OUR INNER ACTORS

THE THEORY AND APPLICATION

OF SUBPERSONALITY WORK IN PSYCHOSYNTHESIS

MARGRET RUEFFLER
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Table of Contents
PROLOGUE .................................................................................................................................. 3
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 7
WHAT IS A SUBPERSONALITY? .................................................................................................... 8
Aspects and Perspectives .............................................................................................................. 8
The Birth of Subpersonalities ....................................................................................................... 9
How to Recognize a Subpersonality ............................................................................................ 9
The Stages of Transformation .................................................................................................... 10
The Individual Psyche as a System............................................................................................ 12
Why use Subpersonality Work ? ................................................................................................ 13
Recommendations for Working with Subpersonalities .............................................................. 14
GETTING TO KNOW OUR SUBPERSONALITIES ............................................................................ 16
Inner Role Play ............................................................................................................................ 16
Tracing Subpersonalities .............................................................................................................. 22
Getting Acquainted with Our Inner Actors ............................................................................... 23
The Center and Our Parts .......................................................................................................... 24
The Temple of Silence ................................................................................................................ 32
HOW TO RELATE TO SUBPERSONALITIES ................................................................................... 33
Questions and Answers ............................................................................................................... 33
Dialoguing with Subpersonalities ................................................................................................ 34
Recognizing Distorted Qualities .................................................................................................. 40
DEEPENING OF SUBPERSONALITY WORK .................................................................................. 48
The "Inner Child" ......................................................................................................................... 48
The "Inner Parents" ..................................................................................................................... 49
Developmental Stages and Subpersonality Work ...................................................................... 49
Autistic-Symbiotic Phase .............................................................................................................. 50
Individuation and Practicing Phase ............................................................................................ 60
MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPLICATIONS OF SUBPERSONALITY WORK ............................................ 69
Individual Emotional Archives ..................................................................................................... 69
Psychological Heritage and Personal Empowerment ................................................................... 72
Collective Traumata ..................................................................................................................... 73
Transpersonal Perspectives of Subpersonality Work ................................................................. 79
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................... 81
NOTES TO THE EXERCICES ......................................................................................................... 81
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 82
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PROLOGUE

What is Psychosynthesis? Where does the name originate? What does it mean? All these are natural
questions, but before I respond I would like to provide a framework for "Psychosynthesis" as an experiential
psychology. "Psychosynthesis" is a Transpersonal Psychology which leads to another question: "What is
Transpersonal Psychology?" Let’s explore this first.

We are what we think.

All we are is based on our thoughts.
With our thoughts we create the world.
Buddha (Byrom, 1976)

These words, spoken by the Buddha centuries ago, are the basis of Transpersonal Psychology. The
term has its roots in Latin and Greek. The Greek word "Psychology" contains "Psyche" which represents spirit,
life, soul, and breath and "Logos" signifying word, talk, and basis. The original meaning of "Psychology"
would be, then, the word of the spirit or the word of the soul. "Transpersonal" derives its origins from the Latin
"trans" and "persona," which translate as "through," "beyond," and "mask." The true meaning of "Transpersonal
Psychology," then, is "through the mask and beyond, the word of the soul."
It’s not the goal of Transpersonal Psychology to create a new psychology in place of the old, but to take
the existing psychology, expand on it, and add new perspectives. The individual who chooses a transpersonal
path enters a path of discovery. This path is one of many which lead to inner sources of wisdom (Clark, 1974).
"Transpersonal Psychology" could also be called "Spiritual Psychology." Grof expresses the meaning
of spirituality:
Spirituality has nothing to do with exterior religious programming. Spirituality arises when a person
connects with certain areas of his or her consciousness. An individual has the insight to overcome the
psychological fragmentation and reaches a state of one-ness with the other, nature, the cosmos and
god. (Grof, 1987)

Transpersonal psychology may also be interpreted as a "spiritual orientation."

How did this psychological direction develop? Transpersonal Psychology developed out of traditional
psychology. One of its aims is to make conscious the spiritual dimension of the human psyche, to experience it
and to integrate it. Experimentation with consciousness expanding drugs in the sixties and various states of
consciousness in meditation created the desire to research these dimensions of consciousness. Transpersonal
psychologists were interested in finding a connecting link between the practices of the Eastern disciplines of
raising consciousness and Western empirical research methods (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980).
It soon became clear, though, that the Western model of the human psyche did not lend itself to
approaching this large spectrum of phenomena. Today, Transpersonal Psychology is understood as follows:

It provides a whole spectrum model of development of consciousness which bridges

psychological and spiritual disciplines. It [Transpersonal Psychology] is especially interesting for
people who wish to grow spiritually and develop good psychological health. (Vaughan, 1988)

"Transpersonal Psychology" based on traditional Psychology leads into new dimensions of

consciousness. Psychosynthesis as a "Transpersonal Psychology" has existed since the Italian Roberto Assagioli
(1888-1976) began to develop it in 1910. His first dissertation dates from 1906, a time before his graduation as
a medical doctor at the age of twenty two. Assagioli specialized in Zurich in psychiatry. He studied
psychoanalysis, corresponded with Freud, and introduced psychoanalysis in Italy. He also had a close
relationship over many years with C.G. Jung (Keen, 1974) and a deep connection and friendship with Maslow
whose booklet "Creative Behavior" was published by the Psychosynthesis Research Foundation.

PSYCHOSYNTHESIS

As early as 1920, through the development of Psychosynthe-sis, Assagioli introduced a spiritual

approach to psychology (Assagioli, 1965). He developed guidelines to teach transpersonal approaches including
expansions of consciousness. Called the Father of Psychosynthesis, Assagioli wrote two books in his lifetime,
"The Act of Will" and "Psychosynthesis." He published many articles, some on psychosomatic approaches.
 4

Various of these were collected in a book and published under the title "Transpersonal Development." He died
at the age of ninetysix in Florence, Italy.
What is Psychosynthesis? Psychosynthesis is primarily a dynamic concept of our psychological life
which expresses itself in the interplay between the many different and seemingly contradic-tory forces within
ourselves. It is a concept which posits the presence of a spiritual center in each individual and works with
methods to allow it to flow creatively and harmoniously through our own life energy as an expression of our
natural spirituality.
Perhaps Assagioli’s most important contribution to psychology was his development of a model of
consciousness of the human psyche with the "Self" and the "Transpersonal Self" as focal points. Assagioli
developed a program for training the will in which different stages of will can be experienced and different
qualities of will can be acquired. A third major contribution of Assagioli to traditional psychology was his work
with subpersonalities which was developed by different schools of Psychosynthesis.

The Model of the Individual Psyche, the "Self" and

the "Transpersonal Self"

To better understand subpersonality work from Assagioli’s model of human consciousness, note the
diagram of his model of human consciousness, the "Self" and the "Transpersonal Self" shown below. This
facilitates understanding of the potential and unfolding of a healthy personality. Assagioli’s model shows the
human psyche from both a personal and a transpersonal perspective and includes different areas of the
unconscious.

6
T
ra
ns pe
rson
al
le
vel

7
7

3 1
.L o w e ru nc onsc iou s
2
.M id dleu ncon sc ious
3
.H ig heru ncon sc ious
45 4
.F ie ldo fco ns c
io us n e
s s
7
5
.P e rso n alS elf
2
6
.T ra ns p ers o
na lS elf
7
.C o lle ctiveu n c
o n sc io
u s
(lo w er,m id
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7
1

Assagioli (1965) describes his model as "... a rough, nearly anatomic replica of our inner constitution
..." and divides the unconscious of the human psyche into three areas:

1. "higher unconscious" or "superconscious"

2. "middle unconscious"
3. "lower unconscious" or "unconscious"

These three realms have different contents, yet are closely interrelated.

All lines are dotted to show that a continuous exchange of elements and energies takes place.
(Assagioli, 1974)
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The "lower unconscious" is referred to in most traditional psychological approaches as the

"unconscious." Its contents, like those of the superconscious, can be accessed through experience. Here are
housed our fundamental and aggressive urges, our developmentally based traumata, and our unconscious
conditioning through familial, ethnic, and social patterns.
The contents of the "middle unconscious" are closer to our awareness. They can appear momentarily
in consciousness and then disappear from our awareness. The middle unconscious is outside of our immediate
awareness, but is easily accessible. For example, memories of our last vacation or the birthday of a girlfriend
can be recalled readily and easily.
The "higher unconscious" or "superconscious" is the area of our highly developed impulses such as
altruistic love, humanitarian action, artistic and spiritual understanding, and the search for the purpose and the
meaning of life. These energies can be experienced and put at the disposal of the individual. Experiences in the
realm of the superconscious are moments of expansion of normal conscious-ness; these are peak experiences
which bring the individual in touch with the deeper meaning of the purpose of life and the universe. The
"Personal Self" is our essential being. It can be compared to an energetic vortex around which, through its
spiritual gravity, constellate the various parts and characteristics of the personality. There are two functions to
the "Self": a receptive function (to become aware, to observe) and a dynamic, expressive function (to choose to
guide will or life energy into the content of our awareness). One can choose to identify with the content of
consciousness or to disidentify and to simply observe it.
Assagioli saw in the "Transpersonal Self" a deeper and broader source of identity, something which
expands through and beyond the individual psyche.
In his "egg-diagram" he draws this source of identity on the upper edge into the area of the
superconscious. This source is accessible to the psyche and, simultaneously, transcends it.

The true nature of the "Self" is universally transcendent, immanent and unique. Transcendence and
immanence differ from all other ideas about matter, energy, space and time. Be it material, biological
or spiritual. Transcendence is immanent, it means, always present and actively engaged in content and
process. (Firman, 1991).

Maslow (1954), Jung (1954), and Assagioli (1973) call this transpersonal source which allows us
access to wisdom and fulfillment of our potential, the "Self." The "Self" is the essential nature of the human
being and is its inherent potential to unlimited development. The basis of human existence is viewed as the
inherent search of the human being to fulfil itself and to find purpose and meaning of life. In Eastern meditative
approaches such as Japanese Zen, Tibetan Dzogchen, or Buddhist Vipassana the emphasis is on the experience
of actually being a "Self" and experiencing the continuity of existence (Wilber, Engler, Brown, 1986). In
Eastern philosophies and psychologies the concept of a "Self" or the experience of a "Self" is the goal of
meditation. For Sogyal Rinpoche (1992) the ignorance and repression in our society of what we truly are is
deeply unsettling: The repression of these concepts of the "Self" in Western cultures causes serious
psychological imbalances.
After years of application of Psychosynthesis in practice, translating this model of consciousness into
experience, the theory needed adaptation. The most important change was to acknowledge the immanence and
transcendence of the "Transpersonal Self," the "Self" which is present in and at the same time transcending the
middle, higher and lower unconscious (Firman, Russel 1994). This leads to a fundamental change in the healing
process. The tendency to identify with the qualities of the higher unconscious and to exclude the lower
unconscious is thereby greatly diminished. In the adapted model (Firman, Russel) the "Self" and "Transpersonal
Self" are located in the center of the diagram. This change implies a personal growth process as a becoming
conscious of both the higher and the lower unconscious. Heretofore, the tendency had been to move up through
the higher unconscious to meet the "Transpersonal Self." Developing a lasting relationship with the "Self,"
however, leads to the integration of the heights and depths of the human experience within the psyche. As a
result human consciousness naturally expands. This, in turn, leads to a process of growth and healing, allowing
the individual’s potential to unfold and express itself more fully.
The "Self," the center of the personality, is both immanent and transcendent, as stated. It is the focal
point of the personality, permeating the field of personal consciousness and unconsciousness. Thus, it is present
everywhere and at all times. All levels of human consciousness are embedded in it: the superconscious or
higher unconscious, the lower unconscious, and the middle unconscious, and reaching beyond the boundaries of
the personal into the collective psyche. Perceiving human consciousness from this perspective allows us to view
each area of consciousness or unconsciousness as being of equal value. This results in the acceptance of
individual experiences as a process of "Self" realization, the goal of individual growth. To engage in the
process, the power of "Will," as Assagioli calls it, is needed. This force, closely interrelated with the "Self,"
expresses itself through the various parts of the personality. I call it "Life energy." Life energy manifests and
expresses itself in different forms: On a mental level it could be called "LoveWill"; its emotional expressions
 6

are feelings; on a physical level "Life energy", then translates into action. Without "Life energy" the process of
"Self" realization is unthinkable.
Psychosynthesis, a Transpersonal Psychology, is an open system based on the principle of the "Self" as
the model of human consciousness, on "Will" training, and on subpersonality theory in which diverse techniques
can be introduced and applied. The above named principles create a spiritual framework, a basis which
accommodates the methods used. Gestalt, art, dance, movement therapy, analysis, et al., can be drawn upon.
Placed within the psychosynthetic frame, they allow an indepth approach.
Assagioli mentions both a personal and a transpersonal Psychosynthesis. A personal Psychosynthesis
is concerned with personal growth, the working through of developmental issues. This type of Psychosynthesis
occurs on a regular basis in daily life. Healing old wounds literally transforms the quality of our living. A
transpersonal or spiritual Psychosynthesis, though, also includes the transpersonal dimension. Generally, both
personal and transpersonal Psychosynthesis occur simultaneously. Both are concerned with changes of quality
of life: The personal leads from mere survival to the acknowledgment of the "Self"; the transpersonal refines
the individual quality of life, expressing the love and creativity of the "Self."
Since Assagioli’s death, Psychosynthesis has been developed in a multiplicity of ways and areas. One
of these developments, the work with subpersonalities, is described in this book. Assagioli's Psychosynthesis
furnished the seeds out of which, after years of application and experience, this work has grown.
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INTRODUCTION

The first time I encountered one of my subpersonalities, an ugly dwarf or "Zwerg," was in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, in 1982. At that time Molly Brown, a Psychosynthesis therapist trained by Assagioli, lived in Los
Alamos, New Mexico. She gave an introduction to Psychosynthesis in which I participated. I shall never forget
this event. I no longer remember the exact words Molly used in that exercise, yet I still can see the result of it.
In my imagination I saw a crippled, ugly dwarf. It responded to the question "What do you want from me?"
with "I would like to kill you." I was shocked to be confronted so directly with a part of myself which I had
sensed, but had never encountered. This was the beginning of my working with subpersonalities and with
Roberto Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis. In my own therapy, as a psychotherapist, and as a group facilitator, I have
since worked intensively with subpersonalities. I have become acquainted with them, I have learned to accept
them, and to transform them.

