healing - Blogs - Depth Psychology Alliance2024-03-28T14:03:36Zhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/healingSeeking Personal Transformation? Soul-Centered Coaching Offers Powerful Possibilitieshttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/seeking-personal-transformation-soul-centered-coaching-offers-pow2022-11-09T03:01:58.000Z2022-11-09T03:01:58.000ZBonnie Brighthttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/BonnieBright<div><p><a href="https://depthinsights.com/soul-centered-coaching/#meeting" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10877916655,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10877916655?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><strong><a href="https://depthinsights.com/soul-centered-coaching/#meeting" target="_blank">Reach out today to see if there is availability</a> </strong>for free sessions of soul-centered coaching with an advanced practitioner</p><p><strong>Soul-Centered Coaching</strong></p><p>The word “psyche” actually means “soul” in Greek (Hillman, 1989), and the Greek philosopher Heraclitus posited the importance of the soul as long as 2500 years ago (Hillman, 1995). C. G. Jung, widely acknowledged alongside well-known pioneers like William James and Sigmund Freud as one of the founders of the field of psychology, emphasized the importance of soul in his work—so much so that the Index to Jung’s <em>Collected Works </em>devotes seven columns to the heading “soul.”</p><p>"Soul-centered coaching" is a term I adopted early in my client practice to describe the process of guiding and mentoring anyone who is looking for personal transformation by engaging <strong>somatic, symbolic,</strong> and <strong>shamanic</strong> approaches. Based on tenets of <strong>Depth psychology</strong>, founded in large part by Sigmund Freud and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung in the early 20th century; on <strong>Transpersonal psychology</strong> which emerged in the late 1960s, founded by Stanislav Grof, Abraham Maslow, and others; and on <strong>Archetypal psychology</strong>, created by contemporary Jungian, James Hillman (d. 2011), soul-centered coaching seeks to help individuals reconnect with their authentic self, overcome programming that no longer serves, and uncover their gifts and calling in his life time.</p><p>As a certified transpersonal (soul-centered) coach, I have found the field of depth/transpersonal coaching to be an exciting and stimulating practice that offers opportunities for profound self-exploration, learning, and transformation. Unlike many forms of coaching, which rely on cognitive-behavioral techniques to shift attitudes and habits, soul-centered coaching is based on both psychological and spiritual tenets that empower both coach and client to connect with deeper, more creative, and more peaceful and powerful aspects of ourselves through engaging with the unconscious.</p><p><strong>Accessing the Unconscious</strong></p><p>Thanks to Jung and his colleague, Sigmund Freud, contemporary coaches and psychologists have developed an understanding that both the personal unconscious (Freud’s theory that each of us is affected by everything we experience and may have repressed or suppressed), and the collective unconscious (Jung’s (1969) notion of the “whole spiritual heritage of mankind’s evolution”(para. 342), which encompasses the soul of humanity at large, and is “born anew in the brain structure of every individual” (para. 342) ).</p><p>Both the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious play a critical role in our developmental process and our capacity to break through to a new understanding of the soul. So, if depth and transpersonal psychologies engage the soul, and soul is what helps us make meaning of our suffering, then depth and transpersonal coaching offer a soul-centered approach that relies on plumbing the depths of the unconscious (both personal and collective) in order to make meaning and help clients transform.</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10877922087,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10877922087,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10877922087?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="350" /></a>In practice, soul-centered coaching not only helps clients to overcome limiting beliefs, difficult emotions, and negative reactions that can stand in the way of happiness and success, it also helps them create new possibilities in their lives (Dangeli, 2018). As a relatively new field, it draws on a variety of theories and techniques embraced by soul-centered (transpersonal) counseling, including mindfulness, meditation, intuition, somatic practices, ritual, and shamanic perspectives, among others (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). This unique combination of transpersonal ideas and focus makes transpersonal coaching a deeply creative process that stimulates and engages each individual on multiple levels of mind, body, and spirit.