Transpersonal psychotherapy
Post on 25-Feb-2023
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This article talks about the transpersonal approach in mental illnesses, viewing psychiatric crises as potentially evolutionnary episodes in consciousness, often disrupting psychological equilibriums; hence the necessity of a new therapist formation, someone capable of accepting and undestanding what the patients are going through.
Transcript
Introduction
I started a few months ago to follow a woman, (whom we will call here Maria), to support her in this period with her family problems: a daughter, with psychiatric problems (self-harm and violence at school and at home, social withdrawal), and a husband with obsessive compulsive problems.
Maria is a psychologist, lives in northern Italy, has already experienced other psychotherapies, and works herself with disadvantaged adolescents; she says she is satisfied with my method in psychotherapy, which she had not experienced before.
I will try in this article, with the help of a recent session, to indicate some main points of a method of transpersonal psychotherapy (PTTP).
In this approach we do not propose in the first instance to solve personal problems, of the "me"; it is rather a matter of "moving", so to speak, from the “me”, (that is the personal identity, the body mind complex we believe to be), to the Self, (that is, what we truly are, our true nature).
This means to shift the point of view, to help the awakening of consciousness, to sustain the process of self-realization.
In the Transpersonal approach it is believed that one must pass through the death of egoic identification, accompany the patient beyond the illusion of death, to be reborn, so that a new level of consciousness is born.
In this perspective, psychiatric pathology, mental distress in general, are like a birth, the birth, of a new consciousness, which begins with a psychological death and intense energy movements, which we call crisis.
These are therefore non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC), which are almost always accompanied, mixed, by egoic resistance to give way, so that the suffering of the crisis is complicated and prolonged, often chronicized by this resistance, cause of additional suffering.
In the analogy with childbirth, it is not a walk in the park, but neither is it a pathology; The suffering of this psychological death, and the drama that is made of it, must nevertheless be adequately assisted.[footnoteRef:1] [1: From this point of view, psychic suffering does not depend so much on change, the current crisis, as on resistance to change. Literally interpreting thoughts of death as an invitation to suicide, would be like saying that Jesus invited the human being to a self-elimination, when he said that "He who loses his life will save it"]
In fact, when we talk about care, we usually mean in traditional medical intervention activities and interventions that lead to the resolution of problems: the crisis in this vision is considered pathological, and must go away; the crisis must be brought down.
In the transpersonal vision, on the other hand, care means "taking care", accompanying, with solicitous love and adequate knowledge, a process that is not classified as or considered pathological. Nevertheless, we are aware that sometimes the process can become complicated, and generate even very intense or prolonged suffering.
Care in this perspective therefore means accompanying the crisis, aligning oneself with the process, which must first be understood, welcomed and experienced in oneself.
It is therefore important in the TP approach to present this vision of the crisis from the beginning, in order to be able to assist it properly. Continuing with the example of childbirth, it is a question of declaring to the patient that it is not a tumour of the belly, something to be eradicated.
From the beginning, the crisis is considered as a process that may be difficult to bear but who at the same time bears an emerging process of self-realization of consciousness, of awakening, the beginning of a healing process.
This awakening encounter multiple obstacles from within, and we offer to support what wants to come to light, and which indeed is already on the way.
To be able to guide and comfort the patient during this journey, it is important to have a clear map of the process and its steps.
In the past, as Jung has well explained, the esoteric science of alchemy described the mysterious elaboration of consciousness, in its transformation from lead to gold, (the nigredo, albedo and rubedo).
Another traditional map describing the process of circulation of energy in the subtle body, its organization in chakras and channels, is described in the spiritual science of yoga.
This path of consciousness in its "rediscovery", the spiritual feminine drive behind the evolutionary process that allows man to reach the highest inner heavens is also masterfully described in a supreme and clear map, Dante’s Divine Comedy.
In this approach it is argued that the causal factor of transformation is actually endogenous, but a spiritual one, not a genetical one; it is the awakening of consciousness (of sleeping beauty).
In the same view, all the mental distress, of the crisis, is linked to the difficulty that the
awakening encounters when emerging in people who are not ready, who are still too identified with the ego.[footnoteRef:2] This resistance is finally a reduced and impeded level of consciousness in which one resists and persists, and which must therefore be addressed as the main problem. [2: The process of purification from identification with the shadow, which in the Divine Comedy takes place in Hell and Purgatory, and ends with "pure and willing to ascend to the stars”.]
