Techniques used for Self-Exploration and Growth

The centre offers workshops & individual work with :-

We offer part-time training courses for people wanting to become practitioners using these techniques.

Holotropic Breathwork™;

This is a powerful tool that , when used under skilled guidance, is particulalry effective for self-exploration.

The process combines a powerful breathing technique with music to enter into a deep meditative state enabling one to gain access to the unconscious. It can heal past hurts, open up hidden potential and remove blockages to our energy - spiritual, emotional and physical.

In the 1950's a psychiatrist in Prague, Czechoslovakia began research into altered states of consciousness through the use of psychedelic drugs (like LSD). He was Stanislav Grof. He subsequently continued his work in the US and became chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Centre and assistant professor of psychiatry at John Hopkins University School of Medicine. In the 1970's law changed and clinical work with LSD had to stop. He writes in his book "The Adventure of Self-Discovery". "It has been particularly exciting for me to discover during the last decade of my professional work that it is possible to induce practically the entire spectrum of psychedelic phenomena by simple and safe means. We call this Holotropic Therapy. It combines deep breathing, music, focused body work and mandala drawing. Most participants in our workshops found this technique to be an effective and exciting tool for self-exploration with an unusual potential for mediating transformative and mystical experiences. They repeatedly described it as being far superior to any form of verbal therapy they had tried earlier. Even in short workshops we have seen many dramatic improvements of various emotional and psychosomatic conditions, often quite severe and of long duration."

Through his pioneering research, Dr Grof charted three levels of human consciousness, shattering conventional notions about how our minds interact with the world.

By assessing these three levels, the Biographical, Perinatal and Transpersonal, the entirety of the individual's personal history from pre-birth to the present moment can be brought into the conscious mind and re-experienced,

Holotropic therapy favours activation of the unconscious, which is so powerful that it results in a non-ordinary state of consciousness. This principle is relatively new in Western psychotherapy, but has been used for centuries or millenia in the context of shamanic procedures, aboriginal healing ceremonies, rites of passage, meetings of various ecstatic sects, and the ancient mysteries of death and rebirth.

It has been known for centuries that it is possible to induce profound changes of conciousness by techniques which involve breathing. Often the participant in this therapy experiences strong emotions and particular sensations in the body. Emotions may include anger, anxiety, sadness, depression, feelings of failure and inferiority, or guilt. By increasing the rate and depth of breathing the defenses are loosened and this leads to release and emergence of unconscious (and superconscious) material. A typical result of a good holotropic session is profound emotional release and physical relaxation;many subjects report that they feel more relaxed than they have ever felt in their lives.

Like breathing, music and other forms of sound technology have been used for millenia as powerful mind-altering tools. In holotropic therapy evocative music plays an important part in the process. Appropriate music can encourage the emotional content; it can facilitate the emergence of specific contents, such as aggression, emotional or physical pain, sexual and sensual feelings, birth struggle, ecstatic rapture, or the oceanic atmosphere of the womb. In a group context loud and dynamic music masks the sounds of participants. It is essential to surrender completely to the flow of the music, let it resonate in one's entire body, and respond to it spontaneously.

Along with the breathing and music, focused body work is an important aspect of the process.Supportive physical contact from the facilitator helps the participant to feel safe throughout the session. Sometimes massage or pressure in tense or painful areas is most helpful to the subject.

PLEASE NOTE:
Contraindications for Holotropic Breathwork are pregnancy, heart disease and other cardiovascular problems, epilepsy, glaucoma, or a history of severe emotional disorder or psychiatric hospitialisation. Phone the centre for more information.

Sandplay

Sandplay is becoming universally accepted as a powerful technique for accessing unconscious factors that affect behaviour.

Sandplay therapy has come from the jungian Institute in /zurich. It consists of "playing" with symbolic objects in a small sandtray and is suitable for adults and children. It allows free rein to the imagination and is a wonderful way of exploring the unconscious. It is non-threatening therapeutic tool which can open up new awareness and different perspectives on life's problems.

