TAROT FOR PSYCHOTHERAPISTS

 

 

TAROT of Marseille, France 1760

REFLECTIONS YARO BLOG – FEBRUARY & MARCH 2017

TAROT FOR PSYCHOTHERAPISTS

This is a new Reflection following the on-going theme, mentioned earlier, about Alternative ways of working as a therapist. In a world full of uncertainties we need to find and implement new ways of enabling people on their life journey. No matter what training or theoretical perspective you may be ‘a true believer’ in, the world a changing and expanding entity, is moving all that lives into a path of expansion and growth.

In the last few blogs we reflected on alternatives to therapy such as Process Psychology, Psychomagic, Shamanism and now the TAROT. This is a short reflection about the TAROT deck of cards and how this deck is being reborn as a healing tool.

The exact origins of the TAROT are not clear. Card playing decks were being developed in Italy as far back as the 1400’s. They were beautifully hand crafted and used mainly for divination. The oldest deck is called the “Michelino deck” produced around 1417. The deck was commissioned by the Duke of Milano who was a very keen card lover and who designed the TARUCCI play cards.

Dr. Yoav Ben-Dov, a psychotherapist and student of the TAROT writes that in 1700’s and 1800’s card makers in Marseille, France adopted a common model for the TAROT deck that eventually became the standard that is basically used today (with some innovations by Crowley and A.E. Waite). The OSHO ZEN TAROT is also very popular today.

As we know, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy are rather recent phenomena. Sigmund Freud begun the study of the unconscious aspects of his patients by having them lying on the couch and ‘free-associate’, meaning stating freely whatever came to their mind while he made notes and interpreted the outcome of such sessions. Later, Carl G. Jung and Alfred Adler, both students of Freud, begun experimenting with sitting face-to-face with their patients.

In our current state of development of Psychotherapy and Counselling we note two differing movements: One, are those practitioners that claim ‘scientific’ proofs of their therapy is necessary by using complex statistical measurements of results and on the other side, those who explore the Humanistic and Existential aspects of healing. Later on(1960’s & 70’s) the Esalen Institute pioneered and expanded a multitude of therapies and healing methods with leaders like Carl Rogers(person-centred therapy); J. Moreno(psychodrama); Fritz Perls (Gestalt Therapy) and many others.

In addition to the verbal communication with clients, they experimented with body postures, gestures, muscular movement, facial expressions, tones of voice, sitting, standing, moving and the use of art therapy. This led to the practice of full awareness or attention to the ‘here and now’ phenomena in the healing process.

Starting at the surface of attention, such therapists gradually guided clients into depths of their psyches some even claimed that they were working with the very Soul of their clients. Carl G. Jung’s student Dora Kalff developed the Sand Play method of working with symbols. She begun with children who usually are limited using only verbal communication and later worked with adults to enable them to reach a deep understanding about their unconscious processes.

As more artistic tools were in use and body experiments conducted (W. Reich) the alternatives to the ‘talking cure’ were widely accepted by most western populations. It is now more and more popular to add to any form of therapy, used by any discipline,  the artistic and creative tools available and accepted by many in the therapy field. Symbolic tools like the Rorschach test, Mandala drawing and TAROT cards are used often by creative therapists in their work with clients and groups.

The current book by two talented psychotherapist Dr. Victor Daniels and Kooch N. Daniels M.A. , both from California," TAROT AT A CROSSROADS"  recently published, is a classic book about the crossover between psychology and the TAROT. They state: "a decade ago, we began exploring the therapeutic potential of TAROT cards . We already knew that their imagery could illuminate a broad spectrum of dilemmas, vices, virtues, cravings and opportunities. We have found that pictorial imagery – especially TAROT cards – support the telling of emotionally loaded stories and memories. They can be used in a onetime session or repeatedly in ongoing sessions over a period of time” (p 23).

The authors also became aware that some of the practices used by Gestalt Therapists can also be used with the cards. For example, they would ask a client to select cards and then project a dialogue between two or more cards (like in the empty chair method) or like those used in adult Sand Tray work.

In our modern ‘virtual reality’ world most people are increasingly accustomed to use pictorial images. Children are watching and playing games on their computers and we all look at YouTube for stories and visually learn skills on line. It is clear then, that today’s psychotherapy must use the evocative imagery and one such tool is the TAROT that readers and healers used for centuries to bring more understanding and deeper meanings to our unconscious and a full integration of mind-body-spirit. Most importantly, to become aware of the whole person.       

It is important to know that there are some differences between a TAROT divinatory reading and a therapy session. Here is a brief explanation by the authors of the TAROT book:

DIVINATORY USE OF TAROT   ·         Offered by the reader ·         Cards are a point of contact ·         Meets the needs of the querent ·         Extensive knowledge and experience needed to guide readings ·         Querent picks up cards face down on table ·         Focus on the traditional meaning of cards ·         Reader leads the discussion and offers suggestions

PSYCHOTERAPEUTIC USE OF TAROT   ·         Offered by therapist or counsellor ·         Cards are effective point of contact ·         Meets needs of client ·         Therapeutic training and experience needed ·         Client selects specific cards on a face up deck ·         Focus is on client’s reactions to the cards ·         Therapist does not interpret, client sparks key points

 

In conclusion to these Reflections on the TAROT, I am adding here the 12 activities for psychotherapists that may help them to learn how to use the TAROT imagery in therapy sessions. For more understanding, I suggest a visit to a good TAROT school or workshop.

