is non-existent in all other therapies. The free and playful spirit of Soma stems from the participants having the space and opportunity to be themselves, to live out their teso and their differences as a biological necessity, while at the same time living and communicating with the other. More than a simple therapy, Soma is a pedagogy, helping people to learn to discover their Soma, or their true nature and unique originality. In short, Soma is a process of learning how to be free. As this proposal suggests, only those who are searching to change their lives and not those who are seeking relief from their neurosis, really benefit from the therapy. The proposal is therefore, for revolution in everyday life, which entails leading a life without submission and authoritarianism. It is not a therapy to help people adapt better to the system. It aims at the development of creativity that leads to the building of a new social organisation that is freer and more just, in which the act of living is not limited to mere survival.

Part Two: How Soma works

1. Methodology
group dynamic to form and the therapy to start taking place. There are four sessions a month, each one lasting about three hours. The bioenergetic exercises take place in the first half of the session. The sessions are very varied and apart from reducing the chronic tension of the neuromuscular armour as has already been mentioned, they work on aggression, affection, creativity, sensitivity, sensuality and on provoking a greater sensory awareness. There are thirty six exercises in the therapy that are chosen according to the stage in the therapy and dynamic process of the group. The exercises are adaptations of drama and dance exercises and childrens games. The majority dont involve verbal communication. The participants enter a less armoured, more playful emotional state in which they physically
13

The ideas discussed up until now show why Soma is a bioenergetic therapy only practised in groups with a determined duration and an explicit political content: anarchism. Lets now see how the therapy and the group function in practice. The therapy groups are formed at random by interested people who take part in a demonstration workshop and discussion. At the end of the workshop, the participants are invited to start a new group. People who dont participate in the initial workshop can also join the group. New members can join up to the third month, at which point the group closes for the

communicate difficulties and blockages. When people show their difficulties even though they are trying to control or hide them (in other words, giving an involuntary sign in a problem area) we call it dar bandeira - literally giving the flag. Everything that a person tries to hide, by controlling gestures, movements and expressions is revealed by alterations in the neuro-vegetative system (dizziness, sweating, sensations of disequilibrium and sickness) that occur during the exercises. These bandeiras are studied in the next stage of the session. The discussion of the exercise is the moment to work on verbal communication. Participants of the groups sit in a circle and talk about their experience of the exercise with the help of the somatic memory (everything that the whole body registered as sensations and perceptions, not just in thought). We try to decode into words what was experienced physically. Each person talks about what he or she felt, from difficulties (fear, impotence, repression etc.) to the discovery of pleasure and euphoria. We also talk about the bandeiras observed in other people. This is not to judge or qualify them but rather with the objective of facilitating understanding of these blockages. Nor is the objective of the discussion the search for truth, but an exercise in sincerity, expressing precisely the way each person felt and sensed (or saw) the others. The discussion has another gestalt characteristic; always searching for how bandeiras happen and never why. Instead of interpreting them, participants are encouraged to understand how the neurotic mechanisms surfacing in the exercises work. We try to describe the sensations and perceptions that we feel now, not to embark on interpretations related to the past. These descriptions go towards a more sturdy diagnosis at a later date, taking into consideration all the hows to reach some whys. The therapist sits on the edge of the circle (as she or he didnt directly participate in the exercise and witnesses the discussion), intervening when he or she has a comment or observation related to the exercise. The therapist closes the session with a synthesis of the material that emerged from the group in the exercise. Social and political causes are brought into perspective, as well as some ideas on how
14

