Stanislav Grof (1931-) –
originally trained in
After LSD was banned he,
together with his wife Christina, developed a method he called “Holotropic
breathwork”[1].
This is a
powerful non-drug approach. It uses simple means, such as deeper/faster
breathing, evocative music and a certain kind of energy-releasing bodywork. Grof
also extensively studied other traditions using non-ordinary states and for
instance thanatology, focusing on near-death experiences and the psychological
and spiritual aspects of death and dying.
“To account for all the phenomena occurring in
holotropic non-ordinary states, our understanding of the dimensions of the
human psyche would have to be drastically extended”[2]. Grof speaks of a
conceptual crisis facing psychiatry and psychology. Grof’s new cartography of
the psyche includes two additional domains: the perinatal (related to the trauma of birth, expanding the model of
traditional “recollective” postnatal biographical analysis) ànd the transpersonal. He asserts that
understanding the perinatal and the transpersonal levels challenges the
mainstream's views of both mental illness and mental health.
Through his work, he has demonstrated the
inherent dignity of the human being to access inner wisdom to heal and resolve
the most challenging concerns.
Grof contends that human consciousness transcends the physical
brain and is part of cosmic consciousness and that consciousness is the
fundamental element of reality.
After
reading most of his work, I was curious to see this man, to hear him speak.
When the opportunity occurred to attend his lectures in
The Philosophy.
For me, the most intriguing aspect of Grof’s work is that it
challenges known theories and truths. It is solely
based on a mass of experiential
findings that is barely “scientific” in the sense that it is not really explainable in existing terms.
He is an extremely curious and courageous man; I feel we need
people like him!
For instance: Grof claims his observations from consciousness
research dispel the current myth of materialistic science that consciousness is
an epiphenomenon of matter and a product of neurophysiological processes in the
brain. He claims his research shows that consciousness is a primary attribute
of existence and that it is capable of many activities that the brain could not
possibly perform. According to Grof’s “new” findings, human consciousness is
part of and participates in a larger universal field of cosmic consciousness
that permeates all of existence.
Grof arrives at this hypothesis by studying what people experience.
His attitude is one of openness and willingness to look beyond existing
theories. It is wonderful to witness his explorations into the wholeness he
sees beyond the parts that we play, the facsimiles we create of reality in the
material world. In “the cosmic game” Grof reaches for metaphysical insights
that concern issues as the nature of reality, the cosmic creative principle and
our relationship to it, the dynamics of creation, the taboo against knowing our
true identity and the problem of good and evil. It does not amaze me that the
answers to these fundamental questions of human existence he finds are similar
to those found in the “perennial philosophy”, all major religions and even in
the findings of new paradigm science.
Grof’s area of study is the human psyche. As it seems impossible to
know (=understand) our psyche with our intellect, we humans have always been
looking for other sources of wisdom. This school uses a very straightforward
model to differentiate between two ways we can learn to know our psyche and its
relation to the world and the wholeness or Divine beyond:
· the horizontal way –
through the senses going out, interpersonal, in connection with others and the
world around us: reaching out, contacting “outside” ourselves or
· the vertical way –
intrapersonal, in connection with our
selves and Selves, withdrawing from to world to go “within” in non-ordinary
states, searching inside our psyche
Obviously Grof was interested in the vertical way. He looked for a system of
intense observation of human consciousness and explored what its findings could
mean to us, ultimately in the holotropic sense.
Grof
believes the whole universe is somehow encoded in our
psyche. He explains it with the model of a hologram[4];
the parts carrying the image of the underlying whole
(as the whole carries the information of all parts in it). When you illuminate
a part (in NOS) you can actually see the
information/the image of the whole. With a different angel
the image shifts. Non ordinary states enable us to
perceive dimensions of the implicate, enfolded order, of the underlying field.
After
LSD and other psychedelics could no longer be used the
Grofs developed Holotropic Breathwork (HB.) as a new vertical self-exploration
tool.
The
most important aspect of this method is to create a save and supportive
environment in which an informed and motivated individual feels invited to
evoke higher energies. Without any psychedelics, using only a deeper/faster
breathing rhythm, helped by provocative music, a person can induce an expansion
of consciousness beyond the limited personal, beyond the expanded[5]
(insightful, meta) personal, to levels that include
perinatal (still personal) and transpersonal consciousness. Of course it is
very difficult to discern what is personal and what would be considered beyond personal, but the consensus
found in many thousands of reported “transpersonal” experiences shows that the
numinous quality of transpersonal experiences suggests an innate cosmic channel
from the human psyche to other beyond-the-personal dimensions (the collective
unconsciousness).