1. Make a daily practice of placing a TAROT card on your desk and attempt at a ‘dialogue’ with the image.

2. Associate any meaning that emerges as you connect with each card (work like in a dream session).

3. What symbols & colours stand out for you ?

4. Any specific clues you get from the ‘gender’ cards.

5. Do you ‘receive’ a message or an intuitive awareness from the card?

6. Reflect on your moods or feelings evoked by the card(s).

7. Use the card as a motivator to move, dance, voice expression or all of the above.

8. Place two cards side by side and look at their differences and similarities. Are they looking at each other or facing away from each other?

9. Notice if you find the same symbol in each card you look at.

10. Can you recognise(remember) a story, fairy tale or dream that may be connected to the cards.

11. Meditate on the card or cards – one at a time and note what feelings emerge for you.

12. Keep a TAROT journal and add pictures as they come up in your mind. Develop a collage.

 FOR THE MORE INTERESTED: If you want to follow up the meaning of the major Arcanas (21 cards), you can examine the small list here. Google images also give a very colourful list of TAROT cards.

 

THE DIVINATORY MEANINGS OF THE TAROT

1 The Magician- The Magician is a person of new opportunities and ambition. He has incredible willpower, but is often overcome by his emotions. Positively associated with confidence, individuality, willpower, new beginnings, and inner potential. Negatively associated with trickery, deception, lack of compassion, indecision, and abuse of power.

2 The High Priestess- The High Priestess is the guardian of hidden secrets. She keeps the divine knowledge secretly tucked away for the right time to reveal. Positively associated with intuitiveness, understanding, wisdom, mystery, psychic ability, and the divine feminine. Negatively associated with lack of motherliness, emotional insecurity, secretiveness, and hidden obstacles or opponents.

3 The Empress- The Empress is a symbol of love, fertility and motherhood. She represents compassion and devotion. Positively associated with fertility, birth, motherhood, harmony, nature, prosperity, joy, love, and artistic ambition. Negatively associated with domestic upheaval, emotional blackmail, over-protectiveness, poverty, infertility, unwanted pregnancy, and suppressed logical expression.

4 The Emperor- The Emperor is a sign of achievement and honour. He represents paternity and strong leadership. Positively associated with achievement, authority, protection, support, trustworthiness, discipline, provider, consolidation, reason, and willpower. Negatively associated with weakness, immaturity, failed ambition, status driven, tyrannical, and an overbearing nature.

 5 The Hierophant- The Hierophant is a symbol of moral law and convictions. He is also a welcomed advisor and spiritual guide. Positively associated with advice, wise counsel, spiritual consolation, knowledge, identification, faith, conformity, and traditions. Negatively associated with misinformation, lack of faith, deviousness, bad advice, confusion, and disorderly conduct.

6 The Lovers- The Lovers represent a new breath of life. They symbolize love, devotion and spiritual friendship. Positively associated with desire, new lover, relationships, physical attraction, love, sex, and commitment. Negatively associated with lust, moral lapse, temptation, indecision, separation, failed love affair, and emotional loss of control.

7 The Chariot- The Chariot symbolises conflict and victory. It also represents unknown forces pulling you forward quickly. Positively associated with triumph, movement, change, self-belief, assertiveness, and good news. Negatively associated with rage, tyranny, overinflated ego, selfishness, arrogance, delays, and frustration.

 8 Justice- This card directly means justice, fairness, and balance. It also has sway over partnerships and legal matters. Positively associated with justice, truth, integrity, balance, arbitration, responsibility, and fairness. Negatively associated with prejudice, injustice, bad judgement, bias, and bad advice.

9 The Hermit- The Hermit is a solitary person, one who looks for answers within and away from others. he represents a time for solitude and peace. Positively associated with introspection, solitude, guidance, advice, and patience. Negatively associated with obstinacy, suspiciousness, fear, impatience, folly, and arrogance.

10 The Wheel of Fortune- The Wheel of Fortune is a sign of fates spinning round and round bringing in a new era. It represents the randomness of life and what comes at you. Positively associated with destiny, movement, vision, good luck, new cycle, and synchronicity. Negatively associated with obstacles, temporary bad luck, and unpleasant surprises.

 11 Strength- The Strength cards shows the inner resolves you have. It represents the emotional, physical and spiritual strength associated with the situation. Positively associated with strength, willpower, compassion, patience, courage, triumph, and fortitude. Negatively associated with over compensation, fear, inertia, defeat, loss of opportunity, and entropy.

12 The Hanged Man- The Hanged Man symbolizes self-sacrifice and the unaware mind. He is representative of the blind sacrifice that is needed in the situation. Positively associate with transition, flexibility, rebirth, deliverance, and release. Negatively associated with materialism, inflated ego, lack of willpower, easily influenced, and martyrdom.

13 Death- The Death card symbolizes anything but that. It is a card of release and starting over. It represents the absolute, both the end and the beginning. Positively associate with endings, transformation, clearance, and sweeping change. Negatively associated with stagnation, loss of opportunity, loss of friendship, and fear of change.

14 Temperance- The Temperance card is a card of self-control and abstinence. It represents the ability to handle overwhelming circumstances and emotions. Positively associated with harmony, health, moderation, compromise, peace, and self-control. Negatively associated with impatience, lack of foresight, conflict, quarrels, and domestic strife.

15 The Devil- The Devil is the embodiment of primal instincts. Heated emotions runs strong with him, passions devour the mind and self-control is lost. Positively associated with permanence and commitment. Negatively associated with entrapment, lust, greed, ignorance, anger, tyranny, and obsession.

16 The Tower- The Tower shows the crumbling of stability and the breaking down of all things. It represent change, upheaval and unwanted change. Positively associated with re-evaluation, necessary change, and a blessing in disguise. Negatively associated with sudden change, downfall, disruption, and disaster.

 17 The Star- The Star is a beacon shining through the darkness, a guiding light. It represents renewal of faith, hope and youth. Positively associated with hope, generosity, serenity, wishes coming true, good health, and spiritual awareness. Negatively associated with self-doubt, lack of trust, cynicism, and pessimism.

18 The Moon- The Moon is a card of hidden and buried emotions. It casts and eerie light over everything. It represents hard travels and a rough inner journey. Positively associated with imagination, unexpected possibilities, and illumination. Negatively associated with fear, confusion, highly charged emotions, bewilderment, lies, and deceit.

 19 The Sun- The Sun shines down on everything, giving warmth, life and joy. The Sun is the light at the end of the tunnel, the source of all that is wished for. Positively associated with happiness, greatness, enlightenment, vitality, good health, love, and fulfilment. Negatively associated with misjudgement, delays, potential failure, and inflated ego.

20 Judgement- Judgement heralds a time of reward. It is the card of wisdom and acceptance. It represents new phases in life and new relationships with the self. Positively associated with rebirth, rejoicing, absolution, new potential, and rewards for past efforts. Negatively associated with guilt, loss, self-reproach, delays, fear, and obstinacy.

21 The World- The World is the end. The arrival of all the desires you hoped for. It is the beginning and the end, the dream, the hope and wish itself. Positively associated with fulfilment, completion, satisfaction, joy, wholeness, and success. Negatively associate with stagnation, lack of will, impatience, and delays.

Quoted from:  http://www.predictiontarot.com/Tarot-Cards-Meaning-or-Tarot-Interpretation#sthash.01HeomzO.dpuf

 

WELCOME TO THE NEW YEAR!

NEW YEAR

Awaken I lay at 3 am

Seeking answers in my head

None came

I waited that night

Only shadows greeted me.

New Year has arrived

Quietly, softly on this sunny day

Birds sing and trees growing mute

In this circular grassy place

Where the houses stand alone

All is the same except the New Year

All is different in my soul

Longing for home, I sit with a book

Reading “The Fall of Light”

Sadly I think of my life;

How brilliantly in shone

And slowly has dimmed

Falling in a dark place

Like a hollow tree burned inside

By the fire of yesteryears.

Now, the New Year

Like many more, hold some promise

Of better times and happiness

The rising sun shines on me

And my sadness disappears

Like this full moon from the dark-night sky.

The old year has gone and the new one is upon us with more uncertainties and surprises. So, this ‘reflection’ is taking a new path towards making us think. This path may not be so ‘new’ after all, to some, but perhaps a refreshing one.

The last blog was about the way some therapists could reflect about seeking ways of broadening their practice. One way was to look at the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky and his research about Psychomagic.  He clearly opened a door to the ancient practices of shamans and he uses the TAROT card symbolism as a way to offer the client a way towards self-regulation in the healing process. Just like Dr. Fritz Perls opened the door to existential and humanistic therapy, Jodorowsky opened the doors to Psychomagic therapy. A therapy based on his experiences with teachers like Zen masters and Mexican spiritual healers.

Stanley Krippner, director of the Saybrook Institute in San Francisco CA,  states the following in an article  about shams as the first healers: “Shamans have not been taken seriously by most allopathic  physicians despite the fact that many shamanic traditions have developed sophisticated models of healing over the centuries. Furthermore, the models have been flexible enough to survive their contact with allopathic medicine and even to be incorporated in its practice".

One such practitioner is Dr. Stan Grof. Grof and his wife Christina, studied the relationship between altered states of consciousness and Shamanic healing for the past 30 years. Grof begun exploring psychedelics (LSD, Mushrooms, etc) and then spent the last ten years experimenting and writing about powerful non-drug alternatives. His method of therapy is called Holotropic Therapy. This is a method that closely parallels many of the recorded Shamanic healing practices. It combines controlled breathing, evocative music,  focused body work and art therapy (like Mandala drawing).

As we have already explored in the past blog posts, the current ‘verbal’ psychotherapies have not given any positive or conclusive evidence that they work as a way of healing the body, mind and spirit. By using Grof’s holistic approach we transform ‘ordinary’ experience of being into transcendental deep work.  (See article on Holotropic therapy).

The other interesting alternative to  the ‘talking therapies’ is is described in the work of Dr. Arnold Mindell and Amy Mindell. Some of this work (process work) has been mentioned in the previous post but here is a more specific commentary for your reflection.

In Process Work, the authors encourage us to become aware of the more subtle states of consciousness. Often the therapy is not effective because the therapist is not recognizing (not aware) nor interested in the client’s states of consciousness.

It is well documented today that a person can experience a number of different states of consciousness. The first aspect is called “meta-communication”. Here the person can ‘talk about’ and describe clearly their current state of being in the here and now. That means that the client is aware of his or her current state. If a person is not able to describe the state of consciousness, then he or she may be having an inner identification with that state but unable to express it. This then becomes a portal where the Shaman can enter (using various rituals) into this fluid state of consciousness without the need to have a verbal explanation or description.

Many altered states are culturally conditioned. What is considered ‘normal’ in one culture is not so in another. A person with a certain behaviors may be considered ‘abnormal’ in one culture and totally well in another. This is called a “consensus reality”. That is a reality or “truth” based on what most people in that culture define and agree as being real. The Holotropic methods devised by Stan Grof and the many Shamanic healing rituals are designed to enter  the non- consensual reality of the client(or participant) to be able to find the roots of illnesses  that are based mainly on cultural consensus and reverse the mental structures and connect with the clients self- healing ability.

If a person spends a lot of time (which is often) in the consensual state, he or she may find themselves in a split between the inner non-consensual awareness and the cultural belief states thus leading to serious psychotic break down.

Another very interesting state of consciousness is called “extreme state” and is often manifested in a comatose situation. Here the person is not talking, not aware, nor communicating in any way. The person is completely inside of the experience. Amy and Arny Mindell describe the work they do with clients in coma in the book: “Coma: a healing journey”  Laotse pub. 1989.

In summary, here is a list of skills to work with a client’s state of consciousness:

·         -Pay attention how consensus reality is influencing the client’s behavior and beliefs.

·       -  Pay attention to the client’s Inner Child persona.

·       -  Notice client’s projections on the therapist – using “you”, “they” words

·        - Use indirect methods of working like collage, painting ,drama.

·         -Give prescriptions or ‘homework’ for the client to do at home. (see the Psychomagic post).

·       -  Joining the client’s reality as is presented here and now and  designing rituals that connect with that reality.

·         -Working on dreams.

In conclusion, I recommend that you reflect on the various interesting non-ordinary interventions and develop your own style and methods of healing. Practice becoming a Shaman or use Psychomagic tools.

Stanley Krippner, again states: “ There are shamanic healing processes that closely parallel contemporary behavior therapies, chemotherapy, dream work, family therapy, hypnotherapy, milieu therapy, and psychodrama. It is clear that Shamans, psychiatrists, psychologists and physicians have more in common than is generally suspected. (acknowledged). For the Shaman, however, the spiritual dimension of healing is extremely important whereas contemporary therapists and  physicians ignore it".

In Art Therapy and Gestalt Therapy we consciously include the spiritual work as essential to wellness. We do not separate the various services that claim the ownership of much consensus reality. The priests claim the soul, the psychologists claim the mind and the physicians claim the body. We explore and include ALL of the dimensions of the human being.

Some day we will include in our therapeutic work the old Shamanic ‘tools’ of soul retrieval, spirit communication, community connection and group healing, explain the meaning of dreams, vision quests and so on. WE must stress the importance of sharing life purpose, service to community, society and caring for Nature.

As a 'bonus' here is an article about Stan Grof and Holotropic therapy:

Healing and Transformation:

The Use of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness  - With special reference to the work of Stanislav and Christina Grof.

By Martin Boroson, Martin Duffy and Barbara Egan

Psychological illness, or neurosis, can be defined simply as a restriction of consciousness or – to borrow a Hopi Indian idea – a way of living that calls for a new way of living. Psychotherapy, self-exploration and spiritual questing can all be seen as attempts to gain access to the “foreign” realms of the psyche, the territory that transcends the tight, limited boundaries of the ego. Healing begins when the individual finds some way to reach across the divide between ego and non-ego, and acknowledges some of the material as his/her own. The individual dies to his/her former self-image and world-view, and is reborn at a higher (more expanded) level of awareness.

Psychotherapists call this realm beyond ego, the unconscious. In discovering a collective aspect or layer of the unconscious, Jung suggested that the content of our mind is not limited to what we have experienced since birth. Our normal, everyday state-of-consciousness, dominated by the ego, can be called “ordinary reality”, and all other realms of the psyche or states-of-consciousncss can be called “non-ordinary”. In a non-ordinary state of consciousness, the universe can appear fluid and non-mechanical, space and time are relative, moral absolutes vanish, death is but a transition and life exists in a variety of forms. Stanislav Grof, one of the world’s foremost researchers into the healing properties of non-ordinary states of consciousness, calls ordinary reality “hylotropic”, meaning matter-orientated, and the latter, non-ordinary reality, “holotropic”, meaning wholeness-orientated.

Grof observed that the phenomena experienced in a non-ordinary state are thematically linked to one another, and to issues in one’s conscious life or “ordinary” reality. He calls these thematic links “systems of condensed experience” (COEX). An example of a COEX in one individual might be:

Personality:           Fear of intimacy, claustrophobia

Psychosomatic:   Asthma or tightness in the chest

Biography:           Near death experience of drowning or lack of oxygen. Smothering family life; repressive environment

Perinatal:           Experience of being suffocated (swallowing mucous or being strangled by the umbilical cord).

Transpersonal:    Symbolic (or past-life) experience of being buried alive, hanged, etc.

According to Grof’s model, everyone has several different COEX’s operative at one time, and each would have a positive and a negative charge. By experiencing each aspect of the COEX, an individual can clear its negative influence from ordinary life. Using the example above, one could have the full emotional and physical response appropriate to the experiences of drowning, choking, repression (e.g. screaming, fighting, crying, giving up). This would free up the psychological and/or physical pattern, rather than perpetuate the experience in a locked, frozen or jammed form in the unconscious. Each experience of one level of a COEX would subsume major changes of perception and philosophy of life, as well as concrete changes in everyday life. In the above example, the individual might find him/herself able to break free of restricting situations, such as a relationship or job, and find improvements in his/her breathing, self-expression and emotional life. The individual would feel free within, and know that, in the final analysis, the constriction was internal, i.e. maintained in his or her own state of consciousness.

