Healing Our Deepest Wounds: The Holotropic Paradigm Shift

Stanislav Grof is one of the pioneers of transpersonal psychology who has spent over fifty years exploring consciousness and various ways of accessing it, including breathwork and LSD. He is a qualified psychiatrist whose researches are thorough and disciplined, and his work on LSD was on the scientifically and ethically disciplined end of the research, far from the "tune in and drop out" aspects that lead to the drug being banned.However, Grof's observations have also lead him to the radical conclusion that the current scientific paradigm is inadequate to explain what he has observed. He holds the view that a greater awareness of consciousness will make for a radical change in our view of ourselves. In doing this he has surveyed various forms of psychotherapy (including Freudian, Rankian and Jungian approaches) to develop an inclusive approach that addresses different levels of consciousness including the instinctual, personal, existential and archetypal.This is inevitably controversial in some conventional areas. I will leave readers to make their own mind up over these issues, though personally, I have found Grof's observations useful. What we get here is a succinct guide to his ideas that is engaging and and clear. Grof is also literate on the philosophical differences which lead him to accept evidence that others will discount.The book itself came about after Grof received an award from the former Czech President Vaclav Havel in 1997. It contains transcripts with speeches from the from the ceremony. There are also chapters on the history of transpersonal psychology, Grof's ideas about levels of consciousness, birth trauma, spiritual crisis, what his researches have revealed about the roots of violence, as well as on psychedelic research and a tribute to the discoverer of LSD Albert Hoffman.Readers familiar with Grof's work may find this holds little new for them. But the text is referenced for those who wish to follow up what is read here. That said there are some updates on some of his work. Those coming to Grof for the first time won't find a better short introduction even from the man himself.

Always fascinating

Das Buch ist großartig, besonders wenn man eine Zusammenfassung des Lebenswerkes von Stanislav Grof sucht. Es gibt einem viel Motivation weiter an der "Bewußtseinsrevolution" mit zu helfen!

the author gives us hope to healand we thank him for sharing his experiences and wisdomfor us he is a a master

Am still reading this bur so far useful