Dance/movement therapy pedagogy with Japanese psychology graduate students: facing 'haji'.

The Japanese cultural trait, haji can manifest as a barrier to self-expression in dance/movement therapy (DMT). Fifteen DMT groups were facilitated with three Japanese clinical psychology graduate students over eight months to cultivate Japanese psychology graduate students' empathic, bodily, nonverbal interactions. A cultural protocol was developed to attend to the participants' sense of haji: (1) Creating Ba (safe place), (2) Repetition of activities with kata (forms), and (3) Acquiring Kamae (embodied preparedness). The case study illustrates how the manifestation of haji can be used as an indicator to confirm a sense of safety. The importance of conveying the essence of DMT in a manner that takes into account the cultural protocols of the trainees are discussed. The authors recommend that educators pay attention to the blending of various influences in culture rather than dichotomising knowledge and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]