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#2965 -
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - Editor: Jerry Katz
The Nondual Highlights -
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One: Essential Writings on Nonduality: http://snipurl.com/1rycd
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Here's an article on Ken Wilber's Integral Theory and how
Holotropic Breathwork fits into the Integral Vision.
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http://siddhaya.blogspot.com/2007/10/holotropic-breathwork-and-integral.html
HOLOTROPIC BREATHWORK™ AND THE INTEGRAL VISION
by Martin Boroson ©1999
In the last four decades, the West has seen a flowering of new
forms of therapy, new spiritual paths, and the unprecedented
availability of Eastern spiritual traditions. With so many
products in the supermarket of transformation, how do we find the
product we need, when we need it? Many people have spent
years—and a small fortune—in a form of therapy or
spiritual practice that is not well-tailored to their needs. The
situation isn't helped by the outright disagreement amongst the
various schools of psychology and the various spiritual paths
about technique, values, and even about the nature of reality
itself.
The Integral Vision
Ken Wilber, considered by some to be the "Einstein of
consciousness", has carefully developed a theory that gives
coherence to this problem. It is a blueprint for a
"total" path of self-exploration, a vision that he
calls "integral". Marshaling considerable evidence, he
suggests that consciousness is arranged as a spectrum,
encompassing matter, life, mind, soul, and spirit. In modern
times, each of these levels has been the concern of a different
branch of knowledge: physicists look at matter; biologists look
at life; psychologists look at mind; and mystics have
investigated soul and spirit. Unfortunately, each discipline
tends to ignore or downplay the importance of the others. And in
psychology alone, different schools seem to address different
levels of the mind. A truly holistic or integral path would
encompass all levels of the spectrum, acknowledging that we are
composed of all of these dimensions. (1)
Wilber suggests a "plan" for therapy or
self-exploration that would address each level:
Take a practice (or practices) from each of those levels, and
engage whole-heartedly in all of those practices. For the
physical level, you might include physical yoga, weight lifting,
vitamins, nutrition, jogging, etc. For the emotional/body level,
you might try tantric sexuality, therapy that helps you contact
the feeling side of your being, bioenergetics, etc. For the
mental level, cognitive therapy, narrative therapy, talking
therapy, psycho-dynamic therapy, etc. For the soul level,
contemplative meditation, deity yoga, subtle contemplation,
centering prayer, and so on. And for the spirit level, the more
non-dual practices, such as Zen, Dzogchen, Advaita Vedanta,
Kashmir Shaivism, formless Christian mysticism, and so on.
I hesitate to give that list, because, as you know, there are
literally thousands of wonderful practices for all of those
levels, and I shudder at excluding any of them. But please just
focus on the general idea: take one or more practices from each
of the levels of your own being -- matter to body to mind to soul
to spirit -- and exercise all of them to the best of your
ability, individually and collectively. (2)
This is a noble path, a truly royal road, and one that gives a
radically new and expansive way for individuals to develop their
potential. This spectrum idea, Wilber suggests, can also be used
by physicians and therapists to diagnose patients: ascertain
where in the spectrum the patient's illness lies, and then create
an appropriate treatment plan. (3)
But Wilber's approach, although typically thorough, probably
strikes most people as impossible challenge. Imagine coming home
from a difficult day at work, after a long commute, doing the
chores, spending quality-time with the kids, and then beginning a
regimen of jogging, Tai Chi, psychotherapy, chanting, and
meditation (not to mention community service and political
involvement). It's a great theory, but hard to imagine in daily
life. However the work of another leading light of transpersonal
studies, Dr. Stanislav Grof, may provide a more efficient and
practical solution, embracing the entire spectrum in one path.
The Holotropic Practice
Dr. Stanislav Grof is one of the pioneers of clinical
consciousness research, and has been cited by Wilber as
"arguably the world's greatest living psychologist"
(4). With Christina Grof, he developed a technique called
Holotropic Breathwork™, in which clients gain access to a
non-ordinary state of consciousness through deep, fast breathing.
This process is strengthened by evocative music, and is supported
by a considerable degree of preparation and personal attention.
