Landing in the Body. Listening to the Core. Awakening the Flow of Being.
By the Founder: Dirk Marivoet, MSc.
An Introduction
Before we can dive, we must land.
Rooting Core™ —the first module in the Core Strokes® journey—is an invitation to come home to your body, not as an object to fix, but as a living map of your history, your protections, and your unclaimed vitality.
In this stage of the work, we begin by listening to the most accessible layer of the bodymind system: the superficial fascia, breath, and emotional tone that reflect how we have learned to orient ourselves in a world of contact, need, and survival.
This module lays the groundwork for everything that follows. Through breath, touch, relational attunement, and guided movement, we soften the outer shell—the places where we’ve held ourselves together when we had no other choice. We awaken what has gone quiet. We begin to sense what it means to be here—and to be seen.
Core Strokes® is more than a training—it is a profound, embodied experience that reconnects you with your core essence, your vitality, and your capacity for deep presence. Whether you are a therapist, healer, or seeker, Module I offers a rich blend of experiential and theoretical learning. It serves both as a standalone personal journey and as the first step toward Core Strokes® certification.
The Three Stages of the Core Strokes® Process
At the heart of Core Strokes® lies a transformational arc, structured around three essential stages: Let Be, Let Go, Let In. These are not linear steps, but cyclical movements of healing and integration that unfold through the body, breath, and relational field. In the Let Be stage, we cultivate presence and acceptance—meeting the body and its patterns without judgment, creating space for awareness and safety. In the Let Go stage, we release old tensions, emotional armoring, and outdated relational strategies—clearing space for new movement, vitality, and expression. In the Let In stage, we open to receive: new sensations, insights, energies, and connections that resonate with our Core essence.
Energetic Awakening & Emotional Flow – Reclaiming the Rhythm of the Core
Energetic awakening in Core Strokes® is not about “activating energy” as a technique or pushing toward catharsis—it is about gently restoring the body’s natural wave of life force, which expresses itself through breath, movement, emotion, and presence. This vital current, inherent to every human being, is often shaped, interrupted, or distorted by developmental wounding, protective adaptations, or relational misattunement. These early disruptions become encoded in the myofascial system, giving rise to adaptive holding patterns—such as fragmentation, compression, overextension, or disconnection—each with its own energetic signature and breathing profile.
Through a combination of myofascial release, breathwork, emotional expression, and relational attunement, Core Strokes® helps identify and soften areas where energy is held, split, or suppressed. It reawakens frozen or numbed body zones, grounds excess charge, and restores the body’s capacity for emotional flow, spontaneity, and aliveness.
Central to this process is the Neurofascial Transformation Process™, a specialized Core Strokes® pathway that directly engages the myofascial and connective tissue system. NTP focuses on decoding, releasing, and reorganizing the emotional and energetic imprints stored within the body’s living matrix, supporting profound shifts in vitality, embodiment, and relational capacity. In Foundation and Awakening, we begin this neurofascial journey by gently addressing the superficial layers of the fascia—opening the pathways for deeper transformation in later stages.
This entire process is guided by the Energetic Breath Cycle™ —a 9-phase map of the natural pulsation of life force, moving from stillness and arousal, through charge, release, and climax, into surrender, relaxation, and integration. Each phase reflects a potential state of vitality and a possible point of interruption, often shaped by early relational and somatic history.
Neurofascial Encoding™ – Where Tissue Meets Story, and Energy Remembers
At the heart of these holding patterns lies what we call Neurofascial Encoding™—the biological process by which emotional experience, relational trauma, and adaptive strategies become embedded within the body’s connective tissue matrix. Fascia, far from being passive scaffolding, is a dynamic, sentient organ of perception and memory. It contracts and thickens in response to overwhelm, it carries the echoes of developmental rhythms interrupted too soon, and it learns to shape itself around the absence of support, the pressure of expectations, or the chronic demand to override feeling with function.