In this book I would like to share how I apply this approach in a practical setting. In order to work with
subpersonalities, it is necessary to set a transpersonal framework. All exercises in this book, practical
applications, and theoretical explanations are based on Roberto Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis model of the human
consciousness (1989, The Act of Will; 1988, Psychosynthesis). This model presumes the existence of the
"Self" and the "Transpersonal Self" with the function of an observer. Subpersonalities, an expression of the
"Self" in this world, can be influenced by this observer. This implies acquiring the tool of conscious
disidentification from and identification with our subpersonalities. It also includes the responsibility to make
conscious choices and to direct our life energy in new directions.
Within the transpersonal framework, the "Self" and the "Transpersonal Self" are an inherent part of
human nature. The work with subpersonalities is a process of becoming conscious, a process of acceptance and
transformation of the various parts of our personality. Only then can our true potential unfold. Problems can
then be looked upon as chances for inner and outer growth. Working with these problems can be seen as
cooperating with the unfolding of our inner potential. This view changes our perspective on our own suffering
dramatically and allows a far more positive approach to it.
This book weaves theory and practice together organically. The first part is an introduction to the
theory of subpersonality work with its multidimensional perspectives and possibilities of application. A
theoretical description of subpersonality, its origin, birth, and expressions follows. This leads to the various
stages of transformation of subpersonalities and to the question: "Why engage in subpersonality work?" This is
followed by instructions on how to work in this way.
The subsequent section consists of a number of visualization exercises to familiarize ourselves with the
subpersonality as it presents itself in our daily life. These exercises use visualization, drawing, movement, and
an introduction to the "Wise Inner Being." The dialogue with subpersonalities in the next chapter offers a way to
direct knowledge of our inner parts. The questions described in this dialogue help us to recognize and to accept
distorted and unwanted qualities in our personality structures. Case histories from my psychotherapeutic
practice and seminars complete this section.
To deepen subpersonality work, exercises are described which lead us to the roots of our
psychodynamic structures in childhood, e.g., how positive and negative events with primary caretakers create
the environment out of which subpersonalities can be born. Traumatic events throughout various stages of
childhood development create the basic psychodynamic structures which turn into subpersonalities.
Recognition of their origin allows the development of techniques for our own healing process. Examples of
how to use the various methods and techniques leading to the "Inner Child" and how to free our creative
potential complete this part of the book.
This is followed by a broader and even deeper dimension of subpersonality work which I call the
"Emotional Archive," i.e., that part of an individual which contains the deep interconnectedness which reaches
far beyond the personal level. Through applying subpersonality work this interconnectedness and its expression
in daily life become visible. Subpersonality work is then used to explore our psychological inheritance and as a
technique to trans-form collective traumata. Looking at subpersonality work from such a transpersonal
perspective allows us to view personal growth as a part of human evolution and invites us to review our life’s
purpose from a profoundly different angle.
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WHAT IS A SUBPERSONALITY?

Aspects and Perspectives

Before presenting what is available in today’s psychological literature about subpersonalities, I would
like to differentiate between a psychodynamic structure and a subpersonality. A psychodynamic structure is a
living, energetic part in our psyche which reacts to stimuli, a characteristic or a quality which expresses itself
through us. This structure is more or less complex, more or less flexible; it can be crystallized and rigid as well
as malleable and fluid. These structures constellate around the "Self," our spiritual well of gravity. They form
the wholeness and integrity of the personality and can be either in conflict or in harmony with each other.
Psychodynamic structures can be tendencies already present as a matrix in utero. They begin to unfold
through various stimuli: the comportment of the mother during the pregnancy, her nutrition, emotions, and so
on. During childhood development these structures are reinforced. Through continuous affirmation and
repetition, they stabilize and form a pattern. They are considered subpersonalities, however, when through
repetition and affirmation, a part of the personality is structured. A subpersonality is a psychodynamic
structure which once a complex then seeks its own existence. It has its own characteristics and demands
its own existence and the fulfillment of its wishes, wants, and needs through the personality.
Subpersonalities have different ages and levels of complexity. An older structure is more rigidified and
crystallized and is more resistant to transformation.
Although most psychotherapists and psychiatrists are acquainted with the phenomenon of
subpersonalities, there are very few writings on the theory and application of working with them. Roberto
Assagioli himself structured his subpersonality work on the concepts of William James (Jean Hardy, 1987).
How can we describe a subpersonality? John Rowan’s (1990) working definition of a subpersonality
reads as follows:

... a halfpermanent and halfautonome region of the personality which is capable of acting as a person
...

Piero Ferrucci, an Italian therapist trained by Assagioli, sees subpersonalities as:

... psychological satellites which simultaneously do exist as a multitude of diverse lives. Each
subpersonality has its own style and own motivation which differs from the others ... (1982).

Virginia Satir, a family therapist from Palo Alto, California, calls the subpersonality "My Many Faces"
(1988) and perceives them as parts of our personality which are interdependent with each other and cannot exist
alone. Janette Rainwater, a Californian psychologist trained by Assagioli, describes subpersonalities as follows:

Each subpersonality organizes itself around a need of the whole personality. The strength of each is
probably the result of the circumstances out of which the need initially was born. Each human being is
a manifold mixture of very individual subpersonalities. (1979)

Subpersonalities serve as instruments of the expression of the person in the world and as lenses through
which the personality can be perceived, lived, and experienced.
As energetic psychodynamic structures they seek their fulfillment, i.e., their expression, in the outer
world. A human being can be completely unconscious of which subpersonality dominates its life; however,
becoming aware of the way in which a subpersonality expresses itself offers access to the individual psyche and
shows the psychodynamic structures with which the person identifies. Through their expressions
subpersonalities represent our inner and outer roles which influence each other. The change or the
transformation of just one subpersonality has an effect on the system of the individual psyche as a whole.
Roberto Assagioli emphasizes that understanding the function of the subpersonality or psychodynamic
structure opens access to a systematic developmental process:

For every man and every woman who wishes to live consciously, it is unavoidable to become aware of
the elements or components of the personality. This means an assessment and evaluation, knowledge
and control over these. (1965)
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A subpersonality, a psychodynamic energetic structure, a part of the personality, shows its qualities,
needs, and wants. It expresses these through the person’s mental/emotional patterns.
In different situations different psychodynamic structures express themselves. Different circumstances
elicit different reactions in our system of subpersonalities.

The Birth of Subpersonalities

If we look for the origin of subpersonalities, it seems obvious that their structures are related to the
psychological environment and to childhood development.
For Gretchen Sliker (1992) the development of subpersonali-ties originates in the first months of early
childhood. By the age of one or two years, psychological structures already exist. They manifest themselves as
characteristic behaviors and are connected to certain needs and wants. Subpersonalities in time become
multidimensional and complex, depending on experience and memory.
Chris Meriam, a therapist in the state of Washington, relates the origin of subpersonalities to early
childhood development and the inability to integrate "object relations." He examines the splitting of the positive
and negative qualities of subpersonalities in detail and concludes that possibly there is no subpersonality which
is not born through early trauma, that everyone of us was deeply wounded in childhood (Meriam, 1994).
I would like to go a little further in looking at the origin and birth of a subpersonality. Often these are
our psychological heritage, their origins tracing back to parents, grandparents, and beyond. Similar
psychological patterns can be recognized in the cultural heritage and seem to be present for hundreds of years in
culture and religion. These unconscious psychological patterns are passed on from mother to child in utero.
Psychodynamic structures, latent in the fetus and in the newly born, are reinforced through experiences
with role models and principal caretakers. This takes place through the early developmen-tal phases and until
the phase of "Object Constancy" at the age of twentytwo to thirty months (Mahler, 1975). At this period, the
inner images of the outer world stabilize in the child.
The child interiorizes the behavior of its principal caretakers, parents, and environment. Its reaction to
these behaviors reinforces the psychodynamic structures. When these behaviors form an inner image, it can be
considered the phase of "Object Constancy," as the beginning of a subpersonality. The subpersonality
crystallizes through repetition of learned responses. Each repetition serves to reinforce the existing structure.
This is valid both for a subpersona-lity with negative and with positive qualities. Environment and primary
caretakers determine to a profound degree the behavior and the reaction of the child.
These embryonic subpersonalities initially serve to protect the personality. They develop out of a need
to adapt to the environment and are often necessary to survive. The birth of a subpersonality takes place when
subpersonalities can be recognized as parts of the personality. Then they need to realize their own wishes,
needs, and wants. It seems as though individual characteristics are reinforced and attracted to each other, and
now have their own life, their own will, and their own goals. Often this is in conflict with other parts of the
personality. The subpersonality then pushes to express and realize its qualities, destructive or constructive.
Such a process often takes place unconsciously and leads to the all too familiar phenomenon of: "I didn’t want
to do that and yet I did it again!"
Throughout our lives, subpersonalities are formed by steady repetition. Fortunately, though, they can
be unformed and transformed as well.

How to Recognize a Subpersonality

How do subpersonalities express themselves? To give voice to their needs and wants, they require the
tools of body, emotions, and thought patterns. Different parts of the psyche react to different outer
circumstances and environments. These reactions occur with the speed of light and are often unconscious
processes. The role a person plays at any given time is determined by circumstances. Who doesn’t know in a
relationship, for example, that when one partner uses a certain phrase in a certain tone of voice, the scene is
being set for a familiar drama to unfold? Although the play is often recognized, ways and tools to write a new
script are usually unavailable.
 10

Thus, the play takes its old habitual path and patterns; it runs in the office, in private life, and, of
course, in our inner worlds as well. The battle between the inner voices, one of which asserts, "Yes, this is very
good, go ahead and do it" and the other of which maintains, "You will never be able to do it" is well known to
all of us.
To experience a subpersonality means that in certain areas of life we relate and behave in unwanted
ways, yet are unable to change our behavior. This is often accompanied by an inner battle between two
conflicting voices, each trying to convince the other of the rightness of its beliefs. In this inner conflict
creativity and life energy are caught up and used to fuel the conflict. As a result, no energy is left for creative
action. The body is tired, exhausted, and in pain; thoughts chase each other and feelings are split.
Subpersonalities are seeking the fulfillment of their life’s purpose. It is their nature to aim at this goal, with or
without our conscious knowledge. They are alive in our body, emotions and thoughts. Body posture, physical
sensations, emotions, feelings, and thought processes change according to the role being played. Different roles
evoke different body postures, corresponding physical sensations, etc. Such sensations may include pressure on
the shoulders or in the heart area, tension in the stomach area, discomfort or well being and expansion,
depending on the inner actor. Body posture and body feeling are accompanied by corresponding emotional
states such as sadness, joy, depression, or the feeling of a "high." The thought patterns which are interconnected
with specific roles are often repetitive. These thought patterns, emotions, body posture, and body feelings are
all intimately related to each other. A specific body posture can evoke corresponding feelings, emotions, and
thoughts. Similarly, specific emotions provoke their corresponding thought patterns, body posture, and body
feelings. Specific thought patterns likewise provoke related emotions, body posture, and body feelings.
The psychodynamic structures in our psyche, then, make their presence felt, here and now, through the
body, the emotions, and the thought patterns. Childhood traumata, the origin of subper-sonalities, are not
forgotten; they are accessible in the present, stored in the body, and interconnected with emotions and thought
patterns which they stimulate or evoke. Transformation of these subpersonalities and childhood traumata
clearly needs, then, to include approaches to the body’s emotional and mental patterns.
Fortunately, subpersonalities, rigidified over many years, can experience profound changes if the
transformational approach includes physical, emotional, and mental patterns.
Subpersonalities differ radically in nature. The "Inner Father," the "Inner Mother," and the "Inner
Child" seem to be important parts of the personality, having been interiorized in early childhood. Other
subpersonalities include the "Inner Judge," the "Monk," the "Pragmatic," the "Mystic," the "Coward," the
"Hater," the "Fearful One," the "Victim," the "Oppressor," the "Wild Woman," the "Obedient," the "Adapted
One," et. al. The list is endless. All subpersonalities do have one thing in common, though: part of our vital
life energy is contained and held in their psychodynamic structure. In the transformational process, however,
this life energy can be freed and used to express our own creativity more fully and joyously.

The Stages of Transformation

In subpersonality work the psychodynamic structure, its behavior, and its quality are brought to
consciousness and into focus. This attention illuminates the structure. Then we can turn towards these parts of
the personality with their negative and positive qualities and lovingly accept and express their feelings. This
allows space for new thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Loving acceptance is the key factor in this
transformation. Affirmations and repetitions reinforce this process of new learning. Once completed, the
subpersonalities, now displaying different behaviors, can be reintegrated into the personality. The previous
pattern is no longer needed. Transformed and changed, they return into the unconscious.
To change individual psychodynamic structures and patterns means to free the life energy caught up
within them. In order to express this life energy in the personal creative process, the following stages of
transformation are required:
 11

1. Awareness and Recognition

2. Acceptance
3. Coordination and Transformation
4. Integration
5. Synthesis

A necessary basis for this transformational process is the work with the "observer" and the capability of
becoming conscious of one’s own center. This is reinforced through the work with subpersonalities in the
process of change.

Awareness and Recognition

"Awareness and recognition" of our own psychological structures is the first step in subpersonality
work. This includes developing the capability of disidentification from and identification with a
subpersonality. In order to change something in our lives, an awareness of both our own psychological
structures and the behaviors which we would like to change is needed. In order to recognize something, we first
direct our attention to it. The fact that we do so in and of itself causes a change in the psyche! The structure
upon which we direct our focused attention is illuminated and so becomes visible to us.

Acceptance

The second stage in this transformational process is "acceptance." It is not easy to become aware of
unwanted and uncom-fortable parts of our personality. Sometimes it can be most frightening. It demands
courage and strength to look at these parts and to accept them as they are, with all their anger, fear, hatred, and
other negative qualities. True love and compassion are needed to attend to these largely repressed parts. Such
unwanted psychody-namic structures, often developed out of early childhood traumata, need this acceptance
urgently. True acceptance, loving one’s own weaknesses and strengths, is an act of love, which can bring a
resolution to the inner battle. Acceptance initiates deep transformations which allow encounters with unwanted
parts of the personality to become compassionate, understanding interactions. Acceptance means returning to
the "Self" and opening the doors for a better knowledge of it. This includes permission to experience deep
feelings and emotions such as sadness, anger, loneliness, et. al. which are stored within these psychodynamic
structures.

Coordination and Transformation

The second step, acceptance, allows access to "coordination and transformation." Initially it is an
intelligent restructuring of old belief systems. Belief systems which are restrictive, perhaps destructive, can be
changed, transformed to expand the world view in which the subpersonality structures are enmeshed. In accord
with the subpersonality and in its own rhythm, transformation can and does occur. The rhythm of
transformation is determined by the age, depth, and rigidity of the psychodynamic structure. Heretofore, life
energy and the will, contained in the structures of the subpersonalities, were focused on battle, withdrawal, and
resistance; now they can be freed and coordinated with the will to live and the creative expression of the
personality.
The resistance of a psychodynamic structure to change originates in childhood, as noted. Originally
this protective function was necessary to survive and so deserves to be honored and treated respectfully. What
needs to be changed is how the subpersonality applies this protective function and thereby disrupts the flow of
creativity and constructive relationships (and responses) in daily life. Its motivation to protect, however, can be
readily and honestly acknowledged and accepted. Only the current application of this protective function needs
to change; the original motivation to protect does not. Coordination and transformation also imply changing
the interactions of these subpersonalities among themselves. If these changes take place and new thoughts,
emotions, and physical sensations can be experienced and strengthened, the subpersonality can then be
reintegrated into the personality proper.
 12

Integration

An "integration" is a coming together of various parts, often of seemingly opposite nature, which retain
their own characteristics. However, their behaviors have been transformed and they operate in harmony with
the wish of the personality to live its creativity and to translate it into daily life.

Synthesis

A "synthesis" can occur when two or more subpersonalities are ready to form a new whole. The
individuality of the parts will be lost; however, their qualities will be retained in the new whole which contains
the sum of these qualities and is simultaneously more than their sum. This process demands deep
transformation of the personality. A synthesis permits both the "Self" and the "Transpersonal Self" to express
more freely through the personality and its qualities.
The stages of transformation described above are the stages of personal growth and evolution, stages of
refining one’s personal qualities. In most psychotherapeutic approaches the process of "awareness and
recognition" serves as a first step. This is accompanied by the reexperiencing or the repression of the contents
of the recognized material. Through the approach of "acceptance" in subpersonality work, a significant further
step is taken - the conscious step of turning towards the painful content. This implies a loving embrace of the
psychological structure, whatever its content may be. The heart's innate capacity to love is trained. The mental
process of "awareness" through "acceptance" as a quality of the heart is incorporated in the personal process.
This heart quality of loving embrace allows a safe space for the subpersonality to rest and to relax its structures.
To proceed through the next stage of "coordination and transformation" the presence of a well
developed inner observer is needed. The observer, honoring the rhythm of the psychodynamic structures, can
then effect the changes. To be lasting and profound, however, these changes need to include the individual’s
thought patterns, emotional content, and body consciousness. During the phase of "integration," the transformed
parts are reintegrated into the personality to serve their original purpose, which is to support the personality as a
whole.
"Synthesis," the last stage of transformation, the steps of individual growth, is a truly evolutionary
stage, a paradigm shift.
Moving from the first stage of transformation, "becoming aware" to the stage of "acceptance" seems to
be a simple and logical step. In actual everyday life, though, it is not an easy one, yet this is one of the most
important stages of the process. Once acceptance is gained, transformation, using a respectful and intelligent
approach to the psychodynamic structures, is followed inevitably by integration.
The examples presented in this book delineate the various stages of transformation.