Our method of using Sandplay and Symbol Work has evolved from the Jungian model. It has incorporated Gestalt work and gained great freedom and further healing power through the methods of Emotional Release Counselling.

Most children and adults find Sandplay non-threatening and because of that they move into it easily. They soon begin to contact deeper parts of themselves.

Sandplay is especially valuable in owning shadow aspects of oneself, i.e. those parts that one is not in touch with - these may be not only painful areas, but also the positive potential that is waiting to express itself in outer life.

Sandplay can be used to:

Journal Writing

This process enables you to become your own counsellor. It is a method of working in one's inner life, bringing a greater self-awareness along with personal and spiritual growth. Participants are shown a way to work towards healing memories from the past, to clarify current problems and to search out future direction for their lives.

Journal writing does not require literary skills - simply the desire to make the inner journey.

Participants might be seeking a tool to resolve painful issues and difficulties in their lives, but the process is not limited to problem solving. It can enable one to discover and explore his/her own creative potential.

Ira Progoff in "Depth Psychology and Modern Man" expresses so beautifully the basic belief that gives meaning and purpose to journal writing and to other processes for spiritual growth:

"As the oak tree lies hidden in the depths of the acorn, so the wholeness of human personality with its fullness of spiritual and creative capacities lies hidden in the depths of the incomplete human being silently waiting for its opportunity to emerge."

Dreamwork

Dreams have been described as "the royal road to the unconscious" It is in working with our dreams that we can access the profound wisdom at our depths. Our dreams speak to us in the language of symbols and ultimately it is the dreamer who holds the meaning of the dream. Our work at "The Portiuncula" is to support the dreamer in finding the wisdom that the dream offers. We provide a variety of ways of exploring dreams:

Voice Dialogue

The course of our lives is determined, to a considerable extent, by an array of selves that live within each of us. These selves call out to us constantly - in our dreams and fantasies, in our moods and maladies, and in a multitude of unpredictable and inexplicable reactions to the world around us. The more sharply we become attuned to these inner voices, the more REAL choice we are able to exercise in the pursuit of our individual destinies.

There are times in our lives when we may experience conflicting voices within and feel quite confused. The magic of Voice Dialogue is that it accesses each sub-personality; and it does this in a way that is dramatically effective and frequently quite humorous. As each part has an opportunity to be heard and experienced, there is a free flow of energies and a greater sense of clarity.

Voice dialogue is used extensively by professional therapists and counsellors in the US, Europe and Australia and considered to be one of the most valuable and effective tools. It is not a practice in isolation, but a technique used in conjunction with other modalities. Voice dialogue has been developed by Drs Hal Stone and Sidra Stone, Jungian therapists, and authors of a number of books including "Embracing ourselves" and "Embracing Each Other"

Emotional Release counselling

Emotional Release Counselling (ERC) is a unique blend of personal growth and counselling methods developed in Australia since 1980. It includes a range of experiential approaches that explore the hidden causes behind the conflicts in our lives. It also helps us access our full potential and awakens our inherent spiritual nature. These approaches cooperate with the natural movement within our psyche towards wholeness - the process Jung called 'individuation'

As a full emotional life is the foundation for growth of the human spirit, ERC uses a number of modalities to help us become aware of the underlying emotional causes of present problems. Many of these underlying causes are from the past and are not obvious. They have a negative effect on the way we live our lives, often causing unfulfilling, and even destructive, emotional and lifestyle patterns. In emotional release work, these old feelings, along with present reactions, can be fully felt, mobilised, expressed and released safely. This results in a new inner connection to self and a clearer, more direct, relationship to those around us.

ERC brings a reconnection between body, mind and feelings, and can support the innate healing potential of each person. The processes have been developed from an expanded understanding of the human psyche that is in tune with modern day research as well as ancient spiritual systems.

The modalities described in this information section will at times include ERC.

Meditation, Movement & Art

These modalities have been used over the centuries to access what lies beneath consciousness as well as gaining clarity & connectedness of mind, body and feelings.

They are incorporated into our workshops & counsellor training courses.