What is Spiritual Psychology?

Orange Squiggly Line Var 2Spiritual Psychology is a blend science & spirituality that expands on Conventional Psychology by recognizing that a person has four levels requiring therapeutic attention. 

  • Physical - what you do
  • Mental - what you believe
  • Emotional - what you feel
  • Authentic Self - ability for joy, acceptance, and self-compassion

Conventional Psychology addresses a person at three levels; physical, mental and emotional. These three levels, the bedrock of conventional therapy, are all based on impermanence.  What  you do in your life (physical), what you think and believe (mental) and what you feel (emotional).  All three levels will constantly change throughout life as you grow, mature, learn and evolve.

The Fourth Level is who you are at your core.  At this level you are able to experience unconditional love, harmony, peace, joy and oneness with our universe, acceptance of others, and compassion for yourself.  Not coincidentally, with a weakened connection to this level, life can feel empty, pointless, unsatisfying, and hopeless.  Issues such as depression, discontent, anxiety, despair, self loathing and a host of other unsettling experiences, including our very will to live, arise.  Often we find substances or addictive/destructive behaviors as temporary relief, others just live with the ever present feeling of "there must be more".  A successful course of treatment must incorporate all four levels, to resolve underlying core issues for the last time and let you have your life back.

Imagine how different life would be if your foundation was love and support for yourself instead of disappointment, depression, anxiety, anger, embarrassment, hopelessness and resentment of your past?   Very different.  It's easy to say but to achieve change like this, you'll need to invest in some learning and in some un-learning. 

At The Clearing, we use Spiritual Psychology as our modality to address the underlying core issues that have life so out of balance.  Expect an intellectually engaging, interesting and successful month of learning how to resolve the issues creating the behaviors that are holding you back from the life you want.

Conventional Psychology vs. Spiritual Psychology

Level Description Conventional Psychology Spiritual Psychology
Physical What you do
Mental What you think and believe
Emotional What you feel Sometimes

Authentic Self

Who you truly are

 

Using the skills taught at The Clearing, you will learn how to bring all levels of your life into balance. When balance is achieved, life becomes peaceful, joyful and harmonious. Fundamental healing takes place, and individuals can achieve peace and live their lives to their fullest potential.

Will your life ever become out of balance again? Yes, it will. However, because you have learned to apply these profound skills and strategies, you are now uniquely prepared and empowered to address and resolve each new issue that may arise in your life with grace and ease.

 

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The Clearing - Spiritual Psychology Review"The Clearing's program was, for me, completely transformative. As this program is not a 12 Step program but, rather, one that utilizes the tools and principles of Spiritual Psychology, I was able to learn how to accept and heal the underlying issues of the depression and anxiety that led me to drink as a way of numbing my pain. The Clearing's program is certainly an intensive one but I found myself completely supported and unconditionally loved by the entire staff ... and all of the wonderful farm animals.

This is a program that will allow you to reclaim your own power. This is a program that will teach you how to truly love yourself and, by extension, realize the true beauty of your life. At The Clearing, you will receive all of the tools that you will ever need to live the life that you imagine for yourself. You will have to wade through all of that muck that you've tamped down for so long to get there but once you do, you will be truly free. You will be empowered. You will be healthy. This is not a clinical program--no white walls, no bed-checks, no chores. You will be treated as an individual and, though you will be held responsible for your actions, you will be trusted as a member of The Clearing community during treatment.

I whole-heartedly recommend the program at The Clearing to anyone who struggles with depression, substance abuse, compulsive disorders, any kind of mental or emotional disturbance, and/or anyone simply looking to learn how to truly live their life to the fullest."

- C.

 

The Origins of Spiritual Psychology

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Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist who founded analytical psychology, began the thought process that led to Spiritual Psychology as we know it today.

Jung was a protégé of Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century, however, as Jung began to develop his work with the “collective unconscious,” he and Freud went their separate ways.  Roberto Assagioli, the founder of a psychological approach known as psychosynthesis, also found Freud’s theories to be limiting.

Freud maintained that humans experience life on three levels: physical, mental and emotional. Jung and Assogioli were pioneers in recognizing a fourth level, the authentic self level.

A wide range of psychologists and thought leaders have contributed to this field including Carl Rogers, Albert Ellis, Fritz Perls, William Glasser, Eric Erickson,  Dr. Wayne Dyer, Carolyn Myss, Joan Borysendko, Gary Zukav, Echart Tolle, Drs. Ron and Mary Hulnick, Juan Miguel Ruiz, John Bradshaw, Louis Hay and many others.

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Spiritual Psychology Counseling Strategies

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Counseling Strategies are methods that a counselor uses to facilitate a Participant in uncovering and healing core issues.   The main strategies used in our Program include:

  • Person-Centered Therapy

    • When people feel listened to, respected and loved, they are able to tap into their own innate resources to heal.
  • Rational Emotive Therapy (RET)

    • In order to authentically change what we are thinking and believing, we need to look at how we are judging the events in our lives and the underlying rules we have created.  As we become aware of how and why we are doing this, profound change in our thoughts and beliefs can take place.
  • Gestalt Therapy

    • When a negative emotional experience takes place, we need to process the feelings fully in order to learn and grow from the experience.
  • Developmental Psychology

    • We all develop emotionally in predictable age stages.  Traumatic emotional experiences can keep us from fully developing emotionally.  We can resolve this by working with the traumatic event in a safe, loving environment. 
  • Reality Therapy (Behavioral Therapy)

    • Mental illness is seen as resulting in faulty behavioral patterns. The goal is creating a more functional plan of action and to be able to break this plan down into achievable pieces.
  • Family Systems

    • This is a process of examining hereditary and multi-generational limiting patterns.  Participants gain an understanding of the family dynamics that are alive within them.  This awareness leads to issue identification, understanding and acceptance with the goal of becoming one’s own individual and comfortable being who they really are.