The Individual Psyche as a System

The psychodynamic structures of an individual psyche always exist in relationship to each other, both
in the inner and outer worlds. They are interwoven and interconnected. Each change or influence on one part
affects the system of the individual psyche as a whole.
Transforming a psychodynamic structure through subpersonality work affects the other structures as
well. The effect on the system depends both on the intensity and the depth of the impact of transformation.
Once a psychodynamic structure is focused on, i.e., brought from the unconscious to the conscious mind and
transformed, the system must adjust to the new positioning.
The system of the individual psyche is a living, everchanging energetic field in which the
psychodynamic structures are embedded. Seen as interwoven parts embedded in the personality, each change
brought about affects the personality as well as the conscious and unconscious mind. These interwoven parts
are attracted by a spiritual center, a vortex around which they constellate. This center is the "Self." Some parts
or psychodynamic structures are closer to the "Self" than others and can be more centrally or more peripherally
placed. Some have a stronger nature than others. As they are worked with, their positions and relationships
change. The "Self" as the spiritual focus of the psyche acts as a gravitational force on the various parts.
Simultaneously, the "Self" expresses and expands itself outward through these parts. Part of this expression is
becoming consciously aware of and using the capacity of choice in expressing through a given psychodynamic
structure. Childhood traumata and the degree of intensity of the trauma effect the original formation of the
 13

structures. Intensive deep traumata experienced in childhood affect the system of psychodynamic structures as a
whole in that they contain deepest wounds at the roots of the psyche. Each subpersonality, then, carries a trace
of the impact of this trauma. Tom Yeomans (1988) refers to it as having a pansystemic effect.
Conscious recognition of psychodynamic structures which hinder our creative expression is the first
stage of transformation. Formed over many years through repetition, these structures can be softened and once
again made flexible. Their thought patterns, emotional contents, and body symptoms, often connected to deep
pain, can all be changed. Such a transformation permits the "Self" to express its potential more freely and fully
through our daily actions.
Experiencing the "Self" causes a profound transformation and even changes how we perceive the
content of the psyche. Psychological patterns, structures, and their interactions can be recognized and made
accessible to change and transformation through conscious choice.
The individual psyche, a system of psychodynamic structures, is constellated around the vortex of the
"Self," a spiritual focal point which is embedded in the larger field of the collective psyche. Both are intimately
interwoven. Each change in a subpersonality in the individual psyche, then, has an influence not only on the
personality as a whole but also, simultaneously, on the larger collective in which it is embedded. Therefore,
each transformation of an individual part of the psyche influences the entire collective. This influence,
depending on individual consciousness and choice, can be either constructive or destructive. Each person,
consciously or unconsciously, then, influences both the collective and its development. Just by the wealth of
seemingly insignificant choices made from day to day and even moment to moment, each individual draws on
their innate capacity to contribute meaningfully to the larger whole. Seen in this light, inner work becomes a
profound act of social responsibility, a gift bestowed on the common good.

Why use Subpersonality Work ?

One of the most important reasons for doing subpersonality work is the personal empowerment which
naturally occurs in this process. The processes of recognition and awareness lead to taking responsibility for
oneself including both desirable and undesirable aspects of our personality. Accepting and transforming them
leads to stronger self-esteem.
The method of subpersonality work is varied and can be applied in various therapeutic situations: for
physical symptoms, complex psychological patterns, belief systems, etc. Subpersonality work is a loving
turning to parts of ourselves, both negative and positive. The acceptance of uncomfortable parts allows access
to the energy blocked and stored within them. Once these structures open and transform, the energy becomes
available and can flow and flow fluidly towards creative expression. The inner energy change and subsequent
flow manifest through creative action in the outer world.
Subpersonality work as a method is capable of transforming structures of various degrees of depth in
the psyche. Such work can be applied to different levels of psychodynamic structures to influence the flow of
creative potential in daily life. Obstacles preventing the unfolding of potential are treated with great respect as
noted earlier: they are our opportunities for personal growth. These psychodynamic structures born of our
cultural, familial, and personal environments are actually our chances to evolve psychologically and spiritually.
Through subpersonality work, the psychodynamic structures of our current personality can be radically
transformed. To do so, we need to undergo the five stages of transformation detailed earlier: awareness and
recognition, acceptance, coordination and transformation, integration, and synthesis.
Intensive work with the current psychodynamic structures of the personality reveals deeper levels of
the psyche. These can be early developmental stages of childhood, including prenatal stages. Here, attention to
the "Inner Child" is needed. Consciously taking responsibility to attend and give love to the "Inner Child" heals
deep, old childhood wounds.
The wounds suffered by the "Inner Child," being the architect of the development of specific
psychodynamic structures, are determined by the impact of the environment. This environment includes the
primary caretakers, generally the father and mother. The behavior of the child, their psychodynamic structures,
and the formation of subpersonalities are determined both by the presence or absence of these caretakers and the
environment. Subpersonality work can be deepened and applied on this level as well. The behavior patterns of
the inner structures, imprinted by the primary caretakers, the "Inner Father" or "Inner Mother," can be
recognized, accepted, and, ultimately, transformed.
Work on this level often leads to the recognition that behavioral patterns or psychodynamic structures
are deeply anchored in cultural and collective behavior and can be traced back many generations.
 14

Using subpersonality work to reach such deep levels, it is advisable to not only work with the past but
to work with expanding into new future patterns as well. Once the psychodynamic structures of the past are
released, it is necessary to anchor the new possibilities into the personality since they will determine future
behavioral patterns.
The transformational process catalyzed through subpersonality work finally releases old patterns. The
new psychodynamic structure which replaces them needs time and space to be fully integrated into the
personality. This new structure opens the possibility for the personality to move in a dramatically new direction.
Happily, the probability of new behavior is great. To support and to reinforce this, subpersonality work can and
should be continued; the new psychodynamic structure, often related to new thought structures, unknown
emotions, and physical sensations, needs continued affirmation and repetition to be securely anchored.
What effect does our newly transformed behavior have on the people around us? How does it
influence our cultural and collective environment? Subpersonality work can quite literally change our present,
past, and future.
Our psychological heritage – the patterns and psychodynamic structures of our parents, ancestors, and
our cultural past as well as our national traumata – can be made accessible through subpersonality work. More,
they can be transformed. Such work can assist in recognizing patterns inherited from our ancestors and at long
last in breaking the chain of this behavior. In short, it is a method of taking responsibility for the direction and
rhythm of our own growth.

Recommendations for Working with Subpersonalities

To be able to apply subpersonality work most constructively, we need to look at the goal and aim of
therapy. In Psychosynthesis, the aim of therapy is to empower the client and to allow the potential and
creativity inherent in each individual to flow and express itself freely. The goal is not only to rediscover old
traumata. If these surface on the way, they are examined; in order to unfold individual potential, each obstacle
is seen as an opportunity for growth. This means that each subpersonality with its often contradictory qualities,
each resistance, pain, fear, hatred or suffering is recognized for its growth potential. Each is an evolutionary
step on the path to transforming and living one’s own potential in creative daily life.
In this approach resistance is a natural and necessary protec-tion of the personality. The resistance of a
subpersonality or a psychodynamic structure in fact contains the key to its transforma-tion and growth.
Resistance is a psychodynamic structure which often holds an enormous amount of energy and so is treated with
honor. Initially, in early childhood, resistance served as a necessary protection to insure survival in daily life.
Therefore, resistance is seen as a protective function, one which deserves recognition for that and for the service
it has rendered. Its motivation must be acknowledged. It is only its current method of protecting the personality
which now needs to be changed or transformed.
Since subpersonality work is based on Assagioli’s model of human consciousness, the "Self"
interconnected with the "Transpersonal Self" takes up a central position. The personality structures are held and
bound together by the "Self." At the same time, it uses them to express its individuality, uniqueness, and
multidimensionality. The "Self" and the "Transpersonal Self" are seen as basic principles both immanent in and
transcending the human psyche. The "Self" and the "Transpersonal Self" are also a central focus or vortex from
which the psychodynamic structures emanate. The spiritual gravity of the "Self" simultaneously attracts and
keeps them bound into the personality.
We can thus logically reason that "if such a 'Self' exists in me, then it must exist in each human being."
This attitude of respect for the "deepest" or "innermost" or "highest" in ourselves and others is the basis for
subpersonality work. We can talk here about therapy in a transpersonal framework.
The "Self," the center, has at its disposal the function of an observer. The observer has a receptive and
expressive quality; it can be aware, that is, it can recognize the structures of the personality and influence them.
To apply subpersonality work successfully, an intensive training of the observer, of disidentification from and
identification with the various structures is crucial.
The observer has the capacity to identify with and to disidentify from personality structures. It has
the ability to choose which direction the vital life energy at the disposal of the personality will take. This vital
life energy needs to flow, to express itself, and to be translated through action into daily life. In other words, as
an individual, I can learn to use the observer consciously and to consciously choose the creative flow of life
energy. Applied to subpersonalities, this means that I can learn to consciously choose which qualities I would
like to encourage, energize, and express.
 15

The goal of subpersonality work, then, is transformation and the creative actualization of human
potential in daily life. It includes changing our perspectives and accepting our personal traumata and dramas as
steps in our own healing processes. When subpersonality work is used in this context, it is a method which
heals, transforms, and assists personal growth to an unparalleled degree.
 16

GETTING TO KNOW OUR SUBPERSONALITIES

Inner Role Play

In daily life we play many different roles: business woman or business man, mother or father, child or
teacher, victor or victim, to name a few. The role we play is a response to a given situation or moment and is
often unconscious. Different situations in life evoke different parts of our personality which then emerge on the
stage of life. These subpersonalities often have their origin in childhood, helping us to deal with difficult
situations. In adulthood they are like faithful old friends who take over the situation and deal with it as they did
so dutifully in childhood. Unfortunately, this can lead to problematic situations: for the reactions of
subpersonalities to outer stimuli are the same as they were in childhood. In daily life, however, they are often
no longer needed. It is like the well known feelings: "I reacted again like that, even though I didn’t want to";
"I don't want to react like that in such situations, but I did it again."

The following exercise allows us to begin getting to know one of our inner actors and the role which it
plays in our daily lives:

Allow yourself the time to sit comfortably. Close your eyes, breathe deeply in and out, and turn your
focus inwards.

Perhaps, you can recall a situation which happened to you in the past two days and which kept you
preoccupied.

Imagine now that you can see yourself in this situation once again. Maybe you felt irritated, afraid, or
angry and acted accordingly.

Just allow the whole scene to pass again before your inner eye and then place yourself back in that
situation.

What are you thinking?

What are you feeling in your body?

What emotions are you aware of?

Where in your body do you feel them?

How does the world look from here?

How would you like to act?

Now breathe deeply in and out, step back and analyze that experience:

What can you observe?

What part of yourself expresses itself in this type of situation?

What is this part trying to do for you?

Does this part try to help you to keep this situation under control?
 17

Would you like to thank this part for trying to help you?
If so, do it. If not, observe your resistance to doing so.

What are your feelings towards this part of yourself?

How does this subpersonality limit you? Look at its limiting behavior. How does it see the world?

What do you think it truly needs from you?

Are you willing to give it what it needs?

How could you do that?

What special qualities or gift has this subpersonality to offer you?

How could you bring these qualities into your daily life?

Feel yourself in your body, feel your hands and feet, move them slowly, and then open your eyes.
Perhaps you would like to take some notes.

In the previous exercise, we identify with a role in order to better observe physical sensations, thought
structures, and emotions. To gain an overview of the situation, we activate the "observer." This is called
disidentification from the role. From this perspective the subpersonality, which in this specific moment directs
the play, can be recognized and its behavioral patterns become clearer. This leads to the recognition that this
particular part in its distorted way is actually trying to save the situation. Here, however, its limitations become
visible. Clearly, the observer's discovery of such hidden qualities and the possibility of including these qualities
in a more constructive way in daily life offer us a rich new perspective.
The following examples of three different people afford insight into the way this exercise can be used.

Example 1: Lori

Perhaps you can recall a situation which happened to you in the past two days and which kept you
preoccupied. Imagine now that you can see yourself in this situation once again. Maybe you felt
irritated, afraid, or angry and acted accordingly.
The health insurance company refused my applica-tion for higher insurance claiming that my
headaches and psychosomatic complaints are chronic. I am a higher risk, so, they would not increase
my coverage.

Just allow the whole scene to pass again before your inner eye and then place yourself back in that
situation.
What are you thinking?
I am chronic, a so-called chronic sufferer which means that I am not allowed to tell them the
truth because if I do I will be considered a weak member of society. But they should be there for me.
It’s arrogant to exclude me. What is going to happen with truly ill people? Who has a chance! I
probably should have continued to suffer quietly instead of going to the doctor.
 18

What are you feeling in your body?

Tightness in my neck. I cannot see, my eyes are full of tears.

What emotions are you aware of?

Shame, despair, and outrage.

Where in your body do you feel them?

In my throat, neck, and head. And there is tightness in my chest.

How does the world look from here?

It feels incredibly threatening, a huge challenge which I am powerless to face because I have a
disorder.

How would you like to act?

I would like to respond, to fight for myself and for others who also suffer psychosomatic
problems or who are really truly ill. I would like to fight openly through the newspapers in order to be
accepted as a "higher risk" to get insurance. I would like to tell my doctor what he did to me.

Now breathe deeply in and out, step back and analyze that experience:
What can you observe?
I am fully in it, I need an enormous amount of energy, and I truly cannot think. Now it would
be necessary to think, to find out what is right and what is not right.

What part of yourself expresses itself there?

The hurt one who should be strong, the hurt warrior.
 19

What is this part trying to do for you?

It is trying to protect me and to speak for me.

Does this part try to help you to keep this situation under control?
Yes.

Would you like to thank this part for trying to help you?
If so, do it. If not, observe your resistance to doing this.
I can see that this part defends the weak and also the weak parts within myself. This part has
helped me very often, and I am very grateful to it.

What are your feelings towards this part of yourself?

I can accept this part, even though I see that its fighting is often inefficient.

How does this subpersonality limit you? Look at its limiting behavior. How does it see the world?
It sees the world as an enemy, as bad. It primarily perceives the failure of others and my own
failure as well. It goes at it blindly, eyes full of tears. Then it can no longer see, hear, or feel.

What do you think it truly needs from you?

It needs recognition and also someone to stop it and say: "Look first. Exactly what do you
see?" It is not possible to continuously send it into the battlefield.

Are you willing to give it what it needs?

Yes.

How could you do that?

I have to stop it from going to battle, help it to see, hear and feel what is really happening.

What special qualities or gift has this subpersonality to offer you?

Speed, engagement, and courage.

How could you bring these qualities into your daily life?
When I get hurt, by not counterattacking immediately, but fighting for myself with an
intelligent strategy and with heart.

