Healing Power of the Holotropic Consciousness

Expanded Cartography of the Psyche

Holotropic Consciousness is the term coined by the Czech-American psychiatrist Stanislav Grof.The conception, which Grof describes is not new, but in much coherence with teachings of much older traditions, such as Vedic or various Shamanic traditions. Holos comes from the Greek word - wholeness and trepein - mowing toward or in the direction of something. So the holotropic literally means moving toward.

We are all born whole, but because of the various traumatic experiences and also our conditioning to the spacetime we can not experience this wholeness.

However, healing power of the Holotropic consciousness allows to heal our past traumas, connect with our innermost essence or in the Jungian terms - the Self, and thus understand and realise our own purpose in this life.

Moreover, evolution to this higher aspect of consciousness - maybe the only possible way of our survival of us as the humankind, so it is brings the sense of unity and connection not only with other human beings, but with life in general: trees, plants, animals, ocean.

Western world only begins to rediscover this great healing power available for each of us - through the science of psychology.

Depth Psychology

What we call psychology - was studied by ancient cultures such as Vedic for thousands of years. In the West however, the foundation of what is called depth psychology laid by Austrian neurologist - Sigmund Freud. Freud interest initially was primary clinical to heal to explain what is called the psychoneurosis, and find the way of treating it. But in course of his exploration, his horizons expanded enormously. The range of the phenomenon of what he studied included besides the dreams and contents of neurotic symptoms such themes as the mechanism of jokes and slips of the tongue, and the number of cultural and socio-political phenomena, problems of human civilisation, history, wars and revolutions, religion and art. Freud surrounded himself with a group of unusually talented and imaginative thinkers - the Viennese circle, some of whom had very unique perspective and developed the renegade schools of psychotherapy.While the Freudian psychoanalysis became dominant in the mainstream psychology and psychiatry, the so called renegade schools - Adlerian, Rankian, Reichian and Jungian have never been accepted by the official academic circles.However, each them provides a glimpse into one of the layers of the psyche.

Why do this all people disagreed between themselves ?Well, the best way is to mention here the viewpoint of Carl Jung.Psyche is the universal consciousness - the Brahman, as it might be called in the Vedic though.We tend to cope with this vast force of the entire universe with our rational mind and reduce the psyche to some unified concept. But this is an impossible task, because our rational mind cannot contain the absolute.

Then if on the deepest level of our psyche we share this cosmic consciousness, on the superficial level of the psyche - simply in the realm of our ego-consciousness, in the realm of our waking life - we are all different. We have unique parents and ancestors, thus DNA; we are born in the different cultures and social classes , we have different upbringing, we have different life experience - all this produce our unique personality. But one of the main differences, again by the words of Carl Jung - our psychological types, specifically: introvert and extrovert. In establishing the mechanisms of introversion and extraversion together with main categories of human types (thinking, feeling, intuitive and sensuous ) based upon this fundamental antithesis - Jung has proved that it is typically impossible to generate a theory of psychology ignoring this typical differences. For the theory which is incontestable for the psyche in which it originates proves itself worthless or even misleading for an individual of another type. From this consideration thus we must confess our inability to devise any rigid or dogmatic formula which can be promulgated as general system of the psychological therapy.

Again, we can see this on the example of the Freud and Jung. Freud was more extroverted and primarily interested in the outer world, and consequently developed a psychology when during the analysis therapist is merely required to reduce psychological material to prescribed orthodox formulations. And if the analysand is not satisfied, he either proves himself psychologically inadequate to receive the "truth" or so immersed in his morbid state that the analytical light only serves to reveal the impenetrable obscurities.

Jung, was of different type, exactly opposite - introverted, so he produced the psychology the suited him more, and answered his questions more fully.Jung called his psychology - The Psychology of the Individuation.

For Jung - psyche is the world that contains all the elements of the greater world with the same destructive and constructive forces, a pluralistic universe in which the individual either fulfils or neglects his role of the creator. The Individuality is the central coordinating principle of this realm analogous to the principle of royalty in the nation. And insofar as this coordinating will achieves the effective command of the drives and conflicting elements which constantly tend to disrupt his kingdom - we are justified to speak about differentiating individual. The Individuality is universally present, not as a rule but exists mainly in the unconscious. Often finds its expression in dreams and fantasies. It is a principle therefore which has to be created out of unconscious accepting individuation as deliberate and conscious aim.

One may ask what Individuation has to do with the treatment of the nervous disorders ? The question springs from the assumption that there is no connection with the realities of the psychic life and the conditions of the body. Yet the life of the religious leaders - one and all shows the evidence that the healing of the body is not disconnected from the inner life.If differentiated and coordination of functions are admitted as the vital principles of organic life - it is difficult to see how one can regard psychic or functional disorders as simple as repression of this functions in the individual in question - it may involve a deeper struggle of the psyche trying to organise itself. The psyche therefore has to be considered as the totality and not as the ill assorted collection of the instincts and faculties. For if the man is note mere passive mechanism to be shaped to the pattern of the choses formula - he stands in front of us as the self-creating subject - whose individual way may be directly opposed to the analyst most cherished theories.

The psyche always tends to override the social norms and withstanding it rational attempts to regard it in terms of mechanisms and functions. This is a subversive notion for many social activities. If the neurosis then is the failed act of adaptation - one has to ask the question: "What is the nature of this reality to which individual has failed to adapt?" The materialist would say that the only reality demanding psychic adaptation is represented by the sheer and concrete facts of the physical environment. But if the concrete facts would be the only reality - there would be no spiritual problem and consequently no neurotics.

Individuation is the universal coordinate system. What does it mean ? It means that not analyst, but the analysand is the center and the healing process can not be reduced for a simple formula and ready made solution. The psyche of analysand heals himself, and the task of analyst is to create a space where it can happen by asking certain question to draw certain images and situation on the surface, and the most important in the Jungian analysis - is the analysis of the dreams. Because the dreams is the symbolical language of the psyche. Analyst may point analysand towards certain meaning of a certain symbol, but the most important rule in the dream analysis is what meaning it has for you. What feeling, association has the certain image, how is connected to the present or past situations? Marie Louise von Franz - one of the most prominent Jungian students, that some dreams are deeply personal and not even shared with analyst. Also meaning of some dreams is understood through a certain time period and in connection with other dreams - what is why it is so important to have a record of them.

