In order to answer the question of “what is an altered state of consciousness?”, let’s take a moment to understand what consciousness. Western medicine (including psychiatry and psychology) for the most part believes there is only one domain of the psyche called the “ordinary consciousness” and from the ordinary state is the record of our “postnatal biography” – the stuff that happens to us in childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Stanislav Grof, a prominent transpersonal psychologist, in his book, Psychology of the Future, demonstrates there are two additional dimensions of the psyche – the perinatal and the transpersonal dimensions.
The perinatal dimension contains the memories of being birthed. Mainstream psychiatry denies that infants consciously experience birth and that the event isn’t recorded in their memories. However, Grof has shown that when in an altered state, many of his clients recall their births and not only do they recall it, they recall the feelings of it – feelings of choking, being trapped, being strangled and being forcibly contorted.
The transpersonal dimension of the psyche goes beyond all normal boundaries of space, time, biology, ego, materialistic desires, etc. In the transpersonal domain houses memories of past lives, ancestral experiences, experiences of profound connection with the Universe/the Divine/God, clairvoyance, and ESP to name a few.
What is an Altered State of Consciousness?
An altered state of consciousness is a change in one’s mental state either as a result of trauma or accident, or induced through practices like meditation, plant medicines, alcholol and/or drugs, hypnotherapy, and holotropic breathwork. Even dreaming is considered to be an altered state. Being in an altered state of consciousness does not mean one is unconscious.
Indigenous cultures have used altered states for centuries to heal their communities. In an altered state, a shaman can break through the ordinary states of consciousness to access spirit animals, guides and greater intelligence to discern what is needed to heal their tribes.
What is Accessible in an Altered State?
The perinatal and transpersonal domains of the psyche are accessed through altered states of consciousness. Stan Grof, the founder of holotropic breathwork, in his book, recalls the experience of one of his clients, Norbert. Norbert had chronic shoulder pain that X-rays and doctors could not explain. During the breathwork session, he accessed three different layers of the psyche.
In the first, he relived a childhood experience of digging a sand tunnel with his friends. When the tunnel was complete, he climbed into the tunnel to play. While in it, it collapsed and he was choking until help arrived.
In the second layer, he recalled a memory from birth where he was trapped behind his mother’s pubic bone for a lengthy period of time.
And in the third layer, Norbert accessed a memory from a past life where was an English soldier on the battlefield. While on his horse, he felt a piercing pain in his shoulder, realized he’d been stabbed with a lance, and fell off the horse and onto the ground. Other horses and soldiers trampled over his body, crushing his chest.
The experience brought relief from the chronic shoulder pain and has lasted over twenty years.
So, what is accessible in an altered state? Many things outside of healing your shit, I would assume. But it’s healing my shit I’m fascinated with and so the proof that there is wisdom about trauma beyond what happened to us growing up or in adulthood is incredible.