</p><p><strong>*** Opportunity to Try Soul-Centered Coaching***</strong></p><p>If you feel called to the idea of working with a soul-centered coach, many of the advanced students in the 1-2 Year Certificate Programs in Soul-Centered Coaching Psychology at the Institute for Soul-Centered Coaching and Psychology offer sessions free of charge or at low introductory rates in order to complete requisite practicum hours with real clients. If you are interested in awakening to new truths about who you really are as a “spiritual being having a human experience,” or if you are seeking to break through old patterns, increase your creativity, and achieve greater freedom, joy, and serenity, please <strong><a href="https://depthinsights.com/soul-centered-coaching/#meeting" target="_blank">reach out today to see if there is availability</a> </strong>for you to benefit from this exciting, transformative, and deeply soulful modality: Soul-Centered Coaching</p></div>A Deeper Relationship with the Mind: Counseling, Creativity, and Transcendence— An Interview with Adrianna Attentohttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/a-deeper-relationship-with-the-mind-counseling-creativity-and-tra2017-02-07T23:14:19.000Z2017-02-07T23:14:19.000ZDepth Alliancehttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/DepthAlliance<div><p><a href="http://www.pacificapost.com/a-deeper-relationship-with-the-mind-counseling-creativity-and-transcendence" target="_blank"><img width="350" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142459694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9142459694?profile=original" /></a>Even before getting her <a href="http://www.pacifica.edu/degree-programs/ma-counseling-psychology?__hstc=202165006.09a80c6eff836bc77b20c645a51651b6.1451336195547.1486499605230.1486508043690.179&__hssc=202165006.3.1486508043690&__hsfp=3549819626" target="_blank"><strong>Master’s degree in Counseling psychology at Pacifica</strong></a>, Adriana Attento was working in the field of psychology. During that same period, she was also doing a lot of writing—meeting with a friend to free write next to the ocean every morning for an hour—and she was also meditating as a regular spiritual practice. Somehow, she now believes, the combination of these two practices opened something up for her, creating a “flow, and abundance of images that images that felt very potent.”</p>
<p>While some of those images that arose during her practice represented personal reflections for her, others seemed to be larger, carrying a kind of “cognition,” evoking an experience that included “a knowing beyond rational or logical thinking.”</p>
<p>At that time, Adriana reports, she developed a specific awareness that there is something very powerful about the force of the imagination. She also came to realize that much of her writing was very self-reflective, facilitating a process of self-inquiry by which she could examine various aspects of her experience of being in the world. This understanding ultimately led her to consider psychology as a field of study— and especially the study of psychology that takes the imagination into account.</p>
<p>Not long after one of her “big” experiences with the imagination, she happened on a book edited by a Jungian analyst named Joan Chodorow, entitled, <a href="https://www.pacificabookstore.com/jung-active-imagination-encountering-jung-series" target="_blank"><strong>“Jung on Active Imagination.”</strong></a> The book seemed to explain a lot of what Attento had recently experienced firsthand through the transcendent experience that had originated from her practice of writing and meditation. She began reading some of Jung’s works, and ultimately... <a href="http://www.pacificapost.com/a-deeper-relationship-with-the-mind-counseling-creativity-and-transcendence" target="_blank">(Read the full post or listen to the interview here</a>)</p></div>Releasing Light in Dark Times through Storytellinghttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/releasing-light-in-dark-times2011-03-17T10:30:00.000Z2011-03-17T10:30:00.000ZJuliet Bruce, Ph.D.https://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/JulietBrucePhD<div><p>I've posted a new article which includes a story exercise on my blog. It may interest you. <a href="http://livingstory-ny.blogspot.com/">http://livingstory-ny.blogspot.com</a>.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Releasing Light in Dark Times through Storytelling</strong></p><p>"I saw an angel in the stone and I carved until I set him free."<br /><br />No one since Michelangelo has more aptly or succinctly told the story of creative process. In one sentence, the sculptor describes its stages: encounter with raw material, receptive attention to the point of love, trusting that inner presence through the not-knowing-for-sure time, illumination, patient and committed toil, and finally manifestation in the concrete world.<br /><br />So too with life. Whether we are trying to nourish the inherent strengths of a troubled young person, find deeper love in a conflicted relationship, rebuild our life after loss, create common ground between adversaries, or express ourselves in a fresh way, there is no system, structure, or formula more powerful than creative process.