There could no be any academic formula since the individuation embrace every function and activity of life. Criticism of such approach usually springs from the quarters where authority reigns, and where the truth is already congealed into a dogma. It is easier to teach and practice a formula when try to interpret the meaning of lifeBut the rational formula is doomed from the outset. Because its seduce a man to turn away from the enigma of life, thus it opposes life.Not any psychological formula can explain life it’s only can present the living process in a thinkable form to our reason.  As soon as it claims that it explains the living process its effect is destructive , since its authoritative and presents the ready made solution, and apparently relieves the man of the need to seek his own individual solution to the problems that life presents.

A formula is an artefact - a rigid and arbitrary frame in which plastic and changing forms of life are the impressed. A principle on other hand requires authority not from the man who lays it down, but from life itself, whose manifold processes it correlates and brings into the abstract form. So practical implication of the principles into life - rests wholly with an individual subject.

Since Freud singlehandedly laid the foundation in the beginning of the XX century of the new discipline, no doubt that we can call him analytical genius, even Jung admitted this.Freud contribution to the psychology were truly groundbreaking. He demonstrated the unconscious and described its dynamics, developed the technique of dream interpretation, identified the psychological mechanism and genesis of psychoneurosis, discovered infantile sexuality, recognised the phenomenon of transference, invented the method of free association and outlined the basic principles of the psycho-therapy.

However, Freud was able to travel only part of the way into the depths of the psyche. When Jung introduced his ideas on individuation and the collective unconscious, Freud was unable to follow him further. Freud had already constructed a powerful and coherent theory of the unconscious, one that had brought him recognition and had proven effective in his clinical work.To accept Jung's discoveries would have required a radical expansion of his psychological worldview. It would have meant acknowledging that the psyche extends beyond personal biography and instinctual drives into a transpersonal realm of archetypes and collective patterns. For Freud, this step was a bridge too far, as it challenged the foundations of the theoretical structure he had spent a lifetime building.

Freudian psychoanalysis tends to describe complex explain complex human experiences by reducing them to more fundamental causes - especially biological drives, childhood conflicts, and repressed wishes. Reductionism itself is not necessarily bad. Science often works by reducing complex phenomena to simpler mechanisms. The question is whether something important is lost in the process.

For Freud symbols in dreams or visions were simply a disguise of repressed desire or instinct.Suppose a person dreams of climbing a mountain. Freud was asking: "What unconscious wish is being expressed?"; "What childhood conflict is being replayed?"; "What instinctual desire is disguised in this image?"In Freud's system, the deeper explanation usually lies in instinct, conflict, and personal history.Jung argued that Freud was always asking a question: "What caused this?". But Jung himself believe that this is only half of the story. He asked a second question: "What is this experience trying to become?"For Jung, symbols are not merely disguises for something else. They have value in their own right. The mountain in a dream may represent: spiritual aspiration, the Self, individuation, a future of psychological development.

So here is the main difference of this two approaches. The Individuality is alpha and omega of Jung's system, not however as an expression of personal power, as the egoist would like to interpret it, but as a function of the whole. The standpoint of the Jung is constantly oriented towards the individual autonomy, towards the individual way. That being said - however genuinely the analyst will strive his interpretation will be subjectively conditioned - it is psychologically unavoidable. But the sincerity with which he strive to interpret the fundamental needs of the analysand from the material at his disposal - must truly make for individual autonomy; while the opposite standpoint will reduce the psychic material toward the arbitrary mechanisms - must inevitable tend to standardise mankind, because in this case the main criteria of judgement is the relative measure of conformity with the the orthodox formula.

If we look at this from the point of view of social economy - the diversity and individuality is of greater value for the society: for as individual who is at one with himself seeks the creative collective expression from inner necessity, while the dragooned neurotic is as little service to society as unwilling conscript.

Another influential figure who emerged from early psychoanalysis was Wilhelm Reich. He was the disciple of Sigmund Freud and the patient of Carl Jung. He became intrigued with something he called "orgone", a form of primordial cosmic energy (chi or prana), which he related to sexual energy. One of his major contributions was the idea of “character armor.” He believed people don’t only repress emotions psychologically - they also hold them physically in the body through chronic muscular tension, posture, breathing patterns, and habitual emotional defenses. Today this concepts are proved scientifically, and even even many critics of Reich still acknowledge that his observations about body tension, emotional suppression, and psychosomatic patterns were ahead of his time.

Reich believed that healthy emotional functioning depended on the ability to fully experience and release sexual energy. In his book The Function of the Orgasm, he argued that neurosis develops when natural sexual and emotional expression is chronically blocked.He saw repression not only as a personal issue, but also as a political one. He believed authoritarian societies depend on fear, guilt, and sexual repression to maintain control.This became central in his political writings like The Mass Psychology of Fascism. Paradoxically, after publishing this book he was expelled from International Psychoanalytical Association and communist party. Marxists considered him too focused on sexuality, and psychoanalysts considered him too political and radical.

In the 1930s - 40s, Reich claimed to discover a universal biological/cosmic energy he called "orgone" derived from “organism” and “orgasm.” He believed that orgone permeated nature and living beings and was connected to vitality and health. Again, the concept which is known in the east for thousand of years, but challenged established physical worldview in the Western science.Later Reich's life became increasingly turbulent. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration. accused him of fraudulent medical claims involving orgone accumulators. Reich refused to cooperate fully with the court process because he believed scientific truth should not be judged legally. Many of his books and research materials were destroyed under court order and he died in Lewisburg Prison in 1957.