Each interruption in the Energetic Breath Cycle™ —whether a withheld cry, a braced spine, or a silenced need—leaves not only a muscular imprint, but a fascial signature. These neurofascial patterns are layered, nonlinear, and deeply personal, often mirroring specific characterological and attachment adaptations. They influence breath quality, posture, tissue hydration, movement fluidity, and emotional expression.
The Neurofascial Transformation Process™ (NTP)—a core pathway within the Core Strokes® method—works directly with this tissue-language. Through attuned touch, breath modulation, microtracking, and mythopoetic inquiry, we decode and unwind these embodied imprints. Rather than imposing change, we listen the system into transformation—meeting each restriction with curiosity, rhythm, and resonance.
In Foundation and Awakening, this process begins gently. We contact the most accessible fascial layers, inviting sensation to return, breath to soften, and awareness to spread. We do not dive into the depths without preparing the ground. Instead, we create a physiological and relational safety that allows the system to choose when and how to open. As the superficial layers begin to yield, deeper organizing tensions are revealed—not as pathologies to fix, but as intelligent adaptations ready to be met, felt, and re-patterned.
The Language of Strokes-– Contact as a Path to the Core
In Core Strokes®, strokes are understood as the fundamental units of recognition—the subtle and powerful ways we give and receive attention, connection, and meaning. A stroke can be verbal or non-verbal, physical or energetic: a word of affirmation, a glance of disapproval, a nurturing hand, or even the quality of presence in a shared moment. These strokes shape our sense of self, our patterns of connection, and our internal maps of love and value.
What makes Core Strokes® unique is the integration of myofascial strokes—attuned physical contacts that engage the body’s tissue and energetic system at once. These strokes reach toward the Core—the place in each of us that longs to be recognized not for what we do, but for who we are. We expand the vocabulary of contact: from words to breath, from posture to pressure, from silence to touch. The result is a relational language that speaks not only to the person, but to their essence.
Holding as Relational Ground
Therapeutic holding is not merely a technique; it is a state of being. It emerges when the practitioner is regulated, grounded, and connected to their own Core. From this place, they offer a field of presence that the client can safely enter. Holding includes tone of voice, rhythm of breath, movement pace, gaze, touch, and energetic availability. It is a multidimensional message: You are not alone. You are welcome here.
Especially in developmental trauma, clients may have never experienced such holding. Their bodies have learned to hold themselves together without co-regulation. In Core Strokes®, we recognize that the body remembers the relational field—and that therapeutic holding reawakens the possibility of being met through presence, rhythm, and trust.
The Dynamics of the Relational Field
In Core Strokes®, the relational field is alive and reciprocal. Both practitioner and client participate in a shared energetic process. Practitioners learn to track both what is happening in the client and within themselves, developing a sensitive relational compass that allows them to respond with presence and precision.
We discern the difference between holding and holding on. The former allows space and movement; the latter arises from fear or control. In this work, we cultivate contact with freedom, where support does not overwhelm autonomy, and closeness does not override sovereignty.
The Importance of Co-Regulation
Before self-regulation becomes possible, we often need to be regulated with another. Core Strokes® practitioners become somatic resources for the client through attuned presence, pacing, and touch. This is not to calm the client, but to offer relational repair—where the nervous system can update its map from isolation to connection.
Examples include:
- Sitting quietly together until the client’s breath begins to deepen
- Placing a grounded hand on the client’s back while tracking micro-movements
- Speaking slowly and rhythmically while the client accesses difficult material
- Offering sustained eye contact, silence, or simple acknowledgment as the client feels their way through an emotional wave
Boundaries, Consent, and Empowered Contact
In relational work, boundaries are not barriers—they are bridges. They clarify the terms of engagement and create the safety needed for deeper exploration. All holding and touch must be guided by informed, moment-to-moment consent. Clients are encouraged to say yes, no, or pause at any time.
In Core Strokes®, we microtrack comfort, hesitation, and withdrawal. We name what we sense and invite reflection, supporting agency and trust. This transparency allows clients to examine how they receive, reach, defend, or refuse.
