Stanislav Grof

Grof is known, in scientific circles, for his early studies of LSD and its effects on the psyche—the field of psychedelic therapy. Building on his observations while conducting LSD research and on Otto Rank's theory of birth trauma, Grof constructed a theoretical framework for prenatal and perinatal psychology and transpersonal psychology in which LSD trips and other powerfully emotional experiences were mapped onto a person's early fetal and neonatal experiences.[4] Over time, this theory developed into what Grof called a "cartography" of the deep human psyche. Following the suppression of legal LSD use in the late 1960s, Grof went on to develop a theory that many states of mind could be explored without drugs by using certain breathing techniques.[5] He continues this work as of 2015 under the trademark "Holotropic Breathwork".

Grof distinguishes between two modes of consciousness: the hylotropic and the holotropic.[6] The hylotropic mode relates to "the normal, everyday experience of consensus reality".[7] The holotropic has to do with states which aim towards wholeness and the totality of existence. The holotropic is characteristic of non-ordinary states of consciousness such as meditative, mystical, or psychedelic experiences.[8] According to Grof, contemporary psychiatry often categorizes these non-ordinary states as psychotic.[8] Grof connects the hylotropic to the Buddhist conception of namarupa ("name and form"), the separate, individual, illusory self. He connects the holotropic to the Hindu conception of Atman-Brahman, the divine, true nature of the self. Thus he is not concerned to explore the concept or state of being of non-self, despite its putative transcendental power.

In the late 1970s Grof proposed a psychological hypothesis to explain the near-death experience (NDE). According to Grof the NDE reflects memories of the birth process with the tunnel representing the birth canal. Susan Blackmore claimed the hypothesis is "pitifully inadequate to explain the NDE. For a start the newborn infant would not see anything like a tunnel as it was being born."[9] The psychologist Chris French has written "the experience of being born is only very superficially similar to the NDE" and the hypothesis has been refuted as it is common for those born by caesarean section to experience a tunnel during the NDE.[10] Michael Shermer also criticized the hypothesis "there is no evidence for infantile memories of any kind. Furthermore, the birth canal does not look like a tunnel and besides the infant's head is normally down and its eyes are closed."[11] An article in the peer-reviewed APA journal Psychology of Consciousness suggested that Grof's patients may have experienced false memories of birth and before birth.[12]

Stanislav Grof has researched the effects of psychedelic substances,[13] which he states can also be induced by non-pharmacological means.[14] Grof has developed a "cartography of the psyche" based on his clinical work with psychedelics,[15] which describes the "basic types of experience that become available to an average person" when using psychedelics or "various powerful non-pharmacological experiential techniques".[16]

According to Grof, traditional psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy use a model of the human psyche that is limited to postnatal biography and the Freudian individual unconscious.[17] This model does not account for the experiences and observations from holotropic states of consciousness, which activate "deep unconscious and superconscious levels of the human psyche".[17] These levels include:[18]

• The Sensory Barrier and the Recollective-Biographical Barrier
• The Perinatal Matrices
• The Transpersonal Dimensions of the Psyche

Ego death appears in the fourth Perinatal Matrix.[18]

"Deep self-exploration" starts for many people with unspecific sensory experiences.[19] They are a sensory barrier that one has to pass through.[19]

The next level is the recollective-biographical level and the individual unconsciousness. These involve the personal biography, and unresolved emotional issues.[20] In "experiential work" this autobiographical material is fully relived.[21] Relevant memories and associated fantasy material may emerge as a single or condensed experience, which Grof calls COEX.[22] According to Grof, most of these COEXs are connected with specific aspects of the birth process.[23] Memories of physical traumas form an integral part of this level of the psyche.[24]

According to Grof, the reliving of emotional and physical pain can become so intense that an identification with "the pain of entire groups of unfortunate people, all of humanity, or even all of life",[25] can manifest. This is accompanied with "dramatic physiological manifestations".[25]

At this level, death may be encountered and birth relived.[26] According to Grof, there are four "hypothetical dynamic matrices governing the processes related to the perinatal level of the unconsciousness",[26] called "basic perinatal matrices" (BPM).[26] These BPM's correspond to the stages of birth during the process of childbirth.[27]

This is the original symbiotic unity of the fetus with the maternal organism.[27] Elements of this state can be accompanied with, or alternate with, experiences of a lack of boundaries and obstructions,[28] such as the ocean and the cosmos.[29] The extreme expression of the sacred and spiritual quality of BPM I is the experience of cosmic unity and the unio mystica.[29]

This matrix starts with the onset of labor.[30] The intrusion of chemicals and the pressures of labor change the situation in the womb, and "interrupt the fetus’ blissful connection with the mother and alter its pristine universe."[30] Accessing this layer gives rise to strong feeling of "no escape".[30] When experiencing this level, the sense of loneliness and helplessness is overwhelming.[31]

This matrix is connected with the move of the fetus through the birth channel.[32] It involves a struggle for survival.[31] When experiencing this layer, strong aggression and demonic forces are encountered.[33] Biographical memories associated with this matrix include struggles, fights, and adventurous activities.[34]

This matrix is related to the stage of delivery, the actual birth of the child.[35] The build up of tension, pain and anxiety is suddenly released.[35] The symbolic counterpart is the Death-Rebirth Experience, in which the individual may have a strong feeling of impending catastrophe, and may be desperately struggling to stop this process.[36] The transition from BPM III to BPM IV may involve a sense of total annihilation:[36]

This experience of ego death seems to entail an instant merciless destruction of all previous reference points in the life of the individual.[36]

According to Grof what dies in this process is "a basically paranoid attitude toward the world which reflects the negative experience of the subject during childbirth and later."[36] When experienced in its final and most complete form,

...ego death means an irreversible end to one's philosophical identification with what Alan Watts called skin-encapsulated ego."[36]