Humanistic Psychologies and Experiential Therapies

In the middle of 20th century American psychology was dominated by two major schools - behaviourism and Freudian psychoanalysis, increasing the dissatisfaction with these two orientations as adequate approaches to understanding of the human psyche led to the development of the humanistic psychology. The main spokesmen of this new field was the well known American psychologist - Abraham Maslow. He offered incisive critiques of the limitation of the behaviourism and Freudian psychoanalysis or the first and second force in psychology as he called them.

Maslow's main objection against behaviourism was that the study of animals such as rats and pigeons could only clarify those aspects of human functioning that we share with this animals. It those have no relevance to understanding the higher - specifically human qualities, that are unique to human life: love, self-consciousness, self-determination, freedom, ethics, arts, philosophy, religion and science. It is also largely useless regarding to specifically human negative characteristics, such greed, lust for power, cruelty. He also criticised the behaviourist disregard to Consciousness and introspection and their exclusive focus on the study of the behaviour.

By contrast, the primary interest in the humanistic psychology - Maslow's third force -was in human subjects. And this discipline honoured the consciousness and introspection together with objective research. The behaviourist's exclusive emphasis on determination by the environment, stimulus/response and reward/punishment was replaced by emphasis on the capacity of the human being to be internally directed and motivated to achieve self-realisation and fulfil their human potential.In his criticism of Freudian psychoanalysis Maslow pointed out that Freud and his followers drew conclusion about the human psyche mainly from psychopathology. And he disagreed with their biological reductionism - trying to explain all the psychological problems in terms of base instincts.

Maslow believed psychology had become too focused on illness, dysfunction, and pathology. He wanted to study:

• healthy people,

• creativity,

• meaning,

• human potential,

• spiritual experiences,

• and self-development

So by contrast humanistic psychology focused on study of healthy people, or even people who show the super normal results in their field.Within a few years when Abraham Maslow and Anthony Sutich launched the association of the Humanistic Psychology (AHP) and it's journal - the new movement became very popular among the Americans. The multi-dimensional perspective of the humanistic psychology and it's emphasis on the whole person, provided a broad umbrella for the rich spectrum of the new effective therapeutic approaches.

Among the important characteristics of this new approaches was the decisive shift from the exclusively verbal strategies - talking therapies to the direct expression of the emotions.The therapeutic strategies also moved from the exploration of the individual histories and the unconscious motivations to the feelings and the thought processes in the here and now.Another important aspect of the therapeutic revolution was the emphasis and the interconnectedness of the psyche and the body and overcoming the taboo against touching that previously dominated the field of psychotherapy. Various forms of work with the body thus formed an integral part of the new treatment strategies - Fritz Perl "Gestalt Therapy", Alexander Lowen "Bioenergetics", and other Neo-Reichian approaches.

The Advent of Psychedelic Therapy

A series of discoveries conducted by Swiss chemist working on ergot alkaloids in Sandoz laboratory in Basel introduced into the world psychiatry, psychology and psycho-therapy a radically new element - the healing potential of the non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Ergot is a fungus - Claviceps purpurea. It grows on rye and other grains and has a long, strange history in Europe. In the Middle Ages, contaminated bread sometimes caused mass poisonings called: “St. Anthony’s Fire”. Some historians even speculate ergot poisoning may have influenced certain episodes of mass hysteria or visionary religious experiences in Europe.Hofmann worked at Sandoz studying medicinal compounds derived from ergot. LSD was originally synthesized while Hofmann was modifying a naturally occurring ergot compound called - lysergic acid, from here LSD - Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. He created LSD-25 in 1938 as the 25th compound in a research series. At first, it seemed pharmacologically uninteresting, so it was set aside. Years later, Hofmann felt strangely drawn back to it and re-synthesized it in 1943 - and discovered it psychedelic effect while accidentally intoxicated himself during the synthesis of the substance. After the publication of the first clinical paper on LSD by Zurich psychiatrist by Walter A. Stol in the late 1940s this new alkaloid active in the minute quantities of micrograms - became overnight a sensation in the world of science.

In the clinical research with LSD many professionals discovered that the current model of the psyche limited to the post-natal biography and the Freudian individual unconscious was superficial and inadequate. The new model of the psyche which emerged from this research added to the model of the psyche - two large trans-biographical domains. The paranatal level - closely related to the memory of the biological birth and the transpersonal level, harbouring among others the historical and archetypal domains of the collective unconscious as envisioned by C.G. Jung.

Thousands of scientific papers were published on LSD and psilocybin, and what the most prominent figure in this field of research is the Stanislav Grof. Early experiment with LSD by Grof words showed that the sources of the emotional and psycho-somatic disorders were not limited to traumatic memories of the childhood and infancy as traditional psychiatrist assumed, but that their roots reached much deeper into the psyche into the paranatal and transpersonal regions. This surprising revelation was accompanied by the discovery of new, powerful therapeutic mechanism operating on the deep layers of the psyche. Using LSD as catalyst it became possible to extend the range of applicability of the psycho-therapy to the categories of the patients, that previously had been difficult to reach: alcoholics, drug-addicts, sexual deviants, criminal recidivist and pain relieve for the terminal cancer patients, for whom even narcotics didn't worked.

The Transpersonal Psychology

In the 1960s the observations from research from non-ordinary states of consciousness, analyses of experience from psychedelic sessions and Maslow's studies of spontaneous mystical experiences - peak experiences, revolutionised the image of the human psyche and inspired a radically new orientation in psychology.

Abraham Maslow considered peak experiences one of the highest expressions of human psychological life.These moments were intensely alive, meaningful, ecstatic, unified, timeless and deeply real. A peak experience is a temporary state in which ordinary ego boundaries soften, perception becomes vivid, inner conflict quiets, life feels profoundly meaningful and reality appears unified or sacred. Maslow did not considered this experiences at pathology but described them as moments of highest happiness, fulfillment, wholeness, awe and transcendence.

In spite of the popularity of the humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow and Anthony Sutich were dissatisfied with the discipline they created. They were increasingly aware that they left out the important element - the spiritual dimension of the human psyche.After Maslow's own research of peak experiences, the therapeutic use of psychedelics, the psychedelic revolution in the mass culture, which inspired renaissance of the Eastern teachings and philosophies, various mystical traditions, meditation and ancient and aboriginal wisdom - it became clear that comprehensive and cross-culturally valid psychology needed to include observations from such areas, such as mystical states, cosmic consciousness, psychedelic experiences, trance, creativity and artistic, religious and scientific inspiration.

