1. Introduction

Psychosynthesis is an approach to human development originated by the Italian psychiatrist, Roberto Assagioli (1888-1974). He was a colleague of Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung and shared their interest in the depth dimensions of the human psyche. He expanded the psychoanalytic concept of the unconscious to include what he called the "superconscious", repository of the higher drives such as compassion, creativity, spirituality, and altruism. Assagioli postulated a spiritual center of consciousness and will, the Self, viewed as guiding the process of inner growth and healing. The Self was seen as mediating within the individual a more universal process of evolution with which we can learn to cooperate.

As I was preparing to write this paper, I was aware how much the outer form of my work has changed since the early days of Psychosynthesis. In fact, the part of me that's afraid of being branded as a heretic actually got a little uneasy. But then I remembered Assagioli's words that Psychosynthesis is a living and evolving thought form—not a static entity—and felt reassured. It's actually quite remarkable how unattached Assagioli was to specific techniques, compared to the founders of most other psychological traditions. I think it's a sign of his wisdom. He believed it was important for Psychosynthesis to adapt to the various cultures and historical moments in which it was embodied. And he seemed to have no ego investment in maintaining an orthodoxy of practice. He actually once said to me that we could throw away every technique we use and we'd still have Psychosynthesis. We would simply invent new techniques and retain the essence of the work.

Though we're still far from a real science of subtle energy, things are developing rapidly in this field. It was in fact in the 1990s, as Assagioli had foreseen, that new disciplines and institutions concerned with subtle energy began to proliferate. That's when the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) and the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) were born, when Barbara Brennan's books (Brennan, 1987,1983) came out, and various schools of energy healing were founded. It's also when Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and traumatology (Academy of Traumatology) came onto the scene, pointing to more body-oriented ways of working. It was during this time that I became involved in the field. In the mid-1990's, I met a therapist who spoke passionately about the miracles she was seeing since discovering the so-called 'power therapies.' She introduced me to two modalities, which she regarded as complementary: colored light therapy, developed by Dr. Steven Vasquez, which he now calls Emotional Transformation Therapy (ETT), and Thought Field Therapy (TFT) one of the 'meridian based' approaches. ETT is an 'uncovering' modality working with unconscious and depth-psychological material, while TFT is more of a 'containing' modality, used to reduce the energetic charge of disturbing emotions. I took both of these trainings, along with many others, went to conferences in the field, and attended two schools of energy healing, the Stillpoint School of Advanced Energy Healing and Dr. Robert Jaffe's School of Energy Mastery, focused primarily on work with the chakras. It took some time to find my way among these many different modalities, but over the years I've found a way of working that's harmonious with my own energy. Many of these strands are woven together in the work I'll present in this paper.

Another strand in the culture that is closely related to the expansion of energy awareness is the recognition of consciousness as distinct from the reasoning mind. This is seen in the popularity of teachers such as Eckhart Tolle with his 'power of now' message (Tolle, 1999) and in the widespread interest in mindfulness meditation (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, 2005). I find it particularly important in subtle energy work to help clients disidentify from the mind so they can attend to their experience in the body from a state of presence or pure awareness.

There are various ways one might categorize the different approaches to working with subtle energy. Many of these approaches manipulate energy in a rather external way, working with the therapist's will and insight rather than the client's. A healer friend of mine calls this the 'push and pull' approach. Such an approach can be effective for certain purposes, particularly in physical healing, but I've not been drawn to this way of working. As a psychosynthesist, I like to work in a more integral way with the client's inner healing process. I believe it is important for people to digest their own experience so they can learn their life lessons and evolve their consciousness, not just remove symptoms.

In working with subtle energy methods, as with any therapeutic technique, practitioners need to bear in mind the context of the work. Attention must be given to establishing rapport with the client, to taking the history, assessing the person's needs and objectives, and aligning the client's will with the work to be done. If I believe a particular energy-based technique would be helpful, I describe the method and its rationale. I offer the technique as an option but never impose it. If the client elects to work with an energy-based approach, I allow time at the end of the session for grounding, in which I generally refer back to the targeted issue so we can discern any shifts in how the client experiences the issue. Grounding may also include suggested action steps or practices to integrate a new awareness or attitude in the client's ongoing life.

In this paper, I will focus primarily on what I call the Depth Energetic approach. In this way of working, the client is in a relaxed, somewhat meditative state that facilitates letting go of the rational mind to connect with the deeper healing processes of the psyche. It tends to access the more unconscious and dissociated parts of the self as well as powerful transpersonal energies. I also use energy methods in the Cognitive-Behavioral (NACBT) and Energy Psychology (ACEP) traditions, approaching these from a Psychosynthesis perspective. These methods focus on thoughts, feelings, and energy patterns that the person is more consciously aware of. I find it helpful to teach people to pay attention to the power of our thoughts and emotions to create experience, including energetic experience. As Carolyn Myss says in her Energy Anatomy tapes, "Every thought creates and is a prayer. Every emotion creates and is a prayer" (Myss, 1997).

Energy Psychology techniques are a useful complement to the depth approaches, as they can be used to 'contain' emotions arising in cathartic work. The technique I like best in this category is EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique developed by Gary Craig. EFT is simpler than TFT (Thought Field Therapy, its parent discipline) and is more user-friendly. It's a wonderful self-help tool that people can use on their own to reduce the charge of distressing emotions. Clients find it reassuring and empowering to have a means of doing this. The procedure involves paying attention to the 'target' issue, usually a disturbing event or emotion, while tapping on a series of meridian points. According to the theory, this balances the energy system in relation to that issue. I believe intention is also an important factor in the process. Information about EFT is readily available on the EFT web site, which also has many reports of problems that have been helped by EFT, other resources, and a free manual.

I've observed that when people learn to pay attention to subtle energy in and around their body, their transformational process is accelerated. This is true in both therapeutic and life-coaching contexts. It echoes Eugene Gendlin's research with Focusing, an early precursor to energy work. I find that energy awareness enables clients to process more effectively, to release old patterns more easily, to be more present in the moment, and to access spiritual realms in more deeply experienced ways. Restructuring seems to happen on cellular and energetic levels, as well as mentally and emotionally. For whatever reasons, it seems that inner work takes place more rapidly and with less effort these days. Sometimes things happen in a single session that might have taken months or years without the energetic complement to the work. I suspect that there are other factors in this acceleration beyond the fact that we have more powerful tools. I believe it is part of a shift of consciousness or rise in our collective vibratory levels. It is interesting that the psychiatrist, David Hawkins, found that in the mid-1990's, just as subtle energy work was coming into its own, humanity crossed a critical point on his scale of energy levels or consciousness states. And perhaps it is significant that these years leading up to the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012 are viewed in many indigenous and spiritual traditions as ushering in a higher consciousness for humankind.