Grof sees a transpersonal experience as an ontological reality
where authentic new information can be found. This
information is not (yet?) accessible at will, nor
random. A person has to surrender to what comes up. As in Gestalt philosophy the holotropic process follows an underlying
order that ultimately governs what happens. The
self-regulating system in terms of Gestalt, the inner healer in HB.-terms, will find an available content with
a strong relevance to present to consciousness. Grof, and many people who
worked with non-ordinary states, strongly believe most humans benefit from this
process. Somehow the healing occurs when relevant “stuff” from the unconscious
is integrated (trough this work for instance) into consciousness. When asked
what exactly causes healing Grof says he often does not really know. “However”,
he smiles, “I would rather work with a method I do not understand that works,
than be stuck with a therapy that I understand but that doesn’t help my
client”.
Non-Ordinary States.
My interest lies in discovering what holotropic states mobilize in
our human psyche.
It seems logical to me that bringing unconscious material into
consciousness makes us more whole (supposing we ultimately are consciousness). But what is coming into consciousness in holotropic states
is sometimes so bizarre that I feel several red flags coming up: where does
this stuff come from? Do we really need to take everything seriously? How does
the method/context we use influence what we experience? What would be my best way to do my expanding?
My personal experience consists of several hundreds of
fantasy/hypnosis sessions, a respectable amount of different meditation
practices and a few breathing sessions in various settings. I guess some of my
dreams count.
The holotropic breathing was something new to me – and actually I did not really go for it. Allow me to come back
to my comments on it later. For now I would just like to focus on the
non-ordinary states (NOS) as a method of self-exploration, leaving the exact
tool to get there out of this discussion for the moment.
To read and hear what Grof has to say after researching thousands
and thousands of NOS sessions is fascinating. His lectures revealed that, in
non-ordinary states people actually experience themselves as the consciousness
of anything we (in our reality) see as an object. Any group
of people, any animal, any plant, tree or growth, or any non-organic substance.
People have reported being seas, mountains, soaring among the stars, being the
whole galaxy…
Many people experience their birth, sometimes repeatedly in its
different stages. People experience themselves beyond their lives in other
lives, dying and being born. They “go” beyond this time in other times, beyond
this place in other settings.
Beyond the realm of these more or less “real” things, people in NOS
experience the realm of the archetypes unfolding, the transcendent divine, a
reality not of this world but of an higher order.
Archetypes are experienced as energies that form and
inform our reality in the material world. Beyond that
thousands of people experienced one-ness or nothing-ness, the void, both in
this philosophy the cradle of existence, the source of creativity. There seems to be no
significant difference between these experiences and the mystical experiences
described in sacred texts.
Transpersonal
experiences seem to lift us beyond our human preoccupation with ourselves and
with the traumas from our biography. They seem to have a cleansing effect,
freeing us from stuff that blocks our energy. Shifts reported are for instance
that people tend to feel less limited by their day-to-day identities, they walk
their inner talk, make choices based on what feels right to them, become world
citizens. These people claim to feel less limited by what they “have to do”;
they live their lives less planned, with less effort, with more faith in an
underlying order of things, trusting synchronicity (which seems to “happen”
more often). In due course these shifts often result
in a call to service, a need to help others, to do something to reflect what
has happened inside to the outer world.
Go,
spread horizontal.
Well,
I feel much of this is very familiar to what I have been experiencing during
these last few years since I started with my psychology/transpersonal track.
Grof
made it his life’s work to take NOS experiences serious. With thousands and
thousands of reports he found so many similarities and such a consensus on the
healing potential of these states that it seems evident he has found a new way
of exploring and knowing our psyche.
He
himself is an example. He seems a profoundly integer man. He seemed engaged,
committed to what he believes, and that is inspiring. I was so happy to see he
was a person I could truly respect[6].
I admired his intelligence, knowledge and humor. He freely talked about his
encounters with the great pioneers in this field, Abraham Maslow and Perls
among them. He tells of his meetings with Swami Muktananda, and with the Dalai
Lama. His openness and willingness to explore with anyone who had something to say, touched me. He is interested in what is going on in the
world and he is concerned. When asked what we, as individuals, can do to
heighten the awareness of ourselves and others, he
does not go for easy answers. He believes in his work, but sees its
limitations.