This is why the transpersonal method does not directly cure the symptomatology as a purpose: personal care always happens, but as a side effect, secondarily.
The therapeutic effect of this self-realization however always manifests at the level of the individual ego as well, but naturally descends as a related and secondary phenomenon from the main cause, that is awakening.
The aim of this work is to indicate to patients and therapists some crucial points of the transpersonal method in psychotherapy.
Let us anticipate now here something of the method that we will now see implemented in the session, so that it does not seem too incomprehensible.
The method is based on the assumption, individually recognized, and otherwise indemonstrable, that the perceived reality is One, and not divided into multiple; and that to start from this point of view it is correct and appropriate.
So, you can see how from the very beginning of the session, and continuing in its subsequent steps, I base myself for the interpretation of what emerges in the session on a perception that I give for granted to be unified, common to me and the patient; as if what happens in me or in the patient were the same and only thing, and that they happened in a time that is not sequential, but identical, "in real time".[footnoteRef:3] [3: In the Paradise of the Divine Comedy, for example, Dante asks a blessed soul how can it be possible that the may know what he wants to ask, even before the question is expressed; hereupon the soul replies that this is possible because one can see all question and answer in God's mirror, which reflects all of us. Often Dante in Paradise uses neologisms, newly created expressions, to indicate this state of non-separation (“if I could be into you (or be you), as much as you come into me (be me.)). This "mirror" is God-creator, that is, Consciousness, who also lives in everybody, and that, once it has recognized itself, has no temporal limits.]
The objection that will immediately arise in those who are accustomed to the dualistic method of dialogue, of question and answer, is that it seems very easy to attribute to the patient what we therapists are actually feeling.
This method actually allows much more than the traditional one to project onto the patient one's unconscious and unresolved problems, which could worsen the situation by adding the neurosis of the therapist to that already present in the patient.
However, this method will be reliable and safe to use, and faster and more effective than the traditional one, if the therapist possesses the qualifications that will be discussed in detail below. In essence he must have at least a good evolutionary level, and mainly he should have experienced awakening, at least its first phases; he should know about NOSC by personal experience, so as to be able to navigate in the non-dualistic working condition.
He must therefore at least have made a good personal analysis, and be aware of this risk of mistaking what he feels for something that the patient feels; in other words, he will have to take into account his personal equation, by eliminating himself from the equation, and by residing in the Self, that is, being completely transparent.
If these conditions are not present and stable, or if it has not been at least partly initiated, I admit this method should not be recommended in general, since it would then be very easy to attribute one's inner perceptions to the patient.
These reflections derive from years in my clinical practice, in which I have been able to verify it in many different clinical cases.
I have thus personally seen that when there is no interference in the field of therapy, when there is no filter of the personal needs of the therapist, and that therefore at least in the hour of the session he is completely dedicated to his work, he can then actually correctly and directly perceive the movements of consciousness and of the energies implicated through his own identification, because he is not actually distinct from the patient.[footnoteRef:4] [4: He is, in other words, fused but not confused. This problem is related with the reflexions regarding transference and countertransference, the founding basis, Alpha and omega of the psychoanalytic method. When reading the records of the clinical cases of Freud and Jung, we see that what happened in the session, (always very difficult to remember, tell, understand), was probably deeper and more mysterious than just a dialogue and a correct interpretation of transference and countertransference; rather, it was always about the mystery and the alchemical miracle transformation, (the symbols and transformations of the libido) and of consciousness. Only partially will it later be possible, translating but also betraying in part that process, to try to narrate with dualistic words a process that cannot be broken down into parts in order to function.]
The absence of interference of the ego, transparency, is the condition for considering valid perception in the field, to be certain that what is seen and perceived, is really happening in the patient, and this is seen through oneself: what is perceived is considered, and actually is, really present.
Session with Mary
9.9.2022, on Skype.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Key: T stands for Therapist, P stands for Patient. When I report inner feelings not expressed, the text is italicized and indented.]
P: Here we are.
She smiles briefly, then keeps silent and looks at me.
