For those who haven’t come across the model, it is usually drawn as a triangle with physiological needs at the base, and then, as we move up the triangle, we have levels that relate first to safety, then love and belonging, self esteem and finally self-actualization, which Maslow defined as become everything that one is capable of becoming.

And this is where I have a problem with the model. If we are to become everything that we are capable of becoming, surely this includes the motives expressed in the previous levels, or at least where they are relevant to each of us. (A hermit living in a cave in the Hymalayas will not have the same ‘lower level’ needs as someone living in the West, with a family to feed and working in the corporate world.)

For most of us, if our aim is become everything that we are capable of becoming, we need to include all aspects of our lives in an integrated whole and that is what Transpersonal Dynamics is about.

Such an approach  will miss out on the the personal growth we can each gain from the importance of the problems we have to deal with. No two people experience the same issues, so a universal recipe is not going to work.

Confusion and ambiguity are more of a reality for most of us that the so-called ‘clarity’ offered by generic approaches. And because humans are variable, an approach based upon standard results is unlikely to work.

We need to put in effort and energy, which each of us applies differently and each has to deal with different blockages.

Life is never as it ’should be’, it only ever is as it is, so it is unlikely to conform to a predictable pattern.

All of this makes things very difficult for the coach, facilitator or therapist. As Assagioli, the father of psychosynthesis used to say, “It’s not my fault if the universe is so complicated.”

For example in November 2005, the Journal NeuroReport ran an article about a study that showed how 20 participants who were trained in Buddhist meditation showed increased grey matter in their brains. What is really exciting about this study, is that most of the participants only meditated 40 minutes a day! So you don’t need to shut yourself away in a cave like a hermit and study for years and meditate all day in order to gain benefits from meditation.

Studies at Harvard Medical School, Yale, and MIT, have used MRI scanning to find out what happened in meditators’ brains during meditation. They discovered that meditation generates activity in those sections of the brain that are responsible for the autonomic nervous system, the part of the brain that governance processes such as digestion and blood pressure. As the autonomic nervous system is also responsible for our response to stress this sheds some light on how meditation helps to relieve stress related conditions.

A group of researchers at UCLA also used MRI scans to look at the brains of meditators and in the Journal Neuroimage in May 2009 report that meditators showed a significant increase in the volume of the hippocampus, the orbito-frontal cortex and the thalamus, all regions of the brain that, amongst other things, regulate our emotions.

When science begins to explore new areas, they love to invent new terminology and there is now a new field of study called Neurotheology that seeks to quantify spiritual experiences and to understand what happens to the brain during and after periods of meditation, amongst other things. Research has shown that prolonged practice of meditation has even greater benefits.  People who have meditated for a long time appear to be able to produce gamma waves which are the brainwaves associated with the brain making and new circuits.

What is Meditation?

Some of you may not know what meditation is, nor what benefits you may expect from meditating. A simple explanation is that meditation refers to a state where your body and mind are consciously relaxed and focused. So it’s not just daydreaming, as it requires focus too! As for the benefits of meditation they can include increased awareness, focus, and concentration, as well as a more positive outlook in life.

Ask most people what they know about meditation and they will probably describe hermits, monks, mystics and other spiritual disciplines.  You don’t have to be a mystic to enjoy its benefits and you certainly will not be required to withdraw from society and become a monk or a hermit!   Nor do you need a special place to practice it.  Your living room, bedroom, spare room, garden, in fact anywhere is just fine.

Even though there are many different approaches to meditation, the basics remain the same: focus and relaxation, calming the mind and freeing it from clutter and negative and wandering thoughts.

The thoughts that you have, both positive and negative – thinking about your noisy neighbours, bossy office mates, that parking ticket you got, your dinner appointment this evening – all contribute to the ‘chattering’ in the mind. Shutting them out allows for the ‘cleansing’ of the mind so that it may focus on deeper, more meaningful thoughts.

Some practitioners even shut out all sensory input – no sights, no sounds, and nothing to touch – and try to detach themselves from the commotion around them.  It may seem difficult at first, since we are all too accustomed to constantly hearing and seeing things, but as you continue this exercise you will find yourself becoming more aware of everything around you. However, if you are one of those who find it difficult to still your monkey mind, you may prefer to leave trying this until you have gained some success in meditating.

If you find the meditating positions you see on television threatening – those with impossibly arched backs, and painful-looking contortions – you need not worry.  The principle here is to be in a comfortable position conducive to concentration.  This may be while sitting cross-legged, standing, lying down, and even walking.

If the position allows you to relax and focus, then that would be a good starting point.  While sitting or standing, the back should be straight, but not tense or tight.  In other positions, the only no-no is slouching and falling asleep.

Loose, comfortable clothes help a lot in the process since tight fitting clothes have a tendency to choke you up and make you feel tense.

The place you perform meditation should have a soothing atmosphere.  It may be in your living room, or bedroom, or any place that you feel comfortable in.

Silence helps most people relax and meditate, so you may want a quiet, isolated area far from the ringing of the phone or the humming of the washing machine.  Pleasing scents also help in that regard, so stocking up on aromatic candles isn’t such a bad idea either.

The monks you see on television making those monotonous sounds are actually performing their mantra.  This, in simple terms, is a short creed, a simple sound which, for these practitioners, holds a mystic value.

You do not need to use mantra; however, focusing on repeated actions such as breathing, and humming can help the practitioner enter a higher state of consciousness.

The principle here is focus.  You could also try focusing on a certain object or thought, or even, while keeping your eyes open, focus on a single point.

In all, meditation is a relatively risk-free practice and its benefits are well worth the effort (or non-effort – remember we’re relaxing).

Mohammed built a simple religion based on acknowledging God and 5 prayers a day, but Islamic Law is highly codified and requires years of study.

Moses was given, and passed on to the Jews, 10 commandments , and again a very complicated religion sprang up.

Jesus reduced the commandments to two, and again Christianity has become very complex.

Diana Cooper wrote that:”Human Intelligence takes the simple and makes it complicated. If it’s complicated, it’s from ego; Spirit is simple.”

At the root of all religions are the same principles: unconditional love for God, self and others, and gratitude and awe for our existence. All else is commentary, often added by the religious leaders to promote and secure the existence of their religion. And the irony is that in adding layer upon layer, they have forgotten those simple core truths.

How many wars have been waged in the name of religion, having forgotten the core requirement to love? It’s an oxymoron to write or speak about a religious war; at least, it should be!

At Transpersonal Dynamics we believe that everything has an energetic frequency, including illness, dysfunction and disease. This explains what happens when healing takes place; we introduce a frequency that cancels out the frequency of the illness, dysfunction and disease and return the body to homeostasis.

Another aspect of this is that everything has an energetic field – we each generate our field and our field interacts with all of the fields around us. And to take this a stage further, we are all comprised of the same energy, which means that we are all connected because we share that same energy.

How to take control of our energy and influence it is another aspect of what we teach at Transpersonal Dynamics.

If you focus on your fears, then you will use up a lot of energy sustaining those fears. The more you are in the now, the more you focus on the present, the more energy you will give to your intent. And you can develop your attention through meditation and concentration exercises.

One of the challenges we face is that our unconscious mind makes no distinction between a fantasised experience and a genuine memory – try this experiment. Close your eyes and imagine your self on a beach. Feel the warm sun on your body, hear the sound of the waves on the shore, of the children laughing as they play. See the people around you; look out over the water and you can see a large pleasure boat, anchored off shore. As you watch, somebody climbs down from the boat into a little speed boat, which then races into the marina at the far end of the beach. As the little boat goes out of sight, you hear an ice cream seller and you realise that it would be a nice way to cool down. So you get some money, get up off and wander over to the vendor. You select your ice cream, pay him and wander back. Feel the cold ice cream in your mouth, enjoy the contrast with the hot sun, and just enjoy the moment.

Now, let go of that thought and think of a memory of something that happened to you. Relive that memory.

Compare the two; assuming that you experienced them with equal intensity, (some people find fantasising difficult), there will be no difference in the way that your unconscious mind presented the two events. The unconscious only understands now, the present, and cannot distinguish between fact and fantasy!

So, focus on the negative, and that is where your energy will go. That is why people that have a negative mind set always feel drained; their energy is flowing to those negative things and they have nothing left for the positive.

In his well-known hierarchy of needs, he described level 5 – self-actualization, as the final level of psychological development, achieved when all basic and mental needs are fulfilled and the person can develop their full potential. Whilst many organisations and leaders quote Maslow when talking about motivation, they typically express the view that level 5 issues are not the concern of organisations.

At Transpersonal Dynamics we believe otherwise, that in fact the key players in organisations who want to take the lead into the next decade have to identify what really matters to them, where their passion lies and how they can best serve their organisation and humanity as a whole, all Level 5 transpersonal issues.

Organisations, their leaders and managers will have to become comfortable not just talking about these issues, but providing their employees with the opportunities to develop at this level, if the employee wants to.

Our perspective emphasises the importance of personal development in both physical and metaphysical areas, working as individuals on our own and when interacting with others. To quote Roberto Assagioli:

“At this time, it is the right course and our plain duty towards ourselves, towards others and towards God, not only freely to accept Spiritual Joy but intentionally to awaken it within ourselves and to preserve and increase that which we have obtained.”