Product Description
Describes the emergence of powerful fields of consciousness that influence students' learning and personal transformation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A must read for any teacher
The author does a remarkable job working what could be an esoteric subject into language and concepts readily available to an open minded person.His experiences in the classroom are supported by scientific research, and if utilized, could transform teaching into a more refined and conscious art.
I love the chapter where he shares the essays of students that had life changing insights into their life patterns and gained a deeper appreciation for the mystery and magic which suffuses our lives.

Deceptively Challenging & Encouraging
Bache's third book.I've read the two before.He continues to probe the deeper layers of "what's going on".With success.Pushes the limits of comprehension into elastic areas.Worthy of your perusal and contemplative thought.Eloquent, accessible writer.Penetrating deep thinker.What more do you need?

Consciousness discussed by an incredibly aware teacher..helps us know ourselves and one another
I am positively biased towards this book as I have had the good fortune
of having a deep conversation with the author by telephone.I found him
to be one of the most brilliant and aware individuals I've ever met.
Reading the book helps me understand more intimately and profoundly
the breadth and depth of his keen and observant mind.
Its truly wonderful to read something that helps you understand others and yourself from the point of view of " sitting in the lap of the
giant"....He makes complex and profound insights accessible and
useable.This in itself is a worthy gift and would be reason enough to
read the book.
But there are also wonderful stories and anecdotes, thoughtfully
chosen and sparely shared, that illustrate, like parables, concepts that
we can all benefit from.
Even if you're not a scholar (and I'm not), nor an educator, nor
a master of anything, but just curious to want to know more about the
mind, consciousness in particular---and how to understand and value it
more....this book will surely be worthy of your time and hold a special
place on your stack of "Top Favorites in My Library."
Highly Recommended.Its unique and lacks self-consciousness.Wise
and comfortable, approachable and readible...you'll be so glad you took
the time to open and learn.
Like myself, you may emerge somewhat changed.I suspect that could
be a good thing!
I have been studying consciousness for about 30 years but from
a polar opposite viewpoint. It was refreshing to see places we meet in the
middle, but especially fascinating to learn ideas I'd never considered at all.Thanks Chris Bache for taking the time to learn, understand, experience and discern, and then ultimately write clearly about all the things in this rare and special book! ... Read more

Product Description
This book shows that it is necessary to understand intergenerational trauma and internalized oppression in order to understand Native Americans today. It makes Native American ways of conceptualizing the world available to readers.

This book presents a theoretical discussion of problems and issues encountered in the Native American community from a perspective that accepts Native knowledge as legitimate. Native American cosmology and metaphor are used extensively in order to deal with specific problems such as alcoholism, suicide, family, and community problems. The authors discuss what it means to present material from the perspective of a people who have legitimate ways of knowing and conceptualizing reality and show that it is imperative to understand intergenerational trauma and internalized oppression in order to understand the issues facing Native Americans today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

It's about time
It's about time someone spent a little time sharing the realities of Inter-generational Trauma and Inter-generational Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. I am of mixed heritage - European and Native American, and I can tell you that trauma is most definitely handed down generation to generation.And it is not just a Native American thing. Any ethnicity that lives but several generations from extreme cultural and societal tragedy can face these issues. Jews and African Americans can be added to this list, and could benefit from this man's approach. Thank you for sharing this work with the world.

excellent condition and excellent delivery
This is an easy read text, organized well for quick reference and very helpful in counseling.

Ground breaking book on understanding issues related to Native Americans
Excellent book, those written more recently have different agenda, but this book was excellent in terms of creating a way to understand issues specific to Native people and counseling.

Insight into Systemic-Abuse Trauma
It's been many years since the first time I read this book, it was, and remains, a very powerful and very relevant analysis of anger turned inward in the Native American community. It is, nevertheless, a work that confronts a very sensitive issue in the United States of America - the impact on current generations of genocidal colonization practices against long-established Native American communities by European colonizers. Do not read this book if you believe the Americas were pristine, unpopulated lands waiting to be "discovered" by Columbus, or Erikson, or any other European. Do read this book if you want to understand why other colonized cultures have turned to violence and dogma to seek revenge for the foreign imposition of arbitrary and intentionally destructive rulerships.