During this exercise, Lori becomes aware of her behavior in key situations. By observing herself she is
able to recognize her self-defeating behavior and begin to modify it.
In the language of Psychosynthesis, Lori disidentifies from the content of her behavior and simply
observes it. She is able to do so with no problem. This in turn leads to a deeper awareness of the physical
sensations which accompany her behavior. Similarly, her recognition of some of her habitual response is related
to localized emotions in the body and is expanded to include awareness of the limiting perspectives of her
psychodynamic structures. Each question reveals different faces of the subpersonality.
Lori, by disidentification from and by identification with is able to perceive the behavior of the "Hurt
One" from a different perspective. This perspective also allows her to see what this aspect of herself is trying to
do for her. Such recognition leads to a loving turning towards this part of her personality to better understand its
needs. By so doing Lori moves into the next stage of transformation – acceptance. Acceptance, in turn, opens
her perception of the hidden qualities of the subpersonality.
Lori’s next step will be to deepen the acceptance and to allow the hidden qualities to emerge more
actively into her consciousness.

Example 2: Linda

Perhaps you can recall a situation which happened to you in the past two days and which kept you
preoccupied. Imagine now that you can see yourself in this situation once again. Maybe you felt
irritated, afraid, or angry and acted accordingly.
I cannot be and show myself as I am, and I am afraid to participate. I have the feeling that my
life is passing me by.
 20

Just allow the whole scene to pass again before your inner eye and then place yourself back in that
situation.
What are you thinking?
It stinks. I would like to kick myself, so I finally might take this step.

What are you feeling in your body?

Tightness, rigidity in my whole body.

What emotions are you aware of?

Powerlessness, impatience, anger, and sadness.

Where in your body do you feel them?

In my lower belly.

How does the world look from here?

Gigantic, overdimensional.

How would you like to act?

Liberated, experimental, spontaneous, fearless.

Now breathe deeply in and out, step back and analyze that experience:
What can you observe?
I just sat there, waiting.

What part of yourself expresses itself there?

The insecure part, with inner expectations which can never be fulfilled.

What is this part trying to do for you?

Nothing. This part blocks me and points to my failure in advance.

Does this part try to help you to keep this situation under control?
Yes.

Would you like to thank this part for trying to help you?
If so, do it. If not, observe your resistance to doing this.
I cannot thank this part. It stinks!

What are your feelings towards this part of yourself?

It protects me from failure, but I am angry because it doesn’t allow me to experiment.

How does this subpersonality limit you? Look at its limiting behavior. How does it see the world?
It lets me become rigid and uptight, so I don’t have to risk anything, risk making mistakes.

What do you think it truly needs from you?

The permission to rest, to not have to work so hard.

Are you willing to give it what it needs?

Yes.

How could you do that?

Again and again give it permission, and thank it for trying so hard for me.

What special qualities or gift has this subpersonality to offer you?

Relaxation and release.
 21

Linda recognizes her fears and her subsequent anger at her inability to express herself. She feels and
sees how this situation makes her body rigid. She stores her feelings of powerlessness, impatience, anger, and
sadness in her lower abdomen. When identifying with the situation, she feels overwhelmed. The conscious step
of disidentification ("breathe deeply and step back"), by using the observer, allows her to become aware of this
insecure part and its expectations. At this point its actions can be recognized, but its motivation remains hidden.
Linda is not yet ready to accept this subpersonality. She remains identified with the anger. However, she does
perceive the future possibility of growth which this part has to offer. Her next steps could be deeper recognition
and acceptance of her anger. Her current identification with her anger prevents her from approaching the
subpersonality further.

Example 3: Elizabeth

Perhaps you can recall a situation which happened to you in the past two days and which kept you
preoccupied. Imagine now that you can see yourself in this situation once again. Maybe you felt
irritated, afraid, or angry and acted accordingly.
My car doesn’t work. Helpless, I feel helpless, weak. I miss people around me.

Just allow the whole scene to pass again before your inner eye and place yourself back in that
situation.
What are you thinking?
I am sitting in the car, but it doesn’t start. I’m expected somewhere, and I’m late. Shit!
Everything gets confused! I just can’t get this day organized! I feel like a victim, unable to control the
situation.

What are you feeling in your body?

My hands are shaking, I feel naked. I have no protective skin layer. I feel physically exposed,
very uncomfortable in my whole body.

What emotions are you aware of?

Anger.

Where in your body do you feel this?

In the shaking part.

How does the world look from here?

Terrible, frightening. It would be best if everything and everybody just stayed away from me.

How would you like to act?

I would like to hide, withdraw, and let my skin grow.

Now breathe deeply in and out, step back and analyze that experience:
What can you observe?
I see that I acted with common sense. I went to the telephone and called the Triple A using a
normal voice. Afterwards, I cursed.

What part of yourself expresses itself there?

The reasonable one, the clear one, the one who can deal with each situation.

What is this part trying to do for you?

To make the car work as quickly as possible, so I can maintain my schedule in order to
function properly.

Does this part try to help you to keep this situation under control?
Yes.

Would you like to thank this part for trying to help you?
If so, do it. If not, observe your resistance to doing this.
I am thanking this part.
 22

What are your feelings towards this part of yourself?

I am happy that this part helps me and can organize things so well.

How does this subpersonality limit you? Look at its limiting behavior. How does it see the world?
I should include more creativity. Always organizing and controlling has no playful elements.
Organization, however, makes a lot possible in this world. The world is strangely organized.

What do you think it truly needs from you?

That I involve it in the action once in a while and use it.

Are you willing to give it what it needs?

Yes.

How could you do that?

I think this is already happening in my daily life.

What special qualities or gift has this subpersonality to offer you?

Simplicity, unity, more intensity, free space and time to do new things.

How could you bring these qualities into your daily life?
By allowing this subpersonality to act at the appropriate moment.

Elizabeth allows herself to feel her anger. This leads her to perceive both her vulnerability and her
strong physical reactions. By breathing deeply she is able to disidentify from these and observe that the
vulnerable part calls the part with common sense onto the scene. She can fully accept this part. It protects the
vulnerable one and organizes well. In a continued therapy it would be important for Elizabeth to approach the
subpersonality which appeared first, the vulnerable one, the one without skin. That part needs her attention and
loving care to eventually be able to "let its skin grow" and to feel safer.

Tracing Subpersonalities

How do you trace a subpersonality? How do you recognize one? Moods, changes in physical
sensations, body posture, change in breathing rhythm, tension, change in voice, appearance of certain thoughts,
change in how we communicate with others, energy level fluctuation, and body language are all useful signs to
trace a subpersonality. For example, perhaps you would like to observe more closely the subpersonality which
you discovered in the previous exercise:

Maybe you would like to stand up and act out or play out this subpersonality.

Where in your daily life do you recognize this subpersonality?

How often?

What circumstances provoke the appearance of this subpersonality?

Does this subpersonality help you and support what you are doing in this situation?

How does it help you?

Does the subpersonality hinder you?

 23

What happens in your body?

What happens in your emotions?

What happens in your thoughts?

You may want to write down these things in order to more clearly recognize your subpersonality.

The purpose of the previous exercise is to trace a subpersonality in daily life. Often, certain situations
and circumstances call upon the same role of the subpersonality. Here we try to become aware of how
frequently the subpersonality appears as well as the circumstances which elicit it. We examine the function of
the subpersonality in a specific situation and check if it supports or hinders what we are doing. Remember, the
appearance of the subpersonality is always related to corresponding physical sensations, emotions, feelings, and
thought structures.

Getting Acquainted with Our Inner Actors

The purpose of the following exercise is to approach subpersonalities through spontaneous images.
The ability to visualize helps to intensify the content of the psyche and to render it visible.
How can we get to know our various subpersonalities? In order to work with them, one of the most
important techniques is visualization, that is, allowing inner pictures and images to appear. Representing a
wealth of personality aspects, these inner images can help us to become conscious of our various parts. We
become aware of their needs, their desires, their special qualities, and behavioral patterns. Further, these inner
images demonstrate our everyday behavioral pattern qualities, wishes, and needs. The following exercises
facilitate our recognition and acceptance of our psychodynamic structures.

Perhaps you would like to have a paper and pencil next to you and find a comfortable place to relax.
You may want to close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out, and then gently begin to turn your
focus inward.
Maybe you can imagine that you are the director of a play: You are in a theater, the curtain is closed,
and you are sitting in a seat in front of the stage. Behind the curtain on stage are the participating
actors in your play. They are pressing to present themselves to you.

The curtain opens and the first actor/actress appears. Look at him or her. What are your reactions?
Perhaps you would like to ask a few questions.

Ask: "Why are you here?" (Let him or her answer.)

Then ask: "What do you want from me?" (Let him or her answer.)

Ask: "What do you need from me?" (Listen to what he or she has to say.)

And the last question: "What do you have to offer?" (Listen to him or her).

Now thank this subpersonality and close the curtain.

Feel your body and move your hands and feet before opening your eyes. Maybe you would like to
make a few notes?

This exercise can be repeated to get to know the many different actors in our inner play of life. Please
reflect upon the following questions:
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As a director what are my expectations from my actors?

As a director, how would I like my actors to behave to allow for a good piece of theater to happen?

Are some of the actors too radical, perhaps, too noble or too power hungry?

How can I sponsor and support their potential while simultaneously as a director allowing my own
creativity to flow?

On our inner stage, our inner actors and their roles can become known both to the director and to the
observer. By asking key questions such as those suggested above, the observer becomes acquainted with the
purpose and the goals, the desires and needs and hidden qualities of the various subpersonalities.

The Center and Our Parts

How do subpersonalities get along with each other? The purpose of the following exercises is to
strengthen the observer and to recognize why and how we act the way we do. The activities of our various
subpersonalities and their interaction with each other often cause inner conflicts, depression, fear,
indecisiveness. These interactions can be very complex, and naturally they need time to be recognized and
transformed. Most important in this exercise is becoming aware of our "center," identifying with the observer,
and getting acquainted with the subpersonalities. This is followed by recognizing the relationship and behavior
of the subpersonalities with one another.

Perhaps you would like to take some colored pencils and paper and draw a small circle surrounded by
six leaves, like a flower.

You may want to reflect on which subpersonalities you became aware of during the day, or maybe you
would like to use the ones which you got to know on the inner stage in the previous exercise.

Please give each leaf of the flower the name of a subperso-nality or paint one subpersonality in each
leaf. Now you might want to stand up, close your eyes and imagine this flower on the floor. Take a
slow, deep breath, and as the observer step into the flower's center.

With your eyes closed imagine your subpersonalities around you.

Turn slowly and observe.

Maybe you can imagine that they are talking to each other.
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What are they saying?

What subpersonality plays a major role?

Which ones support each other?

Which ones fight with each other?

Which ones are stronger?

Which ones are weaker?

Perhaps you would like to write down the most important aspects of what you have observed.

Can you recognize patterns which occur in your daily life?

Now try to talk to the images to negotiate a peace.

Can you help them to understand each other better?

Could they have a better relationship with each other?

What do they need from you?

What do you need from them?

You may want to keep this drawing for a while and look at it. After a few weeks, repeat the exercise
from the beginning. Draw a new flower, and then compare the results with the previous one.

This exercise allows you to acquaint yourself with your center. The subpersonalities are placed around
this central core. The function of the observer is to recognize the individual structures and their
interrelationships. Role playing and recurring patterns observable in daily life thus become visible. As
negotiator, the observer can serve to resolve their conflicts and so help to create better interrelationships among
the various parts.

Example 1: Elizabeth

Elizabeth is 37 years old, single, and works as a nurses' trainer in a small hospital in the countryside.
She is keenly aware of the inner conflicts preventing her from enjoying a different quality of life as well as a
relationship.

Name your six subpersonalities.

The Critic, the Wit, the Happy One, the Understanding One, the Pusher, and the Vigilant One.

Imagine your flower on the floor. Step into its center and look around you. Observe which
subpersonalities need more space than others.
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The differences are not very big, but the Wit takes up a little more space than the others.

Which ones are stronger?

The strongest ones are the Pusher and the Vigilant One. The Critic, the Wit and the Happy
One are about even. The Understanding One is the most undifferentiated.

Which ones support each other?

The Wit and the Happy One.

Which ones fight with each other?

The Pusher and the Vigilant.

Now try to talk with your subpersonalities and to mediate among them. How can you help them better
understanding each other?
The Vigilant One and the Pusher decide what is good for me and the Pusher suggests rather
than commands it to me. The Wit and the Happy One help the Critic. The Vigilant One and the Pusher
should not take themselves so seriously. They should be less rigid, more able to laugh. This
understanding allows me to accept all of them.

How can you create a better relationship with them?

I have to be very sincere, to learn to accept and to be grateful for everything they did for me. I
need to find their protective function and to acknowledge that and ask them lovingly to support me
with qualities appropriate to the present situation.

What do they need from you?

They would like to be seen, accepted, and loved. They would like to be acknowledged and
taken seriously.

What do you need from them?

I need their readiness to work together with me. I need their flexibility to change and to be
open to each other.

In this exercise Elizabeth tries to assess the strength of her subpersonalities as well as to recognize their
differences. To do this she has to observe their interactions. From the center, she mediates and, becoming
aware of their limiting behavioral patterns, gives them constructive advice.
In a therapeutic framework it is important to look at the two major opposing groupings: the Critic, the
Pusher, and the Vigilant One versus the Wit and the Happy One. Observing these closely can lead to seeing
which subpersonality activates another.

Example 2: George

George, a single 39 year old insurance representative, is an excellent talker and very successful in his
business. He wanted to learn more about himself after his two last relationships ended, both of his partners
leaving him without further explanation.

Name your six subpersonalities.

Nobody Loves Me, Fear of Authority, Mr. Bourgeois, the Competent Professional, the
Powerhungry One, and the Lustful One, the Dancer.
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Imagine your flower on the floor. Step into its center and look around you. Observe which
subpersonalities need more space than others.
No answer.

Which ones are stronger?

No answer.

Which ones support each other?

Nobody loves me, Fear of Authority, Mr. Bourgeois, the Professional, and the Powerhungry
One.

Which ones fight with each other?

The Lustful One and the Professional; Mr. Bourgeois and the Lustful One; Powerhungry and
Fear of Authority.

Now try to talk with your subpersonalities and to mediate among them. How can you help them better
understand each other?
I can make them aware of the polarities. For example, Powerhungry and Fear of Authority
versus Lustful and Mr. Bourgeois. I can help to mediate. The Professional would like to receive more
creativity from the Lustful One. If he complies, the Lustful One can discover new areas of activity.
Mr. Bourgeois needs the o.k. from Powerhungry to ask the Lustful One to help him.

How can you create a better relationship?

Through sensitivity and understanding.

What do they need from you?

More space and loving acknowledgment.

What do you need from them?

Reduced control, harmonious interaction among themselves, not fighting with each other.

In George’s psyche, three groupings of subpersonalities are in conflict with each other: Mr. Bourgeois
and Lustful; Powerhungry and Fear of Authority; Lustful and the Professional. In his role as a mediator,
George recognizes their polar opposition, as with, for example, Powerhungry and Fear of Authority or Lustful
and Mr. Bourgeois. More, he is prepared to acknowledge them and to give them space. This represents the first
step towards acceptance. In a therapeutic setting, initially each subpersonality could be worked with
independently and in depth. Also, the conflict of Powerhungry and Fear of Authority, once accepted, could
create a change in the dynamic interaction of all of the parts.

Example 3: Martha

Martha, a 40 year old psychiatrist, is married, teaches at a university, and has a successful private
practice. Her deep wish is to bring more quality into her daily life, both socially as well as with her partner.
 28

Name your six subpersonalities.

The Reasonable One, the Warrior, the Sensualist, the Poor Nagging Aunt, the Frustrated
Gypsy, the Loner.

Imagine your flower on the floor. Step into its center and look around you. Observe which
subpersonalities need more space than others.
The Reasonable One takes most of the space. She influences and controls all the others.

Which ones are stronger?