<br /><br />In his book <em>Narrative Medicine: The Use of History and Story in the Healing Process</em>, Dr. Lewis Mehl-Medrona shares a Pasqua Yaqui native American tale from the southwest about an old man who owned light, but kept it hidden in a box within a box deeply buried inside his house. He was afraid that if it was released, he would discover that his daughter, who lived with him, was ugly. Writes Mehl-Madrona, "You've probably seen the same thing I have, where people are so afraid of what could happen that they hide their gifts and capabilities from themselves and each other." (p. 59)<br /><br />Through a messy series of mishaps instigated by the trickster Raven, the light is eventually freed from the box, only to be dropped by Raven in his escape, shattering into millions of tiny fragments. The pieces of light hit the ground and bounce back into the sky, where they appear as the moon and stars. Raven gathers together the remaining fragments, shapes them into a ball, and carries the throbbing orb high into the sky. It shines every day as the sun, making life possible on earth.<br /><br />Once the world becomes visible, the old man...<a target="_blank" href="http://livingstory-ny.blogspot.com">Read more</a></p><p>Best wishes,</p><p>Juliet Bruce</p></div>Epigenetics, Ancestors, and Living Your Callinghttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/epigenetics-ancestors-and-living-your-calling2018-02-23T00:00:00.000Z2018-02-23T00:00:00.000ZBonnie Brighthttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/BonnieBright<div><p><a href="http://www.pacificapost.com/epigenetics-ancestors-and-living-your-your-calling" target="_blank"><img width="350" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142472086,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9142472086?profile=original" /></a></p><p><strong>Sharing my new audio interview and article....</strong></p><p>Jungian analyst, Robert Johnson’s work on “Living your Unlived Life “has been deeply inspirational to Heather Beck, author of “Take the Leap: Do What You Love 15 Minutes a Day and Create the Life of Your Dreams.” Beck is also earning a Ph.D. in the Somatic Studies program at Pacifica Graduate Institute.</p><p>Beck has recently become interested in epigenetics, the study of heritable changes in gene function that do not involve changes in the DNA sequence*. She believes that we are born “fully locked and loaded” with gifts that we ourselves have determined before our birth. However, the moment we are born, our lives are prone to social enculturation from parents, family, communities, religious organizations, governments, and schools.</p><p>These enculturations have a way of taking us off our pathway, at times limiting us to the projections of what others want for us rather lives to truly unfold and to express our own unique genius.</p><p> Examining the patterns that are running rampant in our lives, sometimes through the generations, offers us opportunities to learn about ourselves, identify limiting beliefs, and break those patterns that no longer serve us—opening us to insights about our true path in life.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Listen to my audio interview with Heather Beck, or read a detailed summary article at</strong> <a href="http://www.pacificapost.com/epigenetics-ancestors-and-living-your-your-calling">http://www.pacificapost.com/epigenetics-ancestors-and-living-your-your-calling</a></p></div>Ancestral Healing: Insights on Animism & Shamanism—Summary Article of an Interview with Dr. Daniel Foor with Bonnie Bright PhDhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi2017-10-17T10:30:00.000Z2017-10-17T10:30:00.000ZBonnie Brighthttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/BonnieBright<div><p class="Text"><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi" target="_blank"><img width="300" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142469059,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9142469059?profile=original" /></a><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi" target="_blank"></a></p><p class="Text"><strong><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi" target="_blank">Watch the Video Interview here</a></strong></p><p class="Text"></p><p class="Text"><strong>Daniel Foor, PhD,</strong> is a teacher and practitioner of practical animism who specializes in ancestral and family healing and is helping make humans relate well to the rest of the natural world and in helping humans relate well to the rest of the natural world.</p><p class="Text">As a licensed marriage and family therapist, Foor’s doctoral research in psychology focused on the use of shamanic healing practices like clinical mental health professionals. He has trained and lived in other societies, immersing himself in different lineages of spiritual practice, each of which has informed his kind and non-dogmatic approach to ancestor and earth reverence.</p><p class="Text">A self-described “white guy from Ohio of European ancestral lineages German, English, Irish,” Foor has sought out and trained with many different lineages of practices and teaches ancestry and earth reverence to people in the United States in “an accessible way that helps them to feel connected to their own ancestors and to the land where they live in a way that's also mindful of the history, and social justice.”</p><p><img width="220" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142469494,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9142469494?profile=original" /></p><p class="Text">In our recent conversation, Foor, who is the author of a recent book, <i>Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing</i>, explains the difference between animism and shamanism, tracing some of their historical evolution and key ideas.