The scientist was engaged in research of penetration into the unconscious part of the human psyche in an altered state of consciousness. This immersion was carried out with the help of psychedelic drugs. Later, when psychedelics turned out to be prohibited, the author developed a new method of entering into an altered state of consciousness – holotropic breathing.
ะก. Grof discovered that there are several barriers which one encounters prior to entering the unconscious level (with LSD or using the holotropic breathing method) [2]:
Sensory barrier : when entering the unconscious, the senses are activated first;
The individual unconscious: memories from the past, things that have been pushed out of consciousness (e.g., unresolved conflicts, traumas);
“perinatal matrices”: experience of death and new birth;
The transpersonal domain of the psyche: a person’s connection with the cosmos, at which point a person’s consciousness transcends space and time.
Grof argued that most of the problems in a person’s life (interpersonal, intrapersonal and psychosomatic) are related to one of these levels and are rooted in one of them. Therefore, in order to solve one’s problems, one must meet and experience them at one of these levels. The Holotropic breathing method was developed for this. The essence of the method consists of frequent deep breathing, in which a person goes into an altered state of consciousness and sees hallucinations. Gradually the internal flow of “energy” is allegedly activated, and the task of the person is to follow this flow. The person succumbs to everything that comes: he makes sounds, assumes various involuntary postures, and experiences various emotions. In this way, all the supposedly accumulated material in the subconsciousness, which interferes with one’s life, is released and one is freed (relaxed).