The Warrior and the Frustrated Gypsy contain a lot of the energy. So does the Nagger. The
clearest images are the Sensualist and the Reasonable One, and also the Loner.

Which ones support each other?

The Warrior and the Sensualist want to go ahead, to force forward. The Nagger and the
Frustrated Gypsy support each other indirectly by blocking the whole movement forward, and the
Loner blocks too, but he has the same goal as the Reasonable One, to continue to develop.

Which ones fight with each other?

The Reasonable One supports the blocking of the Frustrated Gypsy. It also controls the
Warrior and the Sensualist. They are unable to live their potential. The Nagging One can overcome
the Reasonable One. She also can overcome the Sensualist and so disperses the power of the Warrior
in all directions, so that it becomes totally inefficient.

Now try to talk with your subpersonalities and to mediate among them. How can you help them better
understand each other?
Certain very powerful subpersonalities need a little more discipline and guidelines so that their
qualities can be properly expressed. The Reasonable One could withdraw a little. The Loner can only
open up when the "house is stable," so to say. I need to know the Frustrated Gypsy better.

How can you create a better relationship?

Except for the Nagging One, I believe that I have a relatively accepting attitude towards all of
them. I would like especially to introduce the Powerful Warrior, the Sensualist, and the Loner into my
daily life. I have seen that the Nagger can be transformed into an actor or active person, and I am
looking forward to seeing the positive powers of the Gypsy – for example, music, dance, magic-mystic
thoughts, flexibility, and letting go.

What do they need from you?

The Reasonable One needs for me to develop my emotional world. The Loner needs to know
that I am able to be in my center more often. And the Frustrated Gypsy needs me to give it permission
to exist. The Warrior needs a goal. The Complaining One needs clarity about daily problems,
permission to express these qualities without exaggerating too much or causing any damage.

What do you need from them?

The Reasonable One needs to give me a clear picture of the present situation without fear and
acquiescence. The Loner needs to place less demands on me; he needs to let me participate more in
his light and inner quietude. The Frustrated Gypsy can slowly accept the fact that she is freed and now
get to know the other subpersonalities. I would like to have the Warrior on my side and to learn some
Aikido or Karate and stop going through walls with my head. The complaining part should focus its
 29

energy and use it properly. The Sensualist can help me to take things a little easier, to appreciate when
I am in privileged situations and to see the beauty in nature and in other human beings.

Martha here has become aware of the power held in her psychodynamic structures and now recognizes
her fear of the energy contained in this power. Her reasonable part controls the energy of both the Gypsy and
the Warrior. It would be helpful for Martha to learn to accept her fear. In following through sessions, Martha’s
powerful energies contained in the subpersonalities could be allowed to flow as a part of her natural life energy.

Example 4: Joe

Joe, a computer specialist, is 39 years old and has a reasonably well functioning marriage but feels a
deep discontent with his job and workplace. He is searching for ways and means to find the strength to change
his job and to find a vocation through which he can express more of himself.

Name your six subpersonalities.

The Patient One, the Holy One/Preacher, the Pacifist, the Eternal Seeker, the Recalcitrant, and
the Teacher/ Genius.

Imagine your flower on the floor. Step into its center and look around you. Observe which
subpersonalities need more space than others.
The Holy Preacher, the Teacher/Genius and the Pacifist seem much bigger. The Eternal
Seeker is not very clearly visible.

Which ones are stronger?

The Patient One, the Recalcitrant and the Pacifist have very strong structures.

Which ones support each other?

The Holy Preacher and the Teacher/Genius work intensively together, but the Patient One and
the Pacifist also have a good working relationship. The Recalcitrant and the Eternal Seeker conflict
with each other. But the Pacifist doesn’t allow these conflicts and tensions to become visible.

Which ones fight with each other?

None of the subpersonalities fight each other.

Now try to talk with your subpersonalities and to mediate among them. How could you help them
better understand each other?
When I worked with the "Self" and the subperso-nalities, the "Self" offered the
subpersonalities its help and its aid. The "Self" granted acceptance to the Patient One. The observer
advised the Patient One that the quality of having time and being patient has two sides to it: one is to
have time and the other one is that time flows and, therefore, will be gone forever. Having this insight,
the Patient One can now begin to have the courage to work with the Eternal Seeker. Both can
complement the other well. Also, in the act of living out conflicts the observer makes the Pacifist
aware that a different type of harmony may arise. Facing conflicts in a loving way means gaining more
insights. This will assist all subpersonalities to grow, especially the Eternal Seeker. The Recalcitrant
One is taken into the arms of the observer, and the observer gives him the right to live and to be. This
 30

particular constellation allows plenty of room for growth and recognition. It is beautiful that this part
can be allowed to be. Similarly, the observer tells the Preacher that his love and caring is always
welcome. He should simply focus more on their qualities and less on preaching. The Preacher's fear of
not having enough love is calmed by the observer’s promise that it will give him the love he needs.
The observer thanks the Teacher/Genius for the protection given in childhood, protection from being
the underdog. The observer acknowledges that his intelligence and ability to adapt are very useful, but
points out that his own intellect has not yet allowed him to recognize his own potential for growth.

How can you create a better relationship?

By increasing mutual acceptance and loving attention, I can initiate constructive respectful
dialogue. This will change both their interrelationships and my relationship with them as well.

What do they need from you?

They need me to guide them, to recognize them and support them in becoming aware of the
present and future roles they can play in my life. They welcome my help in helping themselves and my
loving support and acceptance.

What do you need from them?

I need their openness. Their readiness to develop and their actual development and mutual
acceptance is my chance to unfold my inner potential.

Here Joe discovers the inability of his subpersonalities to allow or to face a conflict. They support each
other to avoid conflicts, and so they have created a false harmony. Joe mediates among his subpersonalities and
is able to begin to change their relationships. He is aware that he needs to take responsibility and has to guide
the development of his qualities and the growth of his parts in the future.
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Fifth example: Anne

Anne, a 32 year old economist, is the mother of a young daughter. She wants to go back to work as
soon as possible in order to experience herself once again as a professional.

Name your six subpersonalities.

The Child, the Wounded Healer, the Controlling One, the Authoritarian One, the Questioning
One, the Freedom Fighter.

Imagine your flower on the floor. Step into its center and look around you. Observe which
subpersonalities need more space than others.
The Child needs a lot of space, as do the Wounded Healer and the Questioning One.

Which ones are stronger?

The Controlling One is very strong; she is becoming increasingly aware of her manipulating
aspects. The Wounded Healer, the Questioning One, and the Authoritarian One are also becoming
more aware of their roles, and they, too, are quite strong. The Child and the Freedom Fighter are less
structured.

Which ones support each other?

The Freedom Fighter, the Wounded Healer, and the Child.

Which ones fight with each other?

The Controlling One and the Freedom Fighter fight each other. The Questioning One and the
Authoritarian One are in conflict as are the Child and the Authoritarian One.

Now try to talk with your subpersonalities and to mediate among them. How can you help them better
understand each other?
I can see myself as a mediator between the subpersonalities. I try to explain that they need
each other to develop each one’s own potential, and that it would be in their own best interest to work
closely together since they can support each other very well.

How can you create a better relationship?

I am starting to learn to accept them fully and let them know that I do so. By turning towards
them and getting involved in a dialogue, I can get to know and understand them more and more.

What do they need from you?

They need me to know them much better and make them my friends. They also need me to
develop my understanding of them, so they can become helpful tools with whom I communicate and
show my gratitude.
What do you need from them?
I need their support so that they can help me to resolve my daily tasks in a very concrete way.
Each task resolved will lead me further in my inner growth.

Anne becomes aware here of the inner conflict between the Controlling One and the Freedom Fighter
as well as of the battle between the Child and the Authoritarian One. She recognizes the importance of
acceptance to stimulate the learning process of the individual parts. A better and deeper understanding of her
 32

subpersonalities will allow more of her hidden positive qualities to emerge in the future and to become useful
tools in her everyday life.

The Temple of Silence

As we all know too well, it is not easy to find inner and outer silence today. In the following exercise,
however, subpersonality work is connected with a silence which can be experienced in order to access the "Wise
Inner Being."
This exercise allows us to contact the quality of silence and to contemplate it. As we do so,
subpersonalities are put in touch with the "Wise Being," an energy of the "Superconscious" (Assagioli, 1988).
Very often, without using any other additional methods of transformation, the energy of the superconscious
alone can affect old psychodynamic structures!

Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Perhaps you would like to put some paper
and pencils next to you to take some notes. Seat yourself comfortably and close your eyes. Then take a
deep breath and allow yourself begin to relax.

Imagine that you are in a beautiful meadow in a lush forest at the foot of a mountain. It is a
lovely sunny day. You can feel the warmth of the sunshine on your skin. A path leads to the top of the
mountain. When you look towards the top you can see a temple.

You may want to go up the mountain; the path is not very steep. As you go higher, the air
becomes progressively clearer and lighter.

When you arrive at the top, take a moment to allow yourself to become aware of the silence
and the quietude present. Each cell of your body can feel this silence. As you slowly approach the
entrance to the temple, the silence becomes stronger. Your feelings, emotions, and thoughts seem to
automatically quiet down.

Perhaps you would like to enter the temple. Sunlight pours through an opening in the roof at
the center. This sunlight too evokes a pronounced feeling of deep silence. Take as much time as you
like.

If you look up to where the sunlight is streaming, you can see a small staircase leading to the
entrance to a roof terrace. You may want to go up onto the terrace and into the sunlight. If you wish,
turn towards the sun. Allow yourself to feel the warmth and energy it provides. Take as much time as
you want.

Perhaps you would like to call one of your most important subpersonalities and ask it to come
up the staircase and join you on the terrace. Invite it to enjoy the sunlight next to you. Simply observe
what happens when both of you stand in the warmth of the light.

The face of a "Wise Being" may appear in the sun looking lovingly at you. You can feel this
love emanating towards you. Perhaps it has something to tell you. Or maybe you would like to ask it
some questions.

You can initiate a dialogue with this "Wise Being." Ask it what your next step is concerning
the development of your subpersonality. Maybe you would like to ask the "Wise Being" to assist you.

When you sense that the conversation is completed, ask the "Wise Being" to envelope you and
your subpers-nality with light and love and warmth.

Be aware of any changes between you and your subpersonality.

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You might want to thank the "Wise Being" and say good bye to it. Slowly move back down the
staircase and walk back down the mountain path.

Feel your body, moving your hands and feet before you open your eyes.
You may wish to take a few notes of what happened up on the mountain and to ask yourself
how the experience of the silence, the sun, and the "Wise Being" influenced your relationship to your
subpersonality.

Did anything change in the sunlight?

If something changed, how can you apply it in your daily life?

The previous exercise helps to evoke and stimulate deep relaxation through visualization of a natural
environment with peaceful surroundings and sunshine. Climbing to the temple on top of the mountain allows us
to get in touch with the dimension of the superconscious. The quality of silence is of particular significance. A
second climb up the staircase onto the roof of the temple and into the sunlight, experienced bodily via
imagination, facilitates contact with the "Wise Inner Being." This source of information, guidance, and inner
wisdom is always available. Simply creating the time to expose a subpersonality to the influence and energies
of the superconscious is often sufficient for deep transformation.

HOW TO RELATE TO SUBPERSONALITIES

Questions and Answers

In Psychosynthesis the subpersonalities can be worked with through inner dialogue. One of the
techniques used is to imagine a subpersonality and to initiate dialogue. This is a customary technique in
Psychosynthesis therapy, said to originate with Roberto Assagioli.
The following questions were developed to lead to better knowledge of the subpersonality.

1. What is your purpose?

2. Why are you here?
3. What do you want from me?
4. What do you need from me?
5. What do you have to offer me?
6. What are you protecting me from?

The first question "What is your purpose?" allows the subpersonality to inform us about the purpose of
its existence and to see if that purpose is in harmony with the direction in life we would like to take consciously.
Is the subpersonality’s purpose helpful to us in realizing our potential, or is its purpose opposed to our conscious
goals, interests, and ideals?

The question "Why are you here?" informs us about the actual activity of the subpersonality. The
answer to this question affords access to valuable information about its actions. Are these actions supportive of
the conscious personality, or do they obstruct it from fully expressing itself?
The next question "What do you want from me?" offers us insights into the hopes and wishes of the
subpersonality. As observers we become aware of the demands of the subpersonality and their expression
(sometimes against the will of the personality) in daily life.
 34

"What do you need from me?" reveals the underlying actual needs of the subpersonality. The answer
allows us to become aware of the secret longings buried within the subpersonality and whether or not the
personality can fulfill these.

"What do you have to offer me?" shows us the hidden qualities of the subpersonality. These qualities
are present and can be made accessible to the personality. Simultaneously, they make us aware both of the
possibilities of transformation within the subpersonality and its potential effect on the personality.

"What are you protecting me from?" gives us insight into the motivation of the subpersonality.
Although its original motivation is to protect us, the ways and means it chooses to do so, unfortunately, often
leave much to be desired. The subpersonality often produces a reaction opposite to its original intent.
Recognizing its original protective function, though, is extremely helpful, especially in attempting to deal with a
difficult and uncomfortable subpersonality with genuine understanding and compassion. Acceptance of
seemingly unacceptable qualities can result from this and can lead to increased understanding of very difficult
and negative parts of our personality. Such understanding and direct confrontation is the most direct and loving
way to soften and to transform rigid structures.

Dialoguing with Subpersonalities

In the following examples the questions detailed above are applied to actual subpersonality work. The
participant visualizes one subpersonality. Through inner dialoguing the standard six questions are addressed to
the subpersonality, and it replies. (Sometimes it takes a while before a subpersonality gives a reply, so if you
choose to work in this way be sure to allow ample time for responses.) This inner dialoguing gives precise and
detailed information about the subpersonality structure, its purpose, needs, wants, hidden qualities, and
protective functions. It offers a very direct way to get to know one’s inner parts.

Example 1: George

George, a cook by profession, is a gentle, softspoken young man of 27 years. He has quite a lot of
hobbies, such as rowing, skiing, and computers. Based on the previous exercise, " The Center and Our Parts,"
George chose one subpersonality out of the six to relate more deeply to by asking detailed questions.

Choose a subpersonality.
The Dancer, the Happy One.

What is your purpose?

To experience joy of life, creativity, the ability to enjoy life.
 35

Why are you here?

I act in opposition to Mr. Everyone.

What do you want from me?

I need more space, less work, and more enjoyment.

What do you need from me?

Attention, caring, time, and space in your everyday life, as well as at work.

What do you have to offer?

I offer you joy of life, movement, creativity, and the know-how to live playfully.

What are you protecting me from?

I protect you from becoming stiff and rigid and depressed.

In this exercise the Dancer, a lighthearted subpersonality, shows itself to George. It wants to express
fun and dancing in order to balance the subpersonality of Mr. Everyone (George's conforming part). The
Dancer asks for more time and space, less work, and the opportunity to enjoy life. Its true needs are attention,
acknowledgment, and caring. To nurture this quality, George could learn how to dance, for example, or he
could let the dancer dance daily in his imagination. Once these needs are met, its joy of life, movement, and
creativity could become more accessible and could be integrated more readily into George's daily life.
 36

Example 2: Susan

Susan is a very emotional young woman of 23, with a very domineering mother. When beginning her
therapy, she asked to work on her relationship with her mother. During our work together she focused on the
subpersonality of the Cautious One, feeling she needed to get to know that part of herself better.

Choose a subpersonality
The Cautious One.

What is your purpose?

To see that you don’t take on too much.

Why are you here?

To protect you from a breakdown.

What do you want from me?

To be listened to.

What do you need from me?

Your acceptance, to be taken seriously.

What do you have to offer?

