Transpersonal Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy finds its definitional roots from the word psyche often translated to mean the “mind, soul, spirit” connection of an individual while therapy being “curing, healing, attending.” Psychotherapy therefore is the process of working with the mind-soul-spirit of an individual for healing purpose. 

Practically speaking, psychotherapy is the process of exploring, clarifying, and understanding the various positive and negative psychological patterns that form who we are behaviorally, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and energetically. Through this exploration we learn how our thoughts and emotions affect both our lives and the lives of others. With this awareness, we can begin to free ourselves from historical conditioning and make conscious daily choices to change our lives in ways that best serve ourselves and the world at large. Freedom and personal sovereignty come from this deep process.

Artwork Credit: Susan Seddon Boulet

Transpersonal Psychotherapy finds its definitional roots to mean trans or “beyond, through” the personal or “ego, individual personality.” It is a whole-person approach to psychology that works with both the ego structure, or individual personality, and the beyond-ego structure, or beyond the individual personality, speaking to the original definition of the psyche being a mind-soul-spirit complex. This provides the opportunity to heal and transform the egoic self and connect to the transpersonal self effectively contextualizing the Self into the greater whole. With this awareness, we can begin to identify and differentiate between the parts of ourselves that are suffering and the parts of ourselves that are whole.  

Many individuals seeking therapy here have had unusual and out of the ordinary Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs) characterized by the field of parapsychology as anomalous experiences. Oftentimes these experiences, which are actually quite normal in everyday life, are often ignored, devalued, pathologized, and often just forgotten. Our work together is to uncover the hidden treasures within each of these difficult extraordinary experiences and use them as a catalyst for healing and transformation.

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Transpersonal psychotherapy
involves working with: 

  • Traditional psychotherapy to work with the ego or individual personality

  • Transpersonal psychotherapy to work
    with the beyond-ego or beyond the individual personality

BENEFITS of TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

✓ Increased sense of connection, meaning and purpose

✓ Greater self-love and self-compassion

✓ Greater introspection and self-awareness

✓ Improved self-esteem, self-value and self-worth

✓ Increased internal strength, resilience and empowerment

✓ Increased emotional intelligence and regulation

✓ Decreased emotional and mental stress

✓ Release of negative habitual patterns and self-sabotaging behaviors

Individual Psychotherapy Sessions are composed of 1:1 therapeutic sessions held between the patient and the therapist whom work together to formulate a wholistic treatment plan that assists in the understanding and overall reduction of pain and suffering.

The therapeutic relationship between the patient and the therapist is paramount and the foundational structure of the deep work that emerges. A safe, warm, and confidential space is created to better understand one’s inner world. Each patient is treated with dignity and respect and one’s individual process is honored by moving at a pace that balances one’s wants with one’s needs.

Suffering can tend to manifest itself in various forms like problematic behaviors, somatic or physical reactions, re-occurring and intrusive thoughts, overwhelming emotions, and limiting belief systems that negatively impact one’s life.

Individual Psychotherapy

Much self-growth is possible through processing and understanding both our personal history and our current fears leading us to improve our relationship with ourselves, others, and the world around us. It is a journey that can help us become more conscious and increase our capacities for acceptance, compassion, forgiveness, peace, joy, spiritual connection and love.

Sessions tend to vary in content according to what is alive and happening in the present moment, therefore, experiences within sessions will vary accordingly. Both short-term and long-term therapy is available for adults. Individual sessions run a clinical hour, the length of 45-50 minutes once a week. Referrals and additional treatment resources are made available on an as-needed basis.

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Group Therapy

Group Therapy is comprised of a small group of individuals who are experiencing similar issues and who come together to share their problems and concerns.

While it is not unusual to feel uneasy or embarrassed when first joining a group, typically members will begin to develop feelings of trust in the group and will benefit from experiencing a great deal of relief at the opportunity to talk with others who are experiencing similar problems.

Group members are able to share strengths and difficulties, able to help one another through this sharing process, and also stand to learn that they are not alone.

Each member learns more about themselves by observing how they interact with others in the group setting. Thus, the group serves as a microcosm of the macrocosm allowing for much learning of Self to take place.

Groups typically range from three to nine members, tend to run the length of sixty to ninety minutes once a week, and are formed either on an as-needed basis or as requested.

  • Shamanic Children’s Circles journey through the sacred path of the Incan Medicine Wheel. Children utilize this roadmap to discover their multifaceted nature. Through the journey of the four directions beginning in the South, then moving to the West, the North, and the East, children embark on a fun and deep spiritual quest of inquiry and transformation to meet their power animals, guides, and ancestors who help them understand who they are and how to move beyond any fears. 


    • The South is the place of the spiritual body, the element of fire, the home of Serpent. Here we transmute our fears, shed our past, and explore our soul consciousness to remember who and what we are.

