The Philosophy

of

Transpersonal & Experiential Psychotherapy  (TEP) Training

 

• Within the individual psyche there is an inbuilt movement towards growth, healing & wholeness.

 

• The movement towards wholeness, healing and growth engages both the inner and outer life of an individual and manifests itself as:

1. A creative relationship to self, other people and the environment;

2. Being engaged with the physical, mental, emotional and energetic dimensions of personal healing and growth;

3. A relationship to archetypal and collective unconscious energies;

4. Living life directed by one’s egoic strength in conscious relationship with one’s deeper self; &

5. Personal expansion activated by the intrinsic need for and interest in, self-discovery.

 

• Within the psyche of each person, soul & spirit dimensions interact intimately with body, mind and feelings.

 

• TEP requires modalities and approaches that provide a full and rich experience of the inner world, energetically engaging feelings, emotions, mind and body, soul and spirit.

 

• TEP supports the trainee, practitioner and client to move towards self-direction, trust in the inner life, and self-empowerment in the healing journey.

 

• Access to both the conscious and unconscious realms is necessary for healing and growth.

 

•  Access to both personal and transpersonal realms is integral to deep healing and growth.

 

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The Principles

of

Transpersonal & Experiential Psychotherapy  (TEP) Training

 

• Are a deep reverence and respect for the autonomous tendency for the psyche, when given the proper conditions, to heal itself.  The role of the therapist is to support and not to direct the client.

 

• Offer an experience and environment of trust, acceptance and safety to support a person to:

1. Grow towards a non-judgmental acceptance of themselves;

2. Access the unconscious;

3. Develop the capacity to revisit places of vulnerability for completion & healing; &

4. Trust in their own healing process.

 

• Allow for the psyche’s own timing and logic for its healing process. Emotional healing takes time just as physical healing does. Growth towards wholeness is a gradual journey involving experiences of light and shadow at personal, collective and archetypal levels.  The journey has its times of flow, breakthrough and change along with times of resistance, defensiveness and statis.  TEP looks to companion people in all of these experiences.

 

• Support the development of the witnessing capacity of the client/ trainee necessary to:

1. Enable a simultaneous observing and full experience of energetic phenomena;

2. To support appropriate identification with and dis-identification from energy clusters of the psyche;

3. To hold in consciousness the truths and understandings of the self that are accessed  from the unconscious.

 

• Honour the client’s spirituality and support the client in finding ways that assist their own unique spiritual journey.

 

• Move holistically as they acknowledge that within the individual there is an energetic interplay between the many aspects of:

1. body, emotions, mind, soul and spirit; 

2. personal dimensions and transpersonal dimensions; &

3. relationships at personal, societal and environmental levels.

 

• Move experientially as they address the conscious levels and contents of a person’s psyche as well as the unconscious levels and its contents, supporting a new consciousness to emerge with energy and understanding, calling the client to relate this new energetic understanding to living in the world.  The unconscious levels hold unresolved trauma, undeveloped gifts and inner guidance as well as other material of personal and trans-personal dimensions. This unconscious material is accessed through the modalities of TEP Training.

 

• Modalities address the expression and release of repressed emotions, feelings and body energy in a supportive environment to support a healthy life flow.  The physical body is the vessel and vehicle for the flow of life energy.  It registers and holds trauma which can restrict the flow of life energy.   That which we suppress can have a powerful effect on the way we make choices, live our lives and, holds much of our potential: our aliveness, strength, authority, assertiveness and sense of self.

 

• Support the connection between breath and energy.  Breath has the capacity to awaken, stimulate, expand and focus energy.  Breath can enable access to non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC).  Held or restricted breath can indicate a not yet released energy block. Generous breath with sound and movement can release long held emotions, words, energy.

 

• Support the experience of energetic connection.  Emotional release, sound, movement, imagery, affective memory and stillness support energetic connection.  Energetic connection allows:

1. The release of hurts held in the conscious and the unconscious;

2. The release and transformation of energy;

3. The accessing of personal, collective and archetypal  dimensions of the unconscious;

4. The accessing of peri-natal, pre-egoic, egoic and trans-egoic experiences.

 

• Create a space to hold and work with unresolved child / perinatal hurts.  Perinatal and childhood experiences impact on the adult life of individuals and groups.  Unfinished or not integrated experiences – with their feelings, body sensations, belief systems, pain, are pushed beneath ordinary consciousness because of the level of vulnerability involved. This impacts at all levels of relating to: oneself, the divine, relating personally, in a group, to the environment. The impact can be turned inwards: self-depreciating, self-destructive or turned outwards onto others as projection.

 

• Use the energy of group work to create a respectfully confidential environment is supportive of people surrendering to their process and coming to a deeper understanding of their own journeys.  The experience of others can serve as a mirror for oneself.

 

• Support the integration process which is a significant part of a person’s process.

 

• Follow an ethics of caring as well as a code of ethics.  These ethics:

1. Focus on empowerment of the client, an invitation to the client to pursue a journey of self-discovery in a supportive, safe, companioned, non-interpretative environment. It looks to support the inner guidance and healing mechanism within the client;

2. Require TEP Counsellors to practice self-awareness.  When we are in touch with our own process the more we will be able to support a client.  Unexplained issues within ourselves can become pitfalls and make us vulnerable to unethical behaviour.  We need to tune into our own motivation to be alert to appropriate and best practice;

3. Encourage TEP Counsellors to participate in regular self-care to prevent burn-out and, supervision to develop an awareness of their own capacities and limitations.  They need to seek support and supervision when difficulties occur or when they are uncertain about what is needed; &

4. Requires the practitioner to maintain personal development, professional training and skill in the TEP modalities, supervision when in practice and ongoing refinement as a practitioner.

 

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