More Than Just a Training Module: A Deeply Transformative Body-Mind Experience
This Core Strokes™ workshop goes beyond traditional training. It offers a profound transformative experience that can be taken for personal development or as Module 3 of the complete Core Strokes™ training program.
Core Strokes™: A Holistic Psycho-Corporal Method
Developed by Dirk Marivoet after 35 years of practice and teaching, Core Strokes™ is an integrative approach that blends theoretical and practical aspects of various modalities:
- Postural Integration, Energetic Integration, and Pelvic-Heart Integration (developed by Jack W. Painter, PhD)
- Core Energetics (developed by John C. Pierrakos, MD)
- Pesso-Boyden System Psychomotor (PBSP) (developed by Albert Pesso and Diane Boyden-Pesso)
- Other influential works include those of Wilhelm Reich, Carl Jung, Alexander Lowen, and Eric Berne.
In Core Strokes ™ , the ‘Core‘ represents our “Center of Right Energy,” while ‘Strokes‘ refer to the units of recognition–both verbal and non-verbal–and targeted hands-on techniques. These “strokes” help bring forth new parts of ourselves or unearth old, hidden aspects that have been stored in the body as symptoms. The therapist’s presence provides the client with the courage to reveal and become conscious of what emerges from their inner depths (the Dynamic Ground), leading to purification and transformation of the unconscious, including the inherited collective unconscious.
” TOUCH AND BE TOUCHED: LEARN TO LIVE WITH AN OPEN AND AVAILABLE HEART!”
The Core Strokes™ Approach:
The uniqueness and effectiveness of Core Strokes™ lie in its ability to integrate bodywork techniques with verbal expression and spiritual understanding. This dual approach allows for a deep “touch” that penetrates not just the tissues but also reaches into our emotions, wounds, basic human needs, and even our soul.
Core Strokes™ teaches us how the “blows” and “spikes” we receive can wound and close us off, while the “caresses” and “strokes” can provide support, recognition, and encourage us to open our heart—or Core (our “Center of Right Energy”).
What You Will Learn and Experience:
- Express Needs and Emotions: Learn to articulate your needs and emotions clearly and authentically.
- Release Tensions and Let Go: Experience the release of deep-seated tensions and the capacity to let go of restrictive patterns.
- Listen and Perceive Differently: Cultivate the ability to listen to your body and emotions with greater sensitivity.
- Give and Receive: Practice the dynamics of giving and receiving, fostering deeper connection with others.
- Resolve Trauma-Based Defenses: Address and integrate trauma-based defense mechanisms, creating a path toward healing and wholeness.
- Connect with Your Authentic Self: Establish a profound connection with your Authentic Self, enabling you to live with an open and available heart.
Through the integration of bodywork and verbal expression, Core Strokes™ allows you to explore and resolve the patterns that shape your life. This approach supports you in opening up to new parts of yourself, while also transforming the hidden aspects that have manifested as physical or emotional symptoms.
Key Objectives of Core Strokes Training: Module 3
Overview:
Core Strokes™ is a creative and dynamic approach that enriches your experience of life’s creativity, vitality, and joy. In this third week-long module, participants engage deeply with their body’s fascia across emotional, energetic, and postural dimensions.
Learning Outcomes:
- Engagement with Body Structures: You will engage with deep fascial layers in the pelvis, legs, abdomen, and back, learning to release unconscious tensions and blockages. The pelvis is explored not just as a structural cornerstone but also as a channel for energy including conception, strength, and sensual expression.
- Technique Mastery: Advanced manual techniques of Core Strokes™ will be taught to unlock fascial layers and release emotional armoring, enhancing energy flow and facilitating deep relaxation and healing.
- Emotional and Creative Expression: Through Gestalt and creative exercises, uncover and express inner emotional dynamics, anchoring in the present and revisiting significant past experiences for deep healing.
- Dynamic Body Reading and Personality Work: Develop skills in reading body dynamics and dialoguing between body parts to reveal and resolve tensions. Work on transforming aspects of the self and grounding in your higher potentials.
- Microtracking and Internal Navigation: Cultivate the “Pilot,” your inner observer and guide, to enhance emotional regulation and self-awareness through focused awareness techniques.
