Experiential Psychotherapy

At the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century, the new current in terms of studying the shapes of human intelligence, risen from the transpersonal psychology area, brought to the world the third type of intelligence that tends to become acknowledged (after its antecessors: cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence): „spiritual intelligence”. Spiritual intelligence, as defined by researchers, is strongly connected to the fulfillment of a human being’s profound need – to feel that everything has a meaning, a purpose. It is the intelligence that makes us whole and renders our integrity. It is the intelligence of the soul, the profound self-intelligence. It is the intelligence that makes us ask ourselves fundamental, existential questions and overcome the boundaries we were used to. The psychologists that discovered this type of intelligence say that its development guarantees the psychic health. The main challenges, which occurred once we accepte...

Introduction: This paper compares and analyses Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) through the paradigm of Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling at three levels: intention, process and practice. Objectives: The aim is to identify specific similarities and differences between the two approaches in order for practitioners of both to mutually benefit. Methods: A high-level comparison of SFBT and Symbolic Modelling approaches; a line-byline linguistic analysis of a representative SFBT transcript using models from Symbolic Modelling such as: ‘vectoring’, the Problem-Remedy-Outcome model and Clean Language; an examination of a sample of common Solution-Focus questions for metaphors, presupposition and ‘leading’ syntax, with alternative ‘cleaner’ versions provided. Results: Examples of similarities and differences between the two approaches at the level of intention, process and practice were identified. A selection of SFBT questions were modified to show how they could be cleaner, i.e. ...

Gestalt Therapy techniques are considered to be powerful tools for the remobilization of human growth and change. I will attempt to show that the power of these techniques lies in the fact that they are effective ways of dealing with our "internalizations". I will first briefly review object relation theory and then discuss gestalt techniques as they pertain to internal objects.

Aim: To identify therapists’ views on sexual boundaries and the strategies they employ to manage them in therapeutic practice. Method: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a sample of 13 accredited, experienced practitioners of psychotherapy or counselling. A grounded theory approach, informed by principles from Free Association Narrative methodology, was employed, in which team members used debriefing sessions for extending depth of understanding of the interviews. Findings: There is consensus about boundaries at the extremes, but variability about fantasy, flirtation and touch. A core process was generated from accounts of successful management of sexual attraction. We identified four problematic ways of reacting to boundary pressure, each with potential to harm clients and therapy. Discussion: A participant-observer stance was conceptualised as essential for managing threats to boundaries, consistent with the empathic stance. Minor boundary crossings were viewed by interviewees as both potential precursors of more serious transgressions, and as opportunities for understanding the client's difficulties. Implications for practice: These span training, accrediting organisations, supervision and therapy practice.

A person's own inner most awareness and the movements within their awareness field bring forth their direct personal experience of their cosmological archetypal field of awareness. This spontaneous event is given to us within the archetypal realm of awareness. The archetypal dimension manifests itself as us, and reveals itself to us through our experience of its self-manifestation.

Donald Winnicott's radical existential psychoanalytic understanding of transitional awareness and transitional relatedness is an amazing and little used doorway for today's psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. In today's cognitive clinical culture we have become cognitions tampering with cognitions. Life as cognition. Existential Ontology Winnicott's creative understanding of our capacity for transitional awareness and transitional relatedness intertwines both our personal psychology and our innermost experience of our own existential ontology. Transitional knowingness intertwines both our mind and our primordial awareness field. Our field of awareness knows the field of Being since awareness is the field of Being. Transitional awareness intertwines both our mind and our psyche. Donald Winnicott's phenomenological understanding of the self radicalizes our sense of self from being a representational picture or cognitive affective schema or synthesis of disparate psychological part's to a fluid sense of self as a direct experiential felt sense of ongoing continuity of Being. Our knowingness though the medium of awareness, opens for us the direct knowing of the experience of Being. The experience of Being is for us our sense of natural spirituality. Our liminal transitional awareness field opens us into the immediate ongoing intimate experience of Being. This experience of Being is of Being within our very own self and of Being within our very own relational life-world. Ordinary Personhood We, as a most ordinary person, can experience the unfolding movement of the experiencing of Being within our own self as our self, and simultaneously, the unfolding experiencing of our own being as the being-ness of Being which is the Being of the world. As we experience the Being .

