The Biocentric Principle regards the universe as a living system. The realm of life encompasses far more than vegetables, animals and man. Everything that exists, from the stone to the most subtle thought, is part of a living prodigious system.

According to the Biocentric Principle, the universe exists because life exists, not the other way around. The Biocentric Principle proposes a reformulation of our values, which takes as reference the respect for life and its sacredness and proposes the empowerment of life and the expression of its evolutionary powers.

Biodanza is, from this point of view, a poetic of the living, founded on the universal laws that preserve and allow the evolution of life. All the actions of Biodanza are oriented in resonance with the deep and moving phenomenon of life.

Biodanza employs an experiential methodology, emphasizing lived experience rather than verbal information. It allows to begin the internal transformation without the intervention of the mental processes of repression.

The fundamental idea of the good consists, then, in preserving life, in favoring it, in leading it to its highest value; and that evil consists in annihilating life, hurting it, putting obstacles to its flowering.

However, although the steps themselves are not complicated to understand, they are not easy to follow, for the inner deep change they suppose. For this reason, many people in these communities sometimes seek outside medical, psychiatric, psychological or therapeutic help in general, to overcome certain internal resistances that prevent their recovery.

It should not be forgotten that an alcoholic, for example, is a person who has typically been self-destructive with alcohol for a period of twenty years or more. He really needs a total reconstruction ofhis behavior, identity at all levels of his existence: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

This aid, which has its mechanisms of action that act from the very roots of the potential of the human being, can be Biodanza. In my own person I have experienced (and continue to experience) the beneficial symbiosis between the 12 steps and the Biodanza, and the multiplying effect that the usual practice of Biodanza supposes on the 12 step program. As only what is shared is retained, I decided, almost from minute one of my training, to offer this opportunity to all members of any community of 12 steps willing to try it.

Today, I have the practical experience of more than 7 years facilitating Biodanza to people in 12-step groups. I announced it in several different 12-step groups: Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Codependent Anonymous (CODA), and Adult Children of Alcoholics(ACA). The invitation was extended, by word of mouth, to other communities and, finally, a group was created in which there were people from AA, CODA, OA (Over-eaters Anonymous), ACA and Alanon (relatives of alcoholics). The initial impact was quite impressive: in the first session (September 2008) 18 people attended but, over time, several did not persevere and ended the course in July 2009 with much less people. In the second (2009-2010), there was a group of about 10-12 people who regularly attended the sessions and whose testimonies can be seen later. In subsequent years, attendance varies (15-20 people usually), but the group is maintained, although with frequent renewal of people.

The experience is proving very positive, however, some of them saw that the Biodanza mobilized them too much and that they were not yet prepared for it. Others simply did not have the constancy to follow and, finally, others followed through and they really felt its transforming power. I, too, at the facilitator level, have seen that I have needed to make changes and adaptations. One of them is to get a greater degree of commitment, on the part of the people, in the attendance to the sessions. For me this Biodanza is social action and, therefore, I am giving it on a non-profit basis, but there are some expenses that the participants must face, the largest of which is the rent of the room.

The great change that has taken place during these years is the preparation of the sessions of a totally orthodox Biodanza, so that each step of the program can be complemented by maintaining and respecting in full its methodological proposition. This means that there are special sessions of Biodanza for each step in particular, in which the spiritual principles corresponding to each step are worked. For this, I have analyzed each principle and have built sessions with the exercises of each line of vivencia that best represent the principle in question. I have needed a classification of each exercise assigning to it the principle (or principles) that best represents.

An addict (this is the word universally referenced to a person in a 12-step program) is a person with a great lack of affection and very little self-esteem, so the line of affectivity is fundamental. The exercises in this line will help him to unblock himself emotionally and to grow inwardly. In order to effect the deep inner change necessary, an addict needs to rely on a Higher Power, something to which he himself must feel connected and which can be God, Nature, Divine Energy, Life or any other power of reference, health and integrity refrence, which he believes can draw him out of the moral misery in which he finds himself. Therefore, the line of transcendence is also essential. The 12-step program makes it clear that recovery is not possible without the existence and support of a Higher Power (as everyone conceives it).

The 12-step ACA (Adult Children) program says recovery comes when we integrate our inner child into our life. Our inner child is our authentic self, who gives us the inner strength and energy that ultimately generates the joy of living that an addict needs so much. One of the ways to recover the inner child, that Biodanza provides us, is through the line of creativity.

The vitality line is also always necessary to put into circulation the vital energy that allows us to carry out the whole process. Sexuality is usually quite blocked at the beginning of the recovery, so it will have to be worked with great sensitivity and in a second phase.

In summary, the essential lines for addicts are, in my experience, vitality, affectivity and transcendence; then come creativity and, finally, sexuality. Of course they are all necessary, but more emphasis needs to be placed on some of them than on others, and sequencing them appropriately over time.

Came to believe that Power Higher than ourselves could restore us to sanity

Spiritual principles:

♥ Opening to "something" bigger than us

♥ Clarity of Thought

♥ Opening of mind and heart

♥ Mental health

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Spiritual principles:

♥ Character Defects

♥ Survival traits

♥ Feel the feelings

♥ Preparation for change

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Spiritual principles:

♥ Humility

♥ Courage

♥ Prudence

♥ Forgiveness

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others who still suffer and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

  Spiritual principles:

♥ Joy of living

♥ Sharing

♥ Generosity

♥ Love to self

♥ Love to others