ABSTRACT
An interesting phenomenon has often been observed in the practice of relaxation therapy. A patient arrives early and, finding themselves alone in the room, starts the first exercise. Quickly and pleasantly, they begin to feel warm all over their body. When a patient is alone in a room they are familiar with and comfortable in, they experience their Self as expanded and elated, which extends the boundaries of their bodily Ego to the dimensions of the room. The opposition of hot and cold is one of the basic distinctions that the Skin-ego enables us to acquire; it plays a significant role in our adaption to physical reality, our oscillation between closeness and distance and our ability to think for ourselves. There is a different outcome depending on whether the cold wrapping concerns only the outer layer, only the inner layer, or both, which may lead to catatonia.