</p><p class="Text">A mature or well-evolved animist is someone who learns how to relate skillfully, respectfully with other kinds of beings, Foor believes, but that doesn't mean that person necessarily holds any specific role in their community as a healer. It's a way of seeing the world. He prefers to use the term, “earth-honoring spirituality,” to describe a critical part of his worldview and practice, in part because it does not take away from or appropriate specific indigenous traditions, or contribute to the history of genocide and colonialism that has taken place among indigenous peoples around the world.</p><p class="Text">When one is drawn to “shamanism,” or earth-honoring spirituality, it benefits us to get to know our own ancestors, and to come into relationship with both what is beautiful, and also with what needs healing from our own ancestral lineages, Foor insists. That enables us to go about the needed healing in more grounded and more culturally sensible way because it honors our own history.</p><p class="Text">In our conversation, Foor explained how many modern day shamanic practices are taught by western practitioners—including soul retrieval, extraction, de-possession work, energy balancing, and connecting with spirit allies, among them. Most of the mental health practitioners Daniel drew from in his doctoral research were drawing on those types of practices, he acknowledges, and the conclusion of the research is that it <i>is</i> possible to harmonize or bridge some of those practices into a mental health setting.</p><p class="Text"><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi" target="_blank"><img width="250" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142469896,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="9142469896?profile=original" /></a>However, practices from animist cultures or indigenous traditions generally assume that each individual who comes to Earth has our own destiny, our own unique instructions and original medicine and gifts to bring to the world, he notes. These cultures tend to have a profound respect for diversity because the natural world offers tremendous diversity in the form of revelations and manifestations that are highly sacred, in addition to all the things we can't physically perceive.</p><p class="Text">It is important that we each get clear about what our particular destiny is, and then determine which specific or unique teachers, spirits, or practices we need to be working with in order to fulfill that destiny. There's really just one script or one pattern, even within the same tradition of practice.</p><p class="Text">Many of these traditional practices revolve around cultivating relationships and learning to feed and tend a relationship with certain ancestors or spirits through offerings, prayer, invocation; by allowing those beings to speak through dreams, waking intuition, through embodiment or incorporation, possession practices, and also potentially knowing how to also work with different plants and elements of the natural world, which have their own vibration, their own medicine, as Daniel suggests.</p><p class="Text">For me, this is all a very archetypal idea that information is available which we can tap into through the instruction or the teachings of certain spirits, entities, or deities, but Foor quickly reminds me that, while some traditions favor the practice of journeying, for example—of moving one’s consciousness intentionally out of the body in order to gain information from some other “world”, not all traditions expect or require the practitioner to journey to them, and may even see it as a practice that necessarily favorable.</p><p class="Text">Another critical tool that some traditions engage in when relating with ancestors or spirits is through divination. This includes an appreciation for dreams, synchronicity, spontaneous events, and ancestral memory in the form of stories—many of which can be invoked to amplify what elders may be seeing in certain situations.</p><p class="Text">Part of our “predicament” in the West is that people are drawn to spirit, but they don't necessarily have a community to support them, Foor maintains. While working alone can offer a certain modicum of freedom, there can also be loneliness, sadness, or a sense of loss or disconnect from the nourishment that a lineage provides, and also the accountability that comes from a lineage. Ideally, we have elders to whom we can turn for guidance, for analyzing dreams or events, or to help us from getting overwhelmed by archetypal forces. They can also help us deal with inflation, which can potentially be problematic when one feels “called” in a certain way, even if that calling is valid and authentic.</p><p class="Text"><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi" target="_blank"><img width="300" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142470700,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9142470700?profile=original" /></a>One critical tenet of healing is to seek clarity about your own unique destiny and what your needs are as a result of that. This requires “getting well with your own ancestors” and healing your ancestral lineages. The process encourages the psychological inner work that everybody needs to do, aids healing in families, and allows us to come a balanced relationship with the land and the earth where we each live.