An important book for ALL counselors and therapists
This is one of the best books that I have ever read. I see it as basic material for any counselor or therapist. While the focus is on Native Americans, it is relevant for work with clients of all cultures.The discussion of intergenerational trauma and the soul wound is particularly well done.Highly readable and it can change the way you practice. Profound! ... Read more

Product Description
Usually the concept of the unconscious triggers the idea of the hidden soul pulling strings and controlling overt behavior and emotions in some mysterious and obscure way. The purpose of this book is to clarify the concept of the unconscious and to demystify unconscious processes and their role in therapy. The research of the last two decades has contributed much to knowledge of these processes. Concepts such as subliminal perception, repressive style, dichotic listening, the hidden observer, parallel distribution processes, unintentional learning, and many others, have enriched the understanding of the unconscious and its functions. The approach of this book is to present and distinguish between different models of the unconscious in the context of the specific theory of personality within which they have developed, and to present an integrative perspective which will guide further understanding of the hidden mind and approaches to therapy. Psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists in the dynamic, cognitive and humanistic traditions will find in this book an interesting perspective on the role of the unconscious in their own tradition, concise accounts of how unconscious processes are viewed in other traditions, and a new integrative model of the hidden mind. ... Read more

Product Description
Explores the plausibility and value of viewing synchronicity as a form of spiritual experience. ... Read more

Product Description
Presents an account of human development from a depth-psychological, transpersonal perspective. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Incredible
This is Washburn's third transpersonal book and it is good.
It integrates much of what he has discussed in his previous work but takes it to the next step.Washburn's main opponent in transpersonal theory is Ken Wilber.But Washburn is second to no one in terms of a logical, honest presentation of his view of transpersonal developement. Perhaps his and Wilber's view of transpersonal growth are both true, like an electron is a wave and particle.Great book and a must have. ... Read more

Product Description
Offers a new theoretical paradigm that goes beyond the limitations of Freudian and Jungian psychological models. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

More than Compelling
In C. G. Jung's final work, the Mysterium Coniunctionis - a book which many Jungians have not even bothered to read - we find the following in graph 675: "If the demand for self-knowledge is willed by fate and is refused, this negative attitude may end in real death. The demand would not have come to this person had he still been able to strike out on some promising by-path. But he is caught in a blind alley from which only self-knowledge can extricate him. If he refuses this then no other way is open to him. Usually he is not conscious of his situation, either, and the more unconscious he is the more he is at the mercy of unforeseen dangers: he cannot get out of the way of a car quickly enough, in climbing a mountain he misses his foothold somewhere, out skiing he thinks he can just negotiate a tricky slope, and in an illness he suddenly loses the courage to live. The unconscious has a thousand ways of snuffing out a meaningless existence with surprising swiftness. The connection of the unio mentalis with the death-motif is therefore obvious, even when death consists only in the cessation of spiritual process."

This demand for self-knowledge, as Jung puts it, unfolds in a process Jung calls "Individuation." The call to individuation, if willed by fate, as Jung says, begins sometime in the early thirties and can escalate from there, becoming acute as one enters one's final third of life. This path can be a ferocious one, bewildering in its complexity and compulsion, and usually it is heralded by a flurry of synchronicities that intensify with time. To negotiate the subtleties of this path successfully, one needs a guide, and in this regard, the work of Robert Aziz is indispensable.His two books - The Syndetic Paradigm and Jung's Psychology of Religion and Synchronicity - are the preeminent works in the field - the most practically useful, bar none - since Jung first disclosed his synchronicity theory to intimates on November 28, 1928. If you are someone who is struggling at the edge, bewildered yet compelled, you may find precisely the sustenance you need in these two potent works. I can't recommend them highly enough.

