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.