Publications and Media

Articles, Interviews, and Professional Contributions on Breath, Fascia, Embodiment, and Transformational Process

Core Strokes® has evolved through more than four decades of clinical practice, teaching, and phenomenological inquiry into the relationship between breath, fascia, emotional process, and relational presence.

The publications and media presented here offer insight into the conceptual foundations and practical applications of the Core Strokes® approach. Together they explore how embodied experience is organized, how adaptive patterns develop, and how transformation unfolds through the living intelligence of the body.

These writings are intended both for professionals in the fields of psychotherapy, bodywork, coaching, and healthcare, and for anyone interested in the deeper dimensions of embodied human development.

The publications gathered here document the ongoing development of the Core Strokes® framework and its exploration of breath, fascia, developmental process, relational embodiment, and transformational practice.

About the Author

Dirk Marivoet is a European Certified Psychotherapist (ECP), physiotherapist, psychomotor therapist. He is the founder of the International Institute for Bodymind Integration (IBI) in Belgium and the creator of Core Strokes®, an integrative approach that brings together body psychotherapy, fascia-oriented bodywork, developmental theory, and embodied relational practice. For over four decades he has worked at the intersection of body psychotherapy, developmental psychology, breathwork, fascia-oriented bodywork, and transformational practice.

📘 Featured Professional Publications

The Energetic Breath Cycle™

Phenomenological Layers of Respiratory Experience

Marivoet, D. (2025a)
Somatic Psychotherapy Today, 15 (1), 58–73

This article introduces the Energetic Breath Cycle™ as a nine-phase model of respiratory experience, integrating phenomenology, developmental psychology, body psychotherapy, and contemporary perspectives on embodiment. It explores how breathing organizes perception, emotional regulation, relational engagement, and states of consciousness across both health and trauma.
👉 Read the article

The Living Language of Fascia

A Clinical Typology of Tissue States in Somatic Psychotherapy

Marivoet, D. (2025b)
Somatic Psychotherapy Today, 15(1), 24–33

This paper introduces the Fascia Texture Typology™, a clinical framework for understanding tissue qualities as expressions of developmental history, autonomic regulation, emotional process, and adaptive organization within the body.
👉 Read the article

Relational Pulsation

Shape, Countershape, and the Somatic Organization of Experience

Marivoet, D. (2026).
Somatic Psychotherapy Today, (16(1), 38-48

This article presents relational pulsation as a framework for understanding how embodied experience develops through cycles of contact, response, adaptation, and reorganization. Drawing from developmental theory, phenomenology, and somatic psychotherapy, it explores how relational experience shapes breathing patterns, connective tissue organization, posture, and emotional regulation over time.
👉 Read the article

✍️ Essays & Foundational Articles

Beyond professional publications, Core Strokes® continues to develop through essays, theoretical explorations, and foundational articles that make key concepts accessible to a wider audience.

The Poetics of Unnamed Emotion

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows to Core Strokes®

Published in Somatic Psychotherapy Today

This reflective essay explores how subtle emotional states live within the body and fascia, and how poetic language, somatic awareness, and therapeutic presence can help bring these experiences into consciousness, relationship, and meaning.

👉 Read the essay

Foundational Perspectives

The following articles explore central concepts within the Core Strokes® framework, including breath organization, fascia, developmental process, relational embodiment, and therapeutic transformation.

🎥 Interviews, Talks & Media

Interview: Breath, Fascia, and Embodied Transformation

A conversational interview exploring the foundations of Core Strokes, the role of breath and fascia in healing, and the clinical implications of embodied presence, relational process, and transformational work.

👉 Watch the interview on YouTube

Why These Publications Matter

These writings are not isolated contributions. Together they form an evolving map of the Core Strokes® framework, exploring how breath, fascia, developmental experience, emotional process, relational dynamics, and consciousness interact within embodied life.

Readers may enter through any topic, yet across the publications a coherent perspective gradually emerges—one that seeks to bridge experiential body psychotherapy, developmental psychology, contemporary embodiment research, and clinical practice.

From Reading to Experience

Publications can provide orientation, language, and conceptual understanding.

Yet Core Strokes® is ultimately an experiential discipline.

The work comes alive through breath, movement, touch, emotional process, relational exploration, and direct embodied inquiry.

For those wishing to explore the approach more deeply, trainings, workshops, webinars, and experiential events offer opportunities to engage the material in practice.

👉 Explore Trainings & Workshops

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Stay Connected

Stay informed about new publications, upcoming trainings, webinars, and developments within the evolving Core Strokes® framework.

✓ New articles and essays
✓ Upcoming trainings and workshops
✓ Webinars and professional events
✓ New developments within the Core Strokes® framework

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Frequently Asked Questions

Not necessarily. The training is open both to experienced professionals and to individuals seeking deeper embodied self-understanding.

Psychotherapists, coaches, bodyworkers, and facilitators often gain practical tools and conceptual frameworks for their professional work, while others participate primarily for personal growth, healing, and integration.

Core Strokes® integrates breathwork, fascia-oriented bodywork, developmental psychology, character structure theory, relational process, neuroscience, and transpersonal perspectives within a coherent experiential framework. Particular emphasis is placed on the interaction between breath, connective tissue, embodied awareness, and therapeutic relationship.

Yes. The Core Strokes® approach integrates contemporary understanding of trauma, attachment, autonomic regulation, and embodied resilience, while emphasizing pacing, relational safety, and individual capacity.

No. While many participants are psychotherapists, coaches, bodyworkers, and healthcare professionals, the work is also open to individuals committed to personal development and embodied transformation.

Participants may continue through advanced modules, supervision, workshops, mentoring opportunities, and ongoing professional development within the wider Core Strokes® community.

“Core Strokes® emerged through decades of clinical practice, developmental inquiry, and embodied exploration into how breath, fascia, relationship, and consciousness shape human experience.”