Applying the Constructivist Approach to Cognitive Therapy
From Applying the Constructivist Approach to Cognitive Therapy: Resolving the Unconscious Past published by Routledge, Chapter 6 takes the reader into new territory, an area of new popularity, i.e. the hypnotic elements of shamanic or ecstatic trance. Carlos Castaneda describes two forms of trance, dreaming and stalking. Dreaming is the letting go of one’s thinking and following where one’s thoughts go as in our nighttime dreams and much of hypnotic trance. On the other hand Stalking is entering trance with direction or intent, the energy experienced in ecstatic trance. One distinction can be seen in the background music used in these two forms of trance, new age music with hypnosis and rapid drumming or rattling stimulation to the nervous system with ecstatic trance, drumming that distracts the client/patient from rational thinking.
The anthropologist Felicitas Goodman in her research of ecstatic trance identified another important element in the induction of ecstatic trance, an element that adds especially to the effectiveness of hypnotic trance, i.e. the use of shamanic body postures. In her search of the body postures used by tribal shamans, both ancient and contemporary, she searched through art of these cultures in books and museums. She initially found approximately fifty postures she believed were used by the shamans, and when experimenting with these postures with her students at Dennison University she found that the postures gave direction to the trance experience. Some postures brought a sense of healing and strengthening energy into one’s body. Other postures were for divination or finding answers to questions, and some were for metamorphosis or shape-shifting to more directly experience one’s spirit guide. Then there were the postures for spirit journeying, some into the underworld, some into the middle world, and some into the upper world. The seventh direction given by some postures was for initiation or for providing a death-rebirth experience with the death of some unhealthy part of the self and the birth of a healthier part. I have used many of these postures and have experienced the direction the posture gives to the trance experience. The power of these postures as illustrated in this book adds a very significant energy to the trance experience, a powerful addition to the repertoire of hypnotic and shamanic trance techniques. As I offered in my previous blog, four of these postures can fit nicely into what is expected in a session of psychotherapy.
The anthropologist Felicitas Goodman in her research of ecstatic trance identified another important element in the induction of ecstatic trance, an element that adds especially to the effectiveness of hypnotic trance, i.e. the use of shamanic body postures. In her search of the body postures used by tribal shamans, both ancient and contemporary, she searched through art of these cultures in books and museums. She initially found approximately fifty postures she believed were used by the shamans, and when experimenting with these postures with her students at Dennison University she found that the postures gave direction to the trance experience. Some postures brought a sense of healing and strengthening energy into one’s body. Other postures were for divination or finding answers to questions, and some were for metamorphosis or shape-shifting to more directly experience one’s spirit guide. Then there were the postures for spirit journeying, some into the underworld, some into the middle world, and some into the upper world. The seventh direction given by some postures was for initiation or for providing a death-rebirth experience with the death of some unhealthy part of the self and the birth of a healthier part. I have used many of these postures and have experienced the direction the posture gives to the trance experience. The power of these postures as illustrated in this book adds a very significant energy to the trance experience, a powerful addition to the repertoire of hypnotic and shamanic trance techniques. As I offered in my previous blog, four of these postures can fit nicely into what is expected in a session of psychotherapy.
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