In 1967 Abraham Maslow, Anthony Sutich, Stanislav Grof, James Fadiman , Miles Vich and Sonia Margulies met repeatedly with the purpose of creating a new psychology that will honour a whole spectrum of human experiences, including the non-ordinary states of consciousness.During this discussions Maslow and Sutich accepted Grof suggestion and named the new discipline - Transpersonal Psychology, instead of their own original name - Transhumanistic, or reaching beyond humanistic concerns.

Holotropic States of Consciousness

The remarkable healing power of non-ordinary states of consciousness which was known and used in ancient civilisations since time immemorial, was confirmed by modern consciousness research and therapeutic experimentation conducted in the 2nd half on 20th century. That research also showed that the phenomenon occurring during non-ordinary states of consciousness can not be accounted for by the conceptual framework currently used by academic psychology, psychiatry and psychotherapy.

The term itself "altered states of consciousness" which is used by the mainstream clinicians and theoreticians is not appropriate, because of it one sided emphasis on the distortion or impairment of the correct way of the experiencing oneself and the world. In colloquial English and in veterinary jargon the term "alter" is used to signify castration of domestic dogs and cats. Even the somewhat better term "non-ordinary states of consciousness" is too general since it includes the wide range of conditions, which is not relevant for our discussion in context of healing and transformation.

Consciousness can be profoundly change by the variety of the pathological processes: by cerebral traumas, by intoxication by noxious chemicals, by infections or by degenerative processes in the brain. Such conditions will inevitably result in the pathological changes which would be included in the category of the non-ordinary states of consciousness, states which can be called trivial delirium and organic psychosis. People who suffer from delirious states are typically disoriented - they do not know who and where they are and their mental functioning is significantly impaired; they typically show the disturbance of intellectual functions and usually have amnesia for this experiences. For these conditions the term "altered states of consciousness" is certainly fitting. These states are very important clinically, but not important from the therapeutic point of view.

There are other states, which are radically different from just mentioned above. These are the states that shaman experience during their initiatory crisis and later induced to their clients. Ancient and native cultures had used this states in rites of passage and for healing ceremonies, they were described by the mystics of all ages and initiates of ancient mysteries of death and rebirth. Procedures inducing this states were also developed and used in the context of great religions of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity.The importance of non-ordinary states of consciousness for ancient and aboriginal cultures is reflected in the amount of time and energy that the members of this human groups dedicated to the development of the technologies of the sacred - various procedures capable of inducing them for the ritual and spiritual purposes. These methods combine in the various ways: drumming and various form of percussion, music, chanting, rhythmic dancing, changes of breathing and cultivation of special forms of awareness, ritual use of psychedelic plants; extended social and sensory isolation, such as a stay in a cave, desert, arctic ice or in high mountains also plays and important role as means of inducing this category of non-ordinary states. Extreme physiological intervention used for this purpose includes: fasting, sleep deprivation, dehydration and even infliction of severe pain.

Mainstream psychologist initially dismiss native ritual events as products of primitive superstitions and magical thinking. They relegate the non-ordinary states of consciousness of any kind into the domain of psychopathology. This situation is gradually changed in the course of 20th century, when Western scientists actually have made some major contributions to the armamentarium of the technologies of the sacred.

Then those open-minded enough researchers and scientists to take on the challenge of this revolutionary tools thus had a change to discover their power and great therapeutic potential.Various forms of experiential therapeutic techniques were developed, which use breath work and body work, such as Neo-Reichian approaches, re-berthing and holotropic breathwork.

However it was also observed that despite the unique nature of this categories of non-ordinary states of consciousness that contemporary psychiatry does not have a specific category and term for this theoretically and practically important experiences.

Stanislav Grof and his colleagues felt strongly that this states have to be distinguished from the altered states of consciousness and not be seen be seen as manifestation of serious mental diseases, they introduced the term - Holotropic.This composite word means literally oriented toward wholeness, or moving toward wholeness, from the Greek holos - whole and trepein - mowing toward or in the direction of something. The word holotropic is neologism, but its related to a commonly used term heliotropic - the property of plants to always turn in the direction of the sun.In our ordinary state of consciousness we identify only with a small fraction of who we are really are. Holotropic state of consciousness has the potential to help us recognise that we are not skin-capsulated ego, as British philosopher and writer Allan Watts called it and that in the last analysis we are commensurate with the cosmic creative principle itself.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experiences. We are spiritual beings having a human experiences.” - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The same idea is expressed in the Upanishads.

The answer to the question "Who Am I?" is:

"Tat Twam Asi"

Which means literally

"Thou Art That"

Or

"You Are Godhead"

It suggest that we are not nāma-rūpa (body-ego), but there is a deepest identity with our innermost divine spark - ātman, which is ultimately identical with the supreme universal principle - Brahman. And the Hinduism is not the only religion which made this discovery. The revelation concerning the identity of the individual with the divine is ultimate secret that lies at the mystical core of all great spiritual traditions. The name for this principle could thus be the Dao (Tao), Buddha, Cosmic Christ, Allah, Great Spirit and many others. Holotropic experience can help us to discover our true identity and our cosmic status.

Despite the healing power and potential of holotropic states since the very beginning the mainstream academic communities shown the strong resistance to this radical innovations and did not accepted them either as a source of treatment modalities or as a source of critical conceptual challenges. This resistance is understandable, considering the scope and radical nature of the conceptual revisions that would be necessary to account of rich array of phenomena encountered in the study of holotropic states. The conceptual cataclysm is similar that physicists had shifting from the Newtonian worldview to the modern Quantum physics.

