# 2023-03-12 - Spiritual Emergencies
"Spiritual Emergency" refers to a crisis during one's spiritual
transformation. Spiritual emergencies may happen after dramatic STEs
(Spiritually Transformative Experiences) and due to challenging
unusual states of mind that may happen during a person's spiritual
awakening process (aka spiritual emergence). The terms "spiritual
emergence syndrome" and "spiritual emergency" were coined by
California psychiatrist Stan Grof MD and his wife Christina Grof.
Spiritual Emergencies are not a mental illness. Traditional
psychiatry might misdiagnose and treat spiritual emergencies as a
mental illness. However, spiritual emergencies are not mental
illness. [IOW: Don't medicate me, bro!]
Spiritual Emergencies usually resolve on their own, with adequate
support for the Experiencer, with the passage of time, and with the
Experiencer increasing their grounding activities.
# Signs of Spiritual Emergency
STE Experiencers having a Spiritual Emergency may have some of the
following signs:
* Challenged. Feel challenged by the intensity or nature of their STE
experiences.
* Difficulty functioning fully. Feel challenged to function fully in
their daily outer activities. Feel they need time to sit with and
process their inner experiences.
* Distracted. May feel very distracted by the STE experiences.
* Unusual ideas. May have temporary inflated or unusual ideas, but
otherwise their thought processes and judgement are clear.
* Difficulty separating from inner experiences. May feel challenged
at times to separate inner and outer realities. May at times feel
overwhelmed by their inner experiences.
* Aware of inner process. Are aware at some level that their STE
experiences are part of an inner process.
* Fear of mental illness. May have fear of losing control, or a fear
of having or developing a mental illness.
* Unusual behaviors. May have some mildly unusual behaviors.
* Inner visions. May be challenged by distressing inner visions, but
is able to tolerate them.
* Inner voices. Can ignore or block out inner voices and inner
guidance heard, if they so choose.
* Ethical. Moral and ethical values remain intact.
* Emotional sensitivity. Has fairly appropriate emotional responses,
although they may be very emotionally sensitive.
* Slower decisions. Has some difficulty and requires extra time in
making discerning judgments.
# Grounding Strategies
Grounding strategies help restore balance. Grounding strategies tend
to decrease the frequency and intensity of STEs, and help you feel
more connected to the outer world, while you are integrating your
STEs. If you feel "spacey", unbalanced, or overwhelmed by the
intensity and frequency of your STEs, inner calm and balance can
usually be restored by using some of these grounding strategies.
Moderate the length of time spent in daily meditation. If you
meditate regularly, for grounding decrease your meditation time to
a maximum of half an hour, twice a day, or for more grounding to 15
minutes twice a day. If you are in a supportive spiritual
environment such as at a meditation retreat, meditating several
times a day for moderate lengths of time, may be very helpful and
grounding. If you do not regularly meditate, strive to sit in
silence for at least 10 to 15 minutes twice a day.
Pray. Short prayers several times a day are more grounding than
long meditations. Anchoring in Spirit regularly, and asking
inwardly for spiritual help during your crisis can be very
comforting and grounding.
Increase your daily physical exercise. Do some aerobic physical
exercise daily, such as walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming.
Walking outdoors in a peaceful natural environment is very
grounding.
Slow down, decrease stress in your life.
Increase your sleep, rest, and relaxation time.
Do some manual work, such as cooking, housecleaning, or yard work.
Manual work where your hands touch the earth, like gardening, is
particularly grounding.
Follow a routine. Try to follow a fixed daily routine. The
structure will help ground you.
Keep your eyes open while awake. Avoid closing your eyes and
drifting into your imagination. Focus your attention on the world
outside of you.
Take several deep slow breaths, with your eyes open.
Decrease all forms of concentration.
Decrease amounts of reading. Give your mind a rest. Keep your mind
grounded on the outer world and worldly tasks, rather than focused
on inner thoughts.
Eat smaller, more frequent meals instead of three large ones per
day. Eating a light snack or small meal every 3 hours or so often
helps those in spiritual emergency feel more balanced and
grounded.
Eat a healthy diet. Strive for a balanced healthy diet. Avoid
excessive sugar and junk foods. Note that some people crave sugar
after an intense STE, and at those time a small sweet snack can
have a positive grounding effect.
Increase your daily intake of protein, such as cheese, yogurt,
other dairy products, nuts, legumes, chicken, and fish, for a
natural grounding effect.
Avoid caffeine.
Cut down or cut out alcohol. Limit yourself to an occasional glass
of beer or wine.
Stop all recreational drugs, including marijuana, if you haven't
already done so.
Rub your body. Increase your body awareness by rubbing your body,
massaging your legs and feet, or taking a warm bath or shower and
vigorously scrubbing your body, massaging your scalp, and washing
your hair.
Have a vigorous massage to increase body awareness.
Spend time in nature. Regularly spend some time outdoors daily in a
park or other quiet natural environment.
Be exposed to natural light daily.
Walk or play outdoors with your pets or children. Looking after
young children or pets will help to pull you out of your thoughts
and keep you grounded.
Moderate your sex life. Listen to your body. If your sex drive is
very high, having sex and orgasm with your partner may release
sexual tension and have a grounding effect. However, if your sex
drive is very low, it is more grounding to not have sex nor
pleasure yourself at that time.
Visualize your energies moving down from your head, moving down to
the base of your spine, and staying grounded there.
Visualize your energies traveling down your legs to your feet, and
focus on feeling your feet firmly planted on the ground. Feel your
energies linking you to the ground. Stamp your feet on the ground.
Visualize your energies extending deep into planet earth, radiating
down from your feet, then moving down to the center of the earth.
Feel your energy connect or hook to the center of the earth.
Find a creative outlet to express your energy, such as art, dance,
music, or writing.
Journal. Start a daily journal to write down your thoughts,
feelings, and experiences.
Take time off from work if necessary, and spend some time in a
peaceful, quiet environment, such as a cottage or a retreat.
Try to flow with surfacing psychological or spiritual issues rather
than trying to resist or struggle against them. Spontaneous
surfacing of unresolved memories happens frequently after STEs, and
is part of an inner psycho-spiritual housecleaning process. This is
a normal, healthy, and important part of the spiritual awakening
process.
Get support. Talk with supportive, understanding friends or family.
Go to a local support group. Speak with a supportive counselor,
therapist, or doctor knowledgeable about STEs. This will help you
feel less alone, and with their validation and support help you
feel more grounded.
# Suggested Further Reading on Spiritual Emergency
Bragdon, Emma.
A Sourcebook for Helping People in Spiritual Emergency.
Los Altos, California: Lightening Up Press, 1988.
Bragdon, Emma.
The Call of Spiritual Emergency:
From Person Crisis to Personal Transformation.
San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990.
Grof, Stanislav, and Christina Grof, eds.
Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis.
Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1989.
Kason, Yvonne.
Touched by the Light:
Exploring Spiritually Transformative Experiences.
Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2019.
tags: article,self-help,spirit
# Tags
(DIR) article
(DIR) self-help
(DIR) spirit