InnerVentures

Tag: Dorset

  • What is Voice Dialogue

    The Psychology of Selves, was developed in the 1980s by therapists Hal & Sidra Stone, who started to dialogue the different voices in each other as a way of gaining clarity around difficulties in their own relationship. They soon realised the enormous potential of the tool they had stumbled upon in this way, and went on to develop the communication method Voice Dialogue as a training in self-knowledge and conscious transformation, based on the concept that our personality is made up of different parts.

    This open, fresh approach can reveal exciting revelations about the different selves. It is a journey of self discovery into yourself as you meet and get to know the different inner voices, some of which have never had a chance to speak out. These selves are not concepts; we experience them constantly, on a practical level in daily life and we actually follow their rules, living according to their belief systems without really knowing or understanding what is happening.

    Taking time to get to know the different opposing selves enables us to become more aware and thus to create more freedom of choice. As we learn to live with this tension of opposites, we develop, in Voice Dialogue terms, an Aware Ego. This represents a central position from which we can interact with the world, standing in balance between different selves, honouring them, perceiving their differing needs and taking action based on wholeness and integration rather than duality, control and repression.

    Becoming more self-aware in this way is a life-long process of unfolding, involving our full range of selves including our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual planes.

    Individual weekly therapy sessions are a good way to enter into this process, learning with the guidance of a Voice dialogue Facilitator. After a period of learning and support in this way, many people go on to ‘self dialogue’, working on their own unfolding awareness in between sessions or after a course of therapy has finished.

  • What is Psychosynthesis?

    Psychosynthesis is a transpersonal psychology. It  offers a model of the human psyche and  processes for enabling personal growth based on what is right about us, as well as what is wrong with us. It talks about human potential, drawing on what is often locked up in the superconscious as well as the  unconscious.

    The Superconscious is what exists beyond the personal and represents values we all aspire towards, such as creativity, love and compassion. So, as a Psychosynthesis therapist, I help my clients to reclaim what lies in the shadows, which can sometimes be painful, by drawing down energy from the superconscious, shining light on what feels dark and sticky, with their own inner compassion and self love. This approach enables a healthy balance of light and dark in terms of healing and growth in therapy.

    The Psychosynthesis model shows that we are not in fact one person, but various personalities and subpersonalities struggling continuously with each other. Impulses, desires, beliefs and aspirations can often be working in conflict with each other.

    My role as a Psychosynthesis Guide is to help my clients bring clarity and harmony into this confusion.We find that when the various elements of our being are in conflict, our energy becomes blocked, and this causes pain.

    However, each time that a Synthesis of two or more parts of our personality occurs, energy is freed and we experience a sense of profound wellbeing.

    This is the essence of Psychosynthesis; the harmonious integration of all our inner energies, around a unifying centre of awareness.

    With time and application, we can learn to take charge of our lives, like the conductor of an orchestra who knows and understands the many and varied instruments in front of him and, with their cooperation, evokes a perfectly timed, harmonious sound, greater than the sum of its parts.