As one goes deeper into the psyche, into the transpersonal realms, it becomes impossible to sustain a belief in simple cause and effect. What one develops instead in a non-causal, more mystical world view that everything the individual has suffered is in some way necessary. Individuals who complete a process of death and rebirth will say that their suffering – no matter how painful or “wrong” from the point of view of ordinary reality – advanced their growth. They are connected to a deeper sense of spirituality, or feel that their existence is part of a greater whole.

Non-Ordinary States for Self-Exploration and Healing

One method through which a non-ordinary state of consciousness can safely be experienced is Holotropic Breathwork, devised by Stanislav and Christina Grof. Deep breathing and carefully selected music are used to induce a non-ordinary state, and focused bodywork is used to finish a session. This work is typically done in a group setting, although everyone’s process is individual. Maximum attention is paid to the safety (both physical and emotional) of the setting. Generally, workshops are residential, in a place removed from ordinary reality, to enable participants to “let go”. A great deal of preparation and integration is done around the sessions, as in any sacred, transforming ritual. Participants are urged to go fully towards any experience that emerges and to suspend judgement until after the experience is completed.

One of the advantages of this work is that the unconscious selects the most important or relevant issue. No ideology is imposed on the client, and the facilitator is not in the role of all-knowing interpreter. The unconscious is completely trusted to provide the necessary healing experience, without therapeutic intervention or prediction. For some people, healing may come in a completely calm and quiet way. For others, it may involve a huge emotional or bioenergetic release. And it can come from any part of the mind or body. As an adjunct to ongoing therapy – particularly for a client who is blocked, has a traumatic history or is very emotionally charged – a holotropic workshop can be invaluable. The preparation for such an experience, and the continued exploration and integration of what emerges, can be done effectively in individual or group therapy.

Holotropic work can often provide a “breakthrough” experience for people whose personal therapy is stuck. A holotropic session encourages and allows the unseen unconscious factor to emerge without any theoretical programme, and gives people a powerful tool for overcoming resistance.

Spiritual Emergence and Non-ordinary States

Research into non-ordinary states of consciousness indicates that many experiences that have been labelled psychotic are actually mystical, and potentially healing, if they are allowed to occur in a safe and supportive environment and if they are properly integrated. The traditional therapeutic situation tries to explore symptoms while ensuring that they do not get too big or unmanageable. The psychiatric model actually tries to suppress symptoms altogether and mistakes that for a cure. In the holotropic model, symptoms are facilitated, i.e. they are helped and encouraged to get as big as they need to until they are resolved. From a holotropic point of view, the problem is not the appearance of the symptom, but the ego’s attempt to control it. In many cases, we have seen longstanding, intense anxiety conditions and psychosomatic disorders resolve, once the client was given permission to allow the non-ordinary experience implicit in the symptoms to emerge fully (i.e. with its visual, emotional and physical components).

It must be stressed that experience with non-ordinary states should be undertaken only in very carefully constructed situations, and that this technique of self-exploration is not suitable for everyone. But for the vast majority of ordinary seekers – people whose pain and confusion has led them to get help, to question who they are – this method of self-exploration holds great rewards and the possibility of profound transformation.

Our culture is certainly one of the most spiritually impoverished of all time. Going about our ordinary lives, obsessed with what Grof calls the nine-to-five “hamburger stand” consciousness, we fail to see the vast, meaningful dimensions of the human soul that await just behind a thin veil. As a culture we have lost the means, and the belief in the importance of gaining access to our deeper selves. It is a skill that most other cultures in the world have considered not just sacred, not just special or exalted, but vital to life itself.

Bibliography

Grof, Stanislav, The Holotropic Mind, 1992, Harper San Francisco Beyond the Brain, 1985,

Grof, Stanislav and Christina, The Stormy Search for the Self: Understanding and Living with Spiritual Emergency, 1991, London.

Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis, 1989, Los Angeles.

Jung, C.G., Memories, Dreams and Reflections.

Barbara Egan, Martin Duffy and Martin Boroson together form the Transpersonal Psychotherapy Group. They are currently training in Holotropic Breathwork with the Grofs. They run three-day, one-day and week-long holotropic workshops in Ireland. 

 Stanislav Grof MD

 Grof is known, in scientific circles, for his early studies of LSD and its effects on the psyche, the field of psychedelic therapy. Building on his observations while conducting LSD research and on Otto Rank's theory of birth trauma, Grof constructed a theoretical framework for prenatal and perinatal psychology and transpersonal psychology in which LSD trips and other powerfully emotional experiences were mapped onto a person's early fetal and neonatal experiences. Over time, this theory developed into what Grof called a "cartography" of the deep human psyche. Following the suppression of legal LSD use in the late 1960s, Grof went on to develop a theory that many states of mind could be explored without drugs by using certain breathing techniques. He continues this work as of 2015 under the trademark "Holotropic Breathwork".