    • The West is the place of the emotional body, the element of water, the home of Black Jaguar. Here, we traverse into the unconscious worlds, the shadow side, the dreamworld, and connect to our deep emotional worlds.

    • The North is the place of physical body, the element of earth, the home of our Ancestors. Here, we connect to our Higher Self, higher knowledge, and ask for the wisdom to use that knowledge.

    • The East is the place of the mental body, the element of air, the home of Eagle. Here, we gain new sight, perspectives, and expanded consciousness to see the truth and manifest what we came here to manifest.

    By walking the medicine wheel, we can assess and understand the underlying psycho-spiritual issues that are affecting our lives and observe how we define our reality. In each direction, we explore the corresponding layer of the human body, elements, power animals, herbs, stones, and journeying meditations.

  • Yoga is an ancient self-empowering practice that utilizes a wide range of tools to enhance well-being and to both maintain and restore health. It can be a powerful medium on the journey towards healing and transformation. 

    Yogic tools utilized to facilitate health and healing are: 

    • Breathing Techniques (Pranayama)

    • Physical Postures (Asana)

    • Visualizations (Bhavana)

    • Sounds (Mantra)

    • Gestures (Mudra)

    • Hand Placements (Nyasa)

    • Meditation Techniques (Dhyanam)

    Yoga Therapy is the purposeful use of these yogic tools in a therapeutic way to address a broad range of physical, mental, and emotional concerns through adapting yoga very specifically to the unique needs of each individual. This multidimensional approach requires active participation in one’s therapeutic plan and it can greatly complement clinical treatment.

    BENEFITS OF YOGA THERAPY

    Yogic exercises help to clear the body, mind, emotions, and spirit and can be used either as preventive or curative means. Overall general benefits:

    • Aids in flexibility and strength

    • Alleviates daily stresses and tensions

    • Improves concentration and attention span

    • Balances and detoxifies the systems of the body

    • Develops balance, coordination, postural alignment, and body awareness

    • Good for depression, anger, anxiety, and various psychological ailments

    • Good for chronic pain, pain management, and various physiological symptoms

    • Improves self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-confidence, and overall vitality

    • Assists in positive changes in mood and help to both ground and root the mind


    Yoga Therapy Groups

    Yoga Therapy Groups are specific yoga groups created for women who are experiencing similar psychological concerns. A yoga therapist has had extensive training in yoga and is able to create a therapeutic environment to facilitate each group session.

    A yoga therapist guides the group through various physical and contemplative exercises while providing psycho-educational wellness tools to assist in the deepening and releasing process that occurs throughout each session.

    Both the needs of the group and the needs of each member of the group are balanced through continual assessment and feedback to understand the process unfolding. Group members are provided with a safe space to practice and guidelines to support each other through this process.

    Yoga Therapy Groups are usually formed for:

    Anxiety
    Trauma
    Depression
    Grief and Loss
    Overall Stress Reduction

    The format of yoga therapy groups consists of three to nine members, runs the length of sixty minutes once a week for twelve weeks, and are created upon need or request. Take home practices are created to further assist in the healing of psycho-emotional issues.

  • There are many paths humans travel on the search for truth. Yogis, mystics, and sages of old have been utilizing the practice of meditation cross-culturally for thousands of years on the search for truth.

    Meditation is a practice that engages a person in this profound search, a journey that eventually transcends the person beyond the boundaries of the Egoic Self.

    Today, there exist many kinds of meditation with various sets of practices and potential outcomes. One underlying theme is the use of awareness and attention in ways that promote an internal focal shift.

    Through the practice of meditation, individuals are guided into a deeper understanding and awareness of their multidimensional self.

    Meditation group sessions are offered as way to embark on this profound internal search. Groups run once a month for sixty minutes and are formed either on an as-needed basis or as requested.


    Benefits of Meditation Groups

    • Stress Reduction

    • Mental Clarity

    • Emotional Stability

    • Understanding of the multidimensional self

    • Insights into one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions

    • Ability to hold and accept difficult thoughts and feelings as they arise

    Both Mindfulness Meditation Groups & Metaphysical Meditation Groups are offered to women and children.

    I. Mindfulness MeditationGroups

    Mindfulness meditation is a practice of paying attention purposefully, in the present moment, with non-judgmental awareness of our moment-to-moment experience. It is a practice in which all thoughts and feelings are observed and acknowledged as they arise to gain clarity and insight.

    Through this awareness, practitioners build their container and capacity to hold their inner world, providing the ability to more readily work through pain and suffering.

    It is a form of meditation that plainly focuses awareness on posture, breath, and noting which inherently encourages one to sit with what is present.

    Practitioners of mindfulness meditation aim to cultivate self-awareness and a nonjudgmental, loving, kind, and compassionate feeling toward themselves and others.

