The Russian Transpersonal Association
The Russian Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy Association is found at www.atpp.ru (site in Cyrillic) and contains information about the RTA as well as the upcoming Eurotas Conference to be held in Moscow in the Summer of 2005. You may find full details about the Moscow conference at www.citizenshipconference.com. The Russian Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy Association is headed by Vladimir Maykov who also updates the association's web site. For further information, please contact Dr. Maykov via email by clicking here.
About the Russian Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy Associatio
The Russian Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy Association was officially founded at its first conference which took place May 24-26, 2002 in Moscow at the Training Centre of the Ministry for Emergency Situations and was dedicated to the theory and practice of personal growth.
The conference covered the following topics:
The main purpose and important result of the conference was the official foundation of Russian Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy Association (ATPP). The conference developed the strategy and ideology of RTPPA, elected the presidium (Dr. V. Maykov elected as the President, Prof. V. Kozlov and Prof. B. Prilensky – as Vice Presidents), adopted the Charter, and resolved to establish a publication of the Association, Vestnik Integrativnoy Psikhologii (Integrative Psychology Review) with Prof. V.V.Kozlov, D.Sc., as the chief editor.
The background and history of transpersonal science in Russia have been covered by a number of speakers. In particular, V.Maykov remarked that the Association marks the fifth, professional stage of evolution of transpersonal research and practices in Russia. The first stage of this evolution includes the pre-transpersonal era in the Russian culture (from the beginning of Russian statehood until the 1970s). Subsequent stages were: transpersonal underground (1970s and 1980s), legalization (1990-1995), holistic romanticism (1995-2000) and professionalism (from 2000 until now).
Russia hold a unique position in history, geography and culture: eleven time zones, a cultural universe bordering on the west with Catholic and Protestant Europe, on the northeast – with vast Siberian region populated by ethnicities still practicing shamanism, on the south – with Muslim countries, the area of Islamic culture and Sufism. Throughout the centuries, the influence of shamanism and Sufism was quite significant – via Russia, Gurdjiev brought to Europe the ideas of harmonious development of the man; the anthroposophic views of Rudolf Steiner had an enormous influence on the Russian minds and souls of the Silver Age. Looking at the map, we can imagine the ways various spiritual practices, knowledge, meaning, and experience of transformation and transcendence entered the spiritual life of Russia.
Second stage included the activity of underground groups of enthusiasts, who were reading those journals and books on transpersonal psychology which managed to get past the “iron curtain”, and practiced what they learned from these books and journals.
Third stage: legalization. In the spring of 1990, Russian psychologists founded the Humanistic Psychology Association with two subdivisions: humanistic and transpersonal. Seminars and trainings began in every known area of psychology and psychotherapy, two Russian-American conferences on humanistic and transpersonal psychology were held in 1991 and 1992, the Academy of Sciences legally published the papers by S. Grof, and the Transpersonal Institute was established.
Fourth stage: holistic romanticism. The transpersonal movement had not yet become professional, and associated with the holistic movement and New Age; International Free Breath Association became popular in Russia; transpersonal groups were very amateurish and superficial, especially in smaller cities.
The main characteristic of the fifth stage is professionalism: the core of the transpersonal movement is formed by professionals whose qualification meets the standard of Russian and international academic community. The transpersonal field became part of Russian officially recognized psychotherapy, psychiatry, psychology and sociology. Over 40 books have been published in the series Texts in transpersonal psychology (editor V.Maykov), providing a sufficiently full account of the topic. Among the reputed places of learning are Prof. V.V.Kozlov’s School of Intensive Integrative Psychotechnologies (over 20 dissertations defended) and courses in transpersonal psychology in Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Moscow and Novosibirsk. At the Tenth annual conference of the European Association for Psychotherapy held in 2001 in Moscow, about one third of the participants chose the transpersonal psychotherapy section. Stanislav Grof conducted a pre-conference seminar on spiritual crisis and was the principal speaker at the conference. In this situation, creation of a professional transpersonal association became a necessity.
