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Who am I?
I
am a graduate of the Transpersonal Therapy Centre of Toronto, a professional artist and writer and the father of three children. I teach art on a project basis in public and high
schools in the Durham Region of Ontario, as well as to three levels of children in the recreational program of the City of
Pickering. And I volunteer my time to teach art on a weekly basis to patients at the Ontario Shores Mental Health Centre in
Whitby, Ontario.
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. Or if you have a child who is having emotional difficulties or trouble relating
to others, I can provide a course of therapy using art and sand tray exercises to assist in dealing with those issues.
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 forty years
of experience as a professional artist with intuitive therapy skills to offer you or your child 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 -- or
I may be able to provide therapy and counselling for your child -- please e-mail me at haomarra@gmail.com
or call me at 905-683-1860. I
will get back to you promptly.
Blessings to you,
Allan
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