Transpersonal
Since transpersonal therapy is a stance, a place from which to work, rather than a tightly defined and explicit system, transpersonal therapies differ in how they regard the self or selves. But few restrict their thinking or practices to the material or the social levels of self.
"Transpersonal therapy is an aspect of therapy that goes beyond ego goals and bridges psychological and spiritual practice ... Transpersonal therapy is an attempt to facilitate clients' growth not only in attaining ego strength and existential identity, but also in going beyond ego identity into areas of transpersonal realisation and transcendence." Roger Walsh & Frances Vaughan
The basic assumption of transpersonal therapy is that there is more to you than your personality. One goal of transpersonal therapy is to encourage and develop those tendencies which allow an individual to dis-identify from the restrictions of the personality and to apprehend their identity with the total self... As one stops over-valuing the needs and opinions of personality, the more inclusive and extensive self can and does assume a more dominant position. The personality is shrunken in power and dominion but remains in tact with all its essential strengths and weaknesses.
Transpersonal refers to that part of us which is beyond our present conscious awareness. At the Transpersonal stage, we let go of our self-imposed personality boundaries and, through getting in touch with and understanding our (as yet) unconscious source we are able to cultivate our intuition, our healing power and gain control over our lives.
By exploring the unconscious patterns and the sources of these patterns, you may better understand
-- why you are the person you have become
-- why you react to certain situations the way you do
-- what you can do about it
-- and how you can evolve personally and spiritually.
We are not powerless. Nor are we without options. By taking personal responsibility for ourselves we can create change.
There are two goals in transpersonal work:
-- to search within to the dynamic origins of a person, and
-- to search without to the expanse of subtle realms of vibration that we call spirit.
Transpersonal Psychotherapy is based on three assumptions:
The Ecological Principle that everything is a part of everything else,
The Spiritual Principle that there is an enormous range of vibration/energies beyond the culturally-imposed limits of our senses, and
The Dynamic Principle that vibration moulds the material world.