Michael Harner, an anthropologist and initiated shaman suggested that Western psychiatry and psychology are seriously biased in at least two significant ways:

• ethno-centric bias - mainstream academicians and clinicians consider the understanding of human psyche and of reality developed by Western materialistic science the only correct one and superior to all others. The attribute the ritual and cultural life of the pre-industrial cultures to primitive superstitions, magical thinking or psychopathology

• cogni-centric bias/ pragma-centric bias - in their theoretical speculation they only take into consideration only experiences and observations made in the ordinary states of consciousnesses and ignore and misinterpret data and research from holotropic states.

Stanislav Grof in his book "Holotropic Breathwork" raises the following question:

"What would psychology look like if it could overcome it ethno-centric bias, stop pathologising all experiences and behaviours that can not be understood in the neuro-context of the monistic-materialistic paradigm and treat with respect ritual and spiritual life of other cultures ?"

Dimensions of the Human Psyche

Freudian Map of the Psyche

Traditional psychology uses the model of the psyche which is limited to the post-natal biography and to individual unconscious as described by Sigmund Freud. According to Freud our psychological history begins after we are born. The new born is tabula-rasa a clean slate. Our psychological functioning is determined by interplay of biological instincts and influenced that shaped our life since we came into this world - the quality of nursing, various psycho-sexual traumas, development of the super-ego, our reaction to Oedipal triangle, conflicts and traumatic events in later life.Who we become and how we psychologically function is determined by our post-natal personal and interpersonal history.The Freudian individual unconscious is also essentially a derivative of our post-natal history - repository of what we are forgotten, rejected as unacceptable and repressed. This underworld of the psyche or the Id, as Freud called it - a realm dominated by the primitive instinctual forces.

Freud described the relationship between the conscious psyche and the unconscious using his famous image of the submerged iceberg. Psychoanalysis discovered that much larger part of psyche compared to the submerged part of the iceberg is unconscious and unbeknown to us governs our thought processes and behaviour.

This model modified and refined is adopted by the mainstream psychology, however research and work with holotropic states found this model painfully inadequate.

Besides the post-natal biographical level there are two additional large domains:

• Perinatal  - because of it's close connection with biological birth, contains the memories what fetus experiences in the consecutive states of birth process, including all the emotions and physical sensations involved. This memories form 4 distinct experiential clusters - basic perinatal matrices (BPMs). The content of this matrices as described by S.Grof is not limited to fetomemories, each of them also represents a selective opening into the areas of the historical and archetypal collective unconscious, which contain motives of similar experiential qualities

• Transpersonal - contains matrices for the reach array of experiences in which consciousness transcends the boundaries of the body/ego and the usual limitations of the linear time and 3D space. This results in experiential identification with other people, group of people, other life-forms and even elements of inorganic world. Transcendence of time provides experiential access to the ancestral, racial, collective, phylogenetic and karmic memories.

BPM I — Oceanic Unity

This matrix corresponds to life in the womb before contractions begin.

• If pregnancy was relatively harmonious, the person may retain strong feelings of unity, safety, cosmic belonging, or “floating.”

• If the womb environment was stressful, BPM I can carry anxiety, toxicity, or diffuse existential insecurity.

For C-section births, Grof sometimes suggested the transition out of BPM I may feel sudden or interrupted rather than gradually pressured toward birth.

BPM II — Cosmic Engulfment (“Pressure + No Exit”)

This begins with contractions while the cervix is still closed.

In vaginal birth, this stage involves intense pressure without release.

With a planned cesarean:

• This phase may be minimal or absent.

• Grof thought some people might later struggle with:

  • initiating difficult processes,

  • tolerating prolonged pressure,

  • building resilience through struggle,

  • or confronting “existential compression.”

Emergency cesareans are different:

• The baby may experience strong contractions and distress before surgical extraction.

• In that case, BPM II material may still be deeply present.

BPM III — Death-Rebirth Struggle

This corresponds to moving through the birth canal.

Pressure and movement towards liberation.

For Grof, this matrix is associated with:

• intense activation,

• aggression,

• sexuality,

• survival instinct,

• transformative struggle.

In cesarean births, especially planned ones:

• the “fight through the tunnel” experience may not occur fully,

• which Grof sometimes linked symbolically to:

  • difficulty “pushing through” obstacles,

  • passivity,

  • waiting for rescue,

  • or feeling life changes happen to the person rather than through their own effort.

BPM IV — Liberation / Rebirth

This is emergence and first separation from the womb.

Release and rebirth.

Grof believed that C-section births can sometimes create:

• a sudden transition from containment to exposure,

• feelings of abrupt extraction,

• or themes of being “pulled out” by external forces.

Some therapists influenced by Grof describe recurring motifs in clients such as:

• waiting for external salvation,

• difficulty completing transitions,

• fear of endings/beginnings,

• or longing to return to oceanic safety.

Archetypal Realm

Transpersonal experience can take us into the realm of the collective unconscious that C.G.Jung called Archetypal. This region harbours mythological figures, themes and realms of all the cultures and ages, even those of which we don't have intellectual knowledge. In it's farthermost reaches the individual consciousness can identify with the Universal Mind or Cosmic Consciousness - the creative principle of the Universe.S. Grof describes that probably the most profound experience available in holotropic states is identification with the supra-cosmic or meta-cosmic Void - Śūnyatā (sanskrit). The void has the paradoxical nature - because it is a vacuum devoid of any concrete forms, but it is also a plenum since it contains all of creation in the potential form. While being source of everything it cannot itself be derived from anything else.

In this view of vastly expanded cartography of the psyche we can now paraphrase the Freud's view of an iceberg- everything that Freudian analysis is discovered represents just a top of an iceberg showing above the water. Research of holotropic states made it possible to explore the colossus of the iceberg, which has escaped the attention of Freud and his followers with exception of the remarkable renegades: C.G.Jung and O.Rank

Mythologist Joseph Campbell used a different metaphor:

"Freud was fishing, while sitting on a whale "

The remarkable achievement and innovation of the research of the holotropic states of consciousness is shift from the guiding role of the therapist to facilitator and the utilisation of the innate healing intelligence of the client's own psyche.