Clients lie on a mattress and close their eyes, but are free to
move their bodies, or cry, scream, sing, chant, shout, move, spit
up, meditate, etc., if the inner experience demands. In this
state of consciousness, clients can have experiences that relate
to any part of the spectrum, including: formless mysticism,
archetypes (eg. deities, angels, mantras), past lives, shamanic
journeys, bio-energetic release, repressed trauma (eg. childhood
abuse, physical accidents), regression to infancy, and birth. And
for each experience that emerges, at each level of the spectrum,
any of the "thousands of wonderful practices" can
emerge spontaneously. "Holotropic" means "moving
toward wholeness, and Grof believes that each holotropic
experience moves the individual to the next appropriate step on
their journey toward wholeness.
We can consider Holotropic Breathwork in three ways, each
illustrating its benefits as an integral or full-spectrum path.
1. As diagnosis:
Holotropic Breathwork selects the level of the spectrum at which
a person's effort is most effective
When we enter a holotropic state with an open mind and no agenda,
the psyche seems to "select" the experience that is
most charged or "ripe" at that time. Grof calls this
the "radar function". The experience that emerges could
not have been predicted or planned, but it invariably turns out
to be relevant and effective to the participant's growth. It is
as if we open ourselves completely to discovering what is really
going on at the deepest levels of our being at that time, and we
allow that experience to evolve and teach us. In other words, the
holotropic session brings an individual directly to the
cutting-edge of his or her personal evolution. From Wilber's
point-of-view, we could say that Holotropic Breathwork determines
the level of the spectrum that is most efficient for present
growth. The radar function is like a highly sophisticated
diagnostic tool that instantly pinpoints the problem or potential
that is most charged emotionally and most significant. Like a
form of internal triage, Holotropic Breathwork sorts out what is
the most urgent. Some examples:
A client believes that he needs to express anger toward his
mother, and has been talking about this for years in therapy. But
during his holotropic session, he re-experiences a car accident
he had many years ago. Revisiting the moment of impact, the
sudden fright, the need to scream, and the way he froze in
terror, he is able to release his scream from a frozen state.
This unlocks his anger.
A person feels blocked in her practice of Zen meditation, is
starting to despair, and may give up practice altogether. During
her holotropic session, she re-experiences a moment of her birth
when the passage was blocked, and she went into fetal distress.
She releases this trauma at a physical and emotional level, and
then finds that her concentration and ability to sit still in her
meditative practice has improved.
A person who is being flooded with mystical images and subtle
energies, triggered by recreational drug use, is desperately
trying to avoid psychiatric admission. During his holotropic
session, he re-experiences a near-death experience in childhood
in which he "left" his body. Working through this
trauma in a physical way (bodywork and catharsis) helps to
"ground" him back in his body.
A person who has been in therapy for many years, working on
issues of sexual abuse, feels locked in a pattern of blame. In
her holotropic session, she encounters a divine being who opens
up her heart. She is overwhelmed with compassion and is able to
forgive her abuser.
In these cases, intensive work at the wrong level of the spectrum
is inefficient, if not actually counterproductive. It is far
simpler to invite the psyche to choose the appropriate level for
the next step.
2. As healing:
Holotropic Breathwork facilitates the method or practice that is
most appropriate to an individual's present needs
Every form of therapy or spiritual path has its list of do's and
don'ts, and its own proscribed method for treatment or spiritual
progression. In meditation you sit absolutely still, and in
trance-dancing you move until you're ecstatic. In bioenergetics
you express your anger, and in kundalini yoga you re-direct it
internally. But Holotropic Breathwork™ is extraordinarily
method-free . A client is simply encouraged to allow whatever is
emerging as they breath deeper and faster. They are only
"required" to keep their eyes closed, so that the
experience is not projected onto others, and to stay on their
mattress, so that they can be kept safe. There is no time limit,
no noise limit, no rules of posture or diet, no institutional
hierarchy, no guru, no sacred text, and no dress code. If the
inner experience wills it, the client can scream, cry, chant,
pray, regress to infancy, speak in tongues, meditate, move into
yoga postures, leave their body, enter their body, punch a
beanbag, shake, sweat, gyrate—the list is endless. An inner
healing mechanism is allowed to do whatever is necessary for
healing and transformation of the individual, dictating the
actual form of practice or therapy, without imposition of
anyone's ego needs, academic or cultural background, or belief
structure.
The Holotropic Breathwork session is a physical and emotional
space where the deepest dimensions of our being are given
encouragement to work their magic. And the actual form and method
of transformation is chosen by the emerging experience. We could
say that Spirit itself chooses the form and method of its
evolution.
