Surfacing

About a month ago I completed my first year of graduate school in Transpersonal Psychology and it has taken me several weeks to feel like even beginning to discuss the experience.

The best analogy I can use at this time comes from my love of Scuba diving. I have always had a natural propensity for wanting to travel deep! And in Scuba, when you have been in the depths of the ocean for some time there is the possibility of experiencing nitrogen narcosis, also known as "rapture of the deep." It is defined as a "a reversible alteration in consciousness" that can cause you to feel very relaxed (or possibly stressed) due to dissolved nitrogen in the blood under elevated pressure. The best way to proceed is by slowing ascending to the surface and making a stop along the way in order to allow the body to readjust. 

This is precisely where I feel like I have been in the last few weeks, taking my time to digest and integrate all that I have learned in the last 10 months of study. The program is designed in such a way that the first year is dedicated to the personal journey of self transformation and all of the coursework is aimed toward this end. The balance between studying various theoretical models of consciousness and participating actively in practical application exercises created the conditions for some amazing growth. The best word that I can use to describe my own process is integration. I have spent years studying various spiritual traditions and the healing arts have provided a path for me that feels close to my soul calling. Despite those things, I have always felt a certain chasm between my inner world and outer life. This experience of fragmentation is precisely what led me to this program and my original intention was to learn how to create a bridge between my soul longings and the physical world. The greatest healing came in the form of making a descent into my own depths; and in the investigation and confrontation of the dark shadows and creatively working with my dreams in order to begin to converse with my unconscious. As I allowed myself to move more freely between conscious and unconscious; thus creating greater awareness of the totality of myself, I began to notice the bridge being constructed. This is the nature of the dialogue that I have been having with myself for months now and the work I have done has, without a doubt, helped me fulfill my goal of integration. 

As I move forward into my second year, I will be specializing in transformational life coaching with the hope of accompanying others on their unique journey to discovering and actualizing their own soul longings. I have become quite clear that the healing process is a creative process. Similar to the hero journey (which I discussed in a previous post), the stages of the creative process: preparation, incubation, illumination, evaluation and implementation provide a valuable template for personal growth and spiritual development. Rather than focusing on pathology or disease as the starting point, I agree with the humanistic and transpersonal approaches that look, first, at how much health or wholeness is available within a person and begin the process from there. Creativity, communication, and consciousness hold important keys in the transformative process and will, ultimately, provide the greatest source of healing. I plan on exploring, in much greater depth (there it is again!), this vital role that creativity plays in our personal healing. Much of my offering will be an extension of my own effort to continue to integrate the various aspects of myself and to further define and refine my work in the world. I delight in being immersed in my own creative process and trust that it will continue to lead me to my bliss!