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Who am I?
I am a graduate of the Transpersonal Therapy Centre of Toronto . I am also a professional artist and writer , a practicing Buddhist and the father of three children. If you are experiencing
personal/interpersonal difficulties that are interfering with your ability to deal with life or relate to others; and/or:
if you are running into obstacles on your path of self-realization: together we may be able to identify and work through the
emotional and/or spiritual issues that are hindering your ability to move forward with your personal growth.
What is Transpersonal Psychotherapy?
Transpersonal psychotherapy is a healing art that combines psychotherapeutic counselling
and guidance in spiritual growth. An excellent description of the nature and scope of transpersonal psychotherapy by Brent Mitton of the Transpersonal Therapy Centre can be found here.
How Will I Work With You?
I offer Deep Listening,
Gestalt Therapy, Bodywork, Breathwork, Art Therapy, Dreamwork, Guided Visualization, Meditation Training, Kundalini Awakening
Counselling, Assistance with Spiritual Emergency and Postcard and I Ching Readings.
These exercises and practices can be used to help with issues of emotional well-being and/or
to enhance self-realization. We can work with any one or more of them that we agree is appropriate for your course of therapy.
To learn more about them, see descriptions below.
Therapeutic Practices and Exercises I Offer
Deep Listening: Deep Listening is the fundamental practice of the psychotherapist. And I have the ability
and compassionate desire to sit with you, to listen deeply to what you have to say, and to work with you to formulate the
strategies and exercises and that will help you solve your emotional and/or spiritual issues.
Gestalt Therapy: I
am trained in the psychotherapeutic practice of Gestalt Therapy, the method of having you work with "present and immediate"
manifestations of emotional blocks and neuroses, through various exercises of enhancement, intervention and engagement. This
type of therapy work helps you see and understand the emotional blocks that are impeding your engagement with living, provides
immediate methods of working through and untangling those blocks, and assists you in achieving emotional wellness.
Bodywork: Our bodies carry a lifetime of emotional traumas and neuroses that manifest as knots (somas) in our physical
being. I can help you locate these blocks to emotional and personal growth, understand their genesis and help you untangle
them and loosen their grip on you.
Breathwork:
A therapy exercise that permits one to enter altered states
of consciousness through submersion in evocative music and deep breathing. The bodymind knows what issues, neuroses, etc.
need attention and these surface and are worked through over the course of a 2 to 3 hour session. The "breather" then completes
a drawing based on the emotional / sensual / spiritual experiences that have arisen and the therapist works with the client
to tease out the meanings of the drawing and the experience.
Art Therapy: I combine over thirty
years of experience as a professional artist with intuitive therapy skills to offer you the opportunity and guidance to explore
and experiment with various art expressions with the intention of exposing and working with emotional and spiritual issues
that surface in the course of artmaking.
Dreamwork:
"Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing
about you." ~Marsha Norman
Dreams are a powerful source for insights into our light and our shadow -- our psychosomatic
condition -- as well as being signposts and beacons on our day-to-day journey. I have been recording and working with my own
dreams since the mid-1970s. Not only am I trained to examine dreams from different disciplines (Jungian, Gestalt, etc.), I
feel I have a very strong intuitive sense about the meaning and relevance of dreams as discussed in the context of therapy
practice.
Guided Visualization:
If you are looking for answers to specific questions, wish to
discover and understand past lives, or simply wish to explore your inner landscape, I can lead you through a meditation exercise
called "guided visualization". The contacts you make in your interior world and the answers you receive can help you overcome
issues or resolve situations in your life and help you connect with deep inner truths.
Meditation Training: Since
discovering that I am a natural-born Buddhist more than 10 years ago, I have maintained a daily meditation practice and have
attended numerous multi-day silent meditation retreats. I highly recommend meditation as a support for any emotional/spiritual
work and am able to provide instruction and training in this valuable discipline.
Kundalini Awakening Counselling: "Kundalini is a dormant energy within most people. In Hindu mythology, Kundalini is a serpent goddess who lies asleep
at the base of the spine. She represents the unfolding of the divine Shakti energy, the energizing potential of life itself.
Under certain circumstances, the Kundalini energy awakens and begins to rise through the body. As Kundalini releases stored
and blocked energies, her movement can be quite intense, sometimes painful, and often leads to mental states that seem out
of this world. Circumstances that stimulate Kundalini awakening are many and varied, but are usually triggered by such things
as extended periods of meditation, yoga, fasting, stress, trauma, psychedelic drugs, or near death experiences." (Excerpted
from reiki-for-holistic-health.com). I have had personal experience with Kundalini Awakening and can testify to its intensely
dramatic phenomena and the attendant growth and learning that can result. If you suspect, or know, that you are in this process
and feel you need counselling, I can provide assistance.
Assistance with Spiritual Emergency: Spiritual
Emergence has been defined as "the movement of an individual
to a more expanded way of being that involves enhanced emotional and psychosomatic health, greater freedom of personal choices,
and a sense of deeper connection with other people, nature, and the cosmos." (Grof & Grof, 1990). "When spiritual emergence
is very rapid and dramatic this natural process can become a crisis, and spiritual emergence becomes Spiritual Emergency. Spiritual
emergency may take the form of non-ordinary states of consciousness and may involve unusual thoughts, intense emotions, visions
and other sensory changes, as well as various physical manifestations." (Excerpted from Spiritual Emergence Network). I offer
counselling to understand the process of -- and strategies for coping with the course of -- spiritual emergency, for persons
finding themselves in this state.
Postcard
and I Ching Readings: I am trained (by Brent Mitton -- see above)
in the therapeutic use of a set of random Postcard images to divine, tease out and address emotional and spiritual issues
-- either directly asked by the client, or, often as not, magically raised by the cards.
I also offer I Ching readings.
The I Ching is an ancient system of oracular divination that can be counted on to give sure guidance to perplexing life decisions.
NOTE: These practices are offered only in the context of therapy work in progress with me, or to persons currently involved
in serious transpersonal growth work with other therapists.
If, after reading the information above...
...you feel that we may be able to work together,
to the benefit of your well-being, please e-mail me at aomarra@sympatico.ca
or call me at 905-683-1860. I will
get back to you promptly.
Blessings to you,
Allan
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