I immediately perceive a feeling, coming to me from her, of restlessness, perhaps also because of the way she had sat down; and I can feel her internal movement, and I am aware of a deep pain in her heart.
After a pause, I ask:
T: What happened to you?
She immediately transmits to me a feeling of pain to carry, I can feel it in my heart.
I feel her heart is heavy, and I feel that she is immediately a little relieved, having been seen and understood right away.
She almost cries.
T: Leave aside the thoughts that seem to justify your discomfort, the sense of death that we feel.
Leave these thoughts about your depressed husband, your daughter in danger, who are the apparent causes of depression; your daughter could feel that bad even without these thoughts of yours. If you don’t change your status now, you cannot intervene in this difficult real family situation in a constructive way.
Let's listen more deeply to what is felt now.
Pause
P: In fact, this week my parents told me just that: my anxious worrying about them, stresses them out; they said I should accept, and that I could at least not make things worse, in these difficult conditions, which cannot be avoided and solved.
T: Okay. But what do you feel now?
Pause
P: An intense, unpleasant burning sensation here, at the level of the stomach.
I feel that the second and first chakras are not quite open: there is a slight tension, and little activity, little pleasantness there; but I do not feel great activity in the third chakra.
So, I tell her:
T: Put your hands on the second and third chakras, that is on your stomach and lower abdomen, and listen, without following the thoughts; what do you feel?
She puts her hands as I told her, concentrates by closing her eyes.
As soon as she does this, she immediately feels that the energy below begins to open, that is, to increase in intensity and starts to spread, unifying gradually her legs, belly and back.
T: Do you feel that you are relaxing? And do you feel that this state is spreading?
Nods. As I listen, I say few things, like to pay attention to these internal changes, to be aware of them.
She then begins to move her shoulders, rotating them a little, as if to release the muscles and the feeling of tension, which she only now perceives to be still present in that region.
I insist:
T: Do you feel that the pleasant state of relaxation spreads around?
As we continue to listen, I perceive that as I say the word "pleasant," a pleasant feeling is activated and grows in her,
and this happens in the region of the heart: a lightening of the heart is felt;
and I feel that she feels love, and even a light joy.
When I realize this, it becomes clear for me that this is an invitation to follow, to be aware of,
and therefore, at this point I ask:
T: And what do you feel now?
P: I feel that I can perceive much better now the chakras at the bottom; and I feel in that area a more pleasant flow, which is spreading around.
T: No, we have already seen and welcomed this.
Do you feel also something new, in other parts of your body, that was not there before?
This happened when I told you the word "spreads"; I ask you this, because there was a change at that moment.
P: Yes, it's true, I now feel something new ... in the heart, which I did not feel before.
Maybe a slight pressure, or maybe an opening.
T: What is the name of this feeling?
P: Peace, serenity ...
I see that she does not immediately grasp well what I am talking about; she still is not recognizing the most active element, of love, and joy.
This complex feeling has meanwhile opened up more, and I feel it now flowing upwards, in her back. I continue:
T: And in the heart, behind, what do you feel?
P: I feel a more pleasant state, a sense of openness, which grows; and now I also feel a flow of energy in my back.
T: Well, let's listen better.
Resting now in feeling more deeply, we then start to perceive the flow of energy becoming stronger in the fourth chakra, in the back;
then we feel it growing more, and mature, and open upwards, above, towards the crown, with the partial exception of the area of the fifth upper chakra, (ears - jaw region).
In the meantime, I also perceive a progress of integration, a homogenization,
and the energy intensity in these regions spread around and then becoming weaker, as soon as the energy stabilizes, is integrated, normalizes.
I also feel that this integration also takes place between these supradiaphragmatic events, just perceived, and those we had observed before, in the sub diaphragmatic area.
Pause
T: (I read to her a short passage from a Taoist text, which says how healthy and easy it is to make light circulate).
"When light circulates, the powers of the whole body predispose themselves before his throne, just as a holy King manages a capital company, sets his own rules and collects tribute. You just have to circulate the light, which is the deepest and most wonderful secret. Light is easy to move, and if it moves sufficiently in a circle, it crystallizes. It is said that this is the condition to make you fly "silently high in the morning" [footnoteRef:6]. [6: From “The secret of the golden flower” translated by Wilhelm. ]
Silence.
