The Vital Unconscious
The Concept of the Vital Unconscious
There are vital feelings, which have cinesthetic and vivential aspects, that cannot be precisely located within our corporal body and are not associated with a particular region or organ. Some sensations, such as those of comfort or discomfort, heaviness or levity extend throughout the entire body.
These vital feelings allow us to feel our own life, both during health and sickness, and create a poetry of organic sensations. They are manifestations of something deep within us that includes the cellular psyche (the autonomous behaviour of cells and tissue), and the functions of self-organisation and Homeostasis.
Rolando Toro has proposed the hypothesis that there is a Vital Unconscious - a biological mind that not only spans the individual or a certain species but also participates as a guiding force in the ocean of life.
Layers of the Unconscious
The three layers mentioned previously can be described in more detail as follows:
The Personal Unconscious
The Personal Unconscious was proposed and described by Sigmund Freud and is generated by our own personal history when our instincts encounter the Ecofactors that stimulate or inhibit our Human Potentials.
It can be accessed by:
- The interpretation of dreams,
- The technique of free association,
- Analysing the defence mechanisms of the ego (id), and
- Anamneses (particularly of the sexual history).
The Collective Unconscious
The Collective Unconscious was proposed and described by Carl Jung and consists of our ancestral memories, in the form of archetypes common to all of humanity.
It can be accessed by:
- Study of the symbols of transformation,
- The archetypes which give corporeality to the self,
- Expression via paintings, poems and stories,
- Directed dreaming with no interpretation, and
- Working with ceremonies and myths.
The Vital Unconscious
The Vital Unconscious was proposed and described by Rolando Toro and consists of the biological mind - the cellular intelligence of life, which knows how to organise itself at a cellular level into a stable organic system. It is expressed through endogenous mood, cinesthetic well-being and global state of health.
It can be accessed by:
- Caresses (the hormones generated by the caress prevent osteoporosis),
- Eroticism (looking into the eyes of the other with eroticism generates dopamine),
- Games (humour and laughter),
- Eating (Ceremony of the fruits),
- Connection with nature,
- Cosmic ecstasy,
- Regression (Trance of suspension),
- Mediumnity (identification of oneself with the music through the dance),
- Massage (through cinesthetic sensations not directed to the muscles),
- Biodanza in water,
- Biodanza with clay, and
- Awakening of the instincts through primitive dances.
The Vital Unconscious and Illness
A chaotic Vital Unconscious can express as organic and psychological disorders:
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Lack of Energy |
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Perversion of the Instincts |
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De-structured Vital Unconscious |
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Psychosomatic Disorders |
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Endogenous Mood Disturbances |
Although Biodanza is not a therapy, it does have therapeutic aspects. It is possible, therefore, after a diagnostic reading, to prescribe a treatment by harmoniously mobilising the blocked aspects of the Vital Unconscious.
Specific Biodanza exercises act on different aspects of the Vital Unconscious:
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Dances that stimulate Joy |
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Exercises of expression of Instincts |
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Structured Vital Unconscious |
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Dances of Cinesthetic Pleasure |
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Exercises that raise Endogenous Mood |