Polak Therapy in China

I'm a laowai (foreigner) living in China and have founded my own Therapy, it's called Polak Therapy, which was not my idea to call it this at first, but was proposed my the organization I work for the WMECC (World Medical Executive Certification Association) 世界醫學最高認證中心 in China. I accepted.

I felt it was time to do a survey and share with you the results.

After 3 years giving my 3 day Polak Therapy level 1 Workshops, more than 600 Chinese have attended this workshop so far. These attendees were from a wide variety of ages (from 18 to 70 years old) 90 % women and 10 % men from all social levels and ethnic groups around China. 20 % of them are professional therapist from all kind of fields, from Physiologists, Psychoanalysts, Systemic constellation Therapists, Hypnotherapist, Dance Therapist and others. From those 20 %, 50 % applied for the official Certification from WMECC and became Official Certified Polak Therapists (level 1) . here's their webpage in case the link doesn't work. http://www.wmecc.us/index.asp

I asked these Certified Polak Therapists how teaching and applying Polak Therapy has helped them and how many people they have treated using my method so far.

Here are the results:

From the 600 Chinese that attended Polak Therapy in the last 3 years, 60 Professional Therapists applied for the Official Certification from WMECC and they have so far treated over 2000 Chinese people using Polak Therapy exercises in a wide range of fields.

I was and am overwhelmed by these numbers, their response and positive reactions, here are some replies that I want to share with you.

1. I have applied the practice of Polak Therapy in my work, including the teachers counseling group , the psychological counseling group of the armed Police force, the youth growth group. The number of attendees reached over a 100 people. The effect reached my expectations, in which the practice of ‘Fight to Surrender ™’ reaching the set target was a particularly releasing experience. One of the details that I deeply remember from my own experience was when Kevin put his hand on my back and let me take a deep breath to see my goal ahead. The shouting while crawling really gave me the courage to overcome my difficulties. When I teach this, I put my hands on each troop member, they felt their strength behind them, and some of them were hurt and bled, but they thought the training was strong. Another particular experience is when I also used some exercises for 6-15-year-old young people. They could quiet down and understand each other's love.. Thank you for your teacher's instructions, I want to continue to learn more and apply.

2. Dancing is very important for me, its where I meet a lot of people. I have my own dance studio and am I dance teacher. Polak Therapy Exercises have been successfully intergraded into the my dance classes sometimes in a group, it will be used for psychological growth, Not so many people have been exposed to my use of Polak Therapy yet. The effects are beyond expectations, for example, a visit to rehab, suddenly I was asked to lead groups, cramming, using the most basic of the dance and their own body links, including closing the eyes, stroking their fingers and so on, at the end of the group activities, the students expressed, with the feeling of home, the face is also softer, the body is not so tense. Thank you, teacher! I am honored to accept your guidance! Thanksgiving

3. I have been using Polak Therapy exercises in cooperate training! Covering more than 20 cities nationwide, reaching over 200 people! The effect is very obvious!

4. Well, my psychological work is working in Enterprise Training, It's not only used, it's changing. It feels good. I have a dance ingredient in every class. But not all of them are teachers. I mix it up. Well, like once, I danced with the students all day. From showing yourself to watching yourself. From watching others to interpreting others. From back to see release. It feels pretty good. Thank you, sir.

5. Hello Kevin Teacher, not at present, because my job is to train students. But I'll use it later.

6. Kevin, Hello! I'm going to use Polak Therapy for my work. I am a psychological counselor. It is very rewarding to learn from you, so I would like to use it in my work. Help others to help themselves. Thank you, teacher.

7. Hello, Kevin. Teacher, I have been to your class, I was very inspired, there is no use of Polak Therapy yet, but the training will be used for reference! Thank you very much for the great love.

8. Applied Polak Therapy to my curriculum, I give teachers training, to talk about decompression when all use is to dance, the effect is particularly good, we have fun, but also got decompression

9. Learn the specific practice method, the work is not much. But it is a great help to my inner awareness. Thank you, teacher!

10. Teacher Kevin: Good evening! I have worked in my classroom with the help of Polak Therapy, the students like to adjust the emotional state of teachers and students before or during the recess, it is very effective, I used the first-class curriculum to awaken the inner vision and see their own talent. I have not fully mastered and understood the teacher's teaching skills, need to constantly practice, understand and consolidate knowledge. Thank you, teacher!

Why Polak Therapy?

In my life I have followed many therapies and spiritual courses, and there was always something missing for me. If I was following cognitive workshop like for example TA or NLP. I found myself sitting on a chair and listening cognitively to what was said and taught. But me being a professional dancer it was very difficult to sit still, I was adjusting and fidgeting on my chair constantly. My body wanted to move.

