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The Perceived Impact of Holotropic Breathwork: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis
Get PDFHolotropic Breathwork (HB) is a method of self-exploration developed by Stanislav and Christina Grof. Research has only just begun to investigate the effects of HB, while the possible influence of the context and other features of HB within the experience and its impact have not been studied in depth. This qualitative study investigated the perceived impact of HB on 6 women and 6 men (ages 25-67) in Chile, using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), an emergent method developed specifically to work with these types of subjective issues. Results revealed 10 major themes involving both intrapsychic and relational features prior, during and after HB. Results provide support for some elements of the existing theory and practice of HB, but, given the influence of preparation, the reasons for seeking HB, and the integration of experiences on the perceived impact of HB, revision of some HB procedures may provide better support for workshop attendees
Life Before Birth: A Thematic Analysis of Memories of Coming into Life Part 1: Recollections of Another Realm
Get PDFAutobiographic memories prior to birth remain controversial in psychology because such memories are traditionally believed to begin much later when some sense of self is formed. Prenatal sentience, including fetal learning, occurs in species from arthropods to humans, and evidence for autobiographic memories from pre- and neo-natal humans has typically come from clinical case histories of altered-state regression techniques eliciting records from adults or clinical case histories of children in normal states. This thematic analysis examined 68 “earliest memory” narratives submitted to an independent website to explore the question: what do people who claim to remember how they came into the world say about their experience prior to and including birth? The findings produced two distinct data sets. This article, Part 1, analyzes the majority of the data, narratives that described prenatal existence in an otherworldly realm. The results are consistent with and elaborate findings in established but controversial fields, notably reincarnation research, especially the intermission research, some of it veridical, and near-death experience research. Part 2, a separate article, analyzes a second subset of records that were narratives of fetal experiences, birth, and apparently veridical paranormal perinatal impressions, consistent with the clinical literature on pre- and peri-natal psychology and some of the intermission experience literature
Eliciting Awe in the Spectator: The Case of a Dhrupad-Based Dance Performance
Get PDFThis paper describes “Kalos, eîdos, skopeîn,” an immersive Dhrupad-based dance installation designed to elicit feelings of awe in the spectators, in a real-life artistic context. This study used a mixed-methods approach in order to explore spectators’ awe experience (N=45), using specific scales and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results suggested that “Kalos, eîdos, skopeîn,” with its combination of nature motifs and the slow dance-walk associated with the Dhrupad music in the choreography, was able to produce awe-related moments in some spectators and inspire a degree of positive emotions. Our qualitative results viewed awe explicitly as a positive emotion and showed that generally the spectator narratives, involving the whole performance, were based on modified states of consciousness. Three themes emerged: the main theme is “A rich experience of modified states of consciousness” involving the whole performance, and two interconnected sub-themes “Captivated by the slowness of the dancers” associated with the slow movement and “I can still hear the mantra in my head” in rapport with Dhrupad music. This study was carried out as part of the Canadian FRQSC/FCI Project (2019-RC2-260306)
Transformative, Noetic, and Transpersonal Experiences During Personal Development Workshops
Get PDFThe global personal development market was valued at $38.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow an additional 5% from 2020 to 2027. Many of these workshops promise to be transformational. This secondary analysis study examined transformative, transpersonal, and noetic aspects of personal development workshops. We found that 74% of post-survey records endorsed that participants experienced a moment of clarity or profound insight during their workshop. In addition, 66% endorsed that participants had experienced at least one noetic experience, and 84% endorsed at least one transpersonal experience. These analyses provide preliminary evidence for the transformational potential of personal development workshops and the common occurrence of transpersonal and noetic experiences across various workshop types
The Role of Spiritual Intelligence and Differentiation in Predicting Marital Adjustment of Married Iranian Students
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to investigate the role of spiritual intelligence and differentiation in predicting marital adjustment of Iranian students. The participants of this study were 312 married students from Yazd University. The instruments used in this study were the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) to measure marital adjustment, Differentiation of Self- Inventory, and the Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI). The results of the study demonstrated that spiritual intelligence predicted the marital adjustment of married students (
Tripping in the Moment: The Spiritual Journey of Baba Ram Dass
Get PDFRam Dass, the iconic, countercultural, spiritual seeker, brought the wisdom of the East to those of us in the West through his many books and frequent, charismatic dharma talks. This view of his spiritual journey describes the transformation of Richard Alpert, clinical psychologist and product of the Western milieu’s often-shackling conventional expectations, into Ram Dass, the free, embodied soul who, through explication and example, and with witnessing attention, tries to guide us all to the always present abode of loving awareness. Ram Dass’s idea of self in existence was transformed: first, from a psychological object of clinical study, to a shared experience of co-discovery, and finally, to the witnessing soul who, with full attention, came to recognize the self in, and as continuous, moment to moment spiritual transformation
There\u27s a Duwende on my Shelf: The Parapsychological Studies of Fr. Jaime C. Bulatao, SJ
Get PDFIn the Filipino transpersonal worldview, the mind is not contained within the brain, and is often projected onto the world as “spirits”. Studying these cultural metaphors may allow for a deeper understanding of the Filipino psyche. Fr. Jaime C. Bulatao, SJ, one of the founders of the Psychological Association of the Philippines, studied the projections of the Filipino psyche as they manifested in paranormal phenomena. Bulatao provides the metaphor of eggs frying in a pan as a framework to understand this: the egg whites fuse despite the yolks being far apart. It is in the dissolution of boundaries that transpersonal experiences occur. This paper discusses possibilities for future research as well as the potential contributions of transpersonal research to the field of clinical psychology
Quantum Tunneling and Exceptional Human Experiences: Illustrating Different Skepticisms in Physics and Psychology
Get PDFQuantum tunneling is a phenomenon where a particle appears on the other side of an energy barrier that it does not have enough energy to pass through, according to classical physics. This notion, first proposed by a German physicist in 1927, runs improbably counter to common sense and to rules thought for hundreds of years to govern physics. Acceptance of this and other quantum phenomena has required the reconceptualization of subatomic particles from solid bits of matter to probability clouds that extend infinitely in every direction. As such, quantum physics has required a skepticism driven by the need for sound evidence, rather than based on whether a given idea conformed to culturally common notions of reality. This form of well-tempered skepticism would serve the project of building a psychology of the whole person, and of all persons, in place of versions that reject phenomena based on cultural notions of what is or is not plausible, even in the face of substantive preliminary evidence. Such a skepticism is counterproductive in a way that dismissal of a patient\u27s unexpected healing response could negatively impact the body\u27s self-healing capacities
The Varieties of Spiritual States Triggered by Sex: A Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature
Get PDFThis systematic review integrates the empirical evidence of spiritual experiences triggered by sexual activity, including studies by 10 authors. Despite venerable sexual meditative traditions of embodied spiritual practices, such as Hindu Tantra, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Taoism, empirical studies of sexual spiritual experiences are in their infancy. This review presents the range of sexual altered states experiences identified to date and how they qualify as spiritual experiences phenomenologically and in terms of their lifechanging effects. Seventeen distinct sexual-spiritual states have been identified across authors, with 4 others identified at significant levels in qualitative studies by individual authors. As an emergent area of scholarly interest, research on this topic remains scattered across disciplines and is characterized by small studies, many advanced by doctoral students conducting dissertation research. This article integrates the empirical research and situates it in a larger, diverse theoretical, historical, and anecdotal literature, to critically assess consensus on the topic. Deliberate practices, adventitious conditions, human physiology, and other dynamics that conduce to sexual spiritual experiences are discussed