One of the primary goals of the way I practice psychotherapy, is the integration of the unconscious and the development of a healthy relationship to this aspect of our consciousness. There is much debate and theory about what the unconscious is. Freud might say it was where our primal instincts, repressed memories, and defense mechanisms come from, and the storehouse of every memory and experience we have ever had. Every smell, sound, feeling, taste, kiss, and disappointment we have ever experienced. It is the domain from which dreams and intuition originate. Yogis might call it the “little Purusha”, or small speck of “source consciousness” within each of us. Rumi’s line, “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop” could be describing this aspect of our consciousness. In Theodore Roszak’s book, The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology, he puts forth that the unconscious is the umbilical chord that connects us to nature. Jung believed in a portion of the unconscious called the collective unconscious that included the templates for all human behaviors that he called “Archetypes”. These are universal energy patterns of being in the world that are found to be consistent across all cultures and races. Meditation and Hypnotherapy work directly with the unconscious and it is widely accepted that this is where healing takes place.

In my work and experience, I have come to understand that humans have two modes of functioning. Some may call it right brain/left brain. It could also be called the intellect/doing or “top-down” cognitive process, and the feeling/being or bottom-up emerging/creative/experiencing process. I like the masculine/feminine dynamics. The masculine is linear, sequential, rational, and includes the perspective that manipulates the environment and situations to try and fit what we want them to be. The feminine is holistic, simultaneous, experiential, and allowing what is there to emerge. They could be described in terms of  “positive and negatively” charged energies or yin/yang. We must remember these terms are not meant to speak to biological gender and are speaking more in terms of energetic forces and natural processes in the psyche, which is always androgynous at the soul level. One is not better than the other, both are needed to live a balanced, healthy and satisfying life. Unfortunately, our society tends to devalue one and elevate the other, causing infinite harm and confusion.

In Leonard Shlain’s book, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The conflict between word and image, he makes a good case for how the creation of the written word lead to the devaluing and enslavement of the other way of experiencing the world. The written word has advanced society and been invaluable to our progress, but we are now starting to go back and re-evaluate what we have lost in exchange for over-valuing this way of knowing and seeing the world. The “feminine” way of experiencing the world is integral to many indigenous cultures that were viewed as “primitive” by the ones with the written word, and “civilization” has sought to dominate and “educate” them.  This means that many true healing modalities used today may originate from indigenous cultures, so we always want to remember to remain respectful of them when benefitting from the wisdom they offer. Access to this part of our consciousness is a human right that has been stolen from all of us, but we must also acknowledge the suffering that they have endured historically and honor them. It is important that we do not cause harm in our search for this lost part of ourselves by exploiting ancient traditions or causing further abuses and that we remain mindful of our impact on others.

So what does all this have to do with therapy? Through working with different modalities, we can learn to listen to, heal, and value this other side of our consciousness. It is us, but it is also not us in that it is not part of the “ego self” and has a direct line to nature and our primary instincts. It cannot be rationed with or forced to do our bidding or submit to our will. It must be met with respect and curiosity. We must learn to have a relationship to it and live harmoniously with it. It is likely to have already caused you some grief within your life in some form whether through illness, repeated mistakes and self-sabotage, unwanted emotions/behaviors, depression, anxiety, etc…Some of the various modalities that work with the unconscious include art therapy, dance, music, hypnotherapy, drumming, archetypes, meditation, breathwork, symbolism, binaural beats, spiritual practices like yoga and meditation, mantra, reiki, yoga nidra, connecting with nature, transpersonal psychology, shadow work, and Jyotish (Vedic Astrology). The birth chart in Vedic Astrology is a snapshot of the soul’s path through this lifetime, therefore it provides insight into what this part of our consciousness may be trying to experience or become in this lifetime. Whatever way you choose to engage with this mysterious and unknown part of yourself, it will be a lifelong relationship that will bring harmony and peace to you.

Avashta Therapies is the seed of a dream I wish to bloom within the world. A dream that blends two of my great loves, psychotherapy and Astrology. With this writing, I hope to spark others interest, by sharing my love and excitement surrounding the synthesis of these two great modalities. I hope to communicate what they can offer for your own life, by telling a bit about how they have changed mine. When I discovered Vedic Astrology, I was already practicing as a licensed therapist. I wanted to help others, I desired meaningful work, and I seemed to have a natural tendency towards calming anger and fostering trust. But I felt that something was missing. My orientation is primarily psychodynamic and I could see the personality theories at play throughout my client’s behaviors and psyches. But it often took a very long time to map out the dynamics and there were few directions on how to actually use the theories to help facilitate growth and healing. Healing is something that seems to be lacking in the West in general, but noticeably in the field of mental health. While the pharmaceutical companies would have us “fix” things with medication, much of the focus of modern therapy is on skills training, adjustment to society, and symptom management. I didn’t want to just help people adjust to a sick society. Skills are helpful but not if you don’t feel good enough to use them, and symptom management will allow you to function, but what about really thriving? I wanted to see transformation and healing and I simply wasn’t finding it in what I was being taught.

Through my study of psychology, I learned to manage my life pretty effectively, but found myself on a path of true healing when I began my relationship with yoga. It taught me through experience how the body interacted with and affected the mind and emotions and how negative emotions and traumas become stored in the body, harming us over time. Eventually, my romance with yoga lead me to Jyotish, (the study of light) or Vedic Astrology. The deeper I went into my studies, the more I recognized the overlapping components of much of the psychology I had learned, but being expressed in more profound spiritual ways. Jyotish allowed me to go farther and see my deep unconscious patterns more clearly. Through it, I continue to experience deep healing because the spirit’s destiny is included, which is often absent from our modern-day materialist and behaviorist perspectives. Through the birth chart, one can learn what is actually possible for your life and provides the opportunity to synch your actions and will with the current energies at play, allowing you to harmonize with the world, rather than fight it or feel victimized by it. In psychodynamic theory, your emotional patterns can be traced back to your childhood, but with Jyotish, those are the karmic emotional patterns you were born to experience, and your parents simply provided the settings that would trigger them. Regardless of how you want to look at it, they are your emotional patterns and when brought into consciousness and out of the “shadow”, you are one step closer to liberating yourself from emotional enslavement.

My favorite technique is using the Lajjitaadi Avashtas, which communicate the internal relationships of the different aspects of consciousness (the Grahas or planets) as described by the ancient sage, Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and interpreted and expanded upon by Ernst Wilhelm. While the avashtas usually won’t predict an event, they will communicate exactly how you will be feeling during any given time period. The Lajjjitadi Avashtas are the outline of the internal emotional landscape of a person’s life, thus allowing us to see exactly what kind of internal dynamics and emotional patterns a person struggles with, all within a few minutes. They illuminate the psychodynamics of a person without having to drudge through hours of therapy to get there. This not only makes my work more efficient, but essentially less expensive and time consuming for the client as well. In my work, predictions are not offered because predictions do not usually facilitate healing and are generally not therapeutically helpful. If you learn how to manage your internal dynamics and emotions, you will be able to handle whatever comes your way. The planets are all various aspects of consciousness and the state that each one is in determines our strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge, combined with counseling interventions, can become very powerful and is not limited to symptom management, but can be used for long-term healing and self-actualization. The birth chart lays out your destined path, the energies you are working with, and indicates the purpose of your life; dharma. Exploring these can lead you on the journey to self-actualization and the evolution of consciousness.

Evolution of consciousness. A love of psychology, emotional healing, and Astrology.