On the contrary when I was following Yoga, Tantra, Meditation or other Spiritual workshops, they told me don't think, feel the flow, empty your brain listen to your body. Me being an over creative person with a brain that keeps on creating and thinking it simply was impossible , my brain just wouldn’t shut up.

It was when I got in contact with systemic constellation I felt, I know this, this feels like I’m watching a performance, seeing how the people in the constellation were moving, relate to each other and behaving. I understood instantly the dynamics and their physical response. As an professional dancer that has worked with the most famous choreographers of the world my movement language is extremely rich, so it is natural for me to read emotions of some ones body. I see instantly each Micro, Messo and Macro body gesture right away.

How did it start?

In 2006 I developed improXchange together with Miquel de Jong. improXchange is a dance Improvisation workshop to enrich dancers in the field of improvisation skills and create physical and spacious awareness. It was especially created for an exchange between Chinese and Dutch dancers. With its highlight the participation of the Dutch Culture house for the World Expo in Shanghai.

In 2011, I was asked by Isabelle Beernaert, a famous commercial Choreographer as a coach for her dancers.

The assignment she gave me was simple, she worked with young commercial dancers (So You Think You Can Dance SYTYCD) and found that it was difficult for them to express real emotions on stage, which was the essence of her work. This assignment together with improXchange was the foundation of Polak Therapy and my dance workshops Human Impro.

I realized that being a high skilled professional dancer is actually the perfect therapy. Let me explain.

-This kind of dancer is 100 % aware of each little part of its body, it has scientifically proved that this dancer notices if one body part is malfunction for just 4 %, while a General human starts realizing this after 20% or more. Besides this extreme awareness of its body its able to adept its body in any desired shape asked by the choreographer.

-When this dancer is performing, he’s using every part of its body, his eyes to see the space, knowing his placement along the other dancers. Connecting and seeing when he’s in the light and when not etc.

-This dancer is listening to the music and physically to other dancers, he’s able to match the music with the right steps, following the beat or the breath in case of no music. He’s able to connect with other dancers listening to their bodies and do amazing partnering without showing any effort or struggle.

- This dancer needs to express on top of this the demanded emotion to project what he’s feeling without any words, merely using its body to express emotions.

- This dancer is mentally remembering the steps, put it on the music and in the right space.

- This dancer is physical extremely creative and therefore also cognitive. He needs to use its body to express and help the choreographer during the creation, but also when things go wrong on stage he needs to be able to adept and find an instant solution. Most times as a group without any verbal communication.

So this kind of dancer is using his emotions, his brain and his full body beyond any human normally can or does. He's’ in tune with all, therefore I think being a highly skilled professional dancer is the ultimate therapy where body, mind and heart are evenly connected and integrated on the highest degree.

But how to teach everybody this state what took me more then 15 years, 6 days a week and 8 hours a day to achieve?

This has been my question for a long time, could I adept the exercises I created for the dancers of Isabelle Beernaert to everybody? I resisted for a long time thinking this would be impossible, how to teach this in just 3 days.

What is Polak Therapy?

It is when I got in contact with systemic constellation, realizing it felt like I was watching a performance, I knew this was the way.

I started to design special exercises based on the natural order of life, body awareness, inner child traumas and awareness, growing up, becoming an adult, making conscious choices in life, connecting to others, honoring our ancestors and celebrating ones body.

What I did was put systemic constellations in movement. Making bodies moves within their own possibility, while guiding them mentally to get in touch with their emotions and traumas. no longer one case at the time, but unlimited constellations at the same time. Some group exercises that take around 1 hour can have unlimited people.

For example 100 constellations at the same time in 1 hour, without any manipulation from the coach, but clients finding their traumas themselves, analyzing their own behavior, through their body and mind and then healing their trauma through their mind and body.

A Full circle through the body and mind finding trauma’s, self analyzing them through understanding (mind) and integrate and heal them through the body.

Body --> Mind --> Traumas --> Mind --> Body

What is Polak Therapy in one sentence?

I'm giving attendees a physical experience of what they’re doing emotionally, giving back the body what it missed or couldn’t do.

It has been a beautiful journey and I hope I can continue my journey and am, as we speak creating Polak Therapy level 2. Combining and focusing on TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Systemic constellation and movement.

I will keep you updated.

Love, laugh, cry, live, live with Body and Heart, live fully, feel fully, touch fully, love fully, Be. Be one, be full, be One-body, Be a HeartBody.

Hug,

དཀོན་མཆོག་བསྟན་འཛིན།