A peaceful, more balanced, simple life. A forward progression that’s straight ahead, without
treacherous highs and lows.

What are you protecting me from?

I protect you from losing your physical health.

Susan then interjected at this point, saying, "The subpersonality disturbs and frustrates me
quite a bit. I can not give it the acceptance it needs. I do see, however, that it really means well, so I
can thank it and make it aware that it protects me too much. We agree that we will find a way to work
together."

In working with this exercise Susan discovers a part of herself which she aptly names the Cautious
One. This subpersonality protects her from taking on too much. Its main interest is to prevent Susan from
having a breakdown. The Cautious One needs to be heard as well as taken seriously and wants to be accepted.
Her gift or hidden quality which she can add to Susan’s life is a peaceful rhythm without too many highs and
lows. Susan has indicated that she can accept this subpersonality and is willing to begin to work with.

Example 3: Betty

Betty, a 55 year old high school teacher, has gone into early retirement after thirty years of teaching.
She is a very shy, slim woman, afraid of taking up too much space. This subpersonality work took place after
replaying an incident which occurred at her doctor's office.

Choose a subpersonality.
Being in the Wrong Place.
 37

What is your purpose?

(A very long pause, unbroken by any response whatsoever.)

Why are you here?

(Another extended silence.)

What do you want from me?

(More silence.)

What do you need from me?

Loving attention.

What do you have to offer?

The feeling of being very special.

What are you protecting me from?

I protect you from being too much in demand.

Betty then interrupted at this point saying, "I guess that 'Being in the Wrong Place' needs
loving acceptance and attention from me. It wants to be held and taken into my arms. In my mind I am
doing this now. The tension between us is dissolving – I can experience it physically. She is looking
at me for the first time, and I am able to hold her lovingly. It feels wonderful."

Although Betty tries to get to know "Being in the Wrong Place," the subpersonality at this point is not
very willing to share information about itself. It is able, however, to let Betty know of its needs for acceptance
and caring. In the visualization, Betty finally embraces it, though, and experiences a bona fide physical release
of tension in her body as a direct result.

Example 4: Vivian

Vivian, a slightly overweight young woman of 35, works as a counselor in a city agency with abused
teenagers. An abused child herself, she has been working on her own healing for a long time. After observing
herself in a office situation, she got in touch with the subpersonality of the Disorderly One.

Choose a subpersonality
The Disorderly One. She looks like a confused teenager sitting in an untidy room full of
smoke.

What is your purpose?

To bring life into this room, to throw a few things around and prevent it from becoming too
fixed and rigid.

Why are you here?

To shake you awake, to confuse you so you start thinking anew. I protest against everything
fixed and rigid, especially the tightness in you and around you.

What do you want from me?

I want you to stay with me in this chaos, accept it, and find it o.k.
 38

What do you need from me?

I need someone who walks alongside me and helps me to understand this chaos. There are so
many questions in me which need to be answered. I want you to understand and acknowledge that I
have something valuable to offer.

What do you have to offer?

I can help you to find life’s natural order and to be much more relaxed.

What are you protecting me from?

From the tightness, rigidity, and fixation you tend toward instead of relaxing and letting go as
you should.

In this session, the untidy teenager, chaotic and disorderly, appears. It sees its life purpose as the
prevention of fixation and rigidity in Vivian's responses. It wants to wake Vivian up and shake her, to help her
to reflect and, simultaneously, to remain "together" (i.e., integrated) in chaos. Its true needs, however, appear
quite different. This subpersonality in fact longs to understand the chaos and needs acknowledgment for her
gifts. Once these needs are satisfied, her hidden qualities could emerge more fully, and could bring Vivian a
flexibility and fluidity she hasn't as yet truly experienced.
 39

Example 5: Charles

Charles, a 52 year old father of four, works as an executive of a manufacturing company. He entered
therapy with the goal of increasing his communication skills. During a session in which he reviewed a board
meeting, he got in touch with a subpersonality which he dubbed the Super-Clever One.

Choose a subpersonality.
The Super-Clever One.

What is your purpose?

I cannot let you know my purpose. But physically I immediately feel a distinct tightness in
my neck when I breathe. And my larynx feels as if it is closing down. The subpersonality feels kind of
ashamed.

Why are you here?

(No answer.)

What do you want from me?

With this question, my larynx and neck tighten again. The subpersonality answers, "I am
looking for structure and support."

What do you need from me?

I need acknowledgment, recognition, space. (Charles interjected, "Simultaneously, I
experienced a strong physical feeling of expansion and space as the Super-Clever One said that.")
 40

What do you have to offer?

Knowledge and experience.

What are you protecting me from?

I help you not to feel like the underdog.

In this exercise Charles begins to open a dialogue with his Super-Clever subpersonality. When
focusing on this part he experiences physical symptoms such as a lack of breath and tightness. The
subpersonality believes that it wants structure and support; however, what it really needs is acknowledgment,
recognition, and room to expand. Knowledge and experience are its hidden qualities which, once
acknowledged, could be a tremendous asset at the disposal of Charles' conscious personality.

Recognizing Distorted Qualities

Subpersonalities, with all their positive and negative aspects, carry within them hidden qualities which
can be made available to the personality. How these qualities can be recognized and discovered will be shown
in the next exercise. It is sometimes very difficult to discover a hidden positive quality in a negative
subpersonality. It is important to note, though, that the opposite of the negative aspect embodied by the
subpersonality is not its hidden quality. Rather, the hidden quality is to be found between both extremes. It is
not the opposite of its manifested qualities, but rather an inherent gift which the subpersonality has to offer.
To express the new quality, to experience it and to reinforce it, opens new horizons and new
possibilities both for changing the behavior of the subpersonality and for transforming future behavioral patterns
through its acceptance. These transformations can profoundly affect our private, familial, and professional
lives.

In the following exercise, the focus is on a subpersonality and its distorted qualities. Its purpose is to
discover inherent hidden qualities.

Perhaps you would like to have a pen and paper handy. Take a deep breath and begin to relax, closing
your eyes and turning your inner focus towards your subpersonality.

What would you like to name it?

When and where do you meet this subpersonality in your daily life?

Become aware of your physical sensations and feelings.

What does this subpersonality protect you from?

What are its distorted qualities?

What are its opposite qualities?

What are its hidden qualities?

How would it be if you could actually manifest these qualities?

 41

How would your life change if you could fully express or live out these hidden qualities?

How would it change your relationship, your partnership, your family, and/or your environment?

Allow yourself to feel this possibility in your body and see yourself living this quality.

Once consciously recognized in daily life, the subpersonality is first given a name in this exercise.
Then we try to unearth its distorted and hidden qualities. The hidden qualities are reinforced and experienced as
already existent in the body. This experience is intensified through imagining how this would affect and change
one’s life, relationships, and environment.
Once these inherent hidden qualities are awakened in a subpersonality, they can be supported and
activated in daily life. These new qualities can also be reinforced by being contemplated in meditation. This
type of subpersonality work highlights the distorted, opposing, and the hidden qualities. Five examples follow
to show how vastly different these qualities can be.
 42

Example 1: Lynn

Name the subpersonality.

The Powerless.

When and where do you meet this subpersonality in your daily life?
It comes into play when I get the feeling that something I have done or that I am talking about
is being put down or destroyed by others.

Become aware of your physical sensations and feelings.

My thoughts and my head turn, my fists are weak and rubber-like. I feel powerless and
speechless.

What does this subpersonality protect you from?

(No answer.)

What are its distorted, opposite, and hidden qualities?

Distorted qualities Opposite qualities Hidden qualities

I have no right to my own Others have no right to I have an opinion,

opinion. have their opinions. you have an opinion,
and both are opinions.

I am worthless. I am invaluable. I am I.

I would like to shake my I am shaking my I am becoming self-

opponent so that he/she/it opponent so that aware.
becomes aware of me. he/she/it becomes aware
of me.
I lack confidence I am overly confident. I can allow myself
some confidence.

My head is full of All my thoughts obsess All my thoughts are

thoughts which cannot be on the other person. available, and I can
articulated. articulate them.

I have rubber fists. My fists are made of I have fists and I may,
iron. if necessary, use
them.

I am powerless. I am omnipotent. I can give orders and

I can execute orders.

I am speechless. I am totally articulate at I can use language

all times. when I need to.

I have no chance against I am stronger than "the You may be bigger

"the big ones." big ones"! and stronger than I,
but I do have my own
value.

How would your life change if you could fully express or live out these hidden qualities?
 43

I would feel like I was resting within myself, accepted. I would feel I was acting from my
middle, my center, and therefore would not be vulnerable.
 44

How would it change your relationship, your partnership, your family, and/or your environment?
I need to be valued as a human being. I know out of my own personal experience that if
something truly has been transformed within me, it has a definite effect externally.
I just realized that when I have to talk to my father or husband I play this same role! Maybe it has to do
with fear of authority.

Example 2: Bob

Name the subpersonality.

The Leader.

When and where do you meet this subpersonality in your daily life?
It comes into action in situations where I am not in control. This could be in a group setting
where I am "only" a participant and not the leader. Or when I see resistance, when someone else has a
different opinion or wants to have things a different way. It is a feeling of powerlessness, of not being
loved.

Become aware of your physical sensations and feelings.

I feel a lot of tension and cramps in my stomach. I am hot and perspiring, and I have a strong
heart beat.

What does this subpersonality protect you from?

It protects me from making mistakes, from being a failure, and from facing unknown
situations unprepared.
What are its distorted, opposite, and hidden qualities?

Distorted qualities Opposite qualities Hidden qualities

Clear images and clear Vague ideas and images. A common path.
ideas.

Aggression. Passivity. Assertive activity.

Stubbornness. Indecisiveness. Being open and yet present,

a clear perspective.

Impose my will. Subordinate my will. Integrate both.

How would your life change if you could fully express or live out these hidden qualities?
(No answer.)

How would it change your relationship, your partnership, your family, and/or your environment?
(No answer.)
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Example 3: Allan

Name the subpersonality.

Fear of Authority.

When and where do you meet this subpersonality in your daily life?
In business, in classrooms, when encountering police and people who emanate a natural
authority, in a one-sided dependency situation, for example, with my boss or with certain business
people. Also, when specific behavior is expected (my own expectancy), for example, towards the
waiter in the very elegant restaurant or towards the facilitator when I am a participant in groups. When
I encounter people who seem secure and competent it is present as well.

Become aware of your physical sensations and feelings.

It hinders and blocks me. I am afraid that it separates me from my own creativity.

What does this subpersonality protect you from?

Originally, this subpersonality "bought" me love and recognition.

What are its distorted, opposite, and hidden qualities?

Distorted qualities Opposite qualities Hidden qualities

Conformity Idiosyncracy. Individuality.

Ignorance. Omniscience. I have my own critical

opinions.
Formality. Formlessness. My own form.

Loyalty. Disloyalty. Self-Assertion.

Stiff. Limp. Agile.

Yes-sayer. No-sayer. Own opinion.

How would your life change if you could fully express or live out these hidden qualities?
Just thinking about that makes my body react with tightness, my breath becomes tight, and my
buttock constricts.

How would it change your relationship, your partnership, your family, and/or your environment?
(No answer.)

Example 4: Penny

Name the subpersonality.

People-Pleaser and Superwoman.

When and where do you meet this subpersonality in your daily life?
She appears often in my private life, when I am with strangers, or when I am supposed to
participate in a conversation. She also appears with people I am not very familiar with or when a lot of
people are present and I am to be the center of attention, say the hostess of some event. She helps me
to present myself. I would say that this part helps me to communicate my presence to others. She
makes other people aware that I exist and gets me admiration and recognition. But she often prevents
 46

me from being myself with others, especially with those who could accept me for who and what I truly
am. She stands in the way of my relating deeply and closely. She uses lots of my energy, attention,
and emotional intensity.

Become aware of your physical sensations and feelings.

She prevents me from being myself and blocks me.
I feel fear; she separates me from my own creativity.

What does this subpersonality protect you from?

She protects me from making myself ridiculous, from making mistakes, and from my own
inabilities.

What are its distorted, opposite, and hidden qualities?

Distorted qualities Opposite qualities Hidden qualities

Overly communicative. Totally Open.

uncommunicative.

Noble. Base. Alive.

Knowing, intelligent. Naive, stupid. Becoming aware,

alert.

Arrogant. Submissive. To be myself, to be

human.

How would your life change if you could fully express or live out these hidden qualities?
I would no longer need this subpersonality. My relationships with people and friends would
be much closer to my gut. I would no longer be this idealized woman on a pedestal, untouchable.
People would approach me with ease, connect with me and hug me. It means that I would get what I
am looking for – love, warmth, and so forth. The feeling in my body is a connection between my belly
and my heart. As it is right now, this subpersonality provokes exactly the opposite of what I really
need.

How would it change your relationship, your partnership, your family and/or your environment?
(No answer.)

Example 5: Eva

Name the subpersonality:

The Whiner.

When and where do you meet this subpersonality in your daily life?
The Whiner is present in the office, especially when everyone expects me to finish their job
first, or when the necessary environment or right tools for work are missing. I complain, and I whine.
Sometimes this subpersonality appears with my boyfriend, when he expects me to act as an
emancipated partner which involves working in the garden and being a craftsman. It happens
especially when I am "supposed" to do something. People in authority always expect something of me
or I expect something of them. The subpersonality serves me well in that I remain passive and push
responsibility away from myself. She hinders me too, though, since she prevents me from thinking
properly and clearly about the work I am faced with, whether to refuse or accept it.

Become aware of your physical sensations and feelings.

 47

I lose my energy. It moves from my body to my neck, into this whining and complaining.
Often I feel that I am outside of myself.

What does this subpersonality protect you from?

It protects me from the pressure and demands others try to exert on me.

What are its distorted, opposite, and hidden qualities?

Distorted qualities Opposite qualities Hidden qualities

Complaining, whining. False cheer. Honest

Communication.

Defense. Vulnerability. Being open

Powerlessness. Omnipotence. Ability to act.

Rebellion. Conformity. Autonomy.

Demanding. Desireless. Express wishes
assertively.

Shirk responsibility. Being overly To be responsible for

responsible. myself.

Independent. Dependent. Self reliant.

Overtaxed. Undertaxed. Balanced.

Refusal. Acquiescent. Decisive.

How would your life change if you could fully express or live out these hidden qualities?
Right now, my body is tired. I have a straight, stiff neck, my upper pectoral vertebra are stiff
and I have rigid posture generally. If I express these hidden qualities, I may be open to the approaches
and demands of others. But I would be able to decide case by case what I would like to do and what I
can do and be responsible for. I would also be able to communicate my reasons for sometimes refusing
additional work and to express my own demands openly. Others would have a better understanding
and acceptance of me. I would communicate with them on the same level (mentally) instead of
emotionally. If I decide myself what to do, others will not put such great demands on me. The
mountain of "I shoulds" will disappear.
 48

How would it change your relationship, your partnership, your family and your environment?
(No answer.)

Note, that of the five examples given above, only one was able to answer the last question about the
effects of integrating the hidden qualities on relationships, family, environment and the like. These are highly
charged emotional areas. To be aware of both the subpersonality as it currently manifests and its hidden
qualities, how it can potentially manifest, will have positive effects on relationships, family, and environment
and naturally emerge in response to the question.