The recognition of the critical role of the cosmic consciousness, C.G. Jung's - Anima Mundi in the universal scheme of things and the acceptance of the existence of the collective unconscious logically lead to the conclusion that the spiritual quest based on the direct experience is the legitimate and vitally important aspect of human life.

Differences of Psychotherapeutic schools

There are many competing schools of psychotherapy and there is also lack of agreement with them on most fundamental issues such as: what are the dimensions of the human psyche, it's most important motivating forces, why do symptoms develop and what do they mean, what subconscious material is most relevant and what is not.

A goal of traditional therapy is to reach intellectual understanding of the psyche in general and of the particular person and to offer him or her a strategy of treatment.An interpretation is an important tool in many modern therapies, when the therapist reveals to the client the true meaning of his thoughts, feeling, dreams etc.However interpretation of the same issue or phenomenon will differ by each school. The right timing for interpretation is also important, wherever one is ready for it or not.If it were true that correct and properly timed interpretations are the significant factors in the psychotherapy, then it would be great differences of therapeutic success achieved by various schools. However, there is no scientific study showing clear superiority of one school over others. If anything the differences are found within the schools rather then between them: in each school there are better therapists and worst therapists.

So in this case the successful treatment much likely has nothing to do with intellectual brilliance, but quality of human encounter between therapist and client, that feelings of the client were unconditionally accepted by another human being, frequently for the first time in their life.

According to Jung it is impossible to achieve the intellectual understanding of the psyche and derive from it a technique that we can use in psycho-therapy. As Jung saw in his latest years - the Psyche is not product of the brain, it is not contained in the skull - it is a creative and generative principle of the cosmos - Anima mundi.  It permeates all of the existence and the individual psyche of each of us is teased out from this unfathomable cosmic matrix.The intellect is the partial function of the psyche, that can help us to orient ourselves in everyday situations. However, it is not in the position to understand and manipulate the psyche.

“There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.”  - Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Jung was aware that the psyche is profound mystery and approached it with great respect.It was clear to him that the psyche is infinitely creative and can not be described with a set of formulas that can then be used to correct the psychological processes.He suggest and alternative strategy that was significantly different of using intellectual constructs and external interventions.

What a therapist could do is to create a supportive environment in which psycho-spiritual transformation can occur. This container can be compared to a hermetic vessel that makes alchemical processes possible. The next step is to offer a method that mediates contact with the conscious ego and a higher aspect - the Self. One of Jung's tools for this process was the active imagination - a continuation of the dream in a waking state. The communication of the ego and the Self occurs primarily by the means of the symbolic language. In this case the therapeutic process is guided from within - by the Self. In Jung's understanding the Self is the central archetype in the collective unconscious and it's function is to lead the individual toward order, organisation and unity, which have called Individuation process.

The use of holotropic states can be seen as an extension of Jung's vision, employing a comparable strategy for engaging the depths of the psyche. The healing process is guided from within by one's own healing intelligence.

Spirituality & Science

The leading philosophy of Western science has been monistic materialism. Various scientific disciplines described the history of the Universe as the history of developing matter and accept what is real what can be measured and weighted. Life, consciousness and intelligence are seen more or less as accidental by-products of the material processes. Physicists, biologists and chemists recognise the existence of the dimensions of the reality that are not accessible to our senses, but only those that are physical in nature and can be revealed and explored with various extensions of our senses, such as microscopes, telescopes and specially designed recording devices. In the Universe understood this way - there is no place of spirituality of any kind.From the perspective of modern psychologist to take such things as God, invisible dimensions of reality inhabited by non-material beings, the possibility of survival of consciousness after death, and the concepts of reincarnation and karma have been relegated to fairy-tales and hand-books of psychiatry. From the psychiatric perspective to take such things seriously means to be ignorant and unfamiliar with discovery of science, superstitions and subject to primitive magical thinking. If a believe of God or Goddess occurs to intelligent person - it is seen as indication that he have not come to terms with the infantile images of parents as omnipotents beings he created in the infancy or childhood. And direct experiences of the spiritual reality are considered as manifestation of serious mental diseases - psychosis.

The study of holotropic states discovered that in this states it is possible to encounter the rich array of experiences, that are very similar which inspired the great religions of the world. Visions of God, demonic beings, past lives experiences, episodes of psycho-spiritualof death and rebirth, visits to heaven and hell as showed by modern consciousness research are not products of the pathology of the brain, but the manifestation of the archetypal material from the collective unconscious and thus norma and essential constituents of the human psyche.

Although this mythic elements are accessed interpsychicly in the process of the experiential self-exploration and introspection - they are ontologically real - have the objective existence. To distinguish the transpersonal experiences from the imaginary products of the individual fantasy of psycho-pathology Jungians refer to this domain as imaginal.

Henry Corbin was a French philosopher, translator, and scholar of Islamic mysticism, especially Persian Sufism and Shi'a spirituality. Corbin became famous for introducing the concept of mundus imaginalis ("the imaginal world") to Western audiences.

Corbin believed that the English word imaginary was misleading. When people hear "imaginary," they usually think: not real, made up, fantasy, hallucination.

But the Persian and Islamic mystical traditions he studied described a realm that was not physical, not merely mental fantasy, yet genuinely real. To avoid confusion, Corbin coined the term Imaginal rather than imaginary. This is dimension, which we have lost in the Western civilisation, since we accept only sensual dimension and intellectual (rational)

The eye perceives physical forms.

The intellect perceives concepts.

The imagination perceives archehtypal realities.

This is why an "imaginal consciousness." It is a mode of knowing. For Corbin, imagination is not creating the symbol. It is receiving the symbol. The symbol arrives from a deeper order of reality. Corbin and Carl Jung knew each other and participated in the famous Eranos Conferences in Switzerland. Both agreed that symbols possess autonomy and transformative power. Corbin's ideas strongly influenced Stanislav Grof.

