What is Core Energetics?
Updated
Core Energetics is a body-based approach to personal and spiritual development. It was developed in the early 1970s by John Pierrakos, who trained with Wilhelm Reich and co-founded Bioenergetics with Alexander Lowen. It works with breath, movement, and sound to find energy the body has held back, bring it into awareness, and let it move, within a view of the person as body, emotions, mind, and spirit. The credential is CCEP, Certified Core Energetics Practitioner. I hold it: Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP. This page describes what the work is, what a session involves, and what it is not.
Where does Core Energetics come from?
It comes out of the Reichian line. Pierrakos trained with Reich, and he later joined his body-based methods to a spiritual framework. The Institute of Core Energetics carries the lineage forward. My own training runs through that tradition, through Lowen, Pierrakos, Wilner, and Gleason, where I learned that the body doesn’t lie.
What does Core Energetics work with?
It works with what is stuck in the body. Picture a deer leaping out in front of your car. You barely miss her, and both of you are frightened out of your wits. You keep driving, doing your best to convince yourself and your passengers that all is well. The deer stands at the side of the road trembling, shaking her entire body, until the fear is out of her body. You have tucked that fear away somewhere in your body in the form of stuck energy; the deer has moved the terror along and is back to grazing in the field.
We humans do this all the time. Particularly through the use of breath and movement, we can find these hidden treasures of stored energy, reveal them to ourselves, and move that energy.
Core Energetics moves the energy. Non-dual practice asks what is aware of all of it. I work with both.
What happens in a session?
A session is a one-to-one conversation held in the body as much as in words, online or in person in Orange County, North Carolina. Appointments are Tuesday through Thursday. There is no rigid agenda, only the living rhythm of what’s true right now. Together we follow breath, sensation, and insight until the next piece of you unfolds.
That can include guided movement and breath, sound, and dialogue linking sensation, story, and insight. Online, you need a private space where you can move and make sound without concern about being interrupted. When movement or vocalization is called for, I guide you in doing it safely over video. Movement and sound are always your choice.
What is Core Energetics not?
It is not psychotherapy, and it is not a clinical service. It makes no assumptions about your health other than the assumption that you are healthy enough to learn. This work does not replace clinical help: people with a disease or condition should see an appropriate clinician. It is not covered by insurance. It is also not a one-time process. No single weekend retreat or consultation will free up your energy blocks; it is a process for those of us who are committed to lifelong learning.
How long does it take, and what does it cost?
There is no fixed length. Sessions are $150 per hour, and the first package is five sessions for $500. The first conversation, 30 minutes, is free. Details are on the Unique Self Becoming page.
If you are weighing practitioners, the screening questions here apply to anyone, including me.
Lineage facts: coreenergetics.org/about, read October 11, 2026.