Grof received his M.D. from Charles University in Prague in 1957 and then completed his Ph.D. in medicine at the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences in 1965, training as a Freudian psychoanalyst at this time. In 1967 he was invited to be as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, United States, and went on to become Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center where he worked with Walter Pahnke and Bill Richards among others. In 1973 he was invited to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and lived there until 1987 as a scholar-in-residence, developing his ideas.

As founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (founded in 1977), he went on to become distinguished adjunct faculty member of the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a position he remains in as of 2015^[update].

HEALING ALTERNATIVES - 2017

 

 

"There will never be one single way of defining psychotherapy or its alternative in a manner which is right for all therapists" A Mindell"

The last posting on my blog (October 2016) was about my curiosity regarding an amazing man and his work. Alejandro Jodorowski. Now his books have been translated from Spanish into English and you may get copies on Amazon.com.au

Now, I want to follow up the reflections on Psychomagic and exploring other methods of therapy work. One such method that is closely related to working with ‘magic’ is Process Psychology developed by Arnold and Amy Mindell. What is most interesting in their perspective of psychotherapy is:

1. They do not name their work as ‘psychotherapy’ but Process Psychology.

2. They base their theoretical premises on the ancient Chinese healing concept of TAO.(Explanation later).

3. They focus on the “dreaming process”. The root of this idea came from the C.G. Jung Institute.  (Arny Mindell studied and lectured at the Institute in Zurich).

4. Acknowledging the reality of ‘chaos theory’ where we can find the “hidden blueprint” or a pattern that reveals by way of several channels (relationship, body symptoms, daydreams and night dreams.)

In her book “Alternatives to Therapy, Lao Tse Press, 2006, Amy Mindell states: “To follow the dreaming process, we need both, a scientific and a spiritual attitude. We need the acuity of a scientist who carefully uses his/her awareness (here and now) to follow the patterns and signals happening in the self and the other person, and we need the openness of a shaman who can jump into and follow the dreaming (soul) process without necessarily knowing where it’s heading (p. XIV).

Now some reflections about Taoism.

Taoism (/ˈdaʊɪzəm/), also known as Daoism, is a religious or philosophical tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (literally "Way"). The Tao is a fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Taoism, however, it denotes the principle that is the source, pattern and substance of everything that exists. Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals and social order. Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize wu wei (effortless action), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures: (sperm/ovary energy, or the essence of the physical body),  ("matter-energy" or "life force", including the thoughts and emotions), and  (spirit or generative power). We may call it Body, Mind & Soul or Spirit.

The roots of Taoism go back at least to the 4th century BCE. Early Taoism drew its cosmological notions from the School of YinYang (Naturalists), and was deeply influenced by one of the oldest texts of Chinese culture, the Yijing, which expounds a philosophical system about how to keep human behaviour in accordance with the alternating cycles of nature.

Naturalness - meaning “self-such" or "self organisation” is regarded as a central value in Taoism. It describes the "primordial state" of all things as well as a basic character of the Tao, and is usually associated with spontaneity and creativity. To attain naturalness, one has to identify with the Tao; this involves freeing oneself from selfishness and desire, and appreciating simplicity. We may call it “being in the flow”.

When I write about the idea of ‘Alternatives to Therapy’, I am attempting to inspire the reader, to become curious, to reflect on what they, as therapists, are doing and why? I trained in Psychology, Social Work and Gestalt Therapy. After many years of teaching and training therapy students, I have discovered a few truths – they are:

1. The only thing one needs to be aware when practicing psychotherapy is noticing what and how the client is suggesting to me the healing process. The client has already the answer to this healing.

2. All Tao sages spoke about the “beginners mind” that means that we need to let go of all theories, book knowledge, teachers, etc, and follow the TAO. The less you know or theorise, the better. This will help you to be totally open and notice what the client is suggesting about his or her healing needs. All unconscious processes emerge in a symbolic form.

 A. Jodorowsky is a genius in using the symbolic methods to reach the unconscious. He begun to use the TAROT cards and then a variety of shamanic methods and rituals to reach the client’s centre of healing. From the emerging symbol he suggested a series of healing rituals for the client to perform  that work. Fritz Perls used the empty chair method to discover the client’s projections and inner processes leading to closure and healing. Arnold Mindell demonstrated his work with the dreaming body. This principle states that dreams can be seen as maps that reveal the way in which the process (flow) progresses and patterns emerge giving the therapist clues of healing now and in the future. In summary:

1. Dreams can help us to know whether we are ‘on track’ with a client. That is, a dream can confirm if the therapist is in line or not with the client.

2. Dreams images can help us note the client’s process in a wider context than we may have been aware of.

3. Dreams can often help us to see the person’s identity (Self) and how this process is moving along the healing path.

4. Dreams can give us clues to the rhythm and pacing of the work with client.

5. Dreams give us clues to new methods of working and develop healing rituals.

6. Creating a dream is often a way of transposing (projecting) our inner selves into symbolic images and place those symbols in a visual story.

So, there is obviously a lot more in this work. However, if you are tired or seeking alternative ways of working with clients other than just ‘talking’, please read my previous blog about “Beware of the talking cure” and “Psychomagic” and “Dream Work”. These are powerful alternative methods to add to your list of interventions.

Finally, to reinforce this new Blog and generate further reflections, I am including here an article by the late colleague Marta Preciado. We met in Mexico at her Gestalt Institute and she showed me her paper on Dreams and Nightmares. I offered to translate it from Spanish to English and it is an honour to share it now. Your reflections and comments are appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

DREAMS AS NIGHTMARES – A GESTALT HYPOTHESIS

By Martha L. Preciado – Translated from Spanish by Yaro Starak

 Introduction

Working with dreams as a gestalt therapist gives me great personal insight as a human being and it also enables me to be in touch with my own magical/symbolic part.