</p><p class="Text">Community protects us from “getting too far into the weeds” when it's functioning in a healthy way, Foor suggests. Counterparts who see us on a spiritual level and can help us course correct when we need it, and grounded spiritual teachers can help us move things along and they also help us establish some psychological resilience so we don’t become disillusioned with our sense of calling.</p><p class="Text">Foor, who has been guiding ancestral trainings around the U.S. over the last decade, believes that everyone has loving and wise ancestors. It's important to expand our understanding of the ancestors to include not only all of our lineage who are remembered by name, but also those who are note, and to know that they can be called upon in the present. “The ancestors live as a spiritual force, or collection of forces, in the present and so we can call on them now,” Foor contends. It’s also important to identify the dead who can help us from those who have passed but are not yet well. That’s another important reason for healing our lineages—not just for our own families and for our psychological well-being, but also for “the cultural healing that we need with respect to racism, sexism, homophobia, all the different cultural poisons that we're trying to metabolize.”</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9142462663,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="320" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142462663,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="9142462663?profile=original" /></a></p><p class="Text">Doing the work of healing the inter-generational pain that's been inherited is also very complementary to social justice work and cultural healing work that's needed. In contemporary shamanism, people tend to gravitate toward relating with certain deities, animals, plants, mountains, etc., but often tend to forego relationships with ancestors, partly because there's so much unconscious trauma about family and a desire to avoid that. If family is seen as a source of pain and disconnect rather than spiritual support, is not surprising that we might view our families in a truncated and incomplete way rather than seeing that we have lineages that go back to tribal, pre-Christian, pre-colonialism times, Foor suggests.</p><p class="Text"><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi" target="_blank"></a>That psychological motivation to avoid the ancestor part of shamanic practice because of the history can potentially prevent us from engaging in the opportunity for healing through the ancestors. The “ones who lived before the trouble” have the potential to bring healing into our own hearts, relationships, and lives. They want to reconnect with us.</p><p class="Text">As a doctor of psychology and a therapist, Foor sees many individuals struggle with intergenerational pain or ancestral trouble—even sometimes ghost interference—that's been inherited. Our older ancestors have the remedy to shift that, he believes, but these situations involve collective-level medicine. “The older ancestors have the remedy for the poison that we have inherited from recent family,” he asserts. “And they want to help. They're available. But there needs to be a calling on them.” In our conversation, Foor goes on to share some practical and helpful ideas about how to work with ancestors.</p><p class="Text">“There are literally thousands of intact cultures on earth that continue to maintain daily relationship with their ancestors,” he notes. We have a natural human capacity to engage in direct, nourishing, helpful relationship with our own ancestors. Once we make that gesture, we then just need to trust that the universe will actually respond.</p><p class="Text"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9142462663,original{{/staticFileLink}}"></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9142471261,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="320" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142471261,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="9142471261?profile=original" /></a>And sometimes, we have to be a little tenacious about it. If you're serious about it, we have to remember we’re building a relationship, and these are real being—not just a part of your own mind. You can't control them. Foor goes on to note several books, authors, and even YouTube videos that have made a difference in his own life.</p><p class="Text">Foor goes on to profess that one of his” favorite demographics of people” is “white people like him who are ancestrally disconnected from indigenous culture.” It <i>is</i> possible to reclaim animist, earth-honoring, soulful depth level relationship with your own ancestors, practices, community, he affirms, even as he emphasizes that we must be hopeful about it. “It's possible to do it in a way that isn't culturally offensive,” he stresses in closing. “Don't let those things discourage you. We need the reconnection. The others, the not human ones, miss us, and we desperately need to get our framework for how to live and how to relate well with the others back on track”—not just spiritually but politically and culturally, as well.