Henry Corbin borrowed the term mundus imaginalis from the Islamic philosophers. Islamic philosophers call the imaginal world, where everything existing in a sensory world has its analog - ʿĀlam al-Mithāl - The Eighth Climate, to distinguish from the Seven Climates of the traditional Islamic geography. The imaginal world posses its extensions and dimensions, forms and colours, but they are not receptable to our senses as they would be if they were properties of the physical objects. However, this realm is ontologically real and susceptible to consensual validation by other people. For Corbin method to access this realm was active imagination developed by Carl Jung, and for Grof it is Holotropic Breathwork.

So genuine science and authentic religion do not compete actually, but represent two approaches to existence, which are complementary - not competitive.Science study phenomenon in the material world - the realm of the measurable and weighable. Spirituality and true religion draw their inspiration from the imaginal world.The conflict that seems to exist between religion and science reflects fundamental misunderstanding of both. If there seems to be a conflict we are likely dealing with bogus science and bogus religion as pointed out by Stanislav Grof and Ken Wilber.The apparent incompatibility is due to the fact that either science seriously misunderstands the others position and very likely represent the false version of it's own discipline. The only science which can made valid judgments of spiritual matters is that science which posses the ultimate knowledge of imaginal realm, such as modern consciousness research studying holotropic states.

The conflict of science and religion is arisen because science has mapped the physical dimensions above and beyond, but did not find the heavenly realm in our skies and likewise the caves of Satan underground.

Aldous Huxley in his companion essay Heaven and Hell (1956) to his earlier work The Doors of Perception. asks a deeper question:

Why do human beings across cultures report visions of paradise, divine light, radiant jewels, angels, demons, and infernal realms?

Huxley argues that these experiences are not merely religious fantasies. Instead, they arise from a deeper layer of consciousness that becomes accessible under certain conditions. Huxley develops a theory that the brain normally acts as a reducing valve. It filters out most of reality so that we can survive and function in daily life. When this filter weakens - through meditation, fasting, illness, mystical practice, artistic inspiration, or altered states - people may experience what he calls the "antipodes of the mind", hidden regions of consciousness.

For Huxley, heaven and hell are not necessarily places. They are modes of consciousness. When perception expands in a harmonious way, people encounter:

• Brilliant light

• Jewel-like colors

• Vast spaces

• Sacred beauty

• Feelings of unity and bliss

These become the basis of religious images of Heaven.

When perception expands while a person is overwhelmed by fear, anxiety, guilt, or suffering, the same opening can become:

• Constriction

• Terror

• Demonic imagery

• Claustrophobic spaces

• Feelings of torment

These become the experiential basis of Hell.

Modern studies of holotropic states brought many supportive evidence for Huxley's insights - they have shown that heaven, paradise and hell are ontologically real. They represent important state of consciousness that all human being can experience at a certain circumstances during their life-times. Celestial, paradisiacal and infernal visions are a standard part of an experiental spectrum of psychedelic inner journeys, near death states, mystical experiences, shamanic initiatory crisis and other types of spiritual emergencies.Psychiatrists often hear from their clients about the experiences of God, Heaven, Hell, Archetypal Divine and Demonic beings and about psycho- spiritual death and re-birth. However, as pointed out by S.Grof because of their inadequate model of the psyche - they misinterpret them as manifestations of mental disease. They do not realise that matrices for this experiences exist in a deep recesses of unconscious psyche of every human being.

The transpersonal experience occurring in the holotropic states can be drawn from any mythology of the world even intellectually unknown to the individual having this experience.Likewise, Carl Jung demonstrated this fact occurring in dreams of his clients. On the basis of this observation he realised that the human psyche has access not only to the Freudian individual unconscious, but also to the collective unconscious which is a repository of an entire cultural heritage of humanity. Knowledge of comparative mythology is therefore can be a great helpful tool on the journey of the self-exploration.

The experience originating on the deeper level of the psyche in the collective unconscious have a certain quality which Jung referred to it as numinosity. Jung borrowed the term from the German theologian and scholar of religion Rudolf Otto, who used it to describe the experience of encountering something sacred, mysterious, and overwhelmingly powerful.

For Jung, a numinous experience is:

"An encounter with a psychic reality that feels greater than the ego."

Jung believed genuine psychological transformation often comes not from intellectual understanding alone, but from encounters with numinous experiences.

One of his famous statements was:

"The approach to the numinous is the real therapy."

By this he meant that healing frequently occurs when a person encounters a living symbol, archetype, religious image, dream, or experience that reconnects them to deeper layers of the psyche.

The term numinosity used in relation to transpersonal experiences describes direct perception of their extraordinary nature, they convey a very convincing sense that they belong to the higher order of reality.

In view of ontological reality of the imaginal realm - spirituality is very important and natural dimension of the human psyche. In Jyotish chart for example this is represented by 8th and 12th House.

Spiritual quest is a legitimate human endeavour among with others spheres of life.However, this applies to genuine spirituality based on personal experience and does not provide support for ideologies and dogmas of organised religions.

So in this context it's critical to make a distinction between spirituality and religion.Spirituality is based on direct experience on ordinary invisible numinous dimensions of the reality. It does not require a special place or officially appointed official mediating this experience. Thy mystics do not need churches to experience the divine, the context in which they this experiences is provided by their bodies and nature. Instead of officiating priest they maybe need a supportive group and or a teacher who is more advanced on this journeySpirituality involves a special kind of relationships between the individual and the cosmos and it in it's essence a personal and a private affair.

By comparecement - an organised religion is an institutionalised group activity which takes places in designated location and involves a system of appointed officials who might or might now have the experience of spiritual realities themselves. Once a religion becomes organised it often looses it's connection with it's spiritual source and becomes a secular institution, which exploits the spiritual human needs without satisfying them. Organised religions tend to create a hierarchical system which focus is pursuing power, control, money, possessions etc. Under this circumstances religious hierarchy as a rule dislikes and discourages direct spiritual experience in it's members because it's fosters independence and can not be effectively controlled.

The Nature of Human Mind

"Mind is a soil upon which, in the form of thoughts and imagination, the plants grow."   The Music of Life - Chapter 26 - The Nature of Mind. Hazrat Inayat Khan

Modern consciousness research of holotropic states bring the observation so radical that they not only challenge modern psychology and psychiatry, but also undermine some of the most fundamental metaphysical assumptions of Western science, specifically those regarding the nature of consciousness and it's relationship to matter.

