About Dirk Marivoet, MSc
Founder of Core Strokes®· Psychotherapist · Teacher · Author
Four Decades of Somatic Psychotherapy and Bodymind Integration
Dirk Marivoet, MSc
Dirk Marivoet is a Belgian psychotherapist, physiotherapist, and psychomotor therapist with more than four decades of clinical, educational, and international teaching experience in somatic psychotherapy and bodymind integration. After a decade at KU Leuven (University of Louvain), where he trained and supervised students in psychomotor therapy, he chose to continue his path outside academia in order to explore dimensions of embodiment, energy, and transpersonal work that reach beyond conventional frames.
Over the following decades, his work evolved at the crossroads of body psychotherapy, fascial research, breath-based regulation, and developmental character work. Drawing from Reichian, post-Reichian, and contemporary neurobiological perspectives, Dirk developed Core Strokes®—an integrative approach that reads the body as a living process shaped by breath, tissue, and relational experience.
Today, his clinical and teaching work focuses on supporting deep regulation, embodied presence, and the reorganization of long-held patterns through precise touch, breath guidance, and relational attunement. Dirk teaches internationally and continues to refine a somatic language that bridges scientific insight, lived experience, and the subtle intelligence of the body.
Training and Lineage
Dirk studied extensively with pioneers of body-mind integration and transpersonal psychology, drawing from somatic psychotherapy, Reichian and post-Reichian traditions, developmental bodywork, and consciousness-based approaches to healing.
His formative influences include some of the most important pioneers in body psychotherapy and transpersonal psychology:
- Jack Painter, Ph.D. — founder of Postural Integration®, Energetic Integration®, and Pelvic-Heart Integration®.
- John Pierrakos, M.D. — founder of Core Energetics®, continuing Wilhelm Reich’s legacy.
- Al Pesso — founder of PBSP® (Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor).
- Influences from Bioenergetics, Gestalt, Somatic Psychotherapy, Hypnotherapy, and Trauma-Informed Approaches (including Polyvagal and fascia research).
Dirk later became a certified international trainer and supervisor in Postural Integration®, Bodymind Integration, and Core Energetics®. Drawing on these lineages, he went on to develop his own synthesis: Core Strokes®, an integrative method that weaves together breath, fascia, movement, and consciousness.
Founder and Director
He is the founder and director of the International Institute for Bodymind Integration (IBI), where he teaches Core Strokes® internationally through professional training programs, workshops, and seminars. Dirk also serves as chair of the Core Science Foundation, supporting scientific research and education in integrative body psychotherapy.
Core Strokes®— A Living Synthesis
Emerging from decades of clinical work, international teaching, and phenomenological exploration, Core Strokes® integrates developmental psychology, breath organization, fascial continuity, energetic regulation, and relational embodiment into one coherent somatic framework.
- The Energetic Breath Cycle™ (9 phases of breath and consciousness)
- The Fascia Texture Typology™ (textures of tissue and psyche)
- The Neurofascial Transformation Process™ (a clinical model of healing through fascia, breath, and relational resonance)
- The Soul Texture™ Framework (post-defensive, transpersonal qualities of presence)
These frameworks are held together by Neurofascial Encoding™ — the principle that describes how relational, emotional, and energetic experiences are inscribed into breath, fascia, and bodily pattern.
Today, Core Strokes® is taught across Europe and beyond, offering a path that weaves together science, psychology, bodywork, and spirituality.
Why his work matters
Dirk’s work represents a bridge between classical body psychotherapy traditions and contemporary understandings of trauma, fascia, developmental regulation, and embodied consciousness. By integrating Reichian lineage work with modern neurophysiology and phenomenological observation, Core Strokes® offers a developmental framework for understanding how human experience organizes through breath, tissue, movement, and relationship.
Publications, Media and Teaching
Dirk is currently writing his major book on Core Strokes®, weaving fascia research, breath psychology, and clinical practice into a coherent and accessible framework. His articles and teachings have been presented at international conferences and published in professional journals. → View selected publications and media
Dirk is also a widely respected teacher of psychosomatics. He teaches internationally across a range of training institutes, offering in-depth exploration of:
- Transpersonal dimensions of body psychotherapy
- Character structures and developmental trauma
- Fascia and embodied consciousness
- Breath, energy, and the Reichian lineage
Vision and Commitment
Dirk’s work is guided by a deep commitment to:
- Restoring connection between body, soul, and spirit
- Supporting people to heal trauma, transform defenses, and awaken creativity
- Bringing forward a transgenerational and ecological perspective in which healing the individual also contributes to healing the relational and collective field.