It is also a wonderful opportunity to enable people to become more whole and more in touch with their existential self. When this happens, the person discovers more energy for living a fuller life, takes more risks or challenges in their daily life and for many it fulfils an inner purpose or destiny that life presents them.

As a gestalt therapist, I have often reflected deeply on the issues that our dreams place before us. Of particular interest to me are the dreams commonly called “nightmares” In my own experience and in the experience of many other psychotherapists the following are the basic questions that arise when we work with nightmares:

 •What do nightmares offer us?

 •What special messages does the nightmare send us?

 •Can we learn and develop further by working with our nightmares?

When I work with clients that present their dreams as nightmares, I find that they have a strong urgency to do something about their dream. They either want to get rid of these nightmares quickly or want to find out why they are coming to bother and frighten them.

Gestalt therapists often work with recurrent dreams and nightmares. The fundamental grounding literature about nightmares points out to the notion that nightmares consistently produce strong feelings of anxiety, fear and horror. They are experiences that often are related as some sort of horror movies.

However, such simplistic answers are not enough and as a result I began to focus my observations carefully on my clients’ nightmares in my own practice. My observations led me to the following hypothesis that will be elaborated in this article. First, let us review the question more specifically: “what are nightmares”?

What Are Nightmares?

Nightmares have at least two specific and distinguishing features:

(a)    They are charged with a high level of anxiety. This anxiety is experienced for some time, even after the nightmare is interrupted and the person is fully awake and

(b)   Nightmares bring about strong, frightening images but often, when a person awakens, he or she will not have any sense of fear or anxiety about them.

For example, a client reported a dream/nightmare and stated that she dreamt of a cup with red liquid and she was sure that this cup was full of human blood. After this nightmare the client had a major anxiety attack and was afraid to go to sleep.

Another client of mine presented the following image: She dreamt of a deformed, mutilated female body without legs or arms and was covered with wounds smelling quite putrid. However this client had no particular feelings about this dream when she spoke about it.

Although in the first case the dreamer had a strong reaction to her image, and while in the second case there was no affect present, both dream experiences can be classified as nightmares. In many cases nightmares are experienced following a traumatic event. Such an event may be an upsetting horror film, experiencing a shock, being in or watching an accident or having an unusual amount of stress in life which precipitates fears and worries.

For example, one client reported that after her divorce she had the following nightmare: “ I am at a café, sitting and reading a book. Suddenly a man enters holding a big knife in his hand. He begins to kill every customer in the café and I feel that he is going to kill me any moment now. I feel totally frozen and unable to move because of this horrible fear I have. I wake up in a sweat.”

Some Theoretical Reflections about Nightmares

Gestalt therapy has developed a special method of working with dreams that has a specific therapeutic outcome. Dream work is a subtle way of entering into the “magic” world of the client’s inner self. However, the therapist enters this world carefully not interpreting the meaning. Also without leaving behind the process of healing using the therapeutic method.

The basic philosophy of gestalt dream work is to re-integrate the disowned (split) parts of the inner self with the purpose of promoting a healing of the whole person. We call this process ‘the holographic principle.’ We follow the assertion that the dreamer creates all parts of the dream. No one else is creating the dream. A dream is totally and fully our own production, our own drama and our own direction.

If this assertion is true, then all that constitutes a dream is our own projection phenomenon. Fritz Perls was the first proponent of this assertion. He stated that our own disowned parts of the self are expressing themselves in the dream as if it were a play on stage. However this principle is not as simple as it appears to be. Since we may identify with each of the parts in the dream, we also develop an automatic resistance to these parts. We will invariably resist the images in the dream that are not too attractive, pleasant or acceptable to us. For example we may ask; who wants to identify with a dirty pig, a killer, an evil or a horrible monster?

In the case of nightmares, where images are extremely frightening and negative, we naturally tend to refuse to confront such parts, let alone identify with them.  We experience these horrific images as a direct threat to our personal integrity and our own idea of sanity.

The second theoretical reflection is about the gestalt notion of “unfinished business”. This means that something is in the foreground of our awareness and the rest is in the background and hidden from our awareness. When an experience in our life is not complete (finished) the figure/background process tends to become rigid and develops a protective ‘guardian’ that may appear as a ‘solution’ to what has been an unfinished situation.

For example, if I am a child, and I am lacking the maturity and perspective in solving life’s problems, I am not able to handle the attacks upon me by my alcoholic or abusive father or other such difficult and painful situations. As a result of this trauma, I develop a protective pattern of splitting away from my body whereby I will not feel any pain when I get maltreated.

As I grow up this protective pattern is repeated again and again when I encounter what I perceive as abusive situations with others. In spite of the fact that many of these situations I can handle perfectly well as an adult, my early familiar pattern gives me immediate although temporary relief. In time this pattern may develop into what we call “a frozen gestalt” and become a compulsion, a neurotic habit, an addiction or become entrenched in body symptoms. In other words, I develop an avoidance pattern called retroflection.

Retroflection is an internal body symptom that emerges when we do to ourselves what we want to do to others. (I want to fight back and hit my father and instead I fight with myself).