these causes can be confronted by the ideology and practice of Soma. This synthesis, the organised material, should help the group in the understanding of the workings of their neuroses. Of the four monthly sessions, one is always reserved for Capoeira Angola. This consists of a warm-up, a training session and a Capoeira roda during which, as in every Soma session, new bandeiras emerge. As with the other sessions, there is a discussion and the therapist closes the session. Apart from these sessions, the group meets once a month at the very minimum, and often more than this, without the therapist in what we call grupo (big group). In the big groups, the participants discuss the therapy, how the group is working and how the therapist is working, as well as whats happening in each persons dayto-day life. These meetings are of fundamental importance to the ideology and practice of Soma, principally because it is in these big groups that we learn how to work in a selforganising manner (autogesto), aiming at a new form of social production based primarily on sincerity and anarchist solidarity. Self-organisation is a typically libertarian means of production. It emerged initially in Yugoslavia as an industrial experiment, and is characterised by mutual support, lack of centralisation and the division of profit. Despite having originated in factories, self-organisation can be extended to all other areas of social life. We could therefore also talk about self-organised love, education and communities. In Soma we adopt self-organisation as a basic guiding principle in the therapy. Everyone participates, contributing and receiving support. The group starts to experiment with a revolutionary way of relating socially, one which is completely new and revolutionary without the presence of authoritarianism or centralisation. Leaders naturally emerge to fill coordinating roles which are then rotated from time to time to prevent any fixed leaderships. Each person is therefore responsible for the practical organisation of the work. In the big group, the relationships between the participants are strengthened and deepened. As always, sincerity is the most important tool.

Discussions in the big group often trigger other projects following the principle of selforganisation. These projects could have some financial return or could be some kind of social intervention such as a demonstration, a play or a newsletter etc. The characteristics of the big group are vast and varied, as each one represents the unique dynamic of each unique group at different moments of its development. In addition, the groups possess a strong therapeutic power. In this process, it is common that residues emerge from our bourgeois and authoritarian upbringing and education. Such residues, submission, opportunism, parasitism and domination are evaluated critically in the big group. As we adopt an anarchist ideology and are against the authoritarianism of the majority over the minority, we reach consensus without voting. Group decisions always take into account the objectives of all, accepting and respecting differences to reach unity within diversity. If an impasse occurs, it is because of some kind of authoritarian residue. Soma eliminates the myth that generally surrounds the therapist. The majority of therapeutic practices sustain the image of a therapist being the only person able to deal with neuroses. We regard this vision as authoritarian and unreal. The somatherapist must also open him or herself up to be the focus and target of criticism as much as any other participant in the group, as he or she is also susceptible to neurosis despite being better equipped to fight against it. At the end of the therapy, the somatherapist abandons his/her adopted role of leader. There is also what we call marrom (literally brown), which are social meetings that the group (or part of it) organises. This could mean a trip to the cinema, a party, a beach or any other kind of social gathering. These meetings are also very important for the socialisation and integration of the participants. This is a practice that is condemned by other therapies, such as psychoanalysis. Capoeira Angola, as has already been said, is fundamental for Soma. However, the training that takes place in the therapy sessions is inadequate to develop the practice. We therefore ask members of the group to train two or three times a week, which is the minimum necessary for any person to benefit from capoeira. The
15

exercise of Capoeira Angola in the sessions is orientated by the therapist and / or his assistants. In other training sessions, an experienced capoeirista (often someone who has already done Somatherapy) is found to teach the game of Capoeira Angola competently. The methodology of Soma is composed of these four elements: session, capoeira, big group and social events. Each component is essential and needs to be engaged in throughout the therapy. The sessions are generally held in a sports hall or other spaces that the group rents out. To more easily attain the natural and biological objectives that Soma defends, we carry out two two-day sessions in the countryside, which allow the group to experience the therapy in direct contact with nature. The groups in the south of the country go to Visconde de Mau in Rio de Janeiro and those in the north and northeast go to Lenis, in the Chapada Diamantina, Bahia. These two regions have similar characteristics, such as rivers, waterfalls, clay and areas of forest land, which we take advantage of for specific therapeutic exercises. When the group has completed all of the 36 exercises after about a year, the final phase of the therapy begins - the hot seat (cadeira quente). This is the moment to close the therapeutic work. Each session lasts 3 hours and is dedicated to just one person from the group. The hot seat session was created shortly after Soma began, when Freire realised that the therapy was still incomplete. He created a session similar to Perls hot seat in which he studied dreams. The hot seat in Soma divides up into 4 stages; induction, affirmations, questions and the closing stage. The hot seater sits beside the therapist, both in front of the group. During the process, the group presents all the impressions of the hotseater gathered during the therapy. It is a moment of group self-organisation in which the therapist and the group work together to ensure that each participant gains the greatest understanding possible about the social and political factors that inhibit the expression of individuality. After all group members have taken their turns in the hot seat, there is a session for the therapist and the assistant, whose performance during

therapy is assessed by the group. After the last hot seat, the therapy ends. After about a year, the group generally meets with the therapist for an evaluation of life after the therapy. This is called hot ground, (cho quente) and as many sessions can be undertaken as the group sees fit.