- Exploring Connections and Dynamics: Deep dive into the heart/pelvis connection, exploring themes of love, eros, and sexuality behind the masks of interpersonal dynamics. Understand Oedipal triangles and their impact on relationships.
- Energy Physiology and Affective Expressions: Master energy modulation techniques and track affective expressions to better understand physical states and belief systems.
- Integration and Role-Play: Explore key polarities and engage in controlled role-play to navigate emotional landscapes, gaining insight into interpersonal relations.
Specific Focus Areas:
- Lower, upper, and posterior pelvis detailing to address specific body concerns.
- Integration of polarities such as masculine/feminine, promoting overall emotional, mental, and energetic harmony.
This module offers a profound opportunity to deepen your understanding of bodymind interactions, enhance your therapeutic skills, and foster personal growth through hands-on practice and experiential learning.
Educational Methods:
- Bodymind Exercises and Meditations: Engage in practices like breathing, movement, voicework, and awareness to fully integrate learning experiences.
- Demonstrations: Witness live demonstrations of core techniques in large group settings, illustrating practical application.
- Supervised Practice: Apply what you’ve learned in small groups with direct supervision, followed by detailed feedback and reflective discussions.
- Analysis of Techniques: Critically assess the effects and impacts of the techniques utilized during training.
- Q&A Sessions: Dedicate time to resolve queries and delve deeper into complex topics for a thorough understanding.
Work Outside the Classroom:
- Individual Therapy Sessions: Complete at least six hours of Core Strokes™ or Postural Integration therapy with a certified practitioner.
- Study Groups: Participate in regular meetings to discuss and practice training topics with peers.
- Reading and Research: Engage with recommended readings to deepen theoretical understanding.
- Personal Reflection and Evaluation: Conduct self-assessment and introspection to internalize and integrate learning outcomes.
Benefits of the Training:
- Deeper Self-Awareness: Connect with and integrate deeper layers of self, enhancing sensorimotor, kinesthetic, and audio-visual memories–espacially those linked to Love, Eros, and Sexuality.
- Clarity on Personal Path: Gain clear insights into your life’s direction and personal growth trajectory.
- Optimistic and Realistic Perspectives: Develop a balanced and fulfilling outlook on life, yourself, and your relationships.
Course Leadership: This training module is expertly led by Dirk Marivoet, the founder of the Core Strokes method.
What about the facilitator?
Dirk Marivoet, MSc.
is the founder and director of the International Institute for Bodymind Integration (IBI). He is an accredited psychotherapist (ECP) and a certified psychomotor therapist, having earned his credentials at the University of Leuven, where he served on the staff of the Psychiatry/Psychoanalytic Clinic for 11 years. Dirk is a Certified Trainer and Supervisor in Postural Integration, Energetic Integration, Reichian Bodywork and Pelvic-Heart Integration (as developed by Jack Painter, PhD), as well as a Core Energetics Teacher and Supervisor (under John Pierrakos, MD).
With 40 years of clinical and teaching experience in both academic and alternative fields of psychotherapy, Dirk developed the Core Strokes approach, which he now teaches internationally. He resides in Ghent, Belgium.
Practical information
Dates and Location :
Dates: June 18, 2026 (starting at 4:00 PM) to June 24, 2026 (ending at 4:00 PM).
Venue: A residential workshop located 1 hour and 45 minutes from Paris, and 100 km from Mont-Saint-Michel, at 23 Rue du Stade, 53140 Lignières-Orgères.
Participation costs:
- Early Bird – 890 € (before May 15, 2026)
- Tarif Normal – 950 € (after May 15, 2026)
QUESTIONS?
For any inquiries, please contact Laurence, who is in charge of the organization, at: lalinlaurence@gmail.com
Rates for accommodation and Meals :
Full board €462 for the week, including:
- Organic, balanced meals made with fresh, local products from Monday evening to Sunday afternoon.
- Double room with shared bathroom and toilet.
Bedding is provided.
Please bring your own towels.
Other options are available! Contact Laurence.
For accommodation in a single room with private bathroom and toilet, with bedding and towels provided, a reservation with payment will be required before March 15, 2026.
For reservations, please contact Laurence at: 33 (0)6 49 57 83 37.