The focus of Dzogchen practice is to experientially understand the nature of our awareness through awareness itself. To be nonconceptually aware of the nature of our awareness is rig pa or open presence.The root or the source of all phenomena is Presence. This word presence is often used by 14th century Longechenpa as well the contemporary Namkai Norbu and many dzogchen masters as the signifier of ground of being, the ground as presence. Contemporary Christian philosophers influenced by existential phenomenology, such as Paul Tillich and Karl Rahner, describe the ground of being and ground of presence as Divinity. In Dzogchen philosophy descriptors are added such as the divine presence, luminous presence, radiant presence, pure presence, immaculate presence.

Embodiment or embodied awareness is a way of understanding the body. The body is not simply the external body, the body is the lived body. Both the 10 th century Kashmir philosopher Abhinavagupta and the contemporary French phenomenologist Merleau Ponty have a similar view of the lived body, or better 'lived' embodiment. A person may have a most beautiful external objective body but minimally lived in. Embodiment allows us to understand and conceive of the body as a way of living, experiencing and of perceiving through the medium of our embodiment. The body is the medium of the field. A person perceives not simply through eyes and ears alone, but through the whole body. Our body is an instrument of perception. Our body is an instrument of knowingness. The embodiment of awareness is the lived embodying of primordial awareness that liberates our being in the world. The embodiment of awakened awareness pulsates in resonance with and within Being itself.

The word Emptiness has many various meanings. The experience of awareness becoming aware of its own self opens the experience of emptiness in a most direct manner. Experientially emptiness has many faces. Sometimes the face of emptiness is a void or abyss like experience. This abyss can open the unhappy experience of falling and falling and falling. This void experience can at times open the experience of disappearing and dissolving into a terrifying nothingness. And sometimes emptiness is experienced as no thingness. Sometimes emptiness is experience like endless and infinite space. Sometimes emptiness is experienced as unbound openness. Sometimes emptiness is experienced as deep unmoving stillness, stillness of movement and stillness of sound. Sometimes emptiness is experienced as bliss, vast bliss. All these variations of experience unfold over time as one becomes aware of their own awareness. Sometimes emptiness is experienced as freedom of pure potentiality. Often the word sunyata implies the experience and nature of emptiness. The personal experience of emptiness is a vast range experience often beyond words and language. The human range of experiencing emptiness is vast and ineffable. The experience of emptiness can range from nihilistic experience that can not be thought to the positive experience that is unbound bliss as gnosis. This wide range of meaning of emptiness is not only personally experiential but there is vast range of the historical cultural unfolding of the appearance of emptiness and articulation of emptiness by the various spiritual traditions. Over time the phenomena of emptiness has been articulated in various ways, and at times in ways that are in opposition to each other.

Having an 'addiction' is about being stuck - stuck with something you would rather be without. In focusing theory it might be called a stopped process. Yet whilst there may not be a moving forward, the stuckness of the addictive gestures obscures a tremendous life and meaningful physicality. 'Addicts' are often condemned as hopeless cases, yet I want to contradict Stevie Smith and say that they are not 'drowning but waving'.

In this session I will share the latest stage of my work as a focusing-oriented therapist with drug and alcohol clients, building on presentations in Awaji and Hohenwart. I will relate my experience to the theory, but also hope to include a workshop element in the session and offer an opportunity to attend to our own 'addictive' processes, stopped or otherwise.