Beyond Paradigm!
This work is a closely argued explication of a set of ideas with which the author has been concerned both theoretically and practically for the last twenty plus years.As such, it is impossible within the space of a short review to do justice to the range of ideas and experiences synthesized therein, (e.g. complexity theory, dream interpretation, natural morality, religious symbolism, sex, spiritual experience).And while it remains to be seen as to whether or not the author'sambition to foster a new paradigm comes to fruition,I can say unequivocally that he has produced a work not only of exceptional rigor and clarity, but also of passionate faith.
Building on the ideas of Freud and Jung and his own work as a practicing psychotherapist, Aziz goes beyond merely arguing for an expanded model of analytical theory and practice, i.e. "for paradigmatic shift from a closed-system model of a self-regulating psyche to an open-system model of psyche in a self-regulating totality," (page 36), to call for a fundamental change in our perspective of the nature of reality and our place in it - "From it's very depths the collective soul of our psyche cries out to be released from its entrapment in that which has been the legacy of humanity's secular and religious ideologies,"(page 293).This book should be inspirational not only to practicing therapists but to us ordinary mortals struggling with what it means to be fully human. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

LEADER IN THE FIELD OF CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH
A book to read and re-read for me plus a validation of what I have felt since childhood.Any one who wants to know themselves and others and looking for soul searching truth would benefit from reading this and other works by Grof and authors in his bibliography.Plus, a look at quantum physics, as well, for more light reading. (A joke of course)

Essential Perspective, but Not for the Layperson
Synopsis:

This book is composed of two distinct parts, which are actually identified in the subtitle. The first of the two is a long litany of Grof's explanation of dimensions of consciousness. Within this portion of the book Grof identifies various perspectives and interpretations of psychological gestalts, experiences of mystical states, psychedelic states and correlation of his perinatal matrices. Here there is a strong influence of Jungian philosophy and the emergence of various elements of Humanistic psychology. In the second part of the book Grof enters the stage of giving an overview of his holotropic theory and transitions into the important implications of this therapy along with aspects of psychedelic experience. While partitioned, relevant continuity does exist between the two.

The Objective Perspective:

Grof's material is not for everyone, especially the laypeople. Had I not been a psychology major and a frequent reader of philosophy, mythology and familiar with indigenous tribal and Eastern cultures I would have been emphatically lost. The material on the dimensions of consciousness is complex and intrinsically connected with various archetypes of mythology. The references that are made throughout this material are something, I think, is of integral importance for actually comprehending the information. So unless you have some background in mythology, psychology and indigenous tribal and Eastern cultures then I do not recommend this book because it delves into advanced psychology and integrates references that will just become perpetually obfuscating.

Each of the dimensions of consciousness that Grof discusses actually deserves a complete volume for itself. This portion of the book is probably the most contentious when it comes to relation to the academic and scientific fields. A brief overview of each is just not adequate for instigating legitimate interest into these levels of consciousness. While I disagree with Grof on some of his interpretations, there are some instances where his position is not clearly distinguished from a psychoanalytic interpretation or a literal belief in the result.

On page 284, the last sentence of the first paragraph Grof asserts quite erroneously that he has proven the thesis of his book "that there is no basic difference between psychedelic experiences and nonordinary states of consciousness induced by other techniques." This is superficial. You cannot hyperventilate and experience "basically" the same experience that you do with psilocybin; you cannot experience "basically" the experience with LSD that you do with dimethyltryptamine; all of these states are distinct in their own regard and affluent in profundity and alien nature to any other experience. I am not defaming non-psychedelic mystical states by any means, or am I elevating psychedelic experiences as more hierarchical, but they are separate from each other.

The Subjective Perspective:

I applaud Grof for his very professional, scientific (for what science will accept) and scholarly approach to the realms of altered states; he adds class to the endeavor of self-exploration. He has given a new perspective of mystical experiences over all. These experiences are essential in expanding our knowledge of the depths and dimensions of the human psyche. The brain as a cellular structure may be subject to the laws of physics, but the manifestation of the Mind is independent of physics and linear-narrow-fundamentalistic-science which attempts to negate anything it cannot readily explain, ironically trouncing the scientific method and process, which essentially is Positivism in its prime. The nature of Mind transcends all of this myopia.

