The Institute

A Leading European Institute for Somatic Psychotherapy, Bodymind Integration & Human Development

Founded in 1994 by Dirk Marivoet, the International Institute for Bodymind Integration (IBI) is one of Europe’s longest-established institutes dedicated to somatic psychotherapy, body psychotherapy, embodied development, and professional training.

Based in Ghent, Belgium, IBI has welcomed students, therapists, bodyworkers, healthcare professionals, and personal growth practitioners from across Europe and beyond for more than three decades, contributing to the ongoing development of somatic psychotherapy and embodied practice internationally.

Today, IBI serves as the home of Core Strokes®, an integrative framework developed by Dirk Marivoet through more than four decades of clinical practice, teaching, and research.

The institute’s educational and research branch, the Institute for Somatic Psychotherapy (ISP), supports professional education, advanced certification, research, and interdisciplinary dialogue, further strengthening IBI’s contribution to the field of contemporary somatic psychotherapy.

What Is Bodymind Integration?

At the heart of IBI lies a simple yet profound understanding: human beings cannot be reduced to thoughts, emotions, bodies, or behaviors alone.

Every experience is simultaneously physical, emotional, relational, energetic, cognitive, and existential. Breathing influences feeling. Emotions shape posture. Relationships affect physiology. Life experiences become embodied through patterns of movement, perception, response, and meaning.

Bodymind Integration explores these interconnections directly.

Rather than treating body and mind as separate domains, it views the human organism as a living, self-organizing whole whose capacity for health, resilience, creativity, intimacy, and authentic participation emerges through increasing integration.

The body is not merely a vehicle that carries experience. It is an active participant in how experience is perceived, organized, expressed, and transformed.

Bodymind Integration therefore invites a deeper dialogue between body, breath, emotion, relationship, and consciousness. Through this dialogue, individuals can develop greater self-awareness, emotional depth, embodied presence, and a more coherent relationship with themselves, others, and the world.

Why Bodymind Integration →

What Is Somatic Psychotherapy?

While Bodymind Integration describes a way of understanding and working with human beings, Somatic Psychotherapy is a clinical psychotherapeutic approach and professional field that integrates both verbal exploration and embodied experience. By including the body as an essential dimension of psychological healing and personal development, somatic psychotherapy supports greater self-awareness, emotional integration, self-regulation, vitality, and authentic participation in life.

Experiences of attachment, stress, trauma, resilience, intimacy, and personal growth are not only remembered cognitively. They are also expressed through breathing patterns, muscular organization, posture, movement, autonomic regulation, emotional responsiveness, and relational behavior.

Contemporary somatic psychotherapy draws upon insights from neuroscience, attachment theory, developmental psychology, trauma studies, and body-oriented traditions, integrating these perspectives into a comprehensive understanding of human functioning, development, and change.

For more than three decades, IBI has contributed to the development of somatic psychotherapy in Europe through professional training, workshops, supervision, research, and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Through its trainings, workshops, and educational initiatives, the institute has welcomed participants from numerous countries and helped support the growth of embodied approaches throughout Europe and beyond.

Explore a comprehensive introduction to somatic psychotherapy and body psychotherapy →

The Core Strokes® Framework

The institute is also the home of Core Strokes®, an integrative framework for somatic psychotherapy and embodied development developed by Dirk Marivoet through more than four decades of clinical practice, teaching, research, and international training.

Emerging from the Bodymind Integration tradition while incorporating contemporary developments in somatic psychotherapy, Core Strokes® brings together insights from body psychotherapy, developmental psychology, attachment theory, trauma studies, breathwork, fascial research, movement education, and transpersonal psychology.

Rather than focusing on symptoms alone, Core Strokes® explores how human beings organize experience through breath, fascia, emotion, relationship, movement, meaning, and consciousness. The framework offers practical maps for understanding both human development and therapeutic transformation.

Visitors interested in the conceptual foundations of Core Strokes® can explore:

• The Energetic Breath Cycle™
• The Fascia Texture Typology™
• Neurofascial Encoding™
• The Neurofascial Transformation Process™
• Soul Organization
• Soul Dimensions
• Organizational Dynamics

Together, these models provide a comprehensive framework for understanding how human beings organize, protect, adapt, participate, and transform throughout life.

Explore the Core Strokes® Framework →

Education, Training & Professional Development

For more than three decades, IBI has provided educational programs that integrate theoretical understanding, embodied learning, clinical application, and personal development.

The institute welcomes psychotherapists, psychologists, counselors, bodyworkers, healthcare professionals, coaches, educators, and individuals seeking a deeper understanding of human development and therapeutic transformation.

Educational opportunities include:

• Professional training in Core Strokes®
• Somatic psychotherapy education
• Breathwork and embodiment workshops
• Clinical supervision and mentoring
• Continuing professional development
• Research and interdisciplinary dialogue

All programs combine conceptual depth with experiential learning, supporting the development of embodied presence, self-awareness, relational capacity, clinical competence, and ethical practice.

Whether participants are seeking professional certification, continuing education, or personal growth, IBI offers a learning environment that encourages curiosity, integration, and lifelong development.

Recognition & Professional Affiliations

The International Institute for Bodymind Integration maintains active connections with professional organizations dedicated to the advancement of psychotherapy, body-oriented approaches, and embodied learning.

✅ Organizational member of the European Association for Body Psychotherapy (EABP)

✅ Accredited by the Global Professional Breathwork Association (GPBA)

🎓 Directed by Dirk Marivoet, ECP-certified psychotherapist, psychomotor therapist & international trainer

Through its educational and research activities, IBI continues to contribute to the ongoing evolution of somatic psychotherapy, bodymind integration, and embodied approaches to human development and therapeutic transformation.

Explore Our Work

Visitors wishing to explore the institute’s educational pathways, theoretical foundations, and evolving frameworks can continue below.

• Core Strokes® Framework →
• Trainings & Workshops →
• Knowledge Center →
• Somatic Psychotherapy →
• Contact & Newsletter →

🌀 We invite you to explore the living dialogue between body, breath, emotion, relationship, and consciousness—and to discover how deeper integration supports greater vitality, resilience, and authentic participation in life.