ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the development of feeling, thinking, and psychosexual development—as closely interlinked as in a symphony, where various instruments determine together the tonal colour. One could also say that the body is a mirror of the soul. Psychic blocks, guilt feelings, and fears are manifested through clumsy movements, frequent bruises, and inhibited forms of expression. The book also focuses on the child's development from the somatic point of view—although the psychic level must always be taken into consideration. The way a child experiences her own body depends upon what has happened to her and how her parents treat their child's body—whether or not they contemplate it lovingly, caress and care for it in joy and gladness over child's existence. In the latency period between six and twelve years of age, the child's peer group focuses on the acquirement of physical skills.
