num_pages: 243
description: The definitive overview of this transformative breathwork.In this long-awaited book Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof describe their groundbreaking new form of self-exploration and psychotherapy: Holotropic Breathwork. Holotropic means moving toward wholeness from the Greek holos (whole) and trepein (moving in the direction of). The breathwork utilizes the remarkable healing and transformative potential of nonordinary states of consciousness. These states engender a rich array of experiences with unique healing potentialreliving childhood memories infancy birth and prenatal life and elements from the historical and archetypal realms of the collective unconscious. Induced by very simple meansa combination of accelerated breathing evocative music and bodywork in a safe and supportive setting Holotropic Breathwork integrates the insights from modern consciousness research depth psychology transpersonal psychology anthropology Eastern spiritual practices and mystical traditions. The Grofs work with holotropic states of consciousness has introduced revolutionary changes to psychiatry psychology and psychotherapy. Written in a clear easily understandable style this indispensable book summarizes their remarkable insights.Stanislav Grof is one of the most important pioneers in the scientific understanding of consciousness. He and his wife Christina have contributed both to its intellectual and experiential understanding through their work with Holotropic Breathwork. Their book on this new approach to self-exploration and therapy is a must read.  Deepak Chopra author of Reinventing the Body Resurrecting the Soul: How to Create a New YouThis fascinating informative book invites you to open your mind to explore the depths of the psyche and transpersonal dimensions of consciousness. Stanislav and Christina Grof who pioneered this powerful innovative approach to therapy and personal growth offer sound advice thoroughly grounded in decades of practical experience.  Frances Vaughan author of Shadows of the Sacred: Seeing Through Spiritual IllusionsTake a few rapid staccato breaths and open this book. You will have a great read and at the same time maybe discover a new kind of consciousness just waiting inside of you to be revealed. Stanislav and Christina Grof are modern pioneers of consciousness and this book is their map of the territory. Holotropic Breathwork reveals how the Grofs developed their revolutionary healing techniques often told through fascinating stories of people being transformed by the breathwork process. The Grofs are at the center of the current psycho-spiritual revolution in the West and this book is a testament to their role in our collective healing.  Wes Nisker author of The Essential Crazy Wisdom and Buddhas Nature: A Practical Guide to Discovering Your Place in the CosmosThe Grofs offer the first comprehensive text of the theory and practice of their pioneering and integrative model of experiential psychotherapy and self-exploration. This psychology of the future with its extended cartography of the psyche provides irrefutable evidence that spontaneous episodes of nonordinary states of consciousness have great healing transformative and even evolutionary potential for humankind. History will record that Holotropic Breathwork and the certification training and program designed by the Grofs advanced the field of psychotherapy far beyond the contributions of Freud and Jung.  Angeles Arrien author of The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior Teacher Healer and VisionaryIn this remarkable book Stanislav and Christina Grof summarize their pathbreaking discoveries of the past thirty years. They make two significant contributions one to science the other to our shared future. The first by showing that altered states of consciousness have a dimension that is veridicalimaginal rather than imaginaryand thereby transcend the outdated but still persistent belief that our experience of the world is limited to information conveyed by our senses. The second by demonstrating that the altered states achieved inter alia through their holotropic breathwork method reduce aggression and enhance tolerance compassion ecological sensitivity and a sense of planetary citizenship. Since these are the very qualities we urgently need to cope with the global emergency in which we presently find ourselves their contribution to the future of humankind matches their contribution to the future of psychology.  Ervin Laszlo author of The Connectivity Hypothesis: Foundations of an Integral Science of Quantum Cosmos Life and ConsciousnessHolotropic Breathwork appears to have the potential for facilitating psychological insights and transformations that can be remarkably rapid and deep.  Roger Walsh coeditor of Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of PsychedelicsYou hold in your hands a visionary book one that offers a new understanding of healing mental health and human potential along with powerful techniques to bring about these transformations. Developing such an integrated understanding which combines science experience and spirit is critical for the twenty-first century.  from the Foreword by Jack KornfieldThe long-awaited volume by Stanislav and Christina Grof is the first comprehensive text on the theory and practice of their new strategy of psychotherapy and self-exploration  this is sure to be a cherished addition to the libraries of intelligent seekers around the world and one of the most influential books of the decade.  Renn Butler member of the Holotropic Breathwork CommunityStanislav Grof MD is a psychiatrist who teaches at California Institute of Integral Studies and is the founder of the International Transpersonal Association. He is the author and editor of many books including Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research; The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness; Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution; The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration; Beyond the Brain: Birth Death and Transcendence in Psychotherapy; and Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science all published by SUNY Press. Christina Grof PhDhc is cocreator of Holotropic Breathwork founder of the Spiritual Emergence Network (SEN) and the author of many books including Beyond Death: The Gates of Consciousness; Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis; The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth through Transformational Crisis (all with Stanislav Grof) and The Thirst for Wholeness: Attachment Addiction and the Spirit. They reside in Mill Valley California.
language: English
title: Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy
publisher: Excelsior Editions