Neo-Reichian massage or release is a system based on theories developed by Wilhelm Reich

Wilhelm Reich

Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...

. Practitioners locate and dissolve "holding patterns" (also called "body armoring"). Reich theorized that obstructions to orgone energy

Orgone

Orgone energy is a theory originally proposed in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich. Reich, originally part of Sigmund Freud's Vienna circle, extrapolated the Freudian concept of libido first as a biophysical and later as a universal life force...

 cause neuroses

Neurosis

Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic...

 and most physical disorders. Muscular contractions (body armor) in various parts of the body manifest such blockages.

In addition to strict Neo-Reichians, the work has provided the basis for further explorations both in the areas of Somatic Psychology

Somatic Psychology

Somatic psychology is an interdisciplinary field involving the study of the body, somatic experience, and the embodied self, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to body. The word somatic comes from the ancient Greek somat . The word psychology comes from the ancient Greek psyche and logia...

 and postural body therapies such as Rolfing

Rolfing

Rolfing is a therapy system created by The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration and is a system whereby the alleged manipulation of the fasciae by specific methods is theorized to yield therapeutic benefit....

 and Postural Integration (PI)

Postural Integration (PI)

Postural Integration is an alternative process-oriented, body based therapy originally developed in the late 1960s by in California, USA, after many years of self-exploration in the fields of humanistic psychology and the human potential movement...

.