Transpersonal Psychotherapy Healing the Soul Wound

1. Transpersonal Psychotherapy & Healing the Soul Wound Concepts

2. Chiron & the Wounded Healer

3. Wholeness, Processing and Transforming the Wound "And what would your Wise Mind like to tell you about your situation?" "What is it like? What is happening? Tell us as much as you can." �What meaning do you make of this situation?� [We understand that whatever is taking place is a necessary experience on our path.] �Tell me about the darkness and what it says to you?� [What is the meaning.] �Where do you feel the darkness in your body and tell me about it?� �How can you transform the situation?� [It's really about even more than forgiveness. It's about reframing the entire experience of our challenges by seeing the perfection in them, seeing that they are necessary steps toward transformation and wholeness.]

4. 3 fundamental assumptions underlying the Transpersonal approach: our mind is clouded; the untrained mind can be trained; training focuses the consciousness & moves us to action.

5. Elements for Achieving Wellness Developing Awareness Becoming Compassionate Emotional Transformation Ethical Training Meditation and Re-focusing Understanding Motivation Wisdom

6. *World Collapse and the wound: Gary Nixon says that �bringing out the fundamental dualism of being and nothingness, which has not been worked out fully in the Western humanistic-existential perspective (Wilber)�.this moment of world collapse � a conversation � it represents a change from our typical self-centered mode of being in which we ask what use things have been to us (Nishitani).�*�I look for opportunities to facilitate the journey of clients from emptiness to the roaring silence of the present. The challenge is to accept and embrace the emptiness; because the supernatural and the mundane are the same.�

7. Traditional Model of Treatment: According to Duran, ��the traditional way of healing encompasses symbol, myth, and ritual� (p.141). Different ways of accessing these are through the use of art, stories, dreams, use of peyote, sweat lodge, singing/dancing, ceremony, role play, sculpting, and relaxation/meditation to name a few. Duran outlines a model of treatment in which traditional Indigenous thinking and practice are utilized in conjunction with Western practice. Essentially, an effective program for Indigenous people would have traditional Native psychology at its core.

8. Colonialism It is the practice, theory, and attitudes of the dominating cultural center (p.117). Colonial discourse is the �apparatus of power that strategically creates a space for a subject people through the production of knowledge by [the] colonizer�which are stereotypical...It�s mechanism is the scientific�writing�[etc.] which create the foundation and rationale for the colonial�agenda� (p.117). These concepts together create the foundation for racism. QUESTIONS: How do we deconstruction our racist socialization?

9. Postcolonial Paradigm: A way of thinking, discussing, and writing about reality that not only acknowledges and encompasses non-dominant ways of being and doing, but explicitly uncovers the stereotypes, prejudice, and racism inherent in the colonial way of framing reality. This framework legitimizes the colonized experience and critiques the colonizers� assumption that theirs is the only or primary way of knowing and being.

10. Soul Wound: A term that describes the deep inter/trans generational sorrow that Indigenous communities experience as a result of the historical injustice, conquest, and destruction that was (and is) perpetrated upon them. The suffering experienced by Indigenous communities is, at its core, spiritual because it involved a raping of the most meaningful aspects of their culture: family, language, traditions, connection to Spirit, Nature, and each other.

11. Internalized Oppression: Colonialism creates an oppressive environment whereby people are disallowed or unable (because it�s too dangerous or risky) to express anger and frustration. These feelings are turned inward and directed at one�s self and/or family/community. This anger can be expressed in violence, for example, through domestic violence, sexual abuse, suicide, or murder (of one�s own people). It can also be expressed more subtly through depression, low �self� (or community) esteem, apathy, substance abuse, or mental illness.

12. Intergenerational Trauma (PTSD): Studies have shown that PTSD is generationally cumulative; thus, as each generation of children�s normal development tasks are unmet and traumas are unresolved, the pattern of dysfunctional behaviour modeled to their children intensifies. Indigenous people experienced the same sudden separation from their loved ones as well as a disconnection from the Earth � their Mother. Furthermore, �acculturation stress is a continuing factor in the perpetration of�symptomatology that is�PTSD� (p.32). Effective therapy with families would start with the �validation of the externally imposed craziness� (p.159) in order to acknowledge the trauma perpetrated on the family before focusing on the continuing trauma cycle within the family.

13. Warrior Psyche: Many of the problems that Indigenous men experience are ramifications of the colonization of warriors. The colonizer�s mythology and practices were so diametrically opposed to those held in sacred trust to the warriors psyche of Indigenous men. They were unable to protect their families and communities and furthermore, their role in the traditional economy was lost. The result: ��a deep psychological trauma of identity loss� (p.36).

14. Therapist-Centered Therapy: This is a different perspective from Rogers� client-centered therapy. Instead of giving up power (empowering) and orienting oneself to the client (person-centered empathy), the onus is on the therapist to be centered, knowledgeable about oneself, and comfortable with the power of one�s role as healer. This perspective acknowledges and embraces the directive, seemingly mystical, and powerful abilities of the healer. The belief is that if the therapist is grounded and strong, the greater effect s/he will have on the client.

15. Dream Work Dreams are also seen as expressing the innermost (inborn), hidden parts of us; thus, exploring our dreams is exploring our destiny and purpose. Also, dreams can be a vehicle for information, messages, and processing either within ourselves, or between ourselves and the spirit world.

16. Archetypes: Duran & Duran states that issues of the psyche can best be understood using Jung�s Archetypal Psychology combined with Indigenous cosmology. Jung made a connection between the myths and images/symbols of the New and Old World. This convinced him that these �same motifs emerged out of some deep human source that is common to all people� (p.66); thus, there is a �common thread that weaves the human psyche� (p.66).

17. Alcohol Spirits: In a traditional Indigenous worldview, alcohol is seen as a destructive spiritual entity that is confronted as if in spiritual warfare (p.139). Thus, alcohol use and abuse is as much a spiritual matter as a health issue; moreover, these are not considered as separate. Because alcohol transcends individual/personal boundaries (being a spiritual entity/issue), its use and misuse affects the whole community. Thus, the methods of healing encompass community, ritual, symbol, myth, and spirit (p.141).

18. Sandtray: This is a non-intrusive and non-verbal way for children and/or families to express themselves. They can make a story, dream, or free-play. If a child has experienced trauma, these �traumatic events will be revealed in a non-traumatic, symbolic fashion� (p.164). Furthermore, the sandtray provides the child with a vehicle that allows for �symbolic ideomotor responses that have cathartic and therapeutic qualities� (p.164). The sandtray gives the child control at a conscious and unconscious level. Consciously, s/he can create a world in the sand that is healthy and ideal. Unconsciously, the symbolic play begins to resolve the trauma through the �idio-motor memory� (p.164).

19. Indigenization: This term ��refers to the replacement of Eurocentric models with local, native idioms� (p.125). Essentially, it is FN people making sense of their world in their way for their people instead of the dominant society (that colonized them) interpreting their world for them. It is validating, legitimizing, and utilizing the worldview and knowledge that was already there, but may have been dormant, hidden, or almost forgotten through the colonization process. For a woman, it is like rediscovering the ancient traditions of midwifery after experiencing a traumatic hospital birth. For a person who was shuffled through countless foster homes, it is like coming home to your birth parents that have been searching for you all these years. It is finding yourself and realizing you were always there.

20. A Transpersonal Therapist