Look up bioenergetics and you get two answers that barely seem related. One is a 1950s therapy involving breathwork, grounding, and the occasional shout. The other is a 2020s kitchen routine built on raw honey and mitochondrial supplements. Both are correct. The word has lived two lives, and the interesting part is where they agree.
Life one: the body remembers
Bioenergetics began in the 1950s with Dr. Alexander Lowen, a student of the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Lowen's idea was that mind and body are one energetic system, and that when we suppress an emotion we do it with muscle. Do that for long enough and it becomes what he called body armoring: chronic, unconscious tension that dulls vitality. Classic bioenergetic analysis works that armor loose with breath, grounding postures, and expressive movement, kicking, vocalizing, letting the body finish what it started. If that sounds like the somatic therapy we wrote about earlier, it should. This is one of its ancestors.
Life two: the cell as an engine
Today the same word is used for something closer to biochemistry. Popularized as pro-metabolic living, and heavily shaped by the late biologist Dr. Ray Peat, modern bioenergetics treats the body as a thermodynamic engine and asks one question: how do you make more cellular energy with less metabolic stress? The focus shifts from the couch to the kitchen.
What the modern version actually recommends
Four themes come up again and again. The thyroid as the master regulator, tracked through waking temperature and pulse. Avoiding industrial seed oils, which proponents argue oxidize easily and slow mitochondrial respiration, in favor of stable fats like butter and coconut oil. Easily digested carbohydrates as the preferred fuel, ripe fruit, juice, honey, and root vegetables rather than keto. And cofactor supplements that feed the energy cycle directly, CoQ10, magnesium, B vitamins, and NAD precursors, instead of forcing energy with stimulants.
Worth saying plainly: some of these claims are debated, and this isn't medical advice. If you take medication or have a thyroid, blood sugar, or heart condition, talk to your physician before changing your diet or adding supplements.
Where the two lives meet
One tradition clears emotional blockages from the past. The other fuels the cells for the future. Underneath, they share a conviction: health depends on energy you can't see, and that energy can be tended. A tight chest and a sluggish metabolism are both the body asking for something. Bioenergetics, in either form, is the practice of listening.
How this shows up in our work
The therapy side lives in our somatic and body-based approaches. The metabolic side sits with our health and performance coaches, who work on sleep, movement, and fuel without the extremes. If you're curious about either, that's a good thing to raise on your onboarding call.
Curious which side of bioenergetics fits you?
This article is for education and self-reflection. It's not therapy or medical advice, and it's not a substitute for care from a licensed professional. If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 in the US to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or call 911.
