Keynotes & Panels
From Thursday through Sunday, our morning plenary sessions offer a quiet, dedicated space to come together as a global community. Each day invites us to reflect deeply on a unique phase of our collective journey, discovering our roots, examining our core concepts, honoring how our practice has evolved over seven decades, and looking thoughtfully toward what comes next.
Across the conference, we will journey from our roots toward our future.
On Thursday, we reconnect with the foundations of Bioenergetic Analysis and the legacy of the generations who shaped our community.
On Friday, we open new dialogues around body, attachment, and early trauma, bringing together clinical experience and emerging perspectives.
Saturday invites us into collective exploration across cultures, through dialogue, movement, voice, and creative expression as we imagine the future of Bioenergetic Analysis together.
Finally, on Sunday, we pause to integrate the many voices and experiences we have shared, reflecting on what they mean for our global community and where we want to go next. Rooted in our history, connected in the present, and open to the future. We grow together.
Keynote Speakers
About: Louise Fréchette is a psychologist, a certified bioenergetic therapist and an IIBA Faculty member. She has been in private practice in Montreal since 1980, and since 1987 she has been doing bioenergetic training in various countries like Canada, the United States, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, and New Zealand. She is the author of several articles in professional publications like the IIBA Clinical Journal and Le Corps et l’Analyse, a clinical journal published by the francophone Bioenergetic Societies. She is also the author of numerous documents for didactic purposes.
About: Liane Zink is a Brazilian body psychotherapist, international trainer in Bioenergetic Analysis, and founder of the Instituto de Análise Bioenergética de São Paulo (IABSP). She has been teaching and supervising therapists internationally for more than three decades and is recognized as a pioneer in the development of Bioenergetic Analysis in Brazil. She is also an author and senior trainer in Biosynthesis.
About: Heiner Steckel is CBT and international trainer of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis since 1990. A co-founder of the North German Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis (NIBA), he has trained therapists in more than 15 countries and worked closely with Dr. Alexander Lowen for over 30 years. His work integrates Bioenergetic Analysis with trauma-informed approaches, including TRE® (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises).
Guest Keynote Speaker
About: Thomas Harms is a psychologist, body psychotherapist, and founder of Emotional First Aid (EFA). With over 30 years of clinical experience in parent–baby therapy, Thomas Harms will explore how early relationships shape emotional regulation, trauma integration, and embodied attachment. His keynote highlights the power of good enough co regulation - the way caregivers help babies calm themselves and regain balance. He will also highlight how these early dynamics provide essential clues for therapeutic work with adults who carry preverbal trauma.
Panelists
About: Avigail Shahar, M.A., CBT, is a Certified Bioenergetic Therapist since 2008 with advanced training in pre- and perinatal psychology. She is an international Faculty member of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis (IIBA) and a member of the Israeli Society for Bioenergetic Analysis (ISBA). Her work integrates Bioenergetic Analysis with developmental and relational approaches to psychotherapy.
About: Guy Tonella, Dr, is a Doctor in Clinical Psychology, CES of Psycho-physiology, Certified Bioenergetic Therapist, International IIBA Trainer and Faculty member, Co-Director of the Collège Français d’Analyse Bioénergétique. He was Professor of Psychology at Toulouse University for 20 years. He teaches in most European countries and in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand and China. He is in private practice in Toulouse in France.
About: Perisson Dantas is a Psychologist with a PhD in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on Psychosomatics and Health Psychology. He is an international trainer, a member of the IIBA Faculty, and one of the Latin American representative for the Board of Trustees. He is the author of articles and the book "From Embodied Trauma to Biopathy: the Bioenergetic Clinic of Human Suffering". He conducts workshops in Bioenergetic Analysis in various societies in Latin America and Europe. His areas of interest include: Trauma, Psychosomatics, Child and Adolescent Clinical Practice, Sexual and Gender Diversity, and Grief Psychotherapy.