</p><p class="Text"> </p><p class="Text"><b>Visit Daniel Foor’s</b> <b>website</b>, <a href="http://www.ancestralmedicine.org/">www.ancestralmedicine.org</a> to find lots of resources, including a calendar of workshops Foor offers both in-person or online.</p><p class="Text"><b>Learn more about Daniel Foor’s upcoming</b> <b>online series</b>, “Ancestral Lineage Healing”, starting October 29, 2017: <a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/events/ancestral-lineage-healing-online-course">http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/events/ancestral-lineage-healing-online-course</a></p><p class="Text"><b><br /> Watch the video interview</b>, <b>Ancestral Healing: Insights on Animism & Shamanism—</b>Dr. Daniel Foor with Bonnie Bright PhD (approx. 42 mins) at <a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi">http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-healing-insights-on-animism-shamanism-dr-daniel-foor-wi</a></p><p class="Text"></p><p class="Text"></p></div>Integration: Chinese Medicine, Somatic Studies, and Depth Psychologyhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/integration-chinese-medicine-somatic-studies-and-depth-psychology2017-11-22T20:31:54.000Z2017-11-22T20:31:54.000ZBonnie Brighthttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/BonnieBright<div><p><a href="http://www.pacificapost.com/integration-chinese-medicine-somatic-studies-and-depth-psychology" target="_blank"><img width="350" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142466258,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9142466258?profile=original" /></a>Chinese medicine is a system that's rooted in nature. Using primary treatment tools like acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, and cupping, the practice focuses on maintaining health and preventing illness.</p><p>As a doctor of Chinese medicine for over six years, Brian Falk has nearly completed his Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with Specialization in Somatic Studies, and he has had a chance to experience a multitude of correlations between Chinese medicine and depth psychology.</p><p>Since studying depth psychology, Falk has gained a greater awareness of the power of the psyche. He was struck by the ancient Greek healing traditions and other medical and historical aspects from which western ideas originated and how similar they were to Chinese thought; specifically in relation to how the body can be healed through dreaming. Dreams help us deepen into our own human experience, and can even be helpful in dealing with death, Falk notes. He also came to see how much imagery there is in Chinese medicine, and the power of images has helped him gain a deeper appreciation for both fields.</p><p class="Text">Falk also finds that depth psychology fills some gaps that were left by his professional training in Chinese medicine. While Chinese medicine is a complete medical system focused on treating every part of the human, the idea of the personal and the collective unconscious; the shadow; and the archetypal perspectives that aid in understanding the human condition are mostly absent, he suggests.</p><p class="Text">Falk’s larger awareness has continued to expand through his research for his doctoral dissertation entitled, “Smell Your Reflections: On the Soul’s Meaningful Scent Images.” Perceiving <i>images</i> of smell allows us to go beyond the physical experience of smells in our environment, and reach something on a much deeper level of the psyche, he asserts.</p><p class="Text">Listen to the interview or read a detailed summary article at <a href="http://www.pacificapost.com/integration-chinese-medicine-somatic-studies-and-depth-psychology" target="_blank">www.pacificapost.com/integration-chinese-medicine-somatic-studies-and-depth-psychology</a><a href="http://www.pacificapost.com/integration-chinese-medicine-somatic-studies-and-depth-psychology" target="_blank"><br /></a></p></div>Ancestral Soul Work: A Conversation with Sandra Easter, PhDhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/ancestral-soul-work-a-conversation-with-sandra-easter-phd2017-04-15T14:30:00.000Z2017-04-15T14:30:00.000ZDepth Alliancehttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/DepthAlliance<div><p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9142462663,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142462663,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="9142462663?profile=original" /></a></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.depthinsights.com/pdfs/Transcript-Interview-Ancestral-Soul-Work-Sandra-Easter-with-Bonnie-Bright-CGJung-Psychology-and-Spirituality-Conference-2017.pdf" target="_blank">NEW! *Read a written transcript of this interview here</a></strong></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jung-Ancestors-Biography-Mending-Ancestral/dp/1908995114" target="_blank"><img width="100" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142462896,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="9142462896?