The goal of therapy is not to induce involuntary trembling, although in Lowen's bioenergetic therapy it is so important that it does become the goal. Group sessions of bioenergetics resemble the old-fashioned religious revival meetings where tension was released through shaking movements. (Some of the original revivalists were known as "shakers," others as "holy rollers;" still others were the original "quakers".) Involuntary shaking does release tension, but not necessarily in a meaningful or emotional way, nor to the accompaniment of much sensation. In fact, in some people involuntary shaking is a kind of block: it releases built up excitation before it can become too threatening emotionally. This kind of displacement may be part of a "flight" emergency response.

On the other hand, acceptance of involuntary movement is necessary for surrender in emotional expression or orgasm. And these clonic spasms do, cumulatively, tend to dissolve muscle armor. Thus, inducing them, or their occurrence as a by-product of other movement (for example when the jaw trembles for a while as a person lets go of a block against crying), is an important means of therapy without being an end.

The position of the legs described above can be called the closed circuit: it seems to channel excitation and energy around in the legs, rather as joining the hands channels excitation in prayer. When the feet are "grounded" again, the excitation is released as clonic spasms.

Further work on the pelvic segment must be oriented to whether the pelvic is inflated (chronically held back), deflated (pushed forward), or jammed in a middle position.

In this last case, the kind of movements used to bring the inflated pelvis forward, or the deflated pelvis backward, are equally useful.

In general, the inflated pelvis is more heavily armored than the deflated. In fact to be locked back the pelvic musculature must be armored. When the pelvis is forward, musculature can be either tight or overloose with the pelvis quite capable of easy movement back but habitually kept forward. Consistent therapeutic work can almost always dissolve muscle armoring which is anchored in hard muscle spasms. It is more difficult to "animate" a part of the person which is not heavily muscled but instead inert and passive, as is often true of the deflated pelvis.

Inflated Pelvis

8:1 Slide your hand under the explorer's back, knuckles toward the mat, so that your palm is just under the hollow of the back, below the waistline. Ask the person to push your hand down as they breathe out, then release their back upward and away from your hand on breathing in. This is a common exercise in classes preparing women for childbirth, although not usually in conjunction with the breathing. It gets the explorer used to a rocking movement of the pelvis, independent of thighs and trunk.

8:2 Have the explorer bang the pelvis hard on the mat, pushing it upward vigorously in-between bangs, making angry sounds. Banging the buttocks down hard is reminiscent of some children's temper tantrums.

8:3 Now, reverse the emphasis, and have the explorer thrust the pelvis upward hard toward the ceiling on each out-breath making harsh sounds. To loosen pelvic armor it is necessary at first to provoke angry, harsh movements. Fear of the rage locked in the pelvis is usually what keeps it held back. Most people realize that making love is really a gentle movement, but gentle movements of the pelvis are impossible if the backed up urge is anger: in this dilemma, people often become awkward, clumsy, or passive.

8:4 Have the explorer turn over on the stomach and pound the genital area against a pillow. Unfortunately, for many people such banging and pounding is the norm in sexual expression. But for others the fear of angry movements leads to suppression of all movement and passivity. Couples work may bring out some of the underlying anger so as to free the way for a more gentle undulation of the pelvis. This movement is just as useful for women as for men. If you are honest with each other it should be acceptable to thump angrily with the pelvis. It is the rare person who has not experienced repression at this level and built up some anger. It is nothing to be ashamed of.

The goal of the above explorations is to have the person extend the hip joint as far as possible, to have them learn to push the pelvis forward fully. Again, in making love it is not necessary to push the pelvis, which can move by itself and indeed is more pulled or drawn toward the partner by the urge for fusion. But the urge to push may need to be worked through.

Deflated Pelvis

9:1 Slide your hand, knuckles down, under the explorer's back and, as above, have them move the pelvis deliberately, in this case with emphasis on the breathing in and pulling back phases.

When the pelvis is deflated it is often hard to inflate the abdomen and have it fill out down to the groin. Instead it remains tight and flat. This is not an easy block to work through, although it may loosen up somewhat during the explorations so far described. As the explorer breathes in, you can push up with the palm of your hand. They may be unused to having the pelvis come back in a "charged" position. You might even encourage them to breathe down into the abdomen for a while, deliberately holding the pelvis back. In the chronically inflated pelvis this is a block; when the pelvis is chronically deflated, the person often experiences anxiety at the idea of feeling any build up of sensation.

9:2 Pelvic banging (see 8:2) may be useful. But again, emphasize the opening up of movement backward in the pelvis.