2.

Therapeutic process

Soma can be understood as having the following stages; introduction to the process, socialising, the dynamic phase, crisis, getting over the crisis and the hot seat. Each stage has both a diagnostic and therapeutic effect. The first step in the therapeutic process is the perception and awareness of the blockages that generate neurosis. As each transformation in life opens new opportunities for diagnosis and therapy, Somatherapy is a dynamic and cyclical mechanism, no part of which can exist in isolation. In the introduction at the beginning of the group, we discuss all the theoretical and practical information necessary for the ideological and practical understanding of Soma. We show how neurotic symptoms are generated by blockages that prevent the free expression of a persons unique originality. With this understanding, the participants of the group come to appreciate that our work is geared towards an awareness of the social and political causes that generate the symptoms, and not the symptoms themselves. Soma is a therapy that takes effect when and if the participants enter a playful spirit. The early exercises facilitate the socialising process of the group. Participants are encouraged to experiment with a different way of relating to each other. The challenge of immersing oneself in a more sincere, more pleasurable kind of interaction brings out each persons difficulties in living out his or her originality and in living with differences. The socialisation stage is the beginning of the process of change which is necessary to throw out the residues of our bourgeois socialisation. The group dynamic forms when an affective and political tie develops amongst the members. It

establishes a state of collaboration, cooperation and complicity in the relationships and projects of the group. A good group dynamic is always the product of common ideology and objectives. This atmosphere allows each person to realise, in the most complete form possible, his or her creative and productive potential. Firmly rooted in the ideas of anarchism, collective work has more force and quality than the sum of individual works. It is through the group dynamic that the therapy effectively takes place, as much on a personal level (self-awareness) as on a social level (new strategies for living together). The resistance to the therapy occurs in the conflict between ridding oneself of defensive strategies which are characteristic of the neurosis and the possibility of change. This is an unconscious fighting mechanism against the therapeutic process in which the client contradicts his conscious intention and desire to bring about change in his life. A neurotic person, even though he or she suffers from the neurosis, manages to mould him or herself into finding a way to survive. Moving out of this defensive strategy leads the person to the experience of something new, to experiencing risk instead of the security of old defence strategies. Resistance arises out of the fear of change and emerges in a variety of ways, such as neuro-vegetative reactions when the armour is mobilised, or rejecting the group, the therapy or the therapist. Overcoming resistance is fundamental to beating the neurosis, and depends upon the efficiency of the therapeutic process of the whole group. The struggle which is established between the therapy and resistance to the therapy ends up leading the groups to a point of crisis. Crisis represents something positive for us, as it is through crisis that we face obstacles and barriers in life that we are impelled to find solutions to. The overcoming of crisis represents the therapeutic turning point, leading to significant results in the therapy. Participants can begin to have some control over their neuroses, having recourse to an ideological weapon. This raising of consciousness is fundamental to achieving the maturity necessary for the group to take their hot seats.