As a true "medicine-man" of society he is concerned with the therapeutic potential of interpreting mystical states as opposed to completely dismissing them based on mechanistic science. He asserts that the dimensions of consciousness are a "fascinating phenomena...that should be systematically studied...[, and] [t]o discard...these experiences and the conceptual challenges associated with them just because they do not fit the current paradigms in science certainly is not the best example of a scientific approach" (108). I admire Grof for going against the grain of his field and trekking into the taboo and unconventional, that is the way we elicit Novelty. It is far too easy to "go with the flow," but it takes true devotion to break beyond the borders of acceptance, which often makes one the mockery of a particular field.

Grof admonishes against frivolous and unstructured self-exploration with psychedelics, which I concur. Entheogens are a very precarious, but profound, experience. They are not for everyone, and I never advocate anyone to take them, because those who can actually trek those realms and return without psychosis is very limited. On this issue I agree with Timothy Leary, there is only about ten percent of the population that is truly mature enough, intellectual enough and psychologically sound enough to experiment with these substances. Recreational use is precipitous and reckless abandon to those of us that utilize these in a ritualistic and scientific exploratory method of understanding the depths of consciousness to gain novel insights into ontological and philosophical paradigms. This literary work is essential for all credible psychonauts that fit the previously described candidate.

Having come into reference to Timothy Leary, Grof is definitely distinguished from Leary; and Terence McKenna for that matter. Each of these three men have exclusive and venerable properties about them, and other aspects one would like to discard, albeit, each has their distinct territory. While I originally came into the entheogenic revolution by way of Martin Ball I then followed up references in his book to Terence McKenna's philosophy. I later progressed to Leary, and now to Grof; Grof is more scientifically sophisticated with his approach, almost to a fault. Leary is my immanent mentor of all; our ideals for culture, society and philosophy are identical, which I acquired and refined prior to even having knowledge of him. The only difference is that his tool of choice was LSD. His philosophy is astounding and his affinity with Socrates and evolving culture through NOVEL philosophy is commensurate to my own. In the beginning, as a psychologist, he started in the way of scientific interest but Harvard abrogated those studies and subsequently did not offer another contract to Leary. The most unfortunate thing Leary did for the movement was bring too much attention to it, and to fundamentalists back then, which were in all facets of society, he was the "devil," so they mounted an Inquisition on the Mind and initiated the ominous drug war. (After all it was the drugs that made woman want to work and have rights, blacks to want to have rights, and the college students to protest the war and oppose a draft.) McKenna has his exclusive realm in the nature of reviving botanical shamanism into the contemporary culture, along with various cultural and philosophic imports intermingled with theories of alien worlds, new dimensions and novelty. Grof has utilized his interest in these substances to reorient certain rigid conventions in psychology and psychotherapy, which illuminates his scientific approach by and through experimentation. All of the three stands alone, but their unity is that they realized the profundity and novel insights that are to be garnered from this realm of the taboo.

In closing, the brain is a mysterious quantum tool that has an obvious affinity and, possibly, an evolutionary precursor with entheogenic properties that manifested its neurochemistry. Negating this undermines the complexity of the mind-brain paradigm and, in the words of Grof: "The future task for serious research remains unbiased scientific scrutiny of the mostly anecdotal claims and modern reformulation of the underlying theories" (149). - D.R.Thomas

Makes think
The book is clearly organized, with good and sensible examples. Makes you think in all the amount of knowledge that we humans ignore. And all the explorable universe of posibilities .
However, the use of drugs, is complex, dificult and unadvisable for most, but the very few well prepared, like Dr. Grof, and in a very special enviroment.
Thank you

What is Consciousness?
Grof covers his holotropic breathing therapy primarily and LSD therapy secondarily in this book.

Holotropic breathing is done by hyperventilating and then holding the breath while evocative instrumental music plays. This process brings emotions and visions up in the mind of the participant. An example of such music would be Samuel Barber's Adagio For Strings. People have reported experiencing just about anything extraordinary in such sessions.