I
felt a deep respect for this good man; his sadness for the world, his ambition
to save it and the mystical school he fathered to bring his good news
(including HB.), to actually do
something.
Holotropic Breathwork.
Holotropic
Breathwork consists of three stages:
1.
Preparation.
What
I liked about this systematic approach is that the participant goes to battle
well prepared. In other breathing sessions I attended
you were expected to just go for it and trust the organizers. Of course all the
excitement, combined with the
rolls of kitchen paper and the blankets scared the shit out of
us, but I remember the anxiety seemed part of the deal.
Not here. HB. is
introduced almost as a sacred ritual. (I loved that!)
The
whole context is created in an atmosphere of
willingness to explore and supportiveness of the “journey” of whoever does the
exploring. The main ingredients are information, safety and acceptance. The
whole process is explained in detail. Questions are welcomed and answered where possible.
Every
“breather” has a personal “sitter” (reversing the roles in the next session).
The darkened breathing place is beautifully decorated
with candles, flowers and an altar. The mattresses, pillows, covers and even
the kitchen rolls and plastic bags create a go-for-it sort of now-or-never
atmosphere.
Rules
are established (personal preferences, do and don’ts between breather and
sitter, hand signals).
A
slightly distracting detail was the “good journey” wishing, When
the breathers are lying ready for take off on their mattresses the
“facilitators[7]”
bend over them and whisper ceremoniously. Although at the moment I though it
quite “heavy” for the occasion (I felt like lying on a hospital bed just before
a life threatening operation), I also felt the real care and support these
people offer in abundance. With so much love going around I actually felt my
defenses slipping, my ego subsiding….
2.
Session
We
did two times two sessions (one as a breather, one as a sitter) in three days.
A
session begins with a relaxation exercise ending in a prayer before the music
starts. The actual faster and deeper breathing is only mentioned briefly and
then more in the sense that the breather should find her own rhythm. My guess
is that most people use breath as an induction and then go with the process.
The
ear deafening music goes on for 3 hours. It builds up from very rhythmic
upbeats to frenzied ecstatic rumbles to pastoral flowing music to eastern
chants and ohms.
I don’t know how it works exactly, but it is quite a
trip. I felt it evoked reactions in my body, emotions, states
of mind. Afterwards I wondered if the music itself creates (in part at least)
what you experience.
If you throw pebbles
into a pond, do the ripples that appear origin from the pond itself?
Well,
I don’t want to go into my own experience as a
breather here. Suffice to say I definitely felt I entered non
ordinary states. In session A, I was breather first. I did what I knew
to do – went inside and observed what came up,
oblivious of what happened around me, even of the music through stages. It was
great – transpersonal enough for me, but in that sense similar to experiences I had with meditation and hypnosis.
That
afternoon I watched other breathers, and to be honest, I was shocked, almost
ready to get out.
As
soon as the music started many people became quite
wild. Now I understood the mattresses and the pillows, not long after that the
plastic bags too.
I
never saw anything like it. Some people were in a frenzy,
shouting, screaming. The facilitators were pushing on backs, against heads,
some sitting with two or three on people who seemed to struggle for their
lives. I was so happy my breather just happily danced with the music, not
moving much.
What the hell was happening here – what am I doing here?
Later,
when my own breather started to “work” on a pressure she felt in her breast, I
got part of my answer. A facilitator came over and my breather asked her to
help her by doing “bodywork”. After that we spend two
hours in which my breather spit out more sputum that I ever thought possible.
She pushed and roared and felt very sick and dizzy for a long time (no wonder
really). But she said she experienced a load of her
childhood being lifted from her shoulders and something she later understood to
be kundalini energy through her spine.
I
don’t want to sound disrespectful in any way but I
felt puzzled, wonder and a real need to know what happened, what these people
are doing.
With
bodywork, the idea is to intensify the tension within (that presents itself) by
creating tension from without. The facilitator (F) presses where the breather
(B) tells her to, and then B presses against this pressure.
When
pushing B is invited, and cheered on, stimulated, to
let out any noises or whatever “comes up”. Hence the
screaming, the coughing, the spitting and the vomiting.