16

Part Three: Soma, anarchism and ecology

The world is going through a period of stalemate in relation to threats to the environment. Capitalist countries stage meetings, sign treaties and fly the flag for the environment. But the results are frustrating; it is never possible to agree as to how to stop the destruction of nature. The economic interests of these countries prevent effective measures being taken, and the conclusion is that intentions to save the planet never get off the paper they are written on. The ecology of capitalism is a farce. To try and preserve the environment without breaking with the authoritarian structures that generate this destruction is fruitless and only takes away from the force of the ecological movement. True ecology can only be realised by working against what causes damage to the environment. Environmental ecology cant exist without social ecology. Men and women will only respect the environment if they learn to respect themselves. The ethic that destroys nature is the same one that justifies social domination and the exploitation of one person by another. The capitalist system will not be able to find a way out of its environmental problems because, in order for this to happen, the whole ethic based on profit and authoritarian power would have to change. This is the essence of the market economy. To accumulate wealth, any kind of behaviour is permitted; stealing, exploitation and even the destruction of the environment. Capitalism is on the path to suicide, and wont be able to avoid it without undoing and destroying itself. The death of authoritarian socialism made capitalism the dominant ideology in the world. It is installed in all institutions, in all parties, trade unions, families and schools. The hope of freedom and social justice is just a dream if we insist on fighting capitalism from within these traditional institutions that are at its service, legitimising and perpetuating it. Social ecology, however, fights against bourgeois society by unconventional political means. Social relations will be more ecological with a practical transformation in peoples
17

everyday lives and in the values of modern life. Revolution has to leave its normal place in political discussion and become a reality in interpersonal relations as we exchange the capitalist ethic for the anarchist. The anarchist ethic, based on individual autonomy and collective solidarity is the only possibility if we want an ecological society. This ethic can only exist in society if it also exists in each individual. We are talking about subjective ecology; that which is concerned with the individual. The human being is being destroyed by the neurosis that consumes, standardises and distances it from its biological and natural role. Subjective ecology involves developing specific strategies that come to modify or reinvent ways of living out love relationships in the family, in the social arena, at school and at work, searching to satisfy vital human pulses in balance with the environment. The three ecologies (of the environment, the social and the subjective) reunite in a process of both practising mutual support and searching to live out our individual differences to the full. Within this vision of ecology, anarchism stops being an ideological utopia and becomes a biological necessity in order to preserve the human species. This is the direct relation between anarchism, ecology and Soma. Soma reads the main anarchists with an ecological objective. Our work is towards a real and complete knowledge of our own bodies and their spontaneous pulses of desire. This knowledge is unravelled in the search for new forms of affective and sexual relationships and in the unblocking of creative potential and unique originality. Soma aims to develop our competence in life and to show how it is possible to live on the margins of this authoritarian society. We have to learn how to invent strong, pleasurable and self-organised ties in our community life. We believe that in this way we are working to implant an anarchist society with its characteristic revolutionary, social (and consequently environmental) ecology. To do Soma is to discover the future. We know today that of the 100,000 genes that compose the

genetic code, we use a bare 10%. The remaining 90% appear to be asleep; or rather, we have not managed to decipher their potential functions in our lives as a species and as individuals. This gives us the hope that a genetic and cultural mutation is happening, transforming the human into a being better equipped to adapt to the environment. These mutants are the heirs of the

future and are responsible for the building of a better society. The true revolutionaries, lovers of freedom and in love with utopia, are already here amongst us. It is to them, these mutants whom we call coyotes, that we offer Soma.

Notes
1 There is no word in English that is ample enough to convey the meaning of teso. It means desire in the sexual sense, but is also much wider than this. Its the force that stimulates you to do something with your utmost attention, care and love. Your teso for a lover or friend means that you want to be with that person who fulfils you, stimulates you. It is a mixture of passion, love and excitement. In the absence of an adequate translation, I will use the word teso throughout. (Its adjectival form is tesudo) Mandinga is an African word meaning approximately magic or spell. The roda is the ritual of capoeira. It involves a line of musicians, sitting or standing, part of a circle in which the participants sit watching the games and singing until they decide to enter the roda to play themselves. All participants in a roda rotate to fulfil the various roles of musicians, players and singers. 4 Mestres are the teachers and guardians of knowledge about capoeira. In most capoeira groups, there is a distinct hierarchy between mestre and student, and many mestres are authoritarian in their approach to teaching and the organisation of their groups. The idea of having a mestre is also a fairly recent one that coincided with the greater acceptance of capoeira within Brazilian society from the 1930s onwards. In Soma, we believe that the existence of a mestre limits the freedom of each capoeirista in the group as he imposes his way of teaching rather than encouraging each capoeirista to become responsible for his or her learning of the game.

2 3

18