One Knower: Different Modes of Knowing In all philosophical and psychological traditions knowing has many different meanings. In Tibetan Buddhism there is nondual Dzogchen and in Hinduism there is nondual Kashmir Shaivism. In both these nondual traditions there is profound understanding that there is one knower with two different modes of knowing. My Mind Knowing You and Things One mode of our knowing is the conventional subject object knowing which is the mind knowing as the perceiver and the perceived. This is our ordinary knowing of mind, my mind knowing you and things. This is my mind knowing of all the various forms of otherness. This is my mind knowing of singular aspects of phenomena and my mind knowing, by discrimination, the differences within phenomena. This is my mind knowing of the reality of objects, and the actuality of events and situations. This is my mind knowing the reality of persons and sentient beings as well as non-sentient beings and things. This is my mind's natural mode of dualistic knowingness. My Knowing as Direct Perception As humans knowing we both have and are this wonderful other mode of knowing. In Dzogchen this is the great knowing of awareness and through awareness, and this knowing described as direct perception is often called gnosis, or jnana, or ye she. Kashmir Shaivism names this dimension of knowing of this vast field of awareness/consciousness vimarsa. This vast

For much of my personal and professional life I have had an enduring interest in the distinction between mind and awareness. As my education unfolded over these many years, I have been happy to recognize that this distinction between mind and awareness is of serious consideration in continental phenomenology, in forms of psychoanalytic understanding such as the object relations work of Donald Winnicott, as well as in many forms of the experiential psychotherapies such as Gestalt, experiential focusing, in Ericksonian hypnosis, structural family therapy, archetypal psychotherapy, existential psychotherapy, existential psychoanalysis to name a few. When I began to extend my interest based on continental phenomenology into the eastern wisdom traditions, I found the same distinction within the Hindu Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shavism. Later in my life I found the same distinction within the Tibetan non-dual Nyingma tradition of Dzogchen. In my study of the Qi Gong tradition, I had the good fortune of being able to study for a number of years with Dr. Yan Xin who is a most remarkable healer and who has this same distinction of mind and awareness in his form of Daoist Qi Gong. From an historical view point, this distinction of mind and awareness was central in gnostic philosophy and gnostic theology. In contemporary Jungian archetypal psychology there is a similar distinction between the knowing of mind of ordinary life world of lived experience and the knowing of the archetypal dimension of lived experience, as well as the knowing of the primordial awareness dimension of pure potentiality. I have also had this interest in and through the phenomena of my own knowingness, the knowing of self, the knowing of others and of knowing of the encompassing nature of Existential Being. I have had for as long as I can remember, the sense of the explicit experience of my mind as explicit thoughts, and explicit feelings and explicit sensations and explicit imaginative imagery, and at the same time a subtle sense of tacit or implicate or implicit sense of intuitive knowing. In this way I have always felt I had two ways of knowing.

Mind Alone For many years psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy was singularly centered on the unconscious mind and conscious mind. There was only mind and the mind could become aware of its own self and its own representational realm. The self itself was representational and the emphasis on the mind was in the light of analytic thinking and analytic observation. There was an emphasis on objectification of mental phenomena and subjectivity itself. Knowing was knowledge by association, by reflection and mediation by linguistic signifiers. Knowing was neither non-conceptual nor pre-reflective, nor was there a place for direct experiential knowingness. Knowing was associated as mind alone and singular mind functions such as thinking, feeling, sensation, memory and imagination. Transitional Space as Space of Awareness With the presentation of the work of Donald Winnicott there was a shift in the psychoanalytic understanding of knowingness. A similar change in psychoanalytic thinking about knowing was also taking place in the Jungian and archetypal analytic schools. In psychotherapy Winnicott emphasizes a focus on the suspension of mind and in the process of suspension of mind, awareness was freed to focus within awareness, free to focus itself on itself. In the suspension of mind (a Winnicottian form of the phenomenological reduction,) the patient relocates themselves. The patient relocates from being located in mind alone or even located in a particular function of mind alone such as: feeling function or thinking function or sensation function or memory function; the patient enters or relocates themselves into the intermediate area of experience. This intermediate area of experience or this in-between space of experience is also described as the transitional area of experience and relatedness. Sometime this place is also described as the place of potential space. The sense of self shifts from being located in the mind or mental function of the mind into the more embodied sense of spacious awareness or as the place of potential space. Winnicott would described this knowing

Focusing-oriented therapy shows a great sensitivity towards a client’s felt sense and the need to be with that ‘something’ in a special way. Yet where the therapeutic relationship fits in, so important in other therapies, is far less clear. Sometimes it seems as if focusing is merely a subjective process that could be done just as well alone.

