Perinatal Realm
According to Stanislav Grof, the Perinatal Realm (meaning near/around) is one of three Dimensions of the Psyche (a.k.a. Realms of the Psyche) within which is stored information and experiences and through which an individual must pass as they heal trauma,[1] and reintegrate their Spiritual Ego and Bodily Ego. The perinatal realm "lies immediately beyond (or beneath) the Biographical Realm." In includes experiences a few days or weeks before and after birth. It "has close connections with the beginning of life and its end, with birth and death."[2]
Dimensions of the Psyche
Biographical Realm, Perinatal Realm, Transpersonal Realm
Perinatal Matrixes
Related Terms
Dimensions of the Psyche > COEX Systems
COEX Systems > COEX Root, Dimensions of the Psyche, Perinatal Matrices
Notes
Grof notes that traditional psychiatry "denies the possibility of a psychotramatic impact of biological birth." He further notes this denial is astonishing given what we know about the brain and suggests that such " blatant logical contradiction appearing in rigorous scientific thinking is unbelievable and has to be the result of a profound emotional repression to which the memory of birth is subjected." [3]
An important core of perinatal experiences is the reliving of various aspects of the birth process. "It often involves photographic details and occurs even in people who have no intellectual knowledge about their birth. The replay of the original birth situation can be very convincing. We can, for example, discover through direct experience that we had a breech birth, that forceps were used during our delivery, or that we were born with the umbilical cord twisted around the neck. We can feel the anxiety, biological fury, physical pain, and suffocation associated with this terrifying event and even accurately recognize the type of anesthesia used when we were born."[4]
Reliving of birth experiences "is often accompanied by various physical manifestations that can be noticed by an external observer. The postures and movements of the body, arms, and legs, as well as the rotations, flections, and deflections of the head can accurately recreate the mechanics of a particular type of delivery, even in people without elementary obstetric knowledge. Bruises, swellings, and other vascular changes can unexpectedly appear on the skin in the places where the forceps was applied, the wall of the birth canal was pressing on the head, or where the umbilical cord was constricting the throat. The accuracy of ll [sic] these details can be confirmed if good birth records or reliable personal witnesses are available."[5]
Perinatal experiences also lead beyond the individual level and may facilitate connection with the archetypal or transpersonal realms. As Grof notes "The specific symbolism of these experiences comes from the Jungian collective unconscious, not from the individual memory banks. It can thus draw on any spiritual tradition of the world, quite independently from the subject’s cultural or religious background and intellectual knowledge."[6]
As Grof notes, "Perinatal phenomena occur in four distinct experiential patterns characterized by specific emotions, physical feelings, and symbolic images. Each of them is closely related to one of the four consecutive periods of biological delivery." [7] Grof speaks of these "four dynamic constellations of the deep unconscious that are associated with the trauma of birth as Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPMs)."[8]
Footnotes
- ↑ Grof, Stanislav. Realms of the Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research. New York: Viking Press, 1976.
- ↑ “Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 14. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
- ↑ “Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 14. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
- ↑ “Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 15. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
- ↑ “Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 15. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
- ↑ “Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 15. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
- ↑ “Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 15. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
- ↑ “Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 16. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