Bodymind Integration — Core Definition
Bodymind integration refers to the living continuity between bodily experience, emotional regulation, breath organization, movement, relational participation, and conscious awareness.
Within Core Strokes®, healing is understood not as separating mind from body, but as restoring coherence across the organism’s physiological, emotional, energetic, and relational dimensions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dirk Marivoet and Core Strokes®
Who is Dirk Marivoet?
Dirk Marivoet is a Belgian somatic psychotherapist, physiotherapist, psychomotor therapist, teacher, and founder of Core Strokes®. He has more than 40 years of clinical and international teaching experience in body psychotherapy, bodymind integration, developmental trauma work, and transpersonal approaches to healing.
What is Core Strokes®?
Core Strokes® is an integrative somatic psychotherapy framework developed by Dirk Marivoet. It combines breath organization, fascia-informed observation, developmental psychology, emotional regulation, relational attunement, and body-based therapeutic work into one coherent developmental model.
What is somatic psychotherapy?
Somatic psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that works directly with bodily experience, emotional regulation, nervous system organization, breathing patterns, movement, posture, and relational presence.
Rather than focusing only on cognition or verbal insight, somatic psychotherapy understands emotional life and trauma as embodied processes.
What is bodymind integration?
Bodymind integration refers to approaches that view body, emotion, cognition, breath, movement, and consciousness as interconnected dimensions of human experience.
Within Core Strokes®, bodymind integration emphasizes restoring continuity between breath, fascia, emotional regulation, relational capacity, and embodied awareness.
What therapeutic traditions influenced Dirk Marivoet?
Dirk Marivoet studied extensively within Reichian and post-Reichian traditions, including:
Postural Integration®
Energetic Integration®
Pelvic-Heart Integration®
Core Energetics®
PBSP® (Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor)
His work is also informed by developmental psychology, Polyvagal Theory, fascia research, trauma-informed somatic therapy, and transpersonal psychology.
What is the Energetic Breath Cycle™?
The Energetic Breath Cycle™ is a developmental model within Core Strokes® describing how different breathing qualities support emotional regulation, vitality, relational openness, intensity tolerance, surrender, and embodied integration.
The framework maps nine phases of breathing and consciousness.
What is the Fascia Texture Typology™?
The Fascia Texture Typology™ is a phenomenological framework within Core Strokes® that explores how patterns of regulation, protection, fragmentation, collapse, and integration become observable through tissue responsiveness, movement quality, density, elasticity, and continuity.
Does Dirk Marivoet teach internationally?
Yes.
Dirk Marivoet teaches internationally through workshops, professional trainings, lectures, supervision, and seminars in somatic psychotherapy, Core Strokes®, developmental trauma work, fascia-informed therapy, and bodymind integration.
What is the International Institute for Bodymind Integration (IBI)?
The International Institute for Bodymind Integration (IBI) is the training institute founded and directed by Dirk Marivoet. It offers professional education, workshops, and training programs in Core Strokes®, somatic psychotherapy, trauma work, breath integration, and bodymind development.
Is Core Strokes® focused only on trauma therapy?
No.
Although Core Strokes® works extensively with trauma, developmental regulation, and relational healing, the framework also explores creativity, embodiment, polarity, consciousness, energetic integration, and transpersonal development.
What makes Core Strokes® different from other somatic approaches?
Core Strokes® integrates breath organization, fascial continuity, developmental psychology, energetic regulation, emotional process work, and relational attunement into one unified developmental framework.
The work emphasizes restoration of embodied capacity, continuity, and coherent participation within life and relationship.
Contact and Connection
Dirk teaches Core Strokes® internationally, with established teaching roles and ongoing trainings in Belgium, France, Corsica, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Greece, South Africa, Mexico, and other global locations.
He also offers lectures, supervision, and individual sessions (online and in person).
🌍 Learn more about Core Strokes® trainings →
📩 Contact Dirk →