I disagree. Using Gendlin’s concept of ‘interaffecting first’ I am developing a focusing-oriented practice where the therapeutic relationship has a pivotal place. I work with ‘addicts’ and ‘substance misusers’, people who seem to absent themselves in so many ways. A strong ‘being-with’, an intersubjective felt sense, seems just the right way to address their ‘being-without’.
This session builds on a presentation made in Awaji in 2009. Alan Tidmarsh is a focusing-oriented therapist in Norwich, UK, working with substance abusers. He is studying for a PhD on focusing-oriented therapy and ‘addiction’.

This paper compares the analytic and experiential approaches to dreams in order to illuminate the intrinsic and necessary relationships between the two understandings. It describes how dream work reflects the bimodalness of symbolism, thought and ultimately human consciousness. An extended example of dream work reflecting both analytic and experiential modalities is presented.

At the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century, the new current in terms of studying the shapes of human intelligence, risen from the transpersonal psychology area, brought to the world the third type of intelligence that tends to become acknowledged (after its antecessors: cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence): „spiritual intelligence”. Spiritual intelligence, as defined by researchers, is strongly connected to the fulfillment of a human being’s profound need – to feel that everything has a meaning, a purpose. It is the intelligence that makes us whole and renders our integrity. It is the intelligence of the soul, the profound self-intelligence. It is the intelligence that makes us ask ourselves fundamental, existential questions and overcome the boundaries we were used to. The psychologists that discovered this type of intelligence say that its development guarantees the psychic health. The main challenges, which occurred once we accepte...

Being within awareness as awareness and being with another who is within awareness is a most powerful skillful means to bring forth awareness within one's self and within each other. Two awarenesses are better than one, just as self regulation can be enhanced by co self regulation on the bodily dimension. Self-illumination is a co-emergent process between and within companions, compassionate companions. The lucidity within one's own awareness, as one's own awareness can experience the lucidity within the other's awareness as lucidity. It is true, awareness awakens awareness both in one's self and in the other. This is the secret of the tantra. The luminous energy within one's own body can resonate to the luminous energy in the other's body, deepening the mutual embodiment of light. Light is awareness and awareness is light. The attunement to awareness within one's own body can bring forth the attunement of awareness within the body of the other. The self arising of the awareness field in one's self resonates to the self arising of awareness within the other's body. The self arising of the energy or the chi or the shakti can bring forth the self arising within each other and can bring forth the sustaining of the energy field within each other. In essence, humanness is the manifestation of light, and the manifestation of primordial luminous energy, and the openness of the great space of compassion.

1.For Husserl phenomenology is an experiential philosophy of essence as phenomena. For Husserl there is the indivisibility of the essence and the manifestation of the essence which manifestation is phenomena, the manifestation of appearance. This was Husserl's great contribution to philosophy, the inseparability of essence and phenomena. Merleau Ponty made this the focus of his philosophical work.

This paper describes in detail those aspects of trance that facilitate the ongoing therapy process with the borderline personality and secondly, the utilization of trance phenomena to directly work with the borderline person's experience and particular ego deficits, elaborated from an object relations viewpoint.

