Transpersonal Psychology – We are more than our biography!

The book in this picture is one of my sources for this post. You can buy the English version here

Psychology is a topic that has fascinated people for a long time and leads to controversy again and again. For the psyche of man is a complex and intangible area. But whether Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung or Ivan Pavlov: they all have one thing in common. Their work is (mainly) limited to the biography of the human being, i.e. the period between birth and death of an individual. Causes of diseases and complaints are always sought and defined in the life of the patient.

Transpersonal psychology, on the other hand, deals with aspects of the human psyche that are in the context of experiences outside of one's own biography. In particular, the spiritual dimensions of the psyche and experiences that a person has experienced with an altered consciousness. Transpersonal psychology therefore embraces all those areas that do not correspond to the normal state of consciousness and everyday experiences. Founders of this direction, such as the psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, integrate spiritual, psychedelic and humanistic aspects into the school psychology and have thereby revolutionized them. While most therapeutic approaches move within the patient's past, transpersonal psychology makes it clear that we are far more than just our biography!

Mystic experiences such as ecstasy, epiphany, spiritual experiences and borderline experiences shape us significantly. Whether triggered by meditation, fasting, psychedelic substances or otherwise, they are always formative for the person and influence everyday life and personal development. These experiences can have a positive or negative influence on the mental state of a person and deserve attention in both cases, as they can reveal important insights into one's own nature.

Expansion of counsciousness and spiritual experiences as a gateway to mental healing

While indigenous people appreciate spiritual experiences such as encounters with divine beings or spirits and consider them to be an important step on one's path of spiritual development, many people in the Western world go to psychiatry. After experiencing such encounters or situations they get diagnosed as paranoid or delusional. Spirituality has no place in school psychology. Anyone who experiences something inexplicable, fantasizes or loses their mind.

Stanislav Grof, on the other hand, integrated right these experiences in his work and heling process of the patients. He explored the psychedelic effects of the hallucinogen LSD on the psyche of patients in the 1950s. At that time, the substance was still legal and so he was able to give it to the people he treated. The results were overwhelming. Psychedelic means "revealing the soul". And that's exactly what happened in the therapy sessions. People got new perspectives on their suffering and were able to immerse themselves in a protected frame into the deepest depths of their own consciousness and their own psyche. Thus, Stanislav Grof managed to help some patients who had not been treated successfully before. The altered consciousnes sessions had provided patients with valuable self-knowledge and insights into their true nature as a human and transpersonal being. These experiences made it possible for people to let go of their fears, to better analyze and understand their own behavior, and to heal old wounds and blockages. Some of these even occurred before birth.
The patients experienced the feeling of being connected to everything, made the experience that our body and our thoughts are far from everything that makes us and that we are far more than we believe.

People who have had such experiences often say that these are among the most significant experiences in their entire lives. Because it is one of the powerfullest tools to get an extremely authentic view of yourself. One day, however, LSD was banned and illegal, due to massive substance abuse and underestimated effects of taking it for fun among the hippie movement in the 1960s. So Stanislav Grof developed a breathing technique called holotropic breathing, which causes similar consciousness-expanding states as the substance and has extremely valuable healing potential.

Using trance-inducing methods of various kinds, patients in transpersonal psychological treatments can thus explore areas of their self that remain hidden in everyday consciousness. This ensures countless aha moments, creates a deep faith in themselves and life for many patients as it can make connections between certain traumatic experiences and behaviour clear and thus heal mental wounds. Whether with LSD, holotropic breathing, trance dance, drumming, meditation or other methods - transpersonal experiences in therapeutic settings provide opportunities for deep and well-founded mental healing through spiritual experiences, which are often denied to the patients in school psychology.

Transpersonal experiences are a path to personal freedom

Experiences in which the boundaries of one's ego dissolve and the consciousness reaches transcendence, so to say connects to the environment and the intangible, as well as the divine source, have the potential to make people realize themselves anew and completely realign their own lives. The deep connection to one's own soul and the entire universe is perceived by most patients as very enriching and liberating. Some lose the fear of death, others have the feeling for the first time to take a look at their true, authentic self and the spiritual dimension of the psyche. So as soon as we experience and understand that we are not limited to our physical body and our thoughts and biography, but there are other dimensions in which we humans subconsciously move and which shape us as much as the more tangible or in school psychology recognized aspects of our being, then we can gain a whole new understanding of ourselves and our suffering. Blockages can be resolved at the point of development rather than just clearing the symptoms and staying on an emotional time bomb.

After a session with a psychotherapist for transpersonal psychology, the experience is often artistically processed and integrated into the patient's everyday life. This encourages them to express themselves authentically and to accept what the soul has revealed before. Although these experiences can be psychologically very painful , they have extreme healing potential.

After I had a transpersonal experience during a meditation I painted this picture to express what I experienced. Even if it is almost impossible to express such a feeling and journey within yourself. I called this picture "Overflowing consciousness"

Many patients recognize their own path more clearly than ever, as they have experienced themselves on a level that could not be more honest. All fears, worries, joys, experiences and spiritual aspects were revealed like cards. Life after such an experience is often characterized by more self-love, awareness and gratitude. Depression and the feeling of loneliness can improve a lot, because a connection to the whole universe is felt and a lot feel more anchored in themselves than before. For the first time, some patients really recognize the individual purpose of their lives and thus gain an unexpected and overwhelming freedom. Removing the fear of death is also a big and important factor for many people on their way to a life of mental freedom. For those who are not afraid of death can welcome life as a friend every day.

The ego-death experience

The ego has nothing to do with narcissism, but is our guide in this life, our navigation system, our identity. It is therefore neither possible nor desirable during our time on earth to permanently lay it down. Letting go for a moment and experiencing oneself without your own limitations and definitions, however, is probably the most unique experience in life of a person who has experienced this state himself. A so-called ego-death experience can be triggered by many factors and plays an important role in transpersonal self-employment and self-development. Breaking down one's own borders and rebuilding oneself can bring a gigantic transformation process with it that can support healing on the deepest level. They are precisely the kind of experiences that are given great importance in transpersonal psychology. They are the key to comprehensive self-knowledge and self-liberation.

Some methods that can cause an ego-death experience:

• Meditation
• Yoga
• Dancing
• Trance rituals with trance music
• psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms)
• Mind-expanding breathing techniques such as the holotropic breathing developed by Stanislav Grof
• Out of body experiences
  

Conclusion

We humans are holistic and connected beings. Our existence encompasses so much more than what we can grasp and understand. School psychology gives many enormously significant aspects, such as the spiritual dimension and extra-biographical experiences that can strongly shape us, little to no attention. But we experience so much more every day than we can understand and consciously perceive. A baby in the mother's womb is already responding to music and other influences, although it is not even fully developed. Information from our ancestors, as well as their fears and blockages, can be anchored in our DNA, so that we feel it as our suffering without knowing where our suffering originated. Transperonal psychology incorporates these experiences, be they out of biography or spiritual nature, into the treatment and healing process. Here, the human is regarded as a holistic being and not just as a patient with symptoms and a biography. The whole range of the individual, all the aspects that the person has experienced or is anchored in, find recognition and are regarded as a significant part of the personality. This can lead to life-changing insights and sustainable healing. Because we are way more than our biography!

Have you already had transpersonal experiences? How did they change your life? I am very excited to hear your stories!

In love,

yours Linda

You want to know more about me? Here you can find my introduceyourself post :-)

Sources (except own experiences, talks to people involved in this topic and the book mentioned and showed on the photo above):
Text 1 , 2
Pictures Pixabay