THE USE OF MEDITATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING DYNAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

Experiential teaching of psychodynamics emerges from an exploration and analysis of the struggles students have in attaining and maintaining quiet focused attention under a variety of conditions. Over the course of an academic year the following sequence of meditative exercises is given: contemplation of a beach stone, a centering exercise on breathing, contemplation of other members of the group, and an exploration of the question, ''What am I?'' The teaching involves shifting back and forth between the map of psychodynamic theory and the territory of direct, immediate experience of the meditations. Discussion of what happened during the meditations is used to illustrate psychodynamic concepts. As the meditations evolve, students become aware of non-ordinary states of consciousness. Awareness of these states helps put dynamic psychology into the broader context of transpersonal psychology.