What we"ll be exploring together today is awareness, becoming aware of awareness, and working with awareness, both with our own selves and with the other. It"s a very simple topic, actually, yet it"s not easy to hold awareness, to enter into awareness, and to become awareness. We often think that awareness is simply a cognition, being aware of a color or of a pretty picture. That is not awareness; that"s a cognition. [At first], awareness is a state. Initially, we think it"s a "state" we enter into, and then, in time, it begins to open up, and it"s actually a field. Then a lot can happen that could not happen, if we were not in the awareness field.

Object and Being: the beingness of being 1. The knowledge of object is the knowledge of mind. The knowledge of being is the knowledge of awareness. In becoming aware of awareness one becomes aware of the beingness of ones own being. In becoming aware of the beingness of ones own being one becomes aware of the beingness of being of another being.

Welcome to our study of contemporary existential phenomenological psychotherapy. We will focus on the phenomenology of awareness. Through the practice of the suspension (epoche) of the mind, a person can enter into transitional space or the intermediate area of experience or liminal space. Within this context, the experiential field becomes manifest and the innermost sense of self can be experienced, brought forth and embodied. From within the stability of this inner most base, this intrinsic nonconceptual base, this sense of immanence , this sense of indwelling, the mind itself can be more deeply integrated within this awareness state, within this self.

1. Welcome to our study of contemporary awareness field psychotherapy. We will focus on the phenomenology of awareness. Through the practice of the suspension (epoche) of the mind, a person can enter into transitional space or the intermediate area of experience or liminal space. Within this context, the experiential field becomes manifest and the innermost sense of self can be experienced, brought forth and embodied. From within the stability of this inner most base, this intrinsic non-conceptual base, this sense of imminence, this sense of indwelling, the mind itself can be more deeply integrated within this awareness state, within this self.

La Entrevista Fenomenológica: una Propuesta para la Investigación en Psicología y Psicoterapia La entrevista FenomenoLógiCa: una propuesta para La investigaCión en psiCoLogía y psiCoterapia Phenomenological Interview: a proposal for Research in Psychology and Psychotherapy A Entrevista Psicológica: uma Proposta para a Pesquisa em Psicologia e Psicoterapia salvador MorEno lópEz

one of the pioneers of object-relations psychotherapy, was the master of transitional awareness, the inner openness of awareness. Winnicott wrote an amazing paper on the split-off male and female elements to be found within both men and women. This split results in difficulties both in relationships and intrapsychically. When the "missing" element is experienced as not in oneself it is experienced as not me and is looked for in another since it seemingly can only be found there and not in oneself.

Introduction: This paper outlines the basic concepts of mental space representations, its primary concepts and the connection to psychology and psychotherapy. Also included are the descriptions of three mental space based psychotherapies and their applications. A comprehensive list of references containing case-studies and researches is also provided for the three mental space based psychotherapies, for further study and research. Objectives: This paper aims at revealing the connection between the well-researched concepts of mental space and visual-spatial representations and their use and applicability in the psychotherapy and overall psychology field. Methods: Literature review. Results: The consideration of the importance of mental representations and their influence on the clients’ social world, and emotional problems and the further encouragement of developing tools and approaches that can work directly with this abstract constructs. Conclusions: This paper anticipates a new pa...

Introduction: This paper outlines the scientific background behind the mBraining approach (mBIT multiple brain integration techniques) regarding the recent research in neuroscience revealing the relationship between the cerebral, enteric and cardiac neural systems and its potential as an optimization tool. In addition, a number of case studies have been detailed, to confirm the effectiveness of this approach and a number of extensive references have been included for further study. Moreover, parallels and common principles with experiential therapeutic approaches are being discussed. Objectives: This paper aims to promote the mBIT approach as a complementary diagnosis and optimization tool with applications in coaching, therapy, counseling and overall personal optimization. Methods: mBIT approach methodology and literature review. Results: The five case studies included in this paper clearly indicate the effectiveness of the mBIT approach in managing and resolving issues such as: oc...