I feel that she is aware of these internal processes, that she has noticed them, and welcomes them and follows them and facilitates them.
I also feel that she understands what the text is about.
This is one of the moments in which the mind is still: it does not come and goes. These moments happen several times during the session and are recognized more and more.
In this "other" suspended, space-time, the mind does not matter, has no influence, and there is no sense of separation.
After a while I then say:
T: Now we are at peace, and we can bring this state into the relationship with your daughter, which gives you such anxiety.
This is a medicine for your daughter, and for your husband;
because listen, and verify, in the state in which you are now, a state of pure perception, there is no one who defends or offends: we are without judgment. Verify.
Maybe just for a short while, but now we are free from the “me”.
This is what allows to “stay with” the sense of death of your daughter, and to really accompany her: this “liberation from the me” is the only medicine.
This is the method, the “other” journey”: and we are seeing it operating, and we are perceiving its energy release.
We are looking at the world from another point of view.
We fall back in that suspended state.
She absorbs, nods.
She remains open, at peace,
and in the perception of the flow circulating within her and between us.
Having achieved this, and after a while, I ask:
T: Were there any dreams during the week, that you remember?
P: Yes, several, but I remember above all a dream of this night:
"I was in a big crowded room, like in an American party, there were also colour people; it also looked like a disco.
I understand that something serious is about to happen, a massacre I believe, those situations in which everybody kills everybody.
I feel that I have to participate, but I would also like to leave.
Then the shooting begins.
I try to protect myself, and I see that the shots, are also directed towards the floor, that looks like plastic, and tear it apart.
At this point I see myself at the entrance of this room, and I see that under the gash of the floor there is another room, where there is a care environment for those who are dying in the upper room.
Then comes a small and wrinkled old woman, like those of manga (which are in my opinion a bit crazy cartoons), having a surprising agility, which scares me, and I retire.
I then find myself on an avenue, where there are many restaurants, with my whole family; precisely in one of them, with my parents and my current family.
They take care and worry that I might have there vegetarian food, because I am vegetarian; and apparently there is only grilled stuff there.
So, they ask the waiter, who says that there is a dish suitable for me: a kind of risotto; but I can see over the risotto some fish.
He reassures me that it's fine…
I started a few months ago to follow a woman, (whom we will call here Maria), to support her in this period with her family problems: a daughter, with psychiatric problems (self-harm and violence at school and at home, social withdrawal), and a husband with obsessive compulsive problems.
Maria is a psychologist, lives in northern Italy, has already experienced other psychotherapies, and works herself with disadvantaged adolescents; she says she is satisfied with my method in psychotherapy, which she had not experienced before.
I will try in this article, with the help of a recent session, to indicate some main points of a method of transpersonal psychotherapy (PTTP).
In this approach we do not propose in the first instance to solve personal problems, of the "me"; it is rather a matter of "moving", so to speak, from the “me”, (that is the personal identity, the body mind complex we believe to be), to the Self, (that is, what we truly are, our true nature).
This means to shift the point of view, to help the awakening of consciousness, to sustain the process of self-realization.
In the Transpersonal approach it is believed that one must pass through the death of egoic identification, accompany the patient beyond the illusion of death, to be reborn, so that a new level of consciousness is born.
In this perspective, psychiatric pathology, mental distress in general, are like a birth, the birth, of a new consciousness, which begins with a psychological death and intense energy movements, which we call crisis.
These are therefore non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC), which are almost always accompanied, mixed, by egoic resistance to give way, so that the suffering of the crisis is complicated and prolonged, often chronicized by this resistance, cause of additional suffering.
In the analogy with childbirth, it is not a walk in the park, but neither is it a pathology; The suffering of this psychological death, and the drama that is made of it, must nevertheless be adequately assisted.[footnoteRef:1] [1: From this point of view, psychic suffering does not depend so much on change, the current crisis, as on resistance to change. Literally interpreting thoughts of death as an invitation to suicide, would be like saying that Jesus invited the human being to a self-elimination, when he said that "He who loses his life will save it"]
In fact, when we talk about care, we usually mean in traditional medical intervention activities and interventions that lead to the resolution of problems: the crisis in this vision is considered pathological, and must go away; the crisis must be brought down.
