About IATBBAT | Global Leaders in Body Awareness Therapy

Who We Are – Leaders in Body Awareness Therapy Education and Practice

Body awareness therapy is a movement-based approach that enhances physical and mental well-being. IATBBAT unites certified professionals to teach, develop, and promote this therapeutic discipline worldwide.

IATBBAT

History

What is BBAT?

Organization

IATBBAT

The International Association of Teachers in Basic Body Awareness Therapy was founded with the purpose to co-ordinate and secure the quality of teaching/guiding Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) worldwide. Members of IATBBAT are physiotherapists who have gained clinical and pedagogical competence in BBAT, and thus are certified to teach clinical BBAT for physiotherapist as well as BBAT pedagogics for those who themselves aim to become certified as a BBAT teacher.

IATBBAT has the overall responsibility for the content of clinical and educational implementation of BBAT in countries who are members of the organization. IATBBAT is an ideological organization, and its board members are elected democratically in annual General Meetings.

BBAT is an established physiotherapy modality in 15 countries and 4 continents, mainly in the field of mental health. Research has demonstrated that persons suffering from anxiety, depression, posttraumatic diseases, schizophrenia and eating disorders may have benefits from BBAT. Also, in the field of Musculo-skeletal conditions, such as fibromyalgia, whiplash, arthritis, scoliosis or long-lasting pain conditions, research findings support the use of BBAT for persons who comply with the therapy over time. Finally, the modality is also for physiotherapist with interest in professional and personal development and insight into human movement.

BBAT is person-centered, process-oriented and health-directed, and builds on health-related learning through movement awareness. The methodology follows a specific learning pedagogy to encompass physical, mental, and relational aspects of health. It is a phenomenological treatment method integrating the interrelation between movement quality and movement awareness.

BBAT is based on a specific movement pedagogy:

1. Learning about theory,

2. Learning through movement and skill training and

3. Learning through being in movement.

BBAT is based on a specific movement pedagogy

The emphasis is personally, learning from own experiences, being present by experiencing and gaining insight in movement development to get familiar with personal and relational resources and functional coping strategies, arousing the curiosity about how to change movement habits and improve self-awareness.

History of IATBBAT

In the early 1980's, the Swedish physiotherapist Gertrud Roxendal launched the ”Project Development of Body Awareness – Clinical and Educational”, inspired by the movement practice and theory of psychotherapist and movement educator Jacques Dropsy. She invited a group of specially interested Swedish and Norwegian BBAT - physiotherapists to join her in what she called ”Teacher group”. Members of the teacher-group collaborated through the developing process that would finally result in Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) as a clinical and educational physiotherapy approach.

Since its establishment in the 1980's, the BBAT Teacher Group and its organizational structure developed further, in line with needs from the teacher group itself and from clinical physiotherapist expressing a need outside the group.

The need for a formal association grew stronger and in 2003, the International Association of Teachers in Basic Body Awareness Therapy, IATBBAT, was established. To continuate the origin of BBAT, self-experience in the BBAT movements followed by conceptualization and reflections are means to secure high quality within BBAT. A common platform for this work is the Annual Summer Seminar, where BBAT teachers from all countries meet. During the seminar, the teachers deepen in self-training in BBAT, and they share and reflect on own movement experiences. Theoretical and pedagogical aspects are presented and discussed at the seminar, and the annual General Meeting is conducted.

IATBBAT has grown internationally over the years, and today it includes members from Austria, Denmark, Canada, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Japan, Finland, Iceland, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey.

IATBBAT has grown internationally over the yearsBAT 1.webp

Share and reflect on own movement experiences

Development of educational programs within BBAT

BBAT master programs, courses and seminars

BBAT conferences, webinars and supervision

IATBBAT remains the overarching platform for the further development of educational programs within BBAT, including master programs, courses, seminars, webinars, conferences, and supervision. IATBBAT acknowledges international and national policies in physiotherapy, as well as the importance of international cooperation and cohesion.

What is Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT)?

BBAT is a movement awareness training program aiming to promote awareness of oneself and one's needs from physical, physiological, psycho-socio-cultural, and existential perspectives. It builds on the three-fold contact problem:

1. Lack of contact with oneself and the physical body, internal physiological and mental processes.

2. Lack of contact to the external environment or surroundings.

3. Lack of contact with others in relational contexts.

The movement awareness program in BBAT includes a multifaceted perspective in its training program, aiming to improve the person’s self-awareness in the body as well as improve movement awareness and coordination to mobilize resources for personal and relational health. This includes practicing everyday movements and actions, lying, sitting, standing, walking, relational, use of the voice, and massage.

To enhance learning and insight, the therapy includes reflective talk on the direct movement experiences, as well as guidance for home-training. The physiotherapist utilizes own embodied presence, knowledge, skills, and competences to communicate with the person, group or team, based on trust and openness. The therapeutic and pedagogical factors are based on a platform and strategy for promoting movement quality.

The professional therapeutic approach provides reliable and valid assessment tools as well as structured strategies for individual and group therapeutic settings. The examination tools in BBAT are Body Awareness Rating Scale Movement Quality and Experience (BARS-MQE) and Body Awareness Scale Movement Quality and Experience (BAS MQ-E).

BBAT platform and strategy for promoting movement quality

BBAT includes a movement awareness program

The physiotherapist moves together with the patient as a role model and acts as a guide

Everyday movements – core movements for personal use.

BBAT includes a movement awareness program designed to involve the patient personally in a learning process. The BBAT-movements represent extracts from every day-movements: lying, sitting, standing, walking, relational movements, and massage (touch). The movements are simple, slow, small, and soft, sometimes dynamic and with a wider movement range depending on the situation and context. The movements are inviting the patient into a learning cycle consisting of being in contact with and exploring the movement, developing insight into own movement habits, adjusting towards more functional movement quality and finally master, conceptualize, and integrate movement experiences into their daily life. The physiotherapist moves together with the patient as a role model and acts as a guide, bridging the therapy situation with the everyday life and needs. A treatment contract is developed in dialogue with the patient, focusing on how the movement principles can be adjusted and practiced at home or in other daily-life settings. The training situation does not require any equipment other than a mat and a chair, which is mostly to be found in any home. The use of a practice-diary is a concrete and helpful tool to strengthen the learning process and enhance the therapeutic outcome.

An eye for movement quality and health

Basic Body Awareness Therapy is known for its focus on movement quality, meaning ”how the movements are performed and experienced in relation to space, time and energy”. Four perspectives are incorporated in BBAT as a framework and basis for assessment and therapy, and accordingly, physical, physiological, psycho-socio-cultural, and existential movement aspects are equally considered. Postural stability, free breathing and mental awareness are regarded as key elements for functional movement quality, which in BBAT theory is characterized by functional form, unifying flow and rhythm, adequate use of energy and clear intentionality.

Research

Ever since BBAT was established as a physiotherapy modality, research has been conducted to explore patients and physiotherapists experiences from therapy, as well as effects and efficacy of BBAT in multiple patient groups. Movement quality evaluation tools have been developed and investigated for validity and reliability, and the movement theory and pedagogy of BBAT has been explored and described scientifically. A list of 77 doctoral thesis and other scientific publications is presented elsewhere on this site (the list might not be complete at all times).

Sources

Scientific articles from Liv Helvik Skjaerven, professor in Physiotherapy, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Department of Function and Health, Bergen, Norway.

Curriculum of Master of Physiotherapy in Basic Body Awareness Methodology at University of Almeria, Spain. Liv Helvik Skjaerven and Daniel Catalan-Matamoros. In: http://fisioterapiasm.es/masterbbam.htm