The Association sets the following goals:
- creating a common information and methodology space;
- support, monitoring and supervision of theoretical and practical research (including interdisciplinary ones), development and perfecting of methods and techniques of transpersonal psychology and psychotherapy;
- creating a standard program for professional training of specialists in transpersonal psychology and psychotherapy in accordance with EAP – EUROTAS certification standards;
- development of new modalities and methods as separate directions within transpersonal psychology and psychotherapy;
- collaboration with therapists of different specializations in therapeutic teams, creating the database of transpersonal psychologists and psychotherapists to facilitate creation of such teams;
- further implementation of the integrative approach in differents fields of scientific research and practice;
- support for creative forms of human activity, ideas, projects, programs and events to help transform self-actualization and discovery of personal potential from an object of research and scientific reflexion into a socio-cultural phenomenon.
The scientific and practical program of the First Conference was a unique opportunity for Russian specialists in the transpersonal (integrative) field to exchange experience and information and communicate at the creative level; it promoted enhancement of psychotherapeutic and psychocorrectional methods, improvement of research efficiency, appearance of new ideas and projects.
The conference was held in an uncommon yet very productive format, a mix of different presentation genres from academic papers to shamanic mysteries. The transpersonal movement in Russia is distinctively multifaceted; the holotropic breath traditionally associated in the West with the transpersonal modality is just one of the types of integrative psychotechnologies known in Russia. Furthermore, breath techniques are not used in the “neat” form but as a component of an artfully concocted recipe of individual author’s technique. The systemic approach, diversity of methods and extension of the toolset for studying a person and restoring psychological integrity are the implementation of the idea expressed by S.Grof at the Tenth EAP Conference in Moscow. From the mid-1990s, Russian masters have been aware of this idea and successfully developed it, creating their own original psychotechniques based on principles and methods of deep and transpersonal psychology and containing elements of body-oriented therapy, art therapy, dance/motion therapy, mythodrama, oriental spiritual practices and mystic traditions as fundamental components. Besides the classics of the transpersonal genre, methods based on or using the process of breathing, the program of the conference included presentations and workshops on other principal lineages of Russian integrative psychotechnologies.
Among those presented at the conference, the following topics induced most interest and response:
Vladimir Maykov. Seminar synopsis: Strategy of transpersonal cognition: deconstruction of the reality editor.
An experience of unusual states of consciousness allows for significantly deeper understanding of psychology and phenomenology of perception and cognition compared to traditional gnosiological approaches. Transpersonal psychology actively uses and researches shamanic techniques, holotropic breath, meditative techniques, controlled imagination, dream-related techniques and realization of dreams.
The gnosiological importance of the experience of unusual states of consciousness can be explicated by the concept of REALITY EDITOR introduced by psychocyberneticist Gregory Bateson. The Great Reality becomes the perceived world via the reality editor. Bateson’s concept of reality editing includes the commonly known ideas that our perception is conditioned upon a multitude of subjective factors. This idea was expanded by Michel Foucault who introduced the concept of ANTHROPOLOGICAL DREAM combining the notions of illusion, maya and fast sleep of everyday life with the notions related to modern post-psychoanalysis ideas of projections and transfer. Our perceived world is a copy of our state. In the anthropological dream, the experiencer and the thing experienced “dance together” in an act of perception. It is fundamentally important to see the breaks in the anthropological sleep. It is just in the breaks of the sleep-like reality that an extended, adequate and holistic perception of the Big Reality is possible. For the transpersonal approach, the experience of unusual states of consciousness presents these breaks. This experience is able to furnish a new perception of the world. It destroys the homeostasis of perception and melts the existing constants. Armed with an experience of unusual states of consciousness, we can understand that the world perceived by us is external and independent of us is none other than ourselves, a projection of the content of “our own” unconscious, a reality transformed by the editor – and so can start seeking the ways for waking up from the anthropological sleep. This is the goal of the training program implemented by V.Maykov at the Transpersonal Psychology Institute in Moscow. The program includes several consecutive stages, beginning from the explanation of unusual states of consciousness and perception. It follows up with the explanation of the metaphysics of the borderline experience, reveals marginal transpersonal phenomena, boundaries of mind, boundaries of notions. Further advancement is based on an integrative holistic approach. This is a spontaneous experience of going beyond any notions, an acquaintance with the spirit and consciousness per se, with the true state which is the basis for everything. Mapping of this area has been performed in the oriental spiritual practices, in the western philosophical and mystics tradition, and in the transpersonal psychology and psychotherapy.
Emotion Training.
