What is Holotropic Therapy?

  • 2015

It is a powerful psychotherapeutic and internal exploration technique based on ancient spiritual practices, the contributions of deep psychology and modern research on consciousness.

It was created by Stanislav and Christine Grof, in the United States, in 1976, and tested in thousands of workshops and meetings held throughout the world.

The holotropic term comes from the Greek holos, totality and tropein, moving in the direction of. This means that the goal is to transcend the internal fragmentation, pain and loneliness of the individual being, being able to feel this way, united with the totality of the created.

Holotropic Therapy is based on the healing potential within the psyche when it is guided by non-ordinary states of consciousness.

This is done through breathing, evocative music and body work oriented to energy unlocking that allows access to other domains of the psyche, which are not usually reached Under normal circumstances - but in themselves - they are highly therapeutic. This is how it is possible to relive significant episodes of postnatal biography that have left unconscious traces, explore perinatal experiences (related to intrauterine life and the time of birth) and the unlimited spectrum of transpersonal experiences (death experiences). and rebirth, archetypal experiences, experiences of past lives and states of cosmic unity, among others)

Holotropic Therapy seeks the outcrop of unconscious contents, their conscious experimentation and their physical expression . It activates and mobilizes blocked energies, thus transforming emotional states and psychosomatic symptoms into a flow of dynamic experiences that allow their resolution.

For that reason, the participant is recommended to freely surrender to the experience, without opposing anything that arises internally, allowing sensations and emotions to find a way out channel.

From this point of view, the symptom is not something that should be suppressed, or fought as it is done in medicine or in classical psychiatry, but analogously to the homeopathic principle. In the healing of the like for the like, the intensification of the symptom is seen as the necessary path for its liberation.

This work can last, in some cases, up to several hours seeking to achieve with it the fullest possible expression of the repressed material until it reaches its resolution.

The drawing of mandalas and the elaboration of experiences in small groups are important additional elements that are used in the process.

In this regard, the use of gestalt, psychodramatic and bioenergetic techniques allow the full expression of the dynamic forces of the psyche. They are resources that mediate access to unconscious material and facilitate their integration.

The activation of the psyche through hyperventilation seems to set in motion spontaneous healing processes that are governed by the profound wisdom of the organism.

The idea that each of us has the power, wisdom and ability to heal himself, is the basis of work in Holotropic Therapy.

Who is Stanislav Grof?

Stanislav Grof, MD, Ph.D., Is a world-renowned psychiatrist, with more than 40 years of experience in the investigation of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he completed his PhD in Medicine at the University of Charles School of Medicine, and Philosophy at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
In 1967 he moved to the United States, invited as Professor of the Clinical and Research Council of John Hopkins University, in Baltimore. He was also Head of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Henry Phipps Clinic at John Hopkins University.

He currently resides in Mill Valley, California, conducting training seminars for Holotropic Therapy and Transpersonal Psychology professionals. Dr. Grof is one of the founders and principal theorists of Transpersonal Psychology. He was the Founding President of the ITA -International Transpersonal Association and organizer of the International Conferences on Transpersonal Psychology held in the US, Czechoslovakia, India, Australia and Brazil.

He has published more than one hundred articles in specialized scientific journals. He is the author of several books, some of which have been translated into Spanish as: "Kingdoms of the Human Unconscious", "The Human Encounter with Death" (with Joan Halifax), "Psychotherapy with LSD", "" Transpersonal Psychology: Birth, transcendence and death in psychotherapy ”, “ The Holotropic Mind ”, “ The Cosmic Game ”, “ The Future of Psychology ”, “ Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science ”(comp.), “ In Search of Being ”, “ Beyond of death ”and“ Spiritual Emergency ”, these last four, written in collaboration with his wife Christina Grof.

With information from

http://www.revistasaludalternativa.com/

Source: http://www.imagendelgolfo.com.mx/

What is holotropic therapy?

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