Mudrashram Institute of Spiritual Studies
Training the Intuition in Psychotherapy
By George A. Boyd © 2004
To train the intuition, you can learn to perceive and listen to where your client’s material arises. Very different issues arise from ego, Self and Soul. Some of the signals from each of these identity states include:
|
Elements of the Three States of Identity |
|
|
Element |
State of Identity |
|
Ego |
It reacts to challenges with defensiveness and vigilance. It views itself as organism that needs to survive. It enlists defense mechanisms, violence or profanity to fend off perceived threats. It operates from a fight or flight reaction to stress. It has limited coping mechanisms. |
|
Self |
It develops skills to cope or deal with stress, the demands of the situation or with a difficult person. It enhances the sense of oneself as a person by the ability to make choices and commitments, and to take responsibility. It possesses values by which it can decide what is right action. It has the ability to plan to think and problem-solve, and the ability to decide. It uses intuition to check in with oneself. It uses assertiveness in relationship interactions, and establishes stable bonds of friendship and love. It evaluates appropriate risk-taking. |
|
Soul |
It may present as a sense of god-likeness, grandiosity or omnipotence. It conveys a sense oneself as an atom of the Divine. It believes in and expresses psychic powers (siddhis, gifts or spiritual abilities). It perceives the patterns of a Divine Plan or working out of destiny. It experiences union with the Cosmos or at-one-ness with the Divine. It transcends and is detached from personal experience. It may perceive that the personal realm is limited or illusory |
Much of the work of psychotherapy is training an individual to move from egoic-polarization to self-polarization. Meditation and Transpersonal Psychology shift an individual to the next octave, opening from the personal world of the Self to the transpersonal world of the Soul.
You may first learn to recognize these states in yourself by focusing your attention on your ego, your Self and your Soul. With some practice, you will learn to recognize the characteristic patterns that arise from each center. You will then begin to observe similar patterns in others, which will help you to grasp from where these issues are arising. This in turn will aid you to discern what is the appropriate intervention to use with your client.
Intuition-enhancing meditation techniques are presented in our Meditation for Therapists workshop. Some of you may find this workshop valuable to augment your current therapeutic armamentarium, and to learn new ways to guide your client from stuck-ness to wholeness.