This is a training of control over emotional states based on acting techniques and author’s specialized method (the author is an actor and director by profession, as well as a personal development and personal efficiency trainer). By extending the personal potential, the course develops the skills of controlling attention, basic control of oneself, emotional flexibility, emotion control and developing emotional microclimate, physical and mental unwinding, activation of body’s expressive power, acquiring grace and freedom, awareness and development of creative abilities, generating and locking in the state of inspiration and “drive”. The training develops self-assurance, promotes self-perfection through a psycho-emotional play and lining up favorable situations.
German Karelsky, Cosmos of the Body.
The author considers the problem of describing the experience of assimilating the inner space in the holotropic states of consciousness. Integrating the experience of these states requires a possibility of driving it from the intra-psycheal space to the zone of interpersonal communication. The language used for this purpose should induce not only an understanding but also the possible maximum range of experiences.
A traditional language is not fit for this purpose. Therefore, integrative psychotechnologies investigate and utilize specialized languages where all the three modalities of perception (thought, sensation and feeling) have equal possibilities for representation.
The author emphasizes that the texts of spiritual traditions contain the best arranged and most complete description of holotropic experiences, diligently accumulated and specifically interpreted throughout millennia. Their language uses special images, metaphors and symbols ascending to the root human archetypes, open access to the profound consciousness, give the necessary extension to the semantic field to establish a relation and an adequate description of the thought-sensation-feeling integrity.
Elena Zamarayeva. Workshop: The Art of Life and Death (Thanatotherapy).
Thanatotherapy is a progressive school of body-oriented psychotherapy suggesting a method and techniques for establishing (or reestablishing) contact with various types of death and dying. The method is based on healing biological reactions, which organize and correct human energetic balance and basic human problems. Thanatotherapy is modeling the “right dying” (P. Florensky), teaching the awareness of one’s proper place in the context of the integral life-death process. Feelings experienced by people during tanathotherapy sessions are similar to experiences of clinical death: out-of-body experiences, “the channel”, “the glowing being”; they provide a powerful transpersonal experience and promote integration and extension of consciousness.
Special attention was given at the conference to the erotic component of personal development.
The spiritual practice of love is important as never before in the cultural, historic and mental context of the modern western civilization: non-specialized, “natural” mechanisms and psychotechnologies of spiritual development have been lost or displaced from the sphere of their traditional application, whereas the newly created, “artificial” ones are not as perfect as they are popular. On the other hand, romantic relationships are much more often the source of suffering than joy. One of the greatest spiritual leaders of our age, Prof. Rev. Alexandr Men asserted that the source of these problems is the spiritual infantilism, lack of preparedness for love and for being loved: an average Russian (or western) citizen is unable to transcend one’s own Ego even towards the object of romantic affection. Meanwhile, the transcendence of Ego is a prerequisite for expansion of consciousness and spiritual growth, and a graceful union either with “one’s own” (though eternally nobody’s) Eros or with one’s forever owned object of love is an obvious and available way (or stage) of this transcendence. Nevertheless, not everyone attempting this way or stage succeeds in it. The unconscious, as the dispatcher of all motions in the thorny and dark space of the profound regions of the psyche, behaves like a Zen master, asking a new question only upon receiving a correct answer to the previous one – not in words or thoughts, but in feelings and behavior. Dire consequences of archetype’s activity are caused by one’s refusal to pursue the fundamental goal situated beyond consciousness. In this case, all attempts at self-identification and building a relationship with the romantic partner fail to be truthful and to meet master’s aspirations. This tragic mismatch is mediated by the reality surrounding our indolent I (the vicious circle of unrequited or missing love) and is projected into this reality.
The spiritual practice of integrating the erotic content of the unconscious into the psyche includes certain elements (meta-motivations, intense flows of psycho-emotional energy, substantially altered states of consciousness, transcendence of space, time and somatic limitations) as integral components and expected answers to the transcendent master. Their lack greatly reduces or nullifies the efficiency of individuational psychotechnologies. Love is a fundamental spiritual teaching, without which any endeavors on the path of self-perfection, no matter how daring, may turn out to be merely thoughtless and futile attempts.
Gennady Brevde’s paper Love as a spiritual practice considers the specifics of romantic relationships and problems of marriage from the standpoint of analytical and transpersonal psychology, summing up the results of research into individuation processes.
