You may be having thoughts or experiences that are opening you to a bigger reality, a reality that is spiritual in nature, one that exists beyond your definition, or your dominant culture’s, of self and ego. And though you may be able to talk with a few, or one, of your most trusted friends and/or family, you are longing to share with others who are experiencing similar awakenings and understand you’re not “crazy.” Indeed what is occurring is a natural part of maturation, and not a crisis.
Your experience may fall under one of the categories the Grofs identified as a psychospiritual crises (which can overlap):
- Shamanic crisis
- Kundalini awakening
- Episodes of unitive consciousness (often via meditation or a psychedelic experience)
- Psychological renewal through return to the center
- Crisis of psychic opening
- Past-life experiences
- Communication with spirit guides and channeling
- Near-death experiences (NDEs)
- UFO/UAP encounters
- Possession states
- Alcohol or other substance use disorder
Other spiritual phenomena can occur during early adulthood, midlife, end-of-life; or when noticing the emergence of a karmic pattern. You may think of others not listed here.
Being heard regarding these thoughts, feelings, experiences can be a powerful catalyst for healing. To address this need, certified spiritual emergency coaches are available to you at https://imhu.org/coaching/directory/
If interested in a peer group setting, Ariadne Patsiopoulos, with whom I formerly worked as a peer coach, will be starting a group in 2024. You may email her at ariadnetp@gmail.com
The most familiar models of who we are – father and daughter, doctor and patient, “helper and “helped” – often turn out to be major obstacles to the expression of our caring instincts; they limit the full measure of what we have to offer one another. But when we break through and meet in spirit behind our separateness, we experience profound moments of companionship. These in turn give us access to deeper and deeper levels of generosity and loving-kindness. True compassion rises out of unity.
~ ~ Richard Gorman and Ram Dass