Integral Transpersonal Journal
December 1, 2020
Fariba Bogzaran
1 citation
Lucid dreaming—being conscious while dreaming—can challenge habitual thinking and fixed beliefs, serving as a way of knowing. The practice extends into lucid waking, creating a cycle between waking and dream awareness. The author describes three research methods used over two decades to explore lucid dreaming and a specific transpersonal experience called Hyperspace Lucidity: experiences beyond time and space, nondual and nonrepresentational. The first was quantitative research on transpersonal experiences in lucid dreams, followed by a phenomenological study of some of the same dreamers, and finally an art-based public inquiry. These findings are now relevant as lucid dreaming gains attention in psychological and spiritual contexts.
Integral Transpersonal Journal
March 15, 2026
Jeffrey Overall
Six primary blockages to kensho—a Zen enlightenment experience—emerged from interviews with 13 retreat participants who did not achieve it despite optimal conditions including Charles Berner's self-inquiry protocol and access to psychedelic medicines. The blockages are delusion and confusion, strong emotions, blockages, seeking externally, searching for something greater, and belief in something greater. Qualitative comparative analysis identified seeking externally and the ego's need for control and the necessity of surrender as the most significant barriers. The absence of psychedelics as a factor in not achieving kensho did not appear in the analysis, shifting focus from external to internal processes.
Integral Transpersonal Journal
September 1, 2021
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof describes holotropic states of consciousness—those that move toward wholeness—which conventional psychology and psychiatry typically label as altered. He argues that these states are not pathological but can be healing and transformative, offering access to deeper dimensions of the psyche beyond the personal unconscious. The paper explores the potential of such states for personal growth, spiritual development, and understanding the human mind, challenging mainstream views that pathologize non-ordinary experiences.
Integral Transpersonal Journal
April 1, 2020
K. Kilrea, Stéphanie Larrue
Virginia Satir's family therapy approach aligns with transpersonal psychology, which addresses spiritual and transcendent aspects of human experience. The paper explores how Satir's concepts—grounding, centering, congruence, the Self/I AM in the iceberg model, and the therapist's use of self—can incorporate transpersonal perspectives. It discusses creating a transpersonal space of trust to strengthen the therapeutic alliance and applying nondual psychotherapeutic approaches to the therapist's self in therapy. Intersubjectivity and the therapist's beingness are highlighted as promoting transcendence, awareness, and healing for the family. Satir family therapy is recommended as a modality for transpersonally-oriented psychotherapists.
Integral Transpersonal Journal
November 1, 2019
Michael Doty
Building on Tart's (1972) proposal to use altered states of consciousness, including those induced by psychedelics, as research tools, this article draws on recent transpersonal research methods and neurological findings to propose Psychedelic-Informed Experiential Research. This approach aims to add depth and understanding across all stages of the research process, integrating firsthand psychedelic experience to enrich inquiry.