Holistic and Transpersonal Therapy FAQs
»What is transpersonal counseling?
Transpersonal counseling integrates psychology and spirituality, honoring the client’s innate wisdom as the source of healing. It invites awareness beyond the personal self, where consciousness itself becomes the catalyst for transformation and wholeness.
»What does holistic therapy mean?
Holistic psychotherapy integrates mind, body, energy, and spirit, recognizing that true healing arises when all dimensions of a person are addressed. It honors the interconnectedness of psychological, somatic, and spiritual processes, allowing the client’s innate intelligence to guide transformation toward balance and wholeness.
»What is somatic intelligence?
Somatic intelligence is the body’s innate wisdom to regulate, adapt, and restore balance. It communicates through sensations, emotions, and energy, guiding us toward safety, wholeness, and alignment when met with awareness and compassion.
»What is subtle energy?
Subtle energy is the vital life force that flows through and around all living beings. It bridges the physical and spiritual dimensions, and when we attune to it with awareness, it becomes a powerful guide for healing and alignment.
»What is energy medicine?
Energy medicine works with the body’s subtle energy systems to restore balance and vitality. By attuning to the flow of life force within and around the body, it supports physical, emotional, and spiritual healing as awake awareness guides alignment and transformation.
»What is developmental trauma?
Developmental trauma arises from chronic misattunement, neglect, or relational rupture during early life. It shapes the nervous system and sense of self, and healing occurs as awareness and safety restore connection, allowing awake awareness to guide integration and repair.
»What is polyvagal theory?
Polyvagal Theory explains how the vagus nerve regulates safety, connection, and stress responses in the body. It shows that healing unfolds through co-regulation and awareness, allowing the nervous system to return to balance as awake awareness guides integration.
»What is interpersonal neurobiology?
Interpersonal neurobiology explores how relationships shape the brain, mind, and nervous system. It shows that mindful, attuned connection supports integration and healing, allowing awake awareness within relationship to guide the process toward wholeness.
»What is somatic trauma therapy?
Somatic trauma therapy supports healing by bringing awareness to the body’s sensations, impulses, and energy patterns that hold traumatic memory. Through mindful attunement and safety, the body completes what was unfinished, allowing awake awareness to guide integration and restoration.
»How can I work with countertransference through a holistic and transpersonal lens?
Through a holistic and transpersonal lens, countertransference is viewed as intuitive information arising within the therapist’s body and energy field. By bringing mindful awareness to these sensations and emotions, therapists discern what belongs to the client, allowing awake awareness to transform reactivity into empathic attunement and insight.
»How do you work with personality disorders through a transpersonal lens?
Working with personality disorders through a transpersonal lens involves seeing beyond pathology to the soul’s adaptive wisdom. By honoring defense patterns as survival strategies and inviting awareness into the deeper Self, healing unfolds as awake awareness restores coherence and integration.
»What is a therapeutic rupture?
A therapeutic rupture is a disruption in the trust or connection between therapist and client. When met with awareness and authenticity, it becomes an opportunity for repair and deeper intimacy, allowing awake awareness to guide healing in the relational field.
»What is mindfulness based cognitive therapy?
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy integrates mindfulness practices with cognitive awareness to help clients recognize and shift unhelpful thought patterns. In the Awakened Therapist model, mindfulness supports the movement from ordinary mind to awake awareness, where thoughts are met with compassion and integrated through presence rather than analysis.
»What is a licensed professional counselor?
A Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) is a mental health professional trained to support clients through evidence-based therapeutic practices. In a holistic and transpersonal model, the LPC also serves as a mindful, attuned presence—honoring the client’s innate wisdom and allowing awake awareness to guide the healing process.
Spiritual Therapy FAQs
»How does spiritual therapy work?
Spiritual therapy works by honoring the client’s innate connection to Source as the foundation of healing. Through awareness, presence, and alignment, it invites the wisdom of awake awareness to guide transformation across mind, body, and spirit.
»Is spirituality the same as religion?
No. Spirituality is the direct experience of connection with something greater than the self, while religion is a structured system of beliefs and practices. Spirituality transcends doctrine, inviting personal relationship with the sacred through lived awareness and presence.
»What is Awake Awareness?
Awake awareness is the pure, formless consciousness that perceives all experience without judgment or attachment. It is the unchanging essence of our being, through which healing, clarity, and authentic presence naturally arise.
»How do you incorporate mindfulness into psychotherapy?
Mindfulness is incorporated into psychotherapy by inviting present-moment awareness of thoughts, emotions, and sensations without judgment. This attuned presence deepens contact with the client’s lived experience, creating openings for awake awareness to guide healing and integration.
Gestalt Therapy FAQs
»What is Gestalt Therapy?
Gestalt therapy is a present-moment, experiential approach that invites clients into direct awareness of their thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Gestalt Therapy is both transpersonal and holistic in nature, emphasizing authenticity, creative experimentation, and trust in awareness as the catalyst for integration and change.
»What is the Awareness Continuum?
The Awareness Continuum is a process of guiding attention to the present moment through open-ended questions. It helps clients track sensations, thoughts, and emotions as they arise, creating openings for awake awareness to guide the healing process and support natural integration.
»What is unfinished business in Gestalt Therapy?
Unfinished business in Gestalt therapy refers to unresolved emotions or experiences from the past that remain active in the present. By bringing these experiences into awareness and contact, the energy bound in them is released, allowing awake awareness to guide integration and completion.
»How is Gestalt Therapy different from IFS (Internal Family Systems)?
Gestalt Therapy differs from Internal Family Systems (IFS) in that it emphasizes present-moment awareness and direct embodiment rather than conceptual parts work. While IFS dialogues with inner parts through imagination, Gestalt invites those parts into lived contact, where awareness—and ultimately awake awareness—facilitates integration and wholeness.
»How is Gestalt Therapy different from Hakomi?
While both Gestalt therapy and Hakomi honor mindfulness and present-moment experience, Gestalt emphasizes the client’s innate wisdom as the guiding force, upholding sovereignty as central to transformation. Hakomi, though deeply compassionate and body-centered, tends to rely more on therapist-led interventions, fostering a subtly confluent dynamic rather than one rooted in the client’s autonomous awareness.
»How does Gestalt Therapy work?
Gestalt therapy works by bringing awareness to the present-moment experience through dialogue, embodiment, and creative experiments. As clients make contact with their thoughts, emotions, and sensations, awareness itself becomes the agent of healing, allowing awake awareness to guide integration and wholeness.
»What is a Gestalt two-chair experiment?
A Gestalt two-chair experiment is a dynamic process where clients dialogue between different parts of themselves to resolve inner conflict or polarization. By giving voice to each part in the present moment, awareness expands and awake awareness guides integration and harmony within the self.
»How do I find a polarity in Gestalt Therapy?
In Gestalt therapy, a polarity is found by noticing opposing energies, beliefs, or impulses within the client’s experience. By bringing both sides into awareness through dialogue and embodiment, the tension between them reveals the path to integration as awake awareness guides alignment.
awakened therapist training FAQs
»I have an MA or PHD in counseling or a related field. Where do I begin?
If you are interested in deepening your ability to support transpersonal transformation, join The Awakened Therapist Level 1 Certification Training. This interactive learning experience is designed to support you in accessing the transcendent in the counseling container.
»If I already have a coaching certificate, where do I begin?
If you are interested in deepening your ability to hold a sacred container, join The Awakened Therapist Level 1 Certification Training. This interactive learning experience is designed to support you in facilitating trauma-informed transpersonal transformation.
»Do I need to apply for The Awakened Therapist Certification Training?
The Awakened Therapist Level 1 Certification Training is a 6-month live training with asynchronous recorded lectures, reading, and handouts. While you do not need to apply for this program, you must meet these qualifications. If you meet all of the prerequisites to be a participant, you are welcome to join in this unique program. Applications are for Levels 2-4 only.
»Do I need to apply for The Awakened Therapist Signature Course?
No. The Awakened Therapist Signature Course is 100% asynchronous, and there is no need to apply.
»If I do not have any background in counseling or coaching, where do I begin?
If you do not have prior training in counseling or coaching but are interested in learning our Harmony’s signature teachings, you are invited to take The Awakened Therapist Signature Course. This course is 100% self-guided and there are no prerequisites. Alternatively, the Live Your Alignment course might be a good fit if you want to work on your own personal development.
»Does your training program count towards continuing education units (CEUs) for counselors, social workers, or psychologists?
While these trainings offer a highly curated curriculum to enhance your work with clients, they do not count as CEUs.
»Do you offer a discount or scholarship for The Awakened Therapist Certification Training?
Yes. A limited number of sliding scale spots are available for therapists and coaches from marginalized communities, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, disabled, and other underrepresented groups in the mental health field. If financial access is a barrier and you feel called to join The Awakened Therapist Training, please reach out to explore what’s possible.
»I am interested in taking one of your trainings, but I don’t want to work as a coach or a therapist. Can I still take your sign up for one of trainings and certification?
Yes. In most cases, people interested in learning who do not want to work in this field are welcome to join us. Reach out to schedule a conversation to determine if this program is a good fit.
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