ABSTRACT
In this chapter Christine Caldwell’s innovatory contribution on micro-movements give a fresh perspective on the ways in which a therapist’s sensitivity to a client’s micro movements in treatment. The ‘Mobility Gradient’ illustrates the process from immobility to spontaneity with six sub-steps along the way. Caldwell’s description is accessible to both somatic and traditional talk psychotherapy practices. Movement spans a continuum from the cellular level to tissues, to body systems, and to the gross motor. When we use biology’s categorization of this continuum, theoretical and clinical questions arise. What is the relationship between micro and macro (gross motor) movement? How can we see micro-movements all along this continuum? What are the clinical implications of micro-movements? This chapter attempts to address these questions and create body psychotherapy and dance/movement therapy interventions that integrate micro-movements, as they may be our best indicator of implicit psychological processes, and our best access to buried core affect. The chapter introduces a clinical framework that demonstrates how we can effectively sequence movement from micro to macro in clinical settings.