In the transpersonal vision, on the other hand, care means "taking care", accompanying, with solicitous love and adequate knowledge, a process that is not classified as or considered pathological. Nevertheless, we are aware that sometimes the process can become complicated, and generate even very intense or prolonged suffering.
Care in this perspective therefore means accompanying the crisis, aligning oneself with the process, which must first be understood, welcomed and experienced in oneself.
It is therefore important in the TP approach to present this vision of the crisis from the beginning, in order to be able to assist it properly. Continuing with the example of childbirth, it is a question of declaring to the patient that it is not a tumour of the belly, something to be eradicated.
From the beginning, the crisis is considered as a process that may be difficult to bear but who at the same time bears an emerging process of self-realization of consciousness, of awakening, the beginning of a healing process.
This awakening encounter multiple obstacles from within, and we offer to support what wants to come to light, and which indeed is already on the way.
To be able to guide and comfort the patient during this journey, it is important to have a clear map of the process and its steps.
In the past, as Jung has well explained, the esoteric science of alchemy described the mysterious elaboration of consciousness, in its transformation from lead to gold, (the nigredo, albedo and rubedo).
Another traditional map describing the process of circulation of energy in the subtle body, its organization in chakras and channels, is described in the spiritual science of yoga.
This path of consciousness in its "rediscovery", the spiritual feminine drive behind the evolutionary process that allows man to reach the highest inner heavens is also masterfully described in a supreme and clear map, Dante’s Divine Comedy.
In this approach it is argued that the causal factor of transformation is actually endogenous, but a spiritual one, not a genetical one; it is the awakening of consciousness (of sleeping beauty).
In the same view, all the mental distress, of the crisis, is linked to the difficulty that the
awakening encounters when emerging in people who are not ready, who are still too identified with the ego.[footnoteRef:2] This resistance is finally a reduced and impeded level of consciousness in which one resists and persists, and which must therefore be addressed as the main problem. [2: The process of purification from identification with the shadow, which in the Divine Comedy takes place in Hell and Purgatory, and ends with "pure and willing to ascend to the stars”.]
This is why the transpersonal method does not directly cure the symptomatology as a purpose: personal care always happens, but as a side effect, secondarily.
The therapeutic effect of this self-realization however always manifests at the level of the individual ego as well, but naturally descends as a related and secondary phenomenon from the main cause, that is awakening.
The aim of this work is to indicate to patients and therapists some crucial points of the transpersonal method in psychotherapy.
Let us anticipate now here something of the method that we will now see implemented in the session, so that it does not seem too incomprehensible.
The method is based on the assumption, individually recognized, and otherwise indemonstrable, that the perceived reality is One, and not divided into multiple; and that to start from this point of view it is correct and appropriate.
So, you can see how from the very beginning of the session, and continuing in its subsequent steps, I base myself for the interpretation of what emerges in the session on a perception that I give for granted to be unified, common to me and the patient; as if what happens in me or in the patient were the same and only thing, and that they happened in a time that is not sequential, but identical, "in real time".[footnoteRef:3] [3: In the Paradise of the Divine Comedy, for example, Dante asks a blessed soul how can it be possible that the may know what he wants to ask, even before the question is expressed; hereupon the soul replies that this is possible because one can see all question and answer in God's mirror, which reflects all of us. Often Dante in Paradise uses neologisms, newly created expressions, to indicate this state of non-separation (“if I could be into you (or be you), as much as you come into me (be me.)). This "mirror" is God-creator, that is, Consciousness, who also lives in everybody, and that, once it has recognized itself, has no temporal limits.]
The objection that will immediately arise in those who are accustomed to the dualistic method of dialogue, of question and answer, is that it seems very easy to attribute to the patient what we therapists are actually feeling.
This method actually allows much more than the traditional one to project onto the patient one's unconscious and unresolved problems, which could worsen the situation by adding the neurosis of the therapist to that already present in the patient.
However, this method will be reliable and safe to use, and faster and more effective than the traditional one, if the therapist possesses the qualifications that will be discussed in detail below. In essence he must have at least a good evolutionary level, and mainly he should have experienced awakening, at least its first phases; he should know about NOSC by personal experience, so as to be able to navigate in the non-dualistic working condition.