Psychotherapist Lev Teternikov presented a course in Tantric massage developed on the basis of Yoga with inclusion of elements from Thai, Tibetan, Tantric, Taoist and modern medical massage. Tantric massage is simultaneously a therapeutic procedure, a way of teaching inspired B-love, and a psychological technique promoting extension and integration of consciousness. This technique also utilizes the potential of spiritual growth under intense erotic experiences, described by Plato and well-known to masters of oriental traditions. Tantric massage generates the energy of life, rejuvenates, increases attractiveness, and removes negative imprints acquired in childhood.
Nina Andreyeva, Gennady Brevde and Nikolay Kudryashov presented Holistic Motion System, a body-oriented art therapy method.
The conceptual methodological kernel of HMS connotes with the fundamental principles of oriental traditions, body-oriented therapy, art therapy, and transpersonal psychotechnologies, and relies upon Jungian ideas of the structure of psyche and individuation process. The therapeutic effort of HMS is directed at eliminating the cause of the basal internal conflict, restoring mental integrity, intensifying the individuational process of realization and expansion of personal potential. This process will be successful if the structural elements of one’s psyche and links between them operate (or are ready to operate) in accordance with their purpose.
What should be done for the sound of body motion to become music, so as not only to play while being in the body (following the teachings of M. Feldenkrais), but to play by the body? The answer is: this instrument needs to be tuned. The body should learn the natural stereotypes of static and dynamic grace, and then use them naturally. Within these stereotypes, the structures of muscles, joints and bones, central and vegetative nervous systems are operating in accordance with their purpose. The spatial and temporal dominant of these stereotypes – the basis of HMS – is a “body wave”. The static body wave excludes frustrational cramps and neurotic hyper- or hypotonus of muscle groups or individual muscles, the “muscle armor” – and implies correct positioning of the body in space, harmonious distribution of efforts, loads, metabolic and energetic processes. The dynamic body wave is an unwound, plastic, “open” body, with optimum activation of muscles, joints and sensory systems, match, individual motions coordinated with the model of movement, and the latter coordinated with the state of soul harmony, bodily grace, rhythm and meter of Nature. According to the ideas of analytical psychologies originating in the gnostic and alchemical theories, visual, mechanical and energetic figures of the body wave are a graphic embodiment of the total archetype of Self – a helix turning, a wave breathing, a fish swimming, a snake sliding. The helical or wavelike symbol of this archetype corresponds to the western mental context. Thus, the soul and the body are engaged in performing a corporeal melody about the true I structured in accordance with the laws of micto- and macrocosmic harmony; the psychoidal archetype is freely – without force, as an obvious natural foundation – interned into the psyche and activates autonomous intrapsycheal resources.
The body wave is the natural language of the body, which corresponds to the natural language of the soul and tells about the spirit. The most important in learning and using this language is that the motion should remain holistic, its trajectories should ensure equilibrium states of body and mind. Corporeal melodies of the “dance of life” should be favorable to the psychological and physiological processes, be significant in terms of power and mental energy, and provide numinous, suggestive, enchanting effect.
At the conclusion of the conference, Vladimir Kozlov presented a report on the current state and perspectives of the integrative psychology.
In the early 1990s, Russian psychology found itself in the methodological twilight which gave no optimistic feelings for a quick and painless birth of a viable, healthy science capable of answering the basic questions of human existence while being at the same time an efficient applied discipline. Having lost the habitual methodological prostheses and influenced by many trends from abroad, Russian psychology is at risk of losing the clarity of its goal and the vision of its reference points if everything foreign is accepted uncritically. Today as never before we need the historical heritage and methodological specificity – the qualities manifested by integrative psychology, an approach founded in late 1990s to restore the holistic vision of mental reality, including not only Ego (the person) but also the total set of the unconscious with interpersonal and transpersonal operating levels. This vision was destroyed in the 19th century by different varieties of reductionism, from scientific materialism to behaviorism. Classics of Russian psychological science, S.L.Rubinstein and B.G.Ananiev considered the principle of integral individuality to be fundamental for studying a personality. Studies and experiments conducted by our contemporaries have proved the correctness of the basic principle of integrative psychology – the holistic approach in both theory and practice, which presumes not only a systemic analysis of the subject but also a holistic vision of the human and reality. The methodology of integrative psychology includes into the problem set of human studies such fields as analytical and transpersonal psychology, philosophical anthropology, metaphysical and existential schools of philosophy, and traditions of spiritual development. The prime task of integrative psychology is to develop a multifaceted educational environment capable of nurturing a holistic and universal personality of a psychologist carrying a holistic model of the world and integrative methodology.