3. As prescription:
Holotropic Breathwork directs a client to forms of
self-exploration that will be most effective outside of the
holotropic experience
Holotropic Breathwork provides a prescription for other forms of
healing. In this sense, it is like an all-embracing referral
agency. If you are confused about what therapy or spiritual
practice to pursue, simply gain access to a deep non-ordinary
state of consciousness, and see what emerges organically. One
client found herself vacillating between a commitment to T'ai
Chi, hatha yoga or Zen meditation. But after a series of
holotropic sessions in which her body spontaneously went into
yoga postures, each accompanied by physical healing and spiritual
insight, her path was clear. She committed herself to a formal
practice of hatha yoga. Another person found that in spite of his
spiritual hunger, his sessions were focused on a lonely part of
his childhood. This was an important "prescription" to
do some inner child work, or supportive psychotherapy, outside of
the sessions.
In this sense, Holotropic Breathwork is not simply one of the
"thousands of wonderful paths", but is a meta-path, a
post-modern clearing house for everything from biofeedback and
psychoanalysis to Alcoholics Anonymous and past-life regression
to Sufi dancing and kriya yoga. These additional therapies can
augment the practice of Holotropic Breathwork, until, perhaps,
the inner dynamic shifts and a different form of practice is
"prescribed".
A Big Experience of Everything
Grof acknowledges the importance of working through all levels of
consciousness. From extensive clinical observation, he discovered
an extraordinary phenomenon that is consistent with Wilber's
concept of the spectrum. Grof noticed that an individual's issues
are grouped along certain themes. There are common patterns
linking one's emotional issues, physical problems, birth
dynamics, and profound universal spiritual questions. Grof calls
these threads or chains "systems of condensed
experience", or COEX's for short.
Here is the way a COEX might emerge in a series of Holotropic
Breathwork sessions:
Samantha has suffered, most of her life, from persistent throat
infections. Emotionally, she feels inhibited from expressing
herself. During her first Holotropic Breathwork session, she
remembers a music teacher from elementary school who viscously
told her that she "couldn't sing a note". In another
session, a childhood incident emerges in which her brother tried
to strangle her. In re-experiencing this, she screams and
screams--releasing long-held muscular tension in her throat. As
her process deepens, in subsequent sessions, she experiences a
moment of her birth when the cord was around her neck, and
understands that at a deep, unconscious level, she has always
confused her drive to emerge and be free with a life-threatening,
choking sensation. When her process deepens to the transpersonal
level, she re-lives a past-life as a man be-headed for his
religious convictions. And then one day, she has a shift on an
entirely symbolic, spiritual level. She experiences herself as a
swan, singing as it dies. For the first time in her life, she has
an image of singing while dying, instead of singing or dying. In
this session she feels her voice restored to her, and she loses
her fear of death. Having released so much fear and tension in
her throat through this process, she now rarely gets a throat
infection.
According to Grof, the COEX's are finally resolved when they have
been addressed at all levels (5). This embracing vision offers
hope to those who have been through encounter groups and
re-birthing, psychoanalysis and mushrooms, but have found that
the same old problems keep reappearing. To those many weary
souls, Holotropic Breathwork offers the possibility of other
dimensions of the psyche, and other forms of release, that, when
accessed, will do the trick. The most transformative experience
may have been right there all along, awaiting only the humility
of the ego, the freedom from method, and the openness and safety
of the setting.
Most spectacularly, in Holotropic Breathwork, we can have
experiences that touch on several levels of the spectrum at once,
or even embrace the entire spectrum. It is common for individuals
to have a profound spiritual realization at the same time as a
major physical release. In this simultaneous experience, we also
become aware that all levels of Being are deeply interwoven. Long
before the end of our journey, before we have solved all our
problems or united with the Infinite Divine, we experience an
ever-deepening awareness—in the fabric of our Being and the
fibers of our body—of the seamlessness of Creation.
The Whole Spectrum Embraced
Ken Wilber has been credited with unifying Freud and the Buddha,
creating an integral vision that spans the past and future of
consciousness, and more. And Holotropic Breathwork, free to
meander everywhere and anywhere across this spectrum, brings us
directly to the cutting edge of our evolution. It requires only
that we lean toward the truth that is emerging now and here, in
the deepest and farthest reaches of the present moment. With
unprecedented openness—in theory and method— it
embraces all the ancient forms of worship and all the modern
means of personal growth, and even holds space for those paths
yet to be invented. Through it, we can gain access to the entire
spectrum of consciousness, to all the magnificent dimensions of
Being, and we can travel along any or all of wonderful therapies
and paths, aiming always, steadfastly, at the one, integral goal.