ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a therapeutic approach that uses masks as mediators for the healing of trauma through embodiment, inspired by the spatial-dynamic of masks developed by Jacques Lecoq in collaboration with Amleto Sartori and Donato Sartori. This five-stage approach, which makes use of five different types of masks and that has evolved through the author’s clinical practice with clients suffering from developmental and social trauma, almost reverses the exploratory sequence in Lecoq’s physical theatre pedagogy. In this sequence, masks are used as dynamic structures to induce movements in clients for personal transformation, instead of projective tools as they are often used in drama therapy. The embodiment of different types of masks opens playful spaces in which overwhelming, fragmented, and chaotic personal materials in the client’s psyche can be obliquely crystallized for indirect processing, offering an alternative to the commonly used direct processing in trauma-focused therapies. The author describes a healing journey that starts with the primitive and corporeal life and culminates in reaching the innermost core of creativity, growth, and individuality.