The
breather is in charge, a major factor which I had not
been able to see in the “work” done around me, which made it so wrong and
frightening for me.
Well,
I was not that good informed about the whole thing after all.
Later
I talked about this bodywork with some people. I somehow still feel it is too
aggressive, provocative, again pebbles (rocks) thrown into the pond of
consciousness. But the people I talked with claim it
helps them release “stuff”, and they feel their “work” benefits them. I have
the funny feeling doing the “work” has become a bit of a group norm, it almost
seems that you don’t work (don’t want to, are not ready to, have resistance to)
if you “just” go quietly inside on you mat.
Well,
after sitting through two sessions I felt again safe enough to do another
breathing session. I made up my mind to go with the more physical part, see if
I could follow my body into movement, instead of relaxing it into oblivion as I
was used to in meditation and hypnosis. And, importantly, I mentally allowed myself to see whether I
was up to bodywork in the moment, or not. That still felt quite frightening to
me, as if I’d better stay out of “their”
pressure.
It
was a very different session for me. I don’t really
know if I reached NOS but I guess I did, because I was definitely not in a
normal state. The music lead me. At first
I had trouble with the notion of having spectators, like I was performing, but
that somehow shifted into a kind of rebellion, and I suppose I let that go too.
Then
it got interesting and very emotional and insightful (or at least that is what
I felt). Whereas I was done in about 90 minutes in the first session, I spend
the full three hours in my second, unwilling almost to “come back”, thoroughly
disoriented for a while. When a (loving) facilitator came up to ask if I would
like some bodywork done I asked her if I could wait if my “pain” would go away
on its own (silly answer, I felt like a coward). However, I tried the pressure
technique with my sitter and was quite happy I did not feel much difference.
Good,
maybe I need to get into bodywork later, or not – not my thing for now.
3.
Integration
When
the breather feels she can leave the breathing space she asks her sitter to
call a facilitator who then, after a few questions, gives the okay.
The breather is then escorted by her sitter to the mandala room.
Nice, lots of fruits and candy, tea and a table with all kinds of crayons and
paint and of course a very blank paper with only a circle on it.
After
B finishes her mandala (assignment = draw first impression of what happened) S
brings her to a quiet place where she can share her experiences in detail. B speaks, S just listens. No personal feedback, just presence.
As
B I noticed this actually gave me the space to say
whatever came up, more or less discovering what that was by speaking up. Same with the Mandela drawing. With my first I tried to draw
what I had seen (translating from images through words to images)
and that seemed too cramped and not really what I wanted. The second I
just went with the flow, without thinking really, and the drawing that emerged
had some messages for me I did not consciously put into it. Interesting!
Actually the B and S set-up is nice. Being attended to, taken care of, listened to. You are the point of attention for those 5 or so hours – an almost unknown luxury. Touching really,
in itself healing.
In
the larger group the integration goes on when everybody shows their mandala and
shares the highlights of their breathwork. Again total
acceptance and support, no “therapeutics”, no interpretations, no comments.
Trust the inner healer.
In
some instances that bothered me. Somebody tells a heartbreaking story and the
reaction they get is: “thank you for sharing”. Mmmm. Another
person tells the group he had the most amazing unity experience and the only
thing that is said is: “wonderful, thank you.” At the
end of a 50 person group sharing I felt numb.
I
guess I would have liked some feedback. We were in this together,
the willingness is there, the openness, the loving. But
we seemed afloat in this paradox of being together and utterly alone at the
same time. Listening and allowing the other to be whatever she is truly
beautiful, but I would have liked some interaction, and I missed it during that
part of the holotropic breathwork.
Well,
I had a wonderful week. It felt very good to be in a
seminar/workshop again, surrounded by inspiring people, discussing
inspiring things. Grof’s work and the man himself deserved an absolute A+ on my
list. The actual Holotropic Breathwork, I don’t know
yet. I think I will have to do another module to see what I don’t
see now. Tav
[1] http://www.holotropic.com/
[2] Psychology of the Future, Stanislav Grof, 2000
[3] http://www.jarmsted.suite.dk/gtt.htm
[4] A hologram is a model how information is perceived as form.
[5] my term – I feel there is a difference although I never see it mentioned
[6] it is such a disappointment when you admire a writer, or what he has to say, and then find out you really don’t like the person (that happened to me a few times, notably with Deepak Chopra, ughhh)
[7] trained and certified supervisors of the process