    Mindfulness meditation group sessions focus on sitting with what is arising while holding particular qualities for proper development. Through this process, the witness consciousness of the individual arises and much that had previously been unseen comes into awareness allowing the possibility of conscious change to take place.

    II. Metaphysical MeditationGroups

    The word Metaphysics is a combination of two words – Meta, meaning over and beyond – and physics which is the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. Thus, the combination of both words can be translated to mean over and beyond the traditional Newtonian laws of physics.

    Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that deals with both the cause and the nature of being. It is an exploration of reality, the search for truth, purpose, and meaning in life, the inquiry of relationship between human, mind, and the Universe, which leads to traversing the age-old fundamental questions of all – “who am I; what am I; where have I been; where am I going; what is  my purpose; what is the purpose to all of this?”

    Meditation, according to the spiritual meaning of the term, is not a process of the mind, but rather a process of the spirit. Metaphysical meditation, therefore, is the practice of utilizing specific tools for the Soul Consciousness to emerge. By working with our I AM Presence, our Divine spark, along with the wisdom of the Ascended Masters and their Retreats, group participants experience powerful energies together.

    Meditation tools include:

    ·       Guided Visualizations

    ·       Mantra and Chanting

    ·       Decrees and Affirmations

    ·       Contemplations

    ·       Journeying 

    Practitioners of metaphysical meditation aim to cultivate clear inner sight and wisdom, utilizing the knowledge gained to benefit all forms of life on earth, thus becoming a way of life and a living embodiment of spiritual philosophy.

    Metaphysical meditation group sessions focus on connecting to one’s multidimensional self and access altered states of consciousness. Various metaphysical themes are chosen throughout the seasons to further explore oneself while understanding practical applications for daily life.

Clinical Supervision and Training

  • Individual Supervision is a powerful way to understand the psychodynamic principles and transpersonal dynamics happening in the therapy room.

    Week by week, therapists move through many self-healing layers and experience a parallel therapy process along with a concrete understanding of how to apply the experiential knowledge gained into practice.

    By the end of each clinical supervision session, therapists are ready to bring a whole other level of healing to their patients.

  • Group Supervision is offered yearly and comprised of 3-5 members in a group. In this forum, clinicians have the opportunity to present clinical cases, observe psychological phenomena, explore personal strengths and limitations, and collectively support each other through the learning process.


    Various themes and scholarly reading materials are presented by the supervisor as each week progresses with reflective take-home practices. Clinicians are able to expand their healing container, become aware of individual defenses and personality structures, gain a wider access of perspectives from the group process, and attain new insights and skills.

    Overarching themes expanded upon include:

    1. History of American Psychology and Whole-person Psychology

    2. The Role of Consciousness & Models of the Self in Psychotherapy

    3. Transpersonal Psychology: History, Praxis, and Philosophy 

    4. Transpersonal Psychology: Psychotherapeutic Applications

    5. Humanistic Psychology: Therapeutic Dynamics

    6. Psychodynamic Psychology: Psychoanalytic Diagnosis and Case Formulations

    7. Clinical Intuition: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

  • Clinical Training is offered as seasonal 12-week series modules as a way to assist therapists in their own process of healing and transformation, to better understand their patients, gain insight on what dynamics are happening in the room, and to develop the ability to make moment to moment therapeutic decisions.


    Each week psychotherapists live progressively with a principle and throughout the week have formal and informal practices.


    1. Energy Medicine & Psychotherapy Training
      In this training, energy anatomy is studied as a way to observe how this metaphysical anatomical structure affects our lives and how we can apply these principles to psychotherapy practice. The Chakra energy centers are the focus. The intention of this study is to learn how to observe, assess, and conceptualize both ourselves and our patients utilizing this subtle process.

    2. Shamanism & Psychotherapy Training
      In this training, the Incan medicine wheel is studied as a way to observe and understand our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies. The intention of this study is to gain greater awareness of the various layers of self and how they function in daily life. In doing so, we can begin to let go of the things that no longer serve us and simultaneously bring into our lives the experiences that will serve our self-growth. 

    3. Mindfulness Meditation & Psychotherapy Training
      In this training, mindfulness meditation is studied as a way to approach the therapy process by observing how our own relationship with particular mindfulness attitudes affects psychotherapy practice. The intention of this study is to learn how to observe, assess, and conceptualize both ourselves and our patients using this process.

    4. Yoga Therapy & Psychotherapy Training
      In this training, yoga and the philosophical tenants that formulate the ethical codes of yogic philosophy are studied as a way to assess and understand underlying physiological and psychological symptoms. The intention of this study is to observe how these ancient ethical principles and daily practices apply to our own lives and how they apply as psychotherapists in practice.

Clinical supervision and training are provided for psychotherapists of all theoretical backgrounds and varying levels of experience who are looking to integrate wholistic therapeutic tools during psychotherapy sessions. Learn effective ways to facilitate powerful change with your patients through both experiential practice and theoretical application.