In nightmares we often experience both phenomena at the same time – retroflection and projection. For example, I am dreaming that I am being violently attacked, dismembered and feel like a victim but also in this dream I am the aggressor who attacks and inflicts the pain. Now, what follows is my hypothesis as a result of my practice in working with nightmares.

 

Hypothesis

A scenario: There were times in my life that I experienced a traumatic or difficult situations in which I had a wish/desire/urge to retaliate or release my natural aggressive impulses. However my impulses were stopped by stronger or more powerful opponents. As a form of defense, I retroflected (turned against myself) my aggressive impulses and developed symptoms that enabled me to deal internally with the unfinished situations that required finishing outside myself. This repressed/aggressive energy I turned against myself and as a result I developed pseudo-solutions to my issues like self-hate, low self-esteem, self-mutilation, addictions and so on.

And so, while sleeping I begin to dream of being aggressive and project my aggressive impulses onto images that become so strong that they bounce back at me as nightmares. Thus the process of retroflection and projection goes in both directions – into/against me and out of myself and against others while I am asleep.

Working with Nightmares in Gestalt Therapy

Working with nightmares using the gestalt approach we often experience new resolutions to the problems presented by the dreams. Here is a brief description of the steps we undertake in such work:

 •A person narrates the nightmare in the present tense (here & now).

 •The therapist encourages the client to select an image that may be at this moment most significant, strongest or in the person’s foreground.

 •The client is encouraged to become more aware of the specific details of this image.

 •Invariably the aggressive (energetic) impulses will emerge and are explored in the here and now situation.

 •The feeling of excitement/anxiety may be amplified at this time in the context of the ‘safe emergency’ of this session.

 •The therapist enables the client to ‘stay in the present’ and encounter the dream image.

 •There may be an opportunity for a dialogue with this strong image, however, the mere facing the image may be enough.

 •The therapist pays particular attention to the emerging unfinished business in this encounter as it unfolds in the session.

 •There may be strong, aggressive language, powerful feelings, memories of earlier experiences, emotional release and so on manifesting itself as the blocked  energy is released behind the unfinished situation.

 •Next the therapist pays close attention to the retroflective  patterns (eg. Self fulfilling prophecies) that may appear as a “frozen” figure, a sense of loosing power or loosing energy altogether. Here we may see the ‘impasse’ phenomenon.

 •The therapist does not attempt to change anything but simply supports this process as it is.(paradoxical theory of change).

 •When a strong figure emerges, from this impasse, the therapist encourages the client to re-identify with this figure.

 •In the supportive environment of the therapeutic session, the client is encouraged to identify with and take the position of the strong figure in the dream and make contact with it.

 •Having identified with this figure the client enters the dream once more and expresses him/herself fully as this dream figure, eg: “I am the Devil!”  “I am the witch!” “I am the killer!” and so on.

 •The nightmare scenario is recreated again with the support of the therapist and work continues until the unfinished situation become complete and no longer threatens the client with nightmares.

As a working example, a client began to express images of a nightmare that appeared intransigent (uncompromising) and began to get stuck in a ‘frozen’ figure.  Suddenly a memory came up of a time when she was a teenager and in a relationship with an older man. She reported that he was often violent and abusive to her and this lasted several years. She felt powerless and stuck, unable to leave him. She also felt guilty and remorseful about the relationship.

In the nightmare she is watching a cement truck covering the streets not with cement but with a dead body that someone threw into the cement container of this truck. The truck was ‘cementing’ the streets with what she described as a “human mixture”.

The therapist recreated the dream asking her client to be the driver of that cement truck and put the man she felt abused by in her life in the container of this truck. While she identified with the truck driver she began to imagine that she is covering the streets with his material and his persona and began to shout: “yes, yes, it is him and he is in my truck” While she drove the truck in this recreated dream she began to say: “ here I am cementing al my insecurities that are left from that time with him”, Now I am cementing all my fears of new relationships”……..and so on.

The therapist kept monitoring her feelings and supporting her strong ability to act both physically and emotionally in the new dream scenario.

After this enactment of the dream, the client stated that she felt rather strong, satisfied and happy about the way her life went on. She became more integrated in her relationship with others by not feeling so powerless in the presence of men. When asked what the nightmare’s existential message was for her she replied: “the dream said to me that it is time that you take charge of your life, you are strong and capable now and you can heal yourself!”

Conclusion 

Gestalt work with nightmares is mainly intra-personal; it enables a client to combine the left brain activity of the narrative and the right brain activity of the created images. In this way the person can develop new tools for living a full life.

By integrating our interior life we will be able to integrate fully our interpersonal world and increase our capacity to grow and relate with others more fully and in a new way.

In gestalt work with nightmares the outcome is often positive, the nightmares disappear and life becomes a joy to live.

In the meantime, the therapist must be in close contract with the client for some time to ensure that the inner process is no longer psychologically disturbing and that the client has fully finished what the inner world of dreams is presenting to him or her.

I trust that this short article and my hypothesis within, may be of some help to therapists that attempt to enter the world of the nightmare and shed some light on some of the least known, murky and shadowy aspects of psychotherapy.

References:

Ferud, Sigmund; 1948. “Introduction to Psychoanalysis” part 3 in the “Dreams” section.

Perls, Fritz; 1974. “Dreams and Existence” Edit. Vientos, Santiago de Chile Publisher.

 Downing, Jack & Marmorstein, Robert;  1973, “Dreams & Nightmares” Harper and Row publishers.