Course Objectives:
Course Structure:
This course creates a unique combination of theoretical teaching and practical work. It is not enough to contemplate theories. To fully understand an idea you need to live it, incorporate it into your every day life. This is the reason why every theoretical topic in the course will be accompanied with practical tasks - both in class and at home. For example, meditation would be taught in class on a theoretical level (the meaning and aims of meditation) but also on a practical level where a number of meditation techniques will be taught and practiced in class.
2. Creating awareness: At this moment there are certain psychological patterns which motivate you, direct your choices and affect your reactions. Some of these patterns you are aware of and others might be completely hidden as they navigate your life. You might find that your partner makes you angry in certain moments, that your job frustrates you under certain circumstances, that you feel great joy under specific conditions. All these feelings are rooted in your inner patterns. The more awareness you develop the easier it becomes for you to control these feelings. Imagine living life without having to surrender to these waves of anger / jealousy / frustration / emptiness. Imagine being able to experience great joy as an every-day experience. To achieve this you will have to understand the roots of these feelings within yourself; in order to understand the roots you will have to create awareness. This course will teach you the meaning of awareness and how to practically achieve it.
3. Realising your life's purpose A variety of psychological and contemporary spiritual theories claim that finding your purpose in life is the greatest motivator and provides fulfilling and joyful life experiences. The distinction between surviving life and living life is quite simple: it is based on your awareness concerning the purpose of your life. This is not a collective purpose which accommodates all human beings; it is your personal meaning which would make you see the world in a completely different way. Most of us live without this precious knowledge and therefore create a process that starts with boredom, increases to nagging feelings of missed opportunities and finally ends in a painful sense of meaninglessness. If you are honest with yourself you can easily detect these feelings within yourself. When you become aware of your life’s meaning, of your own purpose, an immediate wave of passion for life moves through you and accompanies every choice and action you make. This course will engage you with the idea of life’s meaning and supply tools for you to understand and implement the purpose of your own life.
Psychology and spirituality course - understanding human consciousness
1. Controlling the mind: Does your mind produce non-stop chatter? Thoughts constantly flow through your consciousness, captivating your attention and drawing you away from the experience of the moment? Every time you approach a task your mind draws you away from fully experiencing that task: You read a book and think of your partner, you talk to your partner and think of the dishes that have to be washed, you wash the dishes and think of the cup of tea you would love to drink, you drink your tea and think of the book... You are rarely here, in the experience. When you are able to focus your attention and completely devote yourself to the experience you will find depth which you couldn't realise before: The book becomes fascinating, your partner is beautiful in ways you have not seen before and even the experience of washing the dishes would contain insights. Our mind is a powerful tool with which we can achieve wonderful results - as long as we are in control of it. This course will teach you the meaning of focus of attention and ways to achieve such control over the mind.
Course topics: * The meaning of psychology in comparison with spirituality: What are their unique teachings, what do they have in common and how can we integrate them? * Humanistic psychology: Studying self-actualization and existential-meaning as a tool for psychological growth (focusing on Abraham Maslow's work). * Spiritual teaching: No-duality, no-self, transcendence (focusing on Buddhist philosophy). * Transpersonal Psychology: What is the Authentic-Self? The teaching of ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen. * The obsession of thinking: we are all addicted to thinking. Every bit of information we receive is being filtered by our thought patterns and this non-stop mental processing prevents us from experiencing life as it. Instead, we experience an interpretation of life. * Thoughts & emotions: the psychological and spiritual theories explaining the roots of our thoughts and our emotions. If they are truly connected, how could it be that we frequently find a gap between what we think and what we feel in a certain area? * Meditation: What does meditation mean? How can we achieve this altered state of consciousness? Why is it beneficial to our lives? Contemplating these topics has the potential to take you deeper into the understanding of who you are, it will transform your life and challenge you to become all that which you are.
Breathing Meditation To download basic instructions press this button: To download a 10-minutes audio press this button (This audio will remind you to bring your awareness back to your breath; it also ends with a gong so you wont need to look at the watch and wonder how much time has passed)
- Homepage
- The course
  - Lecture slides
- Details
- The Teacher
- Therapy
- Contact Me