ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses in detail the clinical phenomenon of the myofascial tense body as armour, the way in which it comes about and what it means for experiential bodywork. A difficult body is often tense in several ways. First of all, it feels tense for the patient. The idea of a body organising itself on a muscular level in tension lines to form a certain pattern of posture and movement is not new, certainly not in myofascial body therapies such as Rolfing, osteopathy or more recent methods. The idea of the myofascial substrate as an imprint of - or at least significant in relation to - psycho-emotional processes and disruptions can be found in older, but also in literature under various headings. Interestingly, myofascial research confirms similar physiological processes. A first observation is indeed that the myofascial middle layer consists of the myofascial layer that is one of the first to be stimulated in subject development.
