Primal Integration

Everyone has an inherent potential to experience processes of inner development resulting in a continuous process of 'becoming'. These processes are spontaneous and unfold in a unique way for every individual. They have their own dynamic pressure and their own pace. Primal Integration endeavours to offer an environment that is conducive to this and that allows these inherent processes to function more fully.

The term 'Primal Integration' was coined by Bill Swartley to describe the very free-form type of primal work that he originated and which we and others have continued and evolved. The work was introduced to the UK in 1976, and a comprehensive programme has been offered here since 1979, principally through the Primal Integration Programme based in London, which runs events at the Open Centre in London and the Wild Pear Centre in Devon. In the British context, Primal Integration has been particularly influenced by the configurational psychology of Francis Mott and by Frank Lake's Pre- and Perinatal Integration (a much more focused and structured form of primal work). It has also incorporated various bodywork approaches ('Primal Bodywork').

Central to the practice of Primal Integration is the understanding that it is carried out under the rubric of a personal growth or educational model rather than a medical model. We do not refer to Primal Integration as a psychotherapy or therapy (the term 'therapy' being so closely allied to the medical model) but rather as a form of 'humanology' or 'human potential work' and part of the human potential movement.