At some point way back, probably in the 1990s, on daytime TV, I saw a story about a marriage counselor with a twist. He would schedule a meeting of estranged couples, and have them bring swimsuits.
These were separated couples, so fed up and angry with one another that they weren't even on speaking terms. The counseling was a last-ditch effort to communicate.
The doctor would speak with one party in an interview room, and then with the other party in a different interview room. Then, he would instruct each of them to change into their swimsuits and he'd leave them alone. After a few minutes, another door in each room would open, and they'd be looking into a wall-to-wall mud pit, with the estranged partner in the doorway at the other side.
I remember the couple used in the tv interview. The guy immediately looked worried and unhappy, and the woman, with nicely done hair and makeup, was angrily yelling that they're no way she'd get muddy and she started to call the doctor a quack.
Then the guy asked if this was her idea, and threw a handful of mud in her direction. A little of it hit her, which made her angrier, so she tossed a handful across at him, but missed. Soon, they really got into it, each stepping into the pit and eventually taking one another down, rubbing mud in each other's faces and then laughing. Really laughing. They suddenly looked at one another as if they remembered why they had fallen in love in the first place. The doctor got them to leave, shower and change, and then all three met in a common room. This mud play was the key to letting the inner child out, but also expressing rage and anger towards one another, literally dragging each other through the mud. It liberated them so that for the first time in a long while, they were able to talk together.
Anyhow, this was a real find when it came on TV and I happened to be near enough to watch it after hearing the word 'mud'. Has anyone else heard of this, or perhaps remember seeing the feature on TV? I've searched on Google and YouTube, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of this.
I have a vague memory of Jerry Springer doing stuff like this, having people who had a grudge against each other fight it out in a pool of slop, buy using mudplay as a form of counselling sounds like a really cool idea, and not just for the WAM element. Interesting!
I KNEW somebody was going to say that. LOL Nope, I remember my ex at the time, and she had daytime talk TV on constantly. When I heard the word 'mud' I came into the living room, sat down, and watched the segment - roughly ten minutes long. But if I were to have a dream about marriage counseling, that would have to be exactly what I'd come up with!
Love you, too