Holding the Whole
To hold someone is to hold not only their defenses, but their essence. In Core Strokes®, we meet the whole person: their history and potential, their pain and brilliance. We hold space not to fix, but so the system can relax into its own truth.
We become witnesses to what was silenced and to what has never yet been spoken. This is not about “healing someone”—but about saying: I am here with you while you heal.
Nervous System Regulation – From Survival to Safety
Trauma fragments the natural rhythm of the nervous system. In Core Strokes®, we use breath, touch, and relational presence to shift from survival states to regulated flow. Guided by Polyvagal Theory, we recognize three key states: ventral vagal (connection), sympathetic (activation), and dorsal vagal (collapse).
Regulation emerges not from strategy, but from embodied safety. We support transitions out of vigilance and freeze into openness, fluidity, and relational contact. When the system feels safe, the body becomes a place of feeling, expression, and trust.
The Three Movement Systems – Restoring the Body’s Natural Intelligence
In Core Strokes®, we recognize that movement is the language of the body—not just a physical act, but a reflection of our entire developmental, emotional, and relational history. We work with three fundamental movement systems: reflexive, emotional, and voluntary. Reflexive movements are governed by the brainstem and emerge in early life as automatic responses to threat—startle, flinch, brace—often remaining unresolved in the bodies of those with trauma. Emotional movements are expressive—reaching, pushing, crying, surrendering—rooted in the limbic system and shaped by attachment and affective experiences. Voluntary movements, guided by the prefrontal cortex, express agency—choosing, setting boundaries, directing energy.
Trauma can disrupt the dialogue between these systems. We restore their integration through fascia work, breath, and relational engagement, so that reflexes can soften, emotions can express, and choice can re-emerge. Movement becomes whole again.
Microtracking & the Pilot Function – Cultivating Somatic Intelligence
Microtracking is the art of subtle, present-moment awareness—tracking sensation, breath, energy, and impulse as they arise. This awakens the pilot function: the capacity to observe without judgment, regulate without suppression, and make choices from clarity rather than reactivity.
As this function grows, clients develop deeper self-trust and somatic literacy. They learn to navigate their internal experience with confidence and presence. In Core Strokes®, we call this the foundation of inner leadership.
Microtracking vs. Body Reading – Two Lenses, One Body
Microtracking and body reading are distinct but complementary. Body reading is external and visual: posture, breath, alignment, and tone. It provides a structural map of how energy is held. Microtracking is internal and sensory: it follows the felt sense, tracking shifts from within.
Used together, they offer a 360° view of the client’s process—one sees form, the other follows flow. A collapsed chest may be seen externally, then explored internally through microtracking, revealing grief or a protective contraction waiting to be met.
The Mythopoetic Layer – Returning to the Body’s Story
Beyond structure and symptom lies the body’s mythic intelligence—a silent language of symbols, archetypes, and inner stories etched into flesh, breath, and posture. In Core Strokes®, we invite this deeper listening. We don’t just track tension or release—we ask: What story lives here? What archetypal journey is this body reliving or refusing?
A rigid spine may not only reflect muscular defense, but carry the burden of the one who always had to stand tall—the inner warrior who never had permission to rest. A frozen shoulder may hold the grief of Atlas. A compressed belly might echo the silence of Persephone. A tightening throat may protect the exiled voice of the truth-teller or the healer.
These are not poetic flourishes—they are living imprints. The body stores ancestral, cultural, and developmental stories in ways words alone cannot. And when these imprints are met with presence, movement, and meaning, they begin to unravel—not into narrative, but into belonging.
To engage the mythopoetic layer is to return to the body not just as a structure to align or a wound to repair, but as a sacred text—each gesture a verse, each sensation a portal. Healing then becomes more than integration; it becomes initiation—a return to the story of who we truly are.
Conclusion – The First Step of a Deeper Return
Foundation and Awakening is more than an introduction—it is a sacred beginning. Here, we learn to trust the language of the body, not as a set of symptoms to interpret, but as an intelligent unfolding of something essential, waiting to be lived. Through presence, contact, and deep listening, we reclaim not only flow and feeling, but also meaning.
For many, this first module is the beginning of a professional path. For others, it is the reclamation of something deeply personal. In both cases, it is a return—to the Core, to the body, to the living truth of what it means to be fully here.
It asks not for perfection, but for presence. Not for striving, but for surrender. And it offers, in return, the possibility of reinhabiting your body with more truth, more vitality, and more connection than you may have ever known.
It is not the end of a path—it is the place where the real path begins.
A Living Lineage
Core Strokes® stands within a living, evolving lineage of somatic psychotherapy and integrative bodywork. It carries forward the essential insights of the great pioneers in our field, while refining and adapting their contributions to meet the needs of today’s practitioners and clients.
This method draws upon and honors the foundational work of:
- Wilhelm Reich, MD, whose revolutionary insights into pulsation, energy flow, and character structure continue to form the energetic backbone of somatic psychotherapy.
- Jack Painter, PhD, founder of Postural Integration®, who developed a fascia-based, multi-level approach to bodymind integration rooted in Gestalt, Reichian work, and expressive movement. He was “Rolfed” by Ida Rolf herself and worked with Fritz Perls, Marty Fromm, and Rafael Estrada Villa, among others. I had the privilege of studying and collaborating closely with him over many years.
- John Pierrakos, MD, co-founder of Bioenergetics and creator of Core Energetics—a direct student of Reich—who integrated spiritual psychology, energetic flow, and character defense theory. His emphasis on the Higher Self and the energetic Core is deeply woven into Core Strokes®. I was his patient, and for over two decades have served as an international teacher and supervisor of his method.
- Albert Pesso, founder of Psychomotor Therapy (PBSP)—originally a dancer who worked with Martha Graham—whose visionary concepts such as ideal figures, ego wrapping, and the Pilot function offer vital tools for therapeutic repair and reparenting. While not formally certified in PBSP, I studied directly with him and his senior students, integrating his insights through my own background in psychomotor therapy.
- Stanley Keleman, whose workshops I attended, offered a groundbreaking somatic typology (motile, rigid, dense, etc.) and a profound understanding of formative anatomy that continues to inform our work with body structure and emotional patterning.
- David Boadella, whose teaching I experienced personally, introduced key concepts such as pre-structural tone and the biosynthetic matrix, helping bridge subtle energetics and developmental embodiment.
- Will Davis, with whom I maintain a close collegial connection, articulated the plasmatic body and early energetic boundary formation—resonating deeply with Core Strokes®’ mapping of fragmentation, tone, and fascial memory.
- Emilie Conrad, whose Continuum Movement workshops I attended, brought forth a somatic language of undulation, streaming, and cellular intelligence that has greatly inspired our fluid, breath-based approach to fascia.
- Peter Levine, PhD, whom I met personally, contributed the essential principles of titration, pendulation, and autonomic resilience through Somatic Experiencing®, shaping the foundation of trauma-informed somatic practice.
- Robert Schleip, PhD, whose research and teaching I’ve followed and experienced directly, has advanced our understanding of fascial plasticity, proprioception, interoception, and embodied awareness.
- Bessel van der Kolk, MD, whose lectures I’ve attended, helped bring somatic psychology into the broader clinical and cultural conversation by clarifying how trauma lives in the body.
- Stephen Porges, PhD, with whom I shared a speaking platform at an international conference, transformed our understanding of autonomic regulation and relational safety through Polyvagal Theory—offering a vital framework for Core Strokes®’ emphasis on co-regulation and embodied trust.
…and beyond these named pioneers,
I carry the imprint of many others—mentors, colleagues, students, clients, and companions—who walked with me, challenged me, supported me, and shared the unfolding of this work.
To them, I bow
This lineage is not a museum — it is a living stream.
May it move through your hands, your breath, your presence.
As a practitioner, you are not simply using a method; you are becoming part of its unfolding.
May you carry it forward.
May you shape it with your own clarity, compassion, and embodied knowing.
Rooting Core initiates this journey into a community of practice that honors the past while preparing for the future.
That is my hope.