DEEPENING OF SUBPERSONALITY WORK

Psychotherapy often begins with the work on subpersona-lities as they are present in everyday life.
This work can lead to profound changes in our relationship with ourselves as well as with others as we have
seen. Once the faculties of the observer, disidentification, and identification, are awakened, the "Self" can
become more consciously available to the individual. The qualities of loving attention and acceptance are also
more accessible. At this point, we can consider deepening the subpersonality work in order to rediscover the
roots of early psychodynamic structures and to attempt to transform them.
These early structures need to be approached with great care and gentleness. They contain a wide
range of feelings, often characterized by deep pain and suffering. An organic process of development is needed
to support the transformation of these structures in their own rhythm and time, when they are ready to be
transformed. Each individual follows their own inherent rhythm of growth and process of becoming whole. It
is the role of the therapist to focus on this rhythm, to follow and support it, not to force it. Once the deep
underlying individual rhythm of transformation is recognized, an unwavering trust in the process can be
established , one which honors an organic opening of the structure at the right time and in the appropriate
rhythm. This allows the personality to access the emotions contained here, to live through them, and ultimately
to set them free.
At this point gentle, loving acceptance is of utmost impor-tance. The opening which occurs creates
enormous vulnerability. But loving acceptance can embrace, hold, and interweave the pain with an abiding
love. This eventually transforms the pain and allows it to develop a new healing dimension. There is an
immense difference between returning to old pain in the old way numerous times and turning towards it lovingly
and acceptingly: this acceptance, an act of love, is in itself a transformation. (Acceptance may also mean that
one cannot as yet turn lovingly towards the pain of the subpersonality.)
This understanding is based on an awareness of the "Self," our inner source which flows through us and
stimulates us to constant growth and transformation.

The "Inner Child"

The "Inner Child" is a psychodynamic structure of the individual psyche which is close to the center of
the personality. It contains among other traits the hidden qualities of creativity and joy. Working on and
reawakening the "Inner Child" is one of the main challenges in therapy.
Work with the "Inner Child" can be applied in all the phases of childhood development. In the
following chapters this work is shown relating to the autistic-symbiotic and the practicing phases of childhood.
Emotional and physical abuse and traumata in early childhood need intensive attention, love, and patience to
heal. Eventually, this will enable the "Inner Child" to reexperience joy and creativity.
Practical application of subpersonality techniques shows that with time traumata can be lovingly accepted and
thus become accessible and open to transformation.
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The "Inner Parents"

Creativity repressed by various traumata throughout the different stages of our prenatal and
developmental growth can be made available once again. The "Inner Mother" and "Inner Father," that is, the
internalized early caretakers, are crystallized psychodynamic structures. They are often the obstacles and,
simultaneously, the steps of growth on a path towards rediscovering the creativity of the "Inner Child."
Unfortunately, the "Inner Parents" too often obstruct the healing process of the "Inner Child."
The "Inner Father" and the "Inner Mother" are often unable to accept the "Inner Child." They need
transformation themselves in order to do so. Sometimes it may happen that they are resistant to change. In that
case we can use ourselves to "re-father" or "re-mother" the "Inner Child." The interiorized and
crystallized triad of child, mother, and father needs transforming in order to allow the "Inner Child" a new
environment: security, safety, stimulation – and, ultimately, its latent creativity.
A new inner environment in which the child can become healthy opens a whole new perspective on the
behavior of the adult. It affects the wholeness of the individual psyche as well as its interrelation with the
environment. The child's past is lovingly accepted and a different, more wholesome one is imaginatively
constructed.
Past conditioning determines the future direction of the child’s development. It is most encouraging to
realize that building a different past for the "Inner Child" leads into a dramatically different future for the adult.

Developmental Stages and Subpersonality Work

Early childhood experiences and its various developmental stages can be made conscious and worked
with systematically. Traditionally, they have been systematized as follows:

0 - birth in utero prenatal phase

1 - 2 months autistic phase
2 - 6 months symbiosis
6 - 10 months individuation, differentiation
10 - 15 months practicing
15 - 22 months rapproachment
22 - months object constancy, consolidation
(Mahler, 1981)

In the developmental phases which follow we see the possibility of in depth work with
subpersonalities. The first exercise in the examples focuses on specific behaviors in the autistic and symbiotic
phases. These examples offer insights and bring to conscious awareness which particular circumstances and
reactions during the autistic and symbiotic phases caused which behaviors. The second exercise explores the
phase of practicing.
In both exercises the first step is becoming aware of one’s own behaviors. The symptoms caused by
various circumstances during the early developmental stages are signs suggesting the optimal path towards
wholeness. Techniques and exercises can be developed which are tailored to deal specifically with healing these
symptoms. Through repetition, old feelings from the past are changed. This in turn elicits different behavior in
the present and future and demonstrates how the symptoms and patterns of early traumata and conditioned
behavior can, indeed, be changed.
This, of course, is only possible if the individual is ready to accept the pain and suffering which are
held within the psychodynamic structures. It presupposes both a trained observer and the ability to identify with
the "Self." The "Self" is ready to turn towards this early pain and suffering and to acknowledge the child, giving
it love, security, and safety. Although it is not easy to turn towards a wounded, angry and suffering part and
accept it lovingly, it is this very love which allows deep inner healing to take place. If this process is facilitated,
love and inner acceptance of the wounded child will automatically express itself externally in behavior with
others. Once lovingly accepted, the psychodynamic structure becomes softer and more malleable allowing pent
up emotions formerly repressed and restrained to flow again freely. Through repetition, a new structure can be
built which allows creativity to flow in cooperation with the personality.
Patience and perseverance are needed in this process. Once the structures are changed, they can be released
from intense focus and allowed to return into the unconscious. Nonetheless, their changed attitude and
expression will be reintegrated into the personality proper.
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Autistic-Symbiotic Phase

The autistic-symbiotic phase is recalled through guided inner attunement. It is an intensive process and
may well lead to deep emotional release. By lovingly accepting the needs of the "Inner Child" this emotional
release can be elevated into a healing process. Individuals then develop their own healing methods which,
through repetition and affirmation, reinforce the healing.
The specific exercise included below is focused on the autistic-symbiotic phase (1 to 6 months). It
facilitates discovery of basic patterns of the personality which have their origin during this period of
development. As the feelings and emotions contained in the psychodynamic structures are lovingly held and
accepted, they are reexperienced, relived, and finally released. The client is empowered to develop her/his own
healing plan and to apply it regularly. The client thus takes responsibility for her/his own growth.
Work with the early developmental phases can be systema-tically applied to all the different
developmental phases. It leads to the very origin of important personality structures and their need to be
unconditionally loved in order to transform. Each client carries the requisite information for her/his own healing
process within. It is the therapist's job to support this warmly and to allow and follow the client's unique rhythm
of growth. In this context, healing translates to fulfil these needs which remained unfulfilled in childhood. Such
profound healing can be done only by the individual. Unfulfilled, these needs will always be projected outward
onto a partner who is clearly unable to fulfill them.
During the autistic and symbiotic phase the experiences of childhood are anchored in the body's
sensations and feelings. Consequently, they must be approached through physical sensations and feelings in
order to be open to transformation. Each cell in the body carries emotional and structural memories; each cell,
therefore, needs to release them.

Perhaps you would like to close your eyes now, take a deep breath, in and out, and allow yourself to be
carried back through time. Allow your physical sensation/feeling to carry you back to the time when
you were lying at your mother’s breast or in the arms of a primary caretaker. Give yourself permission
to feel the sensation.

Maybe you are sucking right now.

What sensations and feelings does this evoke in you?

What do you feel? Are you comfortable or uncomfortable?

How is it to feel the physical closeness of the caretaker or the mother?

Do you have enough time?

Do you feel safe?

Are you satisfied?

Now bring yourself back slowly, feel your body, and take a deep breath before opening your eyes.

Take an inventory.

What particular feelings and sensations from that time evoke what type of reactions in your body?

What subpersonality you are aware of today that may be a result of this?

What needs to happen for your "Inner Child" to experience different feelings?

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

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Example 1: Sandy

Give yourself permission to feel that you are lying at your mother’s breast or in the arms of your
primary caretaker.
My heart beats, fearful of the exercise. I feel very little. I don’t like the images appearing.

Perhaps you are sucking now?

I don’t have any specific desire to suck. I spit out the breast.

What feelings does this evoke in you?

Disgust of the milk and the physicality of the mother. I don’t want to drink.

What do you feel? Are you comfortable or uncomfortable?

My feelings are stale. Refusal, rejection.
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How is it to feel the physical proximity of the caretaker or mother?

I don’t need the physical closeness of the mother.

Do you have enough time?

She doesn’t push me, she is not even interested. She doesn’t hold me close.

Do you feel safe?

Neither safe, nor unsafe.

Are you satisfied?

I feel a gentle yearning for safety and security, but not with her.

Gently bring yourself back, become aware of your body and physical sensations, and take a deep
breath before you open your eyes.

Take an Inventory.
I am not hungry, I am not stimulated, I am not asked to drink. I reject the mother and her
physicality

Which feelings from that time evoke which reactions in you today?
I eat often without being hungry, just to eat, and I eat too much. I have no natural moderation
in my eating habits. I don’t listen to my body. I have problems with showing my femininity, and I
reject anything to do with being motherly.
 53

Which one of today’s subpersonalities originates from that time?

The one which yearns to be held and simultaneously doesn’t allow it except when she feels
very, very safe.

What needs to happen to change the feelings of the "Inner Child"?

I need to embrace it lovingly. I need to caress my "Inner Child," to talk gently with it, and let
it experience eye contact during nursing.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

I am going to learn to enjoy an embrace, enjoy sensuality. For example, I will practice
consciously feeling the wind on my skin. And I will try to eat slowly and to enjoy my food without
having interruptions.

In the previous exercise, Sandy becomes keenly aware of her rejection of her mother’s milk and
physicality. Definite structures of subpersonalities have emerged which have their origin in these early events.
These influence her present life to a considerable extent: it is difficult for her to feel emotions, to even be aware
of her physical body, or to express her femininity. She rejects anything to do with motherhood and has no
moderation in controlling her eating habits. Yet she experiences a deep yearning to give love and to be held.
Up until now, though, she has been incapable of doing so.
The next step for Sandy is to learn how to re-mother her "Inner Child." Through visualizations she can
now practice holding it lovingly in her arms, caressing it and talking gently to it. Both verbally and tacitly
through stroking it soothingly, Sandy can give it permission to feel its body. It will be important for her to keep
eye contact with it while breastfeeding in her imagination. This will give the "Inner Child" the sense of being
seen. Repeated over time these exercises will allow the "Inner Child" to develop different, more positive
reactions to food and physicality. Sandy will be able to perceive the impact of this on her present life quite
distinctly. She most probably will be able to allow and to enjoy physical embraces, to learn to eat sensuously
and slowly, and to live out her sensuality.

Example 2: Danny

Give yourself permission to feel that you are lying at your mother’s breast or in the arms of your
primary caretaker.
My whole body is warm and feels comfortable.

Perhaps you are sucking now?

I am sucking strongly and drinking the milk.

What feelings does this evoke in you?

I feel very tranquil and protected.

What do you feel? Are you comfortable or uncomfortable?

After sucking I feel a good tiredness.

How is it to feel the physical proximity of the caretaker or mother?

I am experiencing feelings of inner calm and safety.

Do you have enough time?

I feel that I have a lot of time. It’s like a feeling of non-existing time.
 54

Do you feel safe?

I feel very safe and protected.

Are you satisfied?

I am happy and satisfied.

Gently bring yourself back, become aware of your body and physical sensations, and take a deep
breath before you open your eyes.

Take an Inventory.
I experienced the autistic phase as very sensuous and with very comfortable physical
sensations and feelings.

Which feelings from that time evoke which reactions in you today?
Today, when I feel well fed and protected, I feel very safe, and I become very tired.

Which one of today’s subpersonalities originates from that time?

There are two subpersonalities: one is the Sensualist and the other one is the Lazy One.

What needs to happen to change the feelings of the "Inner Child"?

Nothing. I enjoy the feelings and feel good doing so.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

I would like to become more aware of these two subpersonalities and to give myself
permission to enjoy food more consciously and also to enjoy being tired.
Danny recognizes his experiences at his mother’s breast as both satisfying and very sensuous. The
subpersonalities which originate from this early childhood events seem to be quite acceptable to him. He likes
his Lazy One and his Sensualist.

Example 3: Jim

Give yourself permission to feel that you are lying at your mother’s breast or in the arms of your
primary caretaker.
I was a premature birth (less than seven months). All I see is a red light in a dark room.

Perhaps you are sucking now?

I have no idea. I feel sterile and alone.

What feelings does this evoke in you?

Everything seems so factitious. I have no feelings.

What do you feel? Are you comfortable or uncomfortable?

I don’t feel anything.

How is it to feel the physical proximity of the caretaker or mother?

There is no primary caretaker. If I think about physical closeness I see the face of my
grandfather over my bed (I was approximately six months old).

Do you have enough time?

I have nothing to say to that.

Do you feel safe?

The fear of being left alone, not to mention safety, is like a real thread running throughout my
whole life.

Are you satisfied?

I don’t know since I don’t feel anything.
 55

Gently bring yourself back, become aware of your body and physical sensations, and take a deep
breath before you open your eyes.

Take an Inventory.
Looking back at my life a major theme I now realize is the fear of being left alone. This is not
an accusation, but a fact. People always left me or died.
It was always very difficult to create a close emotional relationship with someone. Being too
close creates fear and is too much for me. To have boundaries means also to have lots of distance. It
doesn’t mean neighborhood. To build a relationship with someone was always an obligatory exercise,
rarely an affair of the heart.
"Mother" is a word with six letters for me. I never developed a true feeling for my body.
There is a numb and deeply hidden feeling somewhere of "I didn’t get enough." Basic trust in life is
missing. And if I feel any confidence, it is because I worked hard to gain it. I always have had a very
strong if diffuse fear of existence and life. A true and deep heart connection has been possible only
with my present partner. She never puts demands on me. She allows me my own rhythm and freedom.
She is a very peaceful being.
 56

Which feelings from that time evoke which reactions in you today?
Loneliness, being left alone, produces fear, mistrust, distrust and a lack of sensations in my
body. Also, I think that my old eating habits and gluttony can be placed there too.

Which one of today’s subpersonalities originates from that time?

There is a Functionalist who functions and pays attention to staying within carefully
prescribed boundaries. He is cold, he distrusts everyone, is egocentric and disciplined. He is a Loner
and can be alone very well.

What needs to happen to change the feelings of the "Inner Child"?

It needs physical attention and respect for its boundaries.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

The only thing I can do is to take the small child in my arms each day and tell him: "I am
your mother." I know that I’ll need to be able to bear its distrust, its coldness, and to accept it lovingly.
I’ll use the doll which sits on my couch. It is like getting a puzzle together. There are damaged pieces,
some are missing, but it is the picture of my child which falls into place. I will give it form, I will
develop it. Now it will be able to ask me for warmth if it needs to.

Here, Jim has become keenly aware of his loneliness and the absence of caretaking persons in his early
childhood. Because he was a premature birth, touch during that phase is unknown to him. Deep feelings of
emotional and physical loneliness are still leaving their imprints on his life as an adult. He also recognizes the
repetitiveness of this pattern; his daily life has a continual undercurrent of deep existential distrust and fear.
This expresses itself in a lack of contact with his physical body too. A major psychodynamic structure which
dominates him is the Functionalist, the Loner who likes to be alone. Jim’s path towards becoming whole may
be a life long exercise, and however slowly, he will be able to transform the Functionalist by practicing his
chosen technique for healing.

Example 4: Rita

Give yourself permission to feel that you are lying at your mother’s breast or in the arms of your
primary caretaker.
I am terribly hungry and experience great tension in my body.

Perhaps you are sucking now?

I am at my mother’s breast, but I can not find the nipple, and I am very hungry.

What feelings does this evoke in you?

I am hungry, and I cannot satisfy my needs. I am very impatient.

What do you feel? Are you comfortable or uncomfortable?

I have a great urge to eat. It is very uncomfortable to be hungry.
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How is it to feel the physical proximity of the caretaker or mother?