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In this interview, Sandra Easter, Ph.D., author of</span> <b style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Jung and the Ancestors: Beyond Biography, Mending the Ancestral Web</i></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">, speaks movingly about how developing a relationship with our ancestors and ancestral past can help us heal, both individually and collectively.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">Sandra offers workshops in ancestral soul work and transformational visioning for individuals and organizations, and she will be presenting about ancestral soul work at the <strong><a href="http://www.JungConference.org" target="_blank">C.G. Jung Psychology and Spirituality Conference</a></strong> in Santa Fe, NM, which takes place June 9-16, 2017.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">The 2017 conference, “Nature and Soul: Cultivating a Relationship with the Wholeness of All,” seeks to provide an opportunity to explore the integration of Jungian Psychology and spirituality by means of in-depth lectures by Jungian Analysts, creative expression, rituals, and excursions to sites that enhance the experience of the world of C.G. Jung.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">The vision is that the conference will go beyond a traditional format to serve as a retreat. Participants will be eating meals together, attending daily dream circles and talking circles, spending time socializing and networking, and also going on </span><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt;">excursions into nature, history and the artistic communities of Santa Fe.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2"><a href="http://jungconference.org/2017_Conference/Conference_Presenters/index.html" target="_blank">Conference presenters include Jerome Bernstein, Jeffrey Kiehl, Thomas Elsner, Monika Wikman, John Todd, Puddi Kullberg, and Frank Morgan, along with Sandra Easter</a></span></p>
<h4><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">Get details or register for the Conference at <a href="http://www.JungConference.org">www.JungConference.org</a></span></h4>
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<p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2"><strong><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-soul-work-sandra-easter-with-bonnie-bright" target="_blank">WATCH the video interview</a><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/video/ancestral-soul-work-sandra-easter-with-bonnie-bright"><br /></a></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2"><strong><a href="http://www.depthinsights.com/audio/Psychology-and-Spirituality-Conference-2017-Interview-Sandra-Easter-with-Bonnie-Bright.mp3" target="_blank">LISTEN to the audio version here</a></strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"><strong><a href="http://www.depthinsights.com/pdfs/Transcript-Interview-Ancestral-Soul-Work-Sandra-Easter-with-Bonnie-Bright-CGJung-Psychology-and-Spirituality-Conference-2017.pdf" target="_blank">READ a written transcript of this interview here</a></strong></span></p>
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<p></p></div>Trauma, Don't Paint it Prettyhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/trama-don-t-paint-it-pretty2015-06-25T23:30:00.000Z2015-06-25T23:30:00.000ZSilvia Behrendhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/SilviaBehrend<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9142452657,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9142452657,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="9142452657?profile=original" /></a><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blog/new#"></a></p><p><span class="font-size-3">I recently started a new painting, using a canvass big enough to use up some old paint. It was to be a study of yellows, with burnt sienna, vermillion red and other odds and ends I had accumulated over the years. So I mixed the old paint with walnut oil, hoping to reconstitute it enough to have it slide on the canvass. I quickly discovered that is not how it works. I ended up with thick leaden lines that killed any life in their vicinity. So, I left it for a while, thinking I would see it with new eyes next time I could go to the studio. But when I walked into the studio a week later, I was filled with a desire to destroy the canvass, to paint over it, to slash it, to throw it out.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">Something held my hand back. Some whisper of inspiration, some angel of knowing, took my hand instead to an old rag and turpentine. I used the soaked towel and tried to take off all the paint, start over with a clean slate. I wiped and wiped, each time removing more and more of the lifelessness until no more would come off. What remained was a patina of deep golden yellows, like a mellow maple floor, walked on for generations. The dead lines were gone, but there were traces, like old scars of old wounds, faint but ever present, that became the roots and branches of new life.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">That painting taught me about trauma in a new way. To be human is to suffer the vicissitudes of betrayal, loss and grief. Not everyone suffers horrific trauma, assaults to the self that are unbearable, but many do. But no one is served by trying to gloss over the pain and suffering and lull us into the belief that all things can be overcome, that the trauma will disappear, that all will be well.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">We want to deny that some things will never be completely healed and made whole. We want to say that everything that happens has a reason and a purpose under heaven. Even if terrible things happened, there is meaning to be made. But that is not the case, and we see it in the woman pushing a grocery cart with all her belongings down the street. We see it in a child who winces at loud noises in an airport bathroom, as well as in the returning soldier who stands in line at the drugstore, mere days after having been in battle and is startled by a sudden noise.. </span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">That we can make a life out of suffering too cruel to name is a miracle. As Dr. Conforti says, resilience is a secular miracle. We can learn to live with the damage but we can never deny that the damage happened. We can accept that for the rest of our lives we will have to be careful, to resist those places which hurt us, to build walls when necessary, and to say, no, I can’t go there. I know this because I have been participating in the Trauma and Healing Certification Program offered at the Assisi Institute. </span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">What we are learning from leading scholars and clinicians who specialize in trauma and healing is that the power of the trauma, whatever its description, leaves a sheen on the soul that affects the way we experience the world. The contours of the trauma can be seen by the way the person moves, behaves, believes, by the way so many of us find ourselves taken over, yet again, by the re-enactment of the trauma. Father sold you out, you sell yourself out. Mother kept you close, you never live your life. </span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">So how do we manage not to fall into despair, the repetition of alienation, violence or the theft of a good life? There is no technique, no panacea, but a real moral response to sit with and be present to someone’s suffering without trying to make it better. When we witness the horror without flinching, when we abide with the unspeakable and don’t try to turn into it into a positive ‘learning’ experience, we let the other know that we won’t run away. That it is possible to be human, that there are those who will not betray, abuse or abandon. The healing that is possible takes place in the alchemical container of soul witnessing soul. Like the painting, we carry the many layers of our life without denial, without pretense and make the best life we can.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p><p><span class="font-size-4"> </span></p><p><a href="http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blog/new#"> </a></p></div>New member open to Discussionshttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/new-member-open-to-discussions2012-07-14T06:48:03.000Z2012-07-14T06:48:03.000ZMichael Mayerhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/MichaelMayer<div><p>I'm a new member to this group, and would like to dialogue with others about some of the contributions that I've made to the field of depth psychology. For example : 1. In the 1980's I developed the Mythic Journey Process which integrated Gendlin's Focusing with Archetypal Psychology; in the 1990's I added Tai Chi/Qigong to this process to integrate movement 2. My Mystery of Personal Identity book was the first to integrate astrology with depth psychotherapy and introduce a hermeneutic perspective to astrology 3. My Bodymind Healing Psychotherapy book was the first to integrate Qigong with depth psychotherapy 4. My just released book, The Path of the Reluctant Metaphysician: Stories and Practices for Troubled Times, is the synthesis of my integration of depth psychology, astrology, Qigong/Tai Chi, and metaphysics. I'd love to hear what those in this group are doing in these areas and other domains of depth psychotherapy. Michael Mayer,<a href="http://www.bodymindhealing.com/">www.bodymindhealing.com</a>, <a href="http://www.reluctantmetaphysician.com/">www.reluctantmetaphysician.com</a></p></div>Finding the Bones of Your Personal Mythhttps://depthpsychologyalliance.com/profiles/blogs/finding-the-bones-of-your2011-01-16T14:24:59.000Z2011-01-16T14:24:59.000ZJuliet Bruce, Ph.D.https://depthpsychologyalliance.com/members/JulietBrucePhD<div><p> </p><p>Hi all,</p><p>How wonderful that this community is expanding so rapidly.</p><p>I had the good fortune to hear Dr. Daniel Rottman, president of the New York Jung Foundation and a member of the faculty of the Assisi Institute, speak on the archetype of love in December at the Jung Center here. I expect to be posting some new thoughts on my Living Story blog about story and love, based on my experience with the story groups I facilitate, which have been inspired by his talk.</p><p>Meanwhile, I've posted a short fairy tale writing exercise that you may find useful on my blog <a href="http://livingstory-ny.blogspot.com">http://livingstory-ny.blogspot.com</a>.</p><p>Warmest wishes,</p><p>Juliet Bruce</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>