An Idea, A film, A Transpersonal Experience Background to the making of the film
In the UK, interest in the transpersonal seems to be gathering momentum. Indeed some say it is the 'fourth wave' of therapy. In the US it is surely more developed, but Britain has a strong identity nonetheless. Transpersonal - what does it mean? My colleague and I decided to ask well-known practitioners with a long history in the field.
Barbara Somers (Co-Founder, Centre for Transpersonal Psychology, London)Some might say that we are part of a larger mystery of life which reveals itself bit by bit. Many will say that pathological symptoms are aspects of a journey that we engage in in life and work through towards transformation, rather than 'symptoms to be cured'.
"It's a perspective, a mode of seeing clients as having within themselves an essential self, which can be contacted to evoke its wisdom and knowledge".Nan Beecher-Moore (Senior Trainer, Psychosynthesis and Education Trust)
"The Transpersonal, a deep sense of self, inclusive of all that I am and that anyone is".Ian Gordon-Brown (Co-Founder, Centre for Transpersonal Psychology)
"I think the transpersonal is essentially a spiritual psychology. Somebody could have a transpersonal orientation and be able to work in a whole range of different methods."
To be engaged in the 'mystery of life' we felt was very seductive. In fact, in retrospect we already were. Our lives had strangely crossed in an indirect way back in the early 1980s. I was at university in Poland resisting government tanks. Ann was in a BBC newsroom reporting news of the same. We didn't know each other; we were not to meet for almost a decade. When we did, we found ourselves on a psychotherapy training - which one? Transpersonal of course. And our lives and training wove in and out over the following six years.
Having qualified and continued to work at our respective centres and in private practice we thought, what else?
We remembered being inspired by the authenticity of the 'Gloria' film featuring Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls and Albert Ellis, which we saw in our second year of training, and felt it was time for an update. That film was after all thirty years old. And, it seemed like a good idea to marry our training and previous professions, as Clinical Psychologist and BBC Producer. Our interest was transpersonal, so we chose the transpersonal as the theme for our film.
From the very beginning the project seemed to have an energy of its own and we soon began to wonder to what extent we could allow the transpersonal to manifest itself.
We fixed appointments with 'names' in the transpersonal field in Britain. Ian Gordon-Brown and his successor Elizabeth Wilde-McCormick from the Centre for Transpersonal Psychology, Nan Beecher-Moore from Psychosynthesis and Education Trust, Andrew Samuels, Jungian analyst and author and Nigel Hamilton from the Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education. We suggested our idea to them and for the most part were delighted with their positive responses.
Our original idea had been to repeat the 'Gloria' format, but as our research took shape, it seemed asthough most therapists preferred not to do a first session, as with 'Gloria', and so it evolved that we offered each one a 40 minutes session to work as they chose, with a client of their choice. And in each case, they worked with a student or ex-student who understood and accepted the parameters of the exercise, so no professional ethics or boundary issues were contravened. Andrew Samuels, as a Jungian analyst, made it clear that his professional ethics prevented him from working in session, and therefore chose to represent his ideas through an exercise with volunteers.
They arrived enthusiastically to the location. I think some of them expected a camcorder in the corner and were surprised to see two professional cameras, bright hot lights and microphones dangling just above their heads. Their noses were powdered and the crew busied themselves with getting the technicalities sorted. The anxiety was palpable.
And on top of this we were asking them to relax, be authentic and facilitate some kind of genuine process from their client's deepest essence.
We admired their courage - client and therapist both. And they accepted the challenge. Within minutes we witnesses what was emerging in the sessions. We were moved, inspired and we too were challenged.
After the day of filming the hard work started. The end product is a three and a half hour long film, which starts with an introductory interview with Barbara Somers and is then divided into five clear sessions, each consisting of:
an interview with the therapist about their idea of what transpersonal is, its significance and how they as individuals work
a 30 minute session
a provocative review interview with both therapist and client about how they felt the session went.Each segment of the film is so very different, bringing the therapist's individuality and energy in to the room and highlighting their varying techniques.