Bodily turn and counterhegemony in occupational therapy: conceptual dialogues between somatics in the health field and embodiment in anthropology

Abstract

In occupational therapy, a predominantly biologistic approach to the body is prevalent. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to a bodily turn in the discipline based on the anthropology of embodiment. It focuses on the culturally mediated character of bodily experience. In particular, is the study seeks to link the growing interest in therapeutic approaches rooted in somatic techniques with the concern for the sociocultural aspects of health, body, and disease. It is proposed to name this confluence of interests Embodied Occupational Therapy. For this purpose, concepts such as “embodied awareness”, “patterns of body use”, “point of view from the body”, “reflexive body techniques”, and “somatic modes of attention” are explored. The case of embodied yoga styles (Hatha, Ashtanga, and Vinyasa), whose techniques serve as benchmarks in the somatics and health field because of their multiple applications, are analyzed to illustrate these concepts. Finally, it is suggested that the interest in the somatic and the social could converge on counter-hegemonic proposals within the occupational therapy discipline as practiced in Latin America.