Nigel Hamilton, Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education I think we've had three major waves of therapy; behavioural, analytical and humanistic and the fourth wave which is transpersonal has begun to come into its own and I think it will take perhaps another 20 years before it really becomes a major force in the world of psychotherapy.
I've been very interested in the work of Ken Wilber, a psychologist who has done very very valuable work in synthesising and reconciling the differences between all the different psychotherapy approaches, and quite simply he talks about a spectrum of consciousness in which each level on that spectrum represents a different aspect of human nature from the very basic primitive, aggressive and sexual end to the higher aspirations of the human soul which would normally be associated with the transpersonal and this spectrum really recognises there's a shift that takes place from level to level as we progress in life and this perspective allows us to really work with any approach provided we take a spiritual point of view on it.
Some of the techniques that I use are to do with dreams and imagery. We can use role play, we can use techniques from transactional analysis, understanding how to simplify a situation into realising what is your parent acting, what's your child, what's your adult. I can use simply the classical Rogerian approach of being there, empathising and just being quite authentic. At the same time I can draw on an existential outlook of facing the issues of death and life and meaning but behind all that I also use meditation. I find there are occasions particularly when we're working with some material that begins to resolve itself personally and move into the realm of the transpersonal. Meditation becomes a useful tool to do that, it provides a natural stepping stone because there is an awareness and a consciousness inside us that wakes up at that point. We don't have to do an awful lot, I don't have to work at that - the client will do that for me in a meditation. I use sound, the use of the voice, to give sound to different feelings that are held in the body and very often that is useful because it bypasses the mind. It's a very powerful technique for putting aside dialogue, putting aside imagery which involves the mind, just going directly to feelings. Those are some of the things. I also try to pay attention to body and the use of the body and body language when I'm working with a client and I pay attention also to my own experiences because what I'm experiencing is a reflection also of what the client is experiencing.