The conference was concluded with a shamanic mystery with all attendees participating.
The integrative school was broadly and substantially represented at the Congress on Social Psychology conducted from 4 to 9 September 2002 in Yaroslavl. This symposium (incidentally, the biggest of the congress) included over 100 participants who were offered 53 papers and workshops.
The modern situation in social psychology is characterized by antagonism between the academic approach and an enormous number of new schools and trends. The academic psychology is founded on the biological and social determinism of human activity and prefers the materialist/positivist paradigm. The new “schools” either have no methodological foundation or consider the methodology to be a profanation of science. The cause of dead ends in research and practical failures of modern psychology is the lack of holistic vision of the picture of mental reality, manifested from the biological level to the spiritual one. The kernel of the vision of integrative psychology is the holistic principle viewing the psyche as an extremely complex, open, multi-level self-organizing system, capable of maintaining itself in the state of dynamic equilibrium and producing new structures and forms of organization. Everything in a society – a social organism – possesses integrity; the social community itself is integral, regardless of complexity and dimensions of organization. This causes an ever-increasing interest of progressive practitioners, specialists and most efficient centers of psychosocial work towards the integrative trend in the psychological science and practice as capable of resolving the hottest socio-psychological problems.
Among the presentations at the symposium, the following are worth a special mention:
- Breath-Music-Motion, a workshop by Prof. V.Kozlov (Yaroslavl), a new synthetic technology for extension and integration of consciousness;
- A message by psychotherapist G.Labkovskaya on using intense integrative techniques (breathing processes, meditative practices, etc.) for prevention of psychological disorders and addictions in adolescence;
- Dance-motion Therapy, a workshop by N.Veremeyenko;
- A presentation by M.Barteneva dedicated to using the transpersonal approach tocomposing music exhibiting a therapeutic, healing effect.
Unfortunately, neither these nor many other original psychological techniques are known to transpersonal psychologists and psychotherapists in the West. On the other hand, few Russian specialists are aware of the entire spectrum of accomplishments by their western colleagues. Meanwhile, the distinctions of methods and notions of the authors of original methods from the widely known and used ones are caused not just by perception of the common subject from different aspects, but by difference in approach, manner and intentions. These practices being obviously complementary, it is just as obvious that their adepts ought to unite their efforts, learn these original methods, and engage in collaboration which, once begun, is bound to be fruitful.
Other linksto Russian sites you may find interesting
What is Techno-Feng-Shui?
We enter the new millennium surrounded by various mechanisms and machines. This technosphere creates an illusion that the ancient esoteric knowledge is useless and archaic for the new wonderful society of high technologies and consuming. However realities of our life show that it is wrong. Highly developed countries face such problem as strong degradation of human personality which becomes similar to robots, manipulated by mass media and advertising. People experience a crisis of their personality and feel constant emotional discomfort. Hence drug addiction, growth of violence and suicides. The situation with the health is also unfavourable. In spite of impressive achievements in medicine people become weaker and weaker. Their vitality comes down.
Without illusions
The only way out of this increasing crisis is coming back to our roots, to the ancient esoteric knowledge, accumulated over thousands of years. However an attempt to delay all modern achievements and technosphere around us would be a mistake. Our task is to unify all this. One of the elements of such unification is adaptation of the ancient knowledge of feng shui and other geomantic traditions to conditions of modern life and the world around us. It is namely adaptation, but not a blind imitation of ancient methods in the new changed world. The "New Age" experience showed that such a blind imitation would bring nothing except profanation.
The raise of the interest to geomancy in western countries is not a surprise. All of us experience serious problems with our vitality, we need a success and luck. However the main part of publications on this subject simplify the traditional chinese feng shui so much that it seems to have nothing except bells, fish tanks and mirrors at it's disposal. Such "New Age" fend shui is far from being effective. Even those few books which were written by professionals are not quite usable in modern conditions. The matter is that there were neither electronic nor electric devices which we have at home today when the feng shui tradition appeared. But all these things influence the psychoenergy of our home and office. The traditional feng shui simply does not work without taking into consideration of such technosphere. The feng shui of modern means of transportation, cars, roads and highways needs special considering.
This site provides a web pages for Russians and others interested in the ways and means of meditative life. This site is readable in english or Cyrillic. On this site you will find information on the research projects and expeditions of the Russian Transpersonal Association. We welcome you to our web site and look forward to enhancing your meditative experiences.
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