According the Western neuroscience - consciousness is epiphenomenon of matter, a by-product of complex neurophysiological processes in the brain, and thus an intrinsic and inseparable part of the body.

Stanislav Grof who spent over 60 years leading modern consciousness research points out that this hypothesis is highly questionable:

"Very few people including scientists realise that we have absolutely no proof that consciousness is produced in the brain and by the brain"

No doubt that there is a significant correlation and interconnection between the anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of the brain on one hand and states of consciousness on the other, however it represents a major logical job to infer from available data that this correlation represent a proof that the brain is actually a source of consciousness. Such a deduction would be similar to the conclusion that a TV program is generated in a TV set, because it is a close correlation between functioning or malfunctioning of it's components and sound and picture.

It should be understood that despite the close correlation between the cerebral activity and consciousness does not exclude the possibility that the brain mediates consciousness rather than generates it. The research of holotropic states has mass evidence for this alternative.There exists no scientific theories explaining how consciousness is generated by material processes, no does anybody has even remote idea how something like that can possible happen. The gap between consciousness and matter is so formidable, that it is impossible to imagine how it could be bridged. Despite of the lack of convincing evidence that consciousness is epiphenomenon of matter - this basic metaphysical assumption remains one of the leading myths of Western materialistic science.

While there exist no scientific proof that the brain generates consciousness - there are numerous observations indicating that consciousness can under certain circumstances function independently of the brain and of the world of matter. In holotropic states our consciousness can reach far beyond the boundaries of body/ego and obtain accurate information about various aspects of the material world that we have not obtained through our lifetime through our senses: relieving of birth, pre-natal memories etc; in transpersonal experiences our consciousness can identify with other people, with members of other species: from primates to unicellular organisms, with plant life and even inorganic materials and processes; we can also transcend linear time and experience vivid ancestral, racial, karmic, phylogenetic sequences and episodes from the collective unconscious. Transpersonal experiences provide not only accurate information about the material world, but also about various figures and realms of archetypal domain of the collective unconscious. We can witness and even participate in the mythological sequences from any culture of the world or historical period accurately portrayed in every detail.

The most convincing evidence that the consciousness is not produced by the brain and can function independently of the brain comes from the young scientific discipline of thanatology - the study of death and dying.It is now established fact confirmed by many independent observations that disembodied consciousness of people in near death situations is able to accurately observe the environment in a various near or remote location and events.

Such experiences have very similar descriptions to that of Bardo Body found in the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" -Bardo Thödol.

The Six Bardos

According to the tradition of the Nyingma school, there are six bardos:

1. Kyenay Bardo — The Bardo of This Life

(Birth until death)

This is your present waking existence.

• Everyday consciousness

• Relationships

• Work

• Spiritual practice

• Psychological development

From a Buddhist perspective, this life itself is an intermediate state between birth and death.

2. Milam Bardo — The Dream Bardo

(During sleep and dreaming)

When the physical senses withdraw during sleep:

• Dreams arise.

• The unconscious becomes more visible.

• One can practice lucid dreaming.

• One learns to recognize experience as mind-created.

Dream yoga is intended to prepare practitioners for the post-mortem bardos

3. Samten Bardo — The Meditation Bardo

(During deep meditative absorption)

In meditation:

• Ordinary ego structures temporarily dissolve.

• Deeper levels of awareness emerge.

• One may glimpse the nature of mind.

This bardo is considered a training ground for recognizing awakened awareness.

4. Chikhai Bardo — The Bardo of Dying

(The moment of death)

This begins when the body starts to die.

The text describes:

• Dissolution of the elements.

• Dissolution of sensory perception.

• Dissolution of ordinary identity.

At the climax appears the Clear Light (Luminosity), regarded as the deepest nature of mind.

5. Chönyid Bardo — The Bardo of Reality

(After death: visionary realm)

After the Clear Light comes a sequence of visions.

The deceased may encounter:

• Peaceful deities.

• Wrathful deities.

• Brilliant lights.

• Archetypal forms.

According to the text:

• These beings are not external gods.

• They are manifestations of one's own awakened mind.

6. Sidpa Bardo — The Bardo of Becoming

(The process leading toward rebirth)

The text says:

After having fainted from fear in the Chönyid Bardo the dying person awakens in the Sipda Bardo in the new form - the Bardo Body. This body differs from the gross body of everyday life - it is not composed of matter and has many remarkable qualities, such as a power of unimpeded motion, the ability to penetrate through solid objects and the capacity to perceive the world without the mediation of the senses. Those who exists in the form of bardo body can travel instantaneously to any place on Earth and even to sacred cosmic mountain - Mount Meru. Only two places are not accessible to this form: the maternal womb and the boat Gaia - clearly referencing to the leaving of bardo state at the time of conception or enlightenment.

One of the most fascinating studies conducted by Kenneth Ring and his colleagues, pioneers of NDE research published as Mindsight. People who are generally blind of organic reasons and have not been able to see anything in their entire lives - can perceive the environment than their consciousness detaches from their bodies during various life treating situations - the veracity of this visions have been confirmed by consensual validation. Ring refers to such visions as veridical OBEs - out of body experiences.

Modern thanatological research has those confirmed an important aspect of classical descriptions of OBEs which can be found in spiritual literature and philosophical texts.Veridical OBEs are not limited to near death situations, but experienced by the people who experience spiritual emergencies or enter the holotropic states by various means mentioned before.

This observations demonstrate that consciousness is not the product of the brain and thus the epiphenomenon of matter, it is more likely at least the equal partner of matter, as pointed by tantric tradition - Shiva & Shakti or possibly subordinated to it. The matrices for all the mentioned experienced are clearly not contained in the brain, but are stored in the some kind of immaterial field, which in tantric tradition is called akasha or ether. Similar analogy can be also found in the holographic theory of quantum physics, which may call it - field of information or field of possibilities.

— Nikita Ierisov

About me

Work with me: Meditation, Jyotish