Introduction: This paper compares and analyses Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) through the paradigm of Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling at three levels: intention, process and practice. Objectives: The aim is to identify specific similarities and differences between the two approaches in order for practitioners of both to mutually benefit. Methods: A high-level comparison of SFBT and Symbolic Modelling approaches; a line-byline linguistic analysis of a representative SFBT transcript using models from Symbolic Modelling such as: ‘vectoring’, the Problem-Remedy-Outcome model and Clean Language; an examination of a sample of common Solution-Focus questions for metaphors, presupposition and ‘leading’ syntax, with alternative ‘cleaner’ versions provided. Results: Examples of similarities and differences between the two approaches at the level of intention, process and practice were identified. A selection of SFBT questions were modified to show how they could be cleaner, i.e. ...

We are focusing our Lacanian and phenomenological understanding of the superego's domination of the perceptual field and the destruction by judgmentalness of relatedness with our self and those we love. Judgmentalness destroys whoness, destroys the person.

Introduction: It has been recently proven in repeated studies and publications that emotional intelligence is responsible for the successes and achievements in different existential dimensions, especially through the qualitative increase of interpersonal relationships. Also, several hypotheses were issued regarding the fact that the level of emotional intelligence may be increased through various creative activities and educational-therapeutic programs. Objectives: The present study aimes to investigate the dynamics of emotional intelligence in relation to the participation in a unifying personal development program through dance and movement. To this end, we covered two major stages and objectives at the same time: 1 – building up and implementing a unifying personal development program through dance and movement (UPDDM) and 2 – conducting a statistically quantitative study in order to capture the effects of the program on emotional intelligence, as well as the correlation between ...

Introduction: This paper compares and analyses Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) through the paradigm of Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling at three levels: intention, process and practice. Objectives: The aim is to identify specific similarities and differences between the two approaches in order for practitioners of both to mutually benefit. Methods: A high-level comparison of SFBT and Symbolic Modelling approaches; a line-byline linguistic analysis of a representative SFBT transcript using models from Symbolic Modelling such as: ‘vectoring’, the Problem-Remedy-Outcome model and Clean Language; an examination of a sample of common Solution-Focus questions for metaphors, presupposition and ‘leading’ syntax, with alternative ‘cleaner’ versions provided. Results: Examples of similarities and differences between the two approaches at the level of intention, process and practice were identified. A selection of SFBT questions were modified to show how they could be cleaner, i.e. ...

ABSTRACT Introduction: It has been recently proven in repeated studies and publications that emotional intelligence is responsible for the successes and achievements in different existential dimensions, especially through the qualitative increase of interpersonal relationships. Also, several hypotheses were issued regarding the fact that the level of emotional intelligence may be increased through various creative activities and educational-therapeutic programs. Objectives: The present study aimes to investigate the dynamics of emotional intelligence in relation to the participation in a unifying personal development program through dance and movement. To this end, we covered two major stages and objectives at the same time: 1 – building up and implementing a unifying personal development program through dance and movement (UPDDM) and 2 – conducting a statistically quantitative study in order to capture the effects of the program on emotional intelligence, as well as the correlation between it and the self-satisfaction regarding the physical body. Method: The experimental-quantitative research was conducted on an experimental sample, composed of 32 persons and a control sample composed of 32 persons as well. The method of applying the instruments was the test-retest type. The initial testing was at the beginning of the program and the retesting took place two months after its finalization. There was a period of six months between the test and retest. The conducted experiment consisted in a program called "Filia Alchemic Dance", composed of 3 modules, 20 hours long each, every two months. "Filia Alchemic Dance" is a complex program, based on UPDDM and, implicitly, on the Experiential Therapy of Unification. Results: The results obtained after the statistical data processing show significant differences between the control group and the experimental one in the two main variables, emotional intelligence and self-satisfaction regarding the physical body. There is a strong positive correlation between these variables, which confirms the hypotheses of the research. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that unifying personal development, with corporal support, in this case through dance and movement, is a valid method of increasing the emotional intelligence by reconnecting with one's own body and through the inner unification between body, emotion, reason and spirit.