An introduction to Alexander Lowen Start here

Your body has been trying to tell you something

If breathwork, nervous system regulation, or the idea that the body keeps score have found their way to you, they lead back to a handful of thinkers. Alexander Lowen was one of them. His books, gathered and made simple to read.

Alexander Lowen, 1910 to 2008
Alexander Lowen smiling as he holds a German edition of one of his books at a book event
Alexander Lowen, 1910 to 2008

Start with a feeling you know

The reader

No background needed. Start with a word that is true for you and read from there.


The whole library, thousands of pages, open at your own pace.

A taste of what you would find. Start a free trial to read the whole of it.

No. 01 So who was he

A doctor who took the body seriously

Alexander Lowen was a physician and psychotherapist who spent his life on one plain idea: that our feelings do not only live in the mind, they live in the body, in how we breathe, how we stand, and how we hold ourselves. He trained with Wilhelm Reich, then spent fifty years writing about it for ordinary people, not only for other doctors.

Much of today's language about the body and emotion traces back to him and a few others. You have likely met his ideas already, under other names, without knowing where they started. Reading him is a way of going to the root.

Alexander Lowen laughing at an outdoor table, greenery behind him

He trained with Wilhelm Reich, then wrote for the general reader for fifty years.

No. 02 At the root

The things you have been reading about, where they begin

You have heard of breathwork

Lowen wrote, decades ago, about how the breath carries feeling, and what happens when we hold it back.

The body keeps score

He described how the body stores what the mind cannot hold, long before the phrase became familiar.

You have heard of grounding

It is his term for it. He gave grounding its meaning in this work: the simple, steadying sense of your own feet on the floor.


No. 03 No training needed

Search a feeling, read what he wrote

You do not need any background. Type a word that is true for you, and land on the page where Lowen writes about it, in plain and human language. Wander from there.

The whole library, thousands of pages, open at your own pace.

Questions

If you are new to this

Everything you might want to know before you start.

Do I need to know anything first

No. Lowen wrote for ordinary readers. Start with a feeling or a word that is true for you and read from there. No clinical or academic background is assumed.

Which book should I read first

Many readers begin with Fear of Life or The Language of the Body. But you do not have to choose. Search a feeling and let the results carry you into whichever book speaks first.

Is this therapy

No. It is a library of Lowen's writing, for reading and study. It is not a substitute for care from a qualified professional.

How does the free trial work

Fourteen days of full access. A card is required, nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel any time before then. After that, plans start at $12.50 a month on the annual plan.

Begin with a single word

Start reading free for two weeks. A card is required, nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel any time before then.

After the trial, plans start at $12.50 a month on the annual plan.