BIOGRAPHY
John C. Pierrakos was born on February 8, 1921 in Neon Oitylon, Greece. In 1939, he emigrated to the United States and lived in New York. He immediately attended Medical School at Columbia University.
In the mid 1940’s, he finished his studies, became a psychiatrist and worked as a resident psychiatrist in a New York City hospital.
At the same time, he made contact with a student of Sigmund Freud’s – Wilhelm Reich and was fascinated with his work. Reich originated Character Analysis which observed and worked with a human’s biological energy systems. Reich wrote and worked with emotional blocks in the body.
In the 1950s, together with another student of Reich, Alexander Lowen, Pierrakos created techniques that could bring emotionally contracted body muscles back to elasticity and bring balance to a person’s psyche which was in line with Reich’s theories. They called this method Bioenergetics. In 1956, they opened the first Bioenergetic Institute in New York City. Reich’s study of energy blockage connected to a person’s neurosis was their inspiration and supported their concepts.
In the late 1960s, John met his future wife, Ewa Broch who had created a self transformational community called The Pathwork, based on joining psychology and spirituality. This method made a huge impression on Pierrakos. It became clear to him that spirit was the missing piece in his work with Lowen. In 1972, Ewa Broch-Pierrakos and John Pierrakos were married.
In 1974, Pierrakos left his partnership with Alexander Lowen and developed Core Energetics, an evolutionary model that integrated the aspects of spirit and psychodynamics. (body, emotions, mind, will and spirit). The foundation of this method is a deep understanding and experience of energy and consciousness that brings about growth and change.
After Ewa died in 1979, John Pierrakos opened the first Institute of Core Energetics in New York City and focused on training therapists. He traveled the world giving lectures, workshops and trainings.
John Perrakos died on February 1, 2001, only a week from his 80th birthday. His legacy of Core Energetics continues helping people discover the path to their Core – health, love, joy, and life satisfaction.
Presently, Core Energetics is taught and practiced all over the Globe. There are Institutes and Centers in the USA (New York, California, Rhode Island, Georgia, Washington DC, Oregon, & Washington), Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Australia, England and Poland.
Books written by:
- Pierrakos, John C. Core Energetics: Developing the Capacity to Love and Heal, LifeRhytym, Mendocino, California 1973
- Pierrakos, John C. Eros, Love and Sexuality: The Forces that unify Man and Woman, Life Rhythm, Mendocino, California 1997
For Pierrakos, spirituality was a basic element but missing in the theories of Reich and Bioenergetic Analysis. In the 1970s, Pierrakos combined clinical psychotherapy practice with the lecture material of the spiritual community called The Pathwork, created by Ewa Broch. CORE ENERGETICS emerged as a psychological-spiritual method of self transformation.