Grof focuses a lot on how people often relive stages of their birth in such sessions. There are four stages in conception through birth and a breather can feel blissful in one stage and terrified and hopeless in the next. Our births have a profound effect on us psychologically throughout lives. For instance, grim existential philosophers such as Sartre seem to be influenced mostly by the hopeless "no exit" stage of birth in which life is seen as a meaningless theatre of the absurd or a living hell. Reliving birth experiences with such breathing techniques helps us release psychic disturbances and unease. We seem to live between the trauma of birth and the fear of death.

Other things people experience in such sessions is being one with the universe, feelingall the pain and suffering in the world, taking psychic trips through sewage systems as bacteria, being a plant or animal, reliving past lives, being a tyrant such as Hitler or Stalin, being a torturer or his victim, being a pimp or a prostitute, being a mother or father, being Mother Earth or Nature, being in a mythological world, being a revolutionary, being a machine, being a substance such as oil, or being on a spaceship with alien beings. These "trips" seem to be a way of connecting to everything in creation. One realizes that all is one and interconnected.

Grof writes in a serious academic style perhaps to impress his peers, but he does give us interesting stories about different trips that have occurred in therapy sessions. The example of being oil had a profound effect on the person's view of the environment. He came away from the session feeling that oil was evil and connected to rapacious greed. He concluded we should use solar power for energy. Another interesting story is one in which the patient who took LSD thought she was the devil and her face changed accordingly. Grof mentions it as his most bizarre or scary session. After this session, the patient had much improved psychological health and was able to live beyond the confines of the psychiatric ward. A person doing a session can come away with interesting insights about how certain things work as a natural or chemical process in the universe, if they experience being a part of nature or the universe. People can also come up with historical details about a past life that they did not know before.

The book covers the question about what consciousness might be. Are we merely physical bodies or are we spirits living in physical bodies? Grof argues against the Newtonian and Cartesian view of the world that reduces everything down to what can be measured and says that science must come up with an explanation that would include non-ordinary states of consciousness. They should not be dismissed or ignored. He thinks that life and the world is what the Hindus call "lila" or the divine play in which everyone and everything take on their different roles. The universe experiences itself through us. It forgets itself to do the play and then remembers itself as divine to return to its enlightened state. The material world is an illusion of consensus reality.

Grof has a more positive view of psychological problems than other psychologists. He views them as opportunities for personal growth. He thinks that people with psychological problems should not be considered crazy; they should be allowed to live through their "spiritual emergency" so that can go through an ego death to rebirthed with a higher consciousness.

The true psychology of men
A brilliant book from outstanding thinker. I was not always a supporter of using drugs for research, but I changed my view. ... Read more

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Offers readers a compendium of the latest research and practice techniques in this field. Gives an overview of the history, defining characteristics, and evolution of humanistic psychotherapies, and illustrates significant research results in the last decades. Also includes guidelines for practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Incorrect Book Description
The book description given here for this book is totally wrong.It's of some other book, not this one. ... Read more

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Accepting relentless impermanence as the ground of human experience, Words from the Soul derives a spiritual psychology from the mystery and poignancy of time-passage itself. Drawing from Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Foucault, Dostoyevsky, Buddhism, kundalini yoga, and twenty-five years of clinical/mediation experience, the author's epigrammatic insights into our struggles with mortality, gratitude, apology, and forgiveness make this book relevant to psychotherapy and conflict resolution in a wide range of professional settings.

In his exploration of the furthest-reaches of human development, Stuart Sovatsky reveals the deepest potentials of the ensouled body, transforming our views of language, sexuality, ecstatic spiritualities, and of the human life cycle. ... Read more

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The Meaning of Grief seeks to capture the dramatic nature of grief by reconstructing the common story of people who have grieved. It provides a holistic approach to understanding the wisdom of experience in the context of human life. The book offers an original exploration of grief as a significant human emotion and introduces a unique method for the study of emotions in general. Through a detailed examination of individual accounts of grief, common themes are identified and woven into a dramatic composition, one that resembles the structure of a rite of passage. The volume carefully develops two basic units for description and investigation, considers emotions generally in light of what has been discovered concerning grief, and poses new questions about the nature of emotions. ... Read more