He must therefore at least have made a good personal analysis, and be aware of this risk of mistaking what he feels for something that the patient feels; in other words, he will have to take into account his personal equation, by eliminating himself from the equation, and by residing in the Self, that is, being completely transparent.
If these conditions are not present and stable, or if it has not been at least partly initiated, I admit this method should not be recommended in general, since it would then be very easy to attribute one's inner perceptions to the patient.
These reflections derive from years in my clinical practice, in which I have been able to verify it in many different clinical cases.
I have thus personally seen that when there is no interference in the field of therapy, when there is no filter of the personal needs of the therapist, and that therefore at least in the hour of the session he is completely dedicated to his work, he can then actually correctly and directly perceive the movements of consciousness and of the energies implicated through his own identification, because he is not actually distinct from the patient.[footnoteRef:4] [4: He is, in other words, fused but not confused. This problem is related with the reflexions regarding transference and countertransference, the founding basis, Alpha and omega of the psychoanalytic method. When reading the records of the clinical cases of Freud and Jung, we see that what happened in the session, (always very difficult to remember, tell, understand), was probably deeper and more mysterious than just a dialogue and a correct interpretation of transference and countertransference; rather, it was always about the mystery and the alchemical miracle transformation, (the symbols and transformations of the libido) and of consciousness. Only partially will it later be possible, translating but also betraying in part that process, to try to narrate with dualistic words a process that cannot be broken down into parts in order to function.]
The absence of interference of the ego, transparency, is the condition for considering valid perception in the field, to be certain that what is seen and perceived, is really happening in the patient, and this is seen through oneself: what is perceived is considered, and actually is, really present.
Session with Mary
9.9.2022, on Skype.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Key: T stands for Therapist, P stands for Patient. When I report inner feelings not expressed, the text is italicized and indented.]
P: Here we are.
She smiles briefly, then keeps silent and looks at me.
I immediately perceive a feeling, coming to me from her, of restlessness, perhaps also because of the way she had sat down; and I can feel her internal movement, and I am aware of a deep pain in her heart.
After a pause, I ask:
T: What happened to you?
She immediately transmits to me a feeling of pain to carry, I can feel it in my heart.
I feel her heart is heavy, and I feel that she is immediately a little relieved, having been seen and understood right away.
She almost cries.
T: Leave aside the thoughts that seem to justify your discomfort, the sense of death that we feel.
Leave these thoughts about your depressed husband, your daughter in danger, who are the apparent causes of depression; your daughter could feel that bad even without these thoughts of yours. If you don’t change your status now, you cannot intervene in this difficult real family situation in a constructive way.
Let's listen more deeply to what is felt now.
Pause
P: In fact, this week my parents told me just that: my anxious worrying about them, stresses them out; they said I should accept, and that I could at least not make things worse, in these difficult conditions, which cannot be avoided and solved.
T: Okay. But what do you feel now?
Pause
P: An intense, unpleasant burning sensation here, at the level of the stomach.
I feel that the second and first chakras are not quite open: there is a slight tension, and little activity, little pleasantness there; but I do not feel great activity in the third chakra.
So, I tell her:
T: Put your hands on the second and third chakras, that is on your stomach and lower abdomen, and listen, without following the thoughts; what do you feel?
She puts her hands as I told her, concentrates by closing her eyes.
As soon as she does this, she immediately feels that the energy below begins to open, that is, to increase in intensity and starts to spread, unifying gradually her legs, belly and back.
T: Do you feel that you are relaxing? And do you feel that this state is spreading?
Nods. As I listen, I say few things, like to pay attention to these internal changes, to be aware of them.
She then begins to move her shoulders, rotating them a little, as if to release the muscles and the feeling of tension, which she only now perceives to be still present in that region.
I insist:
T: Do you feel that the pleasant state of relaxation spreads around?
As we continue to listen, I perceive that as I say the word "pleasant," a pleasant feeling is activated and grows in her,
and this happens in the region of the heart: a lightening of the heart is felt;
and I feel that she feels love, and even a light joy.
When I realize this, it becomes clear for me that this is an invitation to follow, to be aware of,
and therefore, at this point I ask:
T: And what do you feel now?
P: I feel that I can perceive much better now the chakras at the bottom; and I feel in that area a more pleasant flow, which is spreading around.
T: No, we have already seen and welcomed this.
Do you feel also something new, in other parts of your body, that was not there before?
This happened when I told you the word "spreads"; I ask you this, because there was a change at that moment.
P: Yes, it's true, I now feel something new ... in the heart, which I did not feel before.
Maybe a slight pressure, or maybe an opening.
T: What is the name of this feeling?
P: Peace, serenity ...
I see that she does not immediately grasp well what I am talking about; she still is not recognizing the most active element, of love, and joy.
This complex feeling has meanwhile opened up more, and I feel it now flowing upwards, in her back. I continue:
T: And in the heart, behind, what do you feel?
P: I feel a more pleasant state, a sense of openness, which grows; and now I also feel a flow of energy in my back.
T: Well, let's listen better.
Resting now in feeling more deeply, we then start to perceive the flow of energy becoming stronger in the fourth chakra, in the back;
then we feel it growing more, and mature, and open upwards, above, towards the crown, with the partial exception of the area of the fifth upper chakra, (ears - jaw region).
In the meantime, I also perceive a progress of integration, a homogenization,
and the energy intensity in these regions spread around and then becoming weaker, as soon as the energy stabilizes, is integrated, normalizes.
I also feel that this integration also takes place between these supradiaphragmatic events, just perceived, and those we had observed before, in the sub diaphragmatic area.
Pause
T: (I read to her a short passage from a Taoist text, which says how healthy and easy it is to make light circulate).
"When light circulates, the powers of the whole body predispose themselves before his throne, just as a holy King manages a capital company, sets his own rules and collects tribute. You just have to circulate the light, which is the deepest and most wonderful secret. Light is easy to move, and if it moves sufficiently in a circle, it crystallizes. It is said that this is the condition to make you fly "silently high in the morning" [footnoteRef:6]. [6: From “The secret of the golden flower” translated by Wilhelm. ]
Silence.
I feel that she is aware of these internal processes, that she has noticed them, and welcomes them and follows them and facilitates them.
I also feel that she understands what the text is about.
This is one of the moments in which the mind is still: it does not come and goes. These moments happen several times during the session and are recognized more and more.
In this "other" suspended, space-time, the mind does not matter, has no influence, and there is no sense of separation.
After a while I then say:
T: Now we are at peace, and we can bring this state into the relationship with your daughter, which gives you such anxiety.
This is a medicine for your daughter, and for your husband;
because listen, and verify, in the state in which you are now, a state of pure perception, there is no one who defends or offends: we are without judgment. Verify.
Maybe just for a short while, but now we are free from the “me”.
This is what allows to “stay with” the sense of death of your daughter, and to really accompany her: this “liberation from the me” is the only medicine.
This is the method, the “other” journey”: and we are seeing it operating, and we are perceiving its energy release.
We are looking at the world from another point of view.
We fall back in that suspended state.
She absorbs, nods.
She remains open, at peace,
and in the perception of the flow circulating within her and between us.
Having achieved this, and after a while, I ask:
T: Were there any dreams during the week, that you remember?
P: Yes, several, but I remember above all a dream of this night:
"I was in a big crowded room, like in an American party, there were also colour people; it also looked like a disco.
I understand that something serious is about to happen, a massacre I believe, those situations in which everybody kills everybody.
I feel that I have to participate, but I would also like to leave.
Then the shooting begins.
I try to protect myself, and I see that the shots, are also directed towards the floor, that looks like plastic, and tear it apart.
At this point I see myself at the entrance of this room, and I see that under the gash of the floor there is another room, where there is a care environment for those who are dying in the upper room.
Then comes a small and wrinkled old woman, like those of manga (which are in my opinion a bit crazy cartoons), having a surprising agility, which scares me, and I retire.
I then find myself on an avenue, where there are many restaurants, with my whole family; precisely in one of them, with my parents and my current family.
They take care and worry that I might have there vegetarian food, because I am vegetarian; and apparently there is only grilled stuff there.
So, they ask the waiter, who says that there is a dish suitable for me: a kind of risotto; but I can see over the risotto some fish.
He reassures me that it's fine…
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