Have you ever had a Transpersonal Experience?
What does Transpersonal mean?
The Transpersonal is defined by experiences that go beyond or through the individual self/ personal ego. These include experiences that extend beyond the usual limits of our personality and also the boundaries of space and time.
What are Transpersonal experiences?
These experiences are powerful and often paradigm shifting for those who experience them. They can sometimes seem bizarre and/or unimaginable but perceived and experienced as authentic.
They often occur in instances when the ego-boundaries are loosened in particular situations such as the following:
- extreme emotional states such as intense fear, sadness, hopelessness, joy, ecstasy, contentedness, and peace.
- extreme physical conditions such as physical/emotional trauma, deprivation, exertion, violence.
- concentrated focus, or relaxation, found through prayer, meditation, contemplation, or relaxation practices
Transpersonal experiences are generally spontaneous in nature, even when purposefully facilitated, meaning the nature of the experience cannot be predicted or guaranteed. Given they are spontaneous, they are typically brief and transitory in nature. Despite them being short lived and spontaneous, they are holistic in the sense that it impacts the mind, body, and spirit and can influence the way you perceive reality, your sense of self, and that of the spiritual/transcendental realms as well as expanding one’s consciousness.
What would be considered a Transpersonal Experience?
The following list is condensed and adapted from a list found on the Exceptional Human Experience (EHE) Network founded by Rhea White. The EHE Network is an educational, research, and information resource committed to studying and providing a safe place for those interested in exceptional and transpersonal experiences. This list shows the range of experiences that could be considered transpersonal, but this is by no means exhaustive. For a full list of experiences, follow this link to the EHE Network website.
- Miraculous Experience
- Apparition (seeing person or animal in spiritual form)
- Aura Vision
- Channeling
- Serendipity
- Clairaudience (hearing events outside of physical hearing range in & “mind’s ear”)
- Clairvoyance (seeing events outside of physical visual range in & “mind’s eye”)
- Expanded Consciousness
- Deceased Spirit Experience/Ghosts
- Déjà Vu
- Spirit Guides & Angels
- Spontaneous Healing
- Immanence (perception of spirit infused in everything)
- Vision Quests
- Energy Experience
- Intuition
- Global Consciousness
- Lucid Dreaming (conscious awareness while dreaming)
- Luminous Phenomena
- Peak Experiences
- Noetic Experience (holistic, transcendent knowing; Revelation)
- Numinous Experience (Experience of the Sublime)
- Omniscience
- Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)
- Past-Life Recall/Imagery
- Prebirth/Birth Experience; Perinatal; Preconceptual/Life Between Lives
- Precognition; Premonition
- Sense of Presence
- Psychokinesis (clock-stopping, machine influence, metal bending, object movement)
- Psychometry (gain information by holding and “reading” an object)
- Remote Viewing
- Shaktipat (bestowal of peace from holy person)
- Mindsight Experience
- Synchronicity
- Telepathy (Human, Animal)
- Kundalini Awakening
- Shamanistic Initiatory Crisis
- Experience of the Void
How can counseling help?
Maybe you have had one or some of these experiences and didn’t quite know what to do with it. All you know is that it was tremendously powerful and left a lasting impression. You may not have the words or ground of understanding to make sense of your experiences or perhaps you are worried your friends and family may think you were “crazy” or making it up if you were to talk about it. Transpersonal experiences are not indicative of mental illness and should not be confused for one another. It requires precise and educated attention to determine what is true mental illness and what may be a transpersonal experience. If you are curious about what it means to have experienced what you have and how to integrate your new found wisdom and meaning into your life, I encourage you to reach out. At Mindful Path Counseling & Wellness, you can find understanding, acceptance, and direction for transpersonal experiences.
