The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration

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SUNY Press, Jan 1, 1988 - Psychology - 321 pages
Here Grof presents a useful model of the psyche--a model extended by his thirty years of studying non-ordinary states of consciousness. It is useful for understanding such phenomena as shamanism, mysticism, psychedelic states, spontaneous visionary experiences, and psychotic episodes. The model is also useful in explaining the dynamics of experiential psychotherapies and a variety of sociopolitical manifestations such as war and revolution.

This book might have been entitled Beyond Drugs. The second part describes the principles and process of the non-pharmacological technique developed by the author and his wife, Christina, for self-exploration and for psychotherapy. Grof explores in detail the components of this technique. He describes its method, its effective mechanisms, as well as its goals and potential. Its practice is simple, since it utilizes the natural healing capacity of the psyche.

 

Contents

The Sensory Barrier and the RecollectiveBiographical Level
3
Dynamics of the Perinatal Matrices
7
The Amniotic Universe
11
Cosmic Engulfment and No Exit
15
The DeathRebirth Struggle
21
The DeathRebirth Experience
29
Transpersonal Dimensions of the Psyche
37
Experiential Extension Within Consensus Reality and SpaceTime
45
Effective Mechanisms of Healing and Personality Transformation
219
Intensification of Conventional Therapeutic Mechanisms
222
Dynamic Shifts in the Psyches Governing Systems
227
Therapeutic Potential of the DeathRebirth Process
234
Therapeutic Mechanisms on the transpersonal level
236
Healing as a Movement Toward Wholeness
238
Potential and Goals of Experiential SelfExploration
249
Emotional and Psychosomatic Healing
250

Experiential Extension Beyond Consensus Reality and SpaceTime
105
Transpersonal Experiences of Psychoid Nature
148
Philosophical Challenges from Transpersonal Experiences
160
New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration
165
Principles of Holotropic Therapy
167
Therapeutic Effects of Intense Breathing Pneumocatharsis
170
The Healing Potential of Music
184
Focused Body Work
194
The Procedure of Holotropic Therapy
200
Pursuit of a More Rewarding Life Strategy
258
Philosophical and Spiritual Quest
265
psychedelics in Psychotherapy and SelfExploration
275
Ritual and Therapeutic Use of Psychedelics
281
Principles of LSD Psychotherapy
289
Table of Basic Perinatal Matrices
299
Bibliography
303
Index
311
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Page xi - It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.
Page xi - Knowing others is wisdom; Knowing the self is enlightenment. Mastering others requires force; Mastering the self needs strength.

About the author (1988)

Stanislav Grof, MD, is a psychiatrist with more than fifty years of experience in research of non-ordinary states of consciousness. He has been Principal Investigator in a psychedelic research program at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University; and Scholar-in-Residence at the Esalen Institute. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, conducts professional training programs in holotropic breathwork, and gives lectures and seminars worldwide. He is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology and the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA). In 2007, he was granted the prestigious Vision 97 award from the Vaclav and Dagmar Havel Foundation in Prague. He is the author and editor of many books, including Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science; Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy; The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness; Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution; and Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research; all published by SUNY Press.

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