The physical proximity gives me a feeling of safety. I know I will get something from this
breast which will calm me down.

Do you have enough time?

After finally finding the nipple, I drink urgently, but I swallow the wrong way. At first I am
afraid I won’t get enough to eat. Later I have more time, and I know I don’t have to hurry that much.

Do you feel safe?

I feel carried and held by my mother, safe and well.

Are you satisfied?

I am satisfied, content and tired, full of food.

Gently bring yourself back, become aware of your body and physical sensations, and take a deep
breath before you open your eyes.

Take an Inventory.
I was so hungry that I didn’t find the nipple. I was afraid that the source of my satisfaction
would not be there.

Which feelings from that time evoke which reactions in you today?
Fear, helplessness, seeking, despair and hunger.
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Which one of today’s subpersonalities originates from that time?

The Fearful/Helpless One and the Seeker.

What needs to happen to change the feelings of the "Inner Child"?

It needs the help of the mother in holding the nipple to the child, so it doesn’t experience such
great hunger. It also needs the mother’s help to putting it properly to the breast in order not to search
so despairingly.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

As my "Inner Mother" I will take my child into my arms, lifting it out of its bed often, take it
to my breast and help it to find the breast. It will no longer be so desperate and no longer need to fear.
I will give the child the support and help it needs to suck properly.

Rita experienced safety and physical proximity during her autistic phase of early childhood
development. However, due to extreme hunger pangs and the fear of not getting enough milk, a subpersonality
which is helpless and afraid has emerged in her later life. But now Rita recognizes clearly the changes which
she needs to make in order to satisfy the needs of her "Inner Child." She will now re-mother her "Inner Child"
by guiding it to the nipple, the source of its frantic search. Though the use of regular visualizations, the "Inner
Child's" feelings of desperation can be transformed into well being. This transformation is primarily related to
physical sensations and needs to be reexperienced on this level to allow a change. The adult Rita can then let go
of her old "Inner Child."
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Example 5: Cindy

Give yourself permission to feel that you are lying at your mother’s breast or in the arms of your
primary caretaker.
I feel feelings of indifference.

Perhaps you are sucking now?

I finished sucking. I see the breast, my mouth is slightly opened around the nipple. I fall into
a twilight.

What feelings does this evoke in you?

Indefinable feelings, twilight, also emotional twilight. But I feel my mother would like to stop
nursing. She has had enough. She has to feed the other twin as well.

What do you feel? Are you comfortable or uncomfortable?

Neither one nor the other, neither comfort nor discomfort.

How is it to feel the physical proximity of the caretaker or mother?

I am at my mother’s breast but I don’t feel her body. It is the same in my life today: although
I have a physical relationship, I still cannot experience the sensuousness of my body.

Do you have enough time?

She gives me some time, but the feeling that I should stop now is ever present, the feeling of
being hurried.

Do you feel safe?

I neither feel safe nor especially unsafe.
Are you satisfied?
I don’t know what satisfied means. The feeling is "I am full”; that is it.

Gently bring yourself back, become aware of your body and physical sensations, and take a deep
breath before you open your eyes.

Take an Inventory.
There is no particular feeling connected to the experience of the mother’s breast, only a sense
of "my time is finished." Mother would like to put me away. There is no experience of physicality or
sensuousness.

Which feelings from that time evoke which reactions in you today?
The feeling of being hurried. I cannot take any more of my mother’s time, only the time
absolutely necessary to drink.

Which one of today’s subpersonalities originates from that time?

The Hurried One. Basically, in all of my activities I feel this rush without having an outer
reason. Behavioral patterns? If I ask someone to give me some of his time, the fear is always that he
will get tired of me. I am very alert to the smallest sign from another if he or she has had enough of
me. I react immediately to it, and I stop talking or asking anything.
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What needs to happen to change the feelings of the "Inner Child"?

She needs the time to be at the breast. To be there even when she has finished drinking. She
would like to feel the mother’s body, soft and warm. This would allow her to get in touch with and to
contact her own body. She would like to be played with and to be caressed.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

Inventory: I will hold my "Inner Child" after she has been nursing and gently rock her, play
with her little hands and legs, let her play with my hands, with my breast. I will caress her, hum
melodies to her, and allow her all the time she wants. I will be in a deep calm and relaxed state and
massage her body when she is awake.
In my daily life as an adult I will cream my body after each shower joyfully (until now I have
never creamed myself at all after a shower). I will allow myself to reflect afterwards and also after
some other sensual experiences I have. I have never permitted myself to do this yet. Now I want to
give this to myself.

In her autistic phase of childhood development Cindy clearly experienced her mother's distress in
nursing twins. This led to an underlying pattern of not being able to ask for time for herself. Her adult life has
been deeply impressed by the feeling of never having enough time, of having to constantly move over. The
early feeling of not having enough time disconnected her as a child from her bodily sensations and feelings. (In
the autistic phase especially, physical sensuality is developed by the closeness of the mother's body and the
feeling of being nursed and having one’s hunger satisfied.) Cindy never really experienced this. It is of utmost
importance to her, then, to relive this phase in order to allow the "Inner Child" access to sensuality. Naturally,
this will assist her as an adult to access her sensuality as well.
These missing experiences can be re-lived through visualization and corresponding physical sensations.
Cindy can, in this fashion, rock her "Inner Child," play with its body, hum to it, and give it all the time it needs.
In her visualization she can gently massage its body and, simultaneously, experience this in her own body as
well. These feelings could eventually be integrated beautifully into her life as an adult and could contribute
towards a growing sense of self-esteem.

Individuation and Practicing Phase

Bodily sensations related to emotions such as fear, safety, and freedom are of major importance in the
practicing phase of early childhood (10 to 18 months), during which time the child learns to walk. In order to be
transformed, the psychodynamic structures which are generated at these developmental stages need to be
worked with at their original formation. Since their recognition is primarily via bodily sensations and emotions,
the process of transformation and healing needs to include both. These levels need to be addressed directly in
order to release pent up energy stored in their cellular structure.
The questions that follow are designed to facilitate access to these structures:
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Perhaps you would like to close your eyes and allow yourself to move back to that moment in
your childhood when you first began to walk.

Where are you?

Where is your mother or caretaker?

How is it to stand up alone and walk?

What feelings and sensations are evoked by this?

How does your body feel?

How is your relationship to your primary caretaker?

Take an Inventory.

Which feelings evoke which reactions?

Do you recognize a subpersonality which originates from that time?

What would need to happen to allow your "Inner Child" to feel differently?

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

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Example 1: Cindy

Where are you?

I am on a stone terrace leading to our garden in front of our house. The stone is very cold.
My brother (my twin) is crawling on the floor. I pull myself up, and I can stand upright.

Where is your mother or caretaker?

Absent, somewhere in the house.

How is it to stand up alone and walk?

I do not experience a physical sensation that I can stand up.

What feelings and sensations are evoked by this?

I feel pride because I know I can do something mother has wanted from me for a long time.
She is tired of my dependency on her. She wants me to become indepen-dent, and now I am taking the
first step in that direction, independence. I feel pride because I will please her if I do so. And I feel
superior because I know something that my brother doesn’t know. I am better than my brother.

How does your body feel?

I feel this pride and superiority mainly in my head.

How is your relationship to your primary caretaker?

I am totally focused on my mother: I am doing something which will please her but since she
isn’t here, there is a feeling of painful solitude and loneliness.
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Take an Inventory.
The result, the experience of standing up, has been determined by fulfilling what someone else
wants. I have no feeling for my own experience of my body standing up. Instead, I have a huge
feeling of loneliness and solitude.

Which feelings evoke which reactions?

Feeling great inner loneliness, I withdraw totally within myself. I have to learn to walk early!
The feeling of needing to be independent, of not having permission to need help .... I see myself always
in relation to others instead of in relation to myself. The success, the result, counts, and I do not feel
my own reaction at all. I compare myself with my brother. Who does mother love more? During my
childhood, I don’t feel close to my brother.

Do you recognize a subpersonality which originates from that time?

I have a subpersonality which defines itself by the reactions it elicits from others. It is totally
dependent on recognition by them. For five years of my life (from the age of 23 to 28) my most
important emotional relationship was with a man who was rarely physically present. All my being, my
doing, my actions, and my thoughts were focused on him, and I was totally under his control through
the telephone.

What would need to happen to allow your "Inner Child" to feel differently?
The mother should be with the children, happy with the girl for standing up. The child has
made a new discovery, and it is a joyful one, because the mother is tired of the twins only being in the
crawling stage. She can be happy with the girl about her new developmental step. She also can be
happy with the boy that he can crawl and show him that it is all right if he is not yet ready to stand up.
Children and mother need to be in a place which is warmer and has more sun, a floor which is not so
cold.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

Inventory: I am with my "Inner Child" and with its twin in a warm sunny place. We are
happy together and we are joyfully appreciating what each can do, the crawling and the standing up. I
look at the children, and I move full of joy and lust. I am there for them.

Cindy recognizes basic experience patterns in her early childhood which are part of her life. She
knows only too well the feeling of always being pressured not to occupy too much space or to take up too much
room. All of her senses are attuned to pick up messages from others. Kim defines herself primarily by the
reactions of others. This psychodynamic structure forms the basis of her adult behavior. By unlearning and
restructuring her behavior in early childhood, she will be able to lessen her present day dependency on others
and acquire a new sense of self worth and concomitant self satisfaction.
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Example 2: Dorothy

Where are you?

At the end of a field, under a tent. I am alone. It’s raining.

Where is your mother or caretaker?

On the other side of the field. My parents are working with other people. They pick potatoes.

How is it to stand up alone and walk?

I am determined. I am defiant.

What feelings and sensations are evoked by this?

Clumsiness, joy, a feeling of "Oh, I know how to do it; I don’t have to sit still all the time."

How does your body feel?

I get a feeling of strength in my legs and in my head.

How is your relationship to your primary caretaker?

My relationship to my mother doesn’t feel good. I sense that she lets me sit there. My father
laughs heartily as I stand up.

Take an Inventory.
Standing upright and taking my first steps feels defiant. I have to show them over there that I
can do it. The circumstances are difficult: I try my first successful steps in the heavy earth of a potato
field. Maybe they are not as light-footed as they could be. I am reaching my limits. I am courageous,
but this courage takes a lot of energy!
Which feelings evoke which reactions?
The feeling of being left sitting there all alone provokes courageous defiance and
determination. But I also feel shame because I cannot walk yet. It is not easy. I am asking too much
of myself.

Do you recognize a subpersonality which originates from that time?

The Defiant One. Doing everything with lots of energy, pushing. Doing things too fast is a
guaranteed program for disappointment.

What would need to happen to allow your "Inner Child" to feel differently?
The child needs to be integrated into the family. Once in a while the parents should call the
child’s name, or sing to her, and take her to the other side of the field where they are. During a break,
someone should hold the child, walk a few steps with her, and show her the fruits of the field.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

I will allow myself to feel the child. She's bored. She is tall, but cannot walk yet, and she has
lots of energy at her disposal. She is totally alone, isolated from the others who are laughing and
having fun together. The child needs attention and laughter, to be called by name and included in the
social fabric of the community. As I am sitting with her as an adult, she is shy. Slowly she connects
with me, talks to me. She sings me a song, and we sing together. We take each other’s hands, get up
and turn in a circle. The child feels happy and accepted. She is no longer alone. She walks a few
steps, falls in the grass and laughs. There is always someone around her.

Through this experience, Dorothy becomes aware of the origin of a personal pattern, a psychodynamic
structure which acts too impulsively, applying undue energy and force. As an adult she still assumes that she
has to prove that childhood courage. Even now, the Defiant One consumes an enormous amount of her energy.
In this exercise, though, Dorothy has developed an effective visualization technique to transform that pattern.
Giving loving care and support to the child as it is trying its first steps brings Dorothy into closer contact with
this underlying pattern. This, in turn, may affect her adult life from day to day by allowing her to live more
consciously and cooperatively and less defiantly.
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Example 3: Karin

Where are you?

I am in a living room. I am standing inside a playpen, screaming.

Where is your mother or caretaker?

My mother is in the next room busily vacuuming.

How is it to stand up alone and walk?

I cannot stand up alone, and I cannot walk since I am in a playpen.
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What feelings and sensations are evoked by this?

The child feels abandoned; the mother doesn’t hear her. She screams like crazy. She is
furious that she can’t get out of the playpen, that she is unable to discover life outside of the playpen
and feels totally dependent on the mother.

How does your body feel?

My body trembles a little and a gigantic fury is in my belly. My throat is dry.

How is your relationship to your primary caretaker?

I am very angry at my mother. I feel she doesn’t really hear me. She doesn’t listen to me,
even though I know that she hears me.

Take an Inventory.
Unless my mother takes me out of the playpen, I cannot discover the world and continue to
develop. I am totally dependent on her. I cannot do this alone in my present state of development, and
I can only get out when my mother decides I can.

Which feelings evoke which reactions?

I realize I can only continue to develop if someone gives me permission and this in turn
creates dependency. Not being heard evokes feelings of loneliness and anger. It blocks my
development.

Do you recognize a subpersonality which originates from that time?

The Dependent One and the Ignored One.

What would need to happen to allow your "Inner Child" to feel differently?
The child must be taken out of the playpen; she doesn’t need the playpen anymore, she is big
enough. She should be able to run in the whole apartment, touch all the objects, touch and experience
them. She needs a lot of space and permission to go wherever she needs to go and wants to go.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

The mother will pick the screaming child up out of the playpen, lift her into her arms, and dry
her tears. She will move the playpen into the cellar. The child needs to see that. She will then know
and trust that the playpen is really, truly removed. The child will have permission to walk through the
whole apartment and to discover everything. She will have lots of time and space. The child will tell
the mother that she needs to have lots of space!

Karin has become aware of a powerful psychodynamic structure which has been determining her
current behavioral patterns – the belief that development is possible for her only when someone gives her
permission to develop. Further, not being heard and/or being left alone still elicit Karin’s anger as an adult.
Patterns of this sort originate in the early phases of childhood development, in this particular case during the
practicing phase. Here, however, Karin has developed her own exercise to transform her behavior by lovingly
accepting and fulfilling the needs of her "Inner Child." Once these needs are fulfilled, she may experience a
transformation in her adult life, one that may involve newfound feelings of independence and self-sufficiency.
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Example 4: Maria

Where are you?

I am in a green meadow in the sunshine in our garden. Everything is beautiful and grandios. I
am chasing a butterfly.

Where is your mother or caretaker?

I don’t see my mother. I know that someone is always there for me in this big house. Being
aware of my father and my mother I get a vague feeling that something isn’t the way it should be. But
I prefer to push that aside and enjoy how beautiful life is.

How is it to stand up alone and walk?

It is grandios, a feeling of power and joy. I am very proud of my achievement. I feel a lot of
strength and power flowing through my body.

What feelings and sensations are evoked by this?

The feeling of being in love with myself and with life and everything around me.

How does your body feel?

Fantastic. I feel a very powerful feeling in my legs as they move forward. It is finally
possible for me to see everything, to touch and to explore.

How is your relationship to your primary caretaker?

I don’t want to think about it. There is a vague feeling of discomfort.
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Take an Inventory.
Generally a good impression, a feeling of power, vitality, and the joy of life.

Which feelings evoke which reactions?

If I can move freely in the sun and in nature, I am happy. I enjoy discovering the world alone
tremendously. I push aside the uncomfortable and enjoy being in love with myself and with the world.

Do you recognize a subpersonality which originates from that time?

The one who is Eternally in Love, the one who needs to be in love as an elixir of life. The
Easily Excited One who enjoys beautiful things and situations and life. The one who pushes
discomfort under the rug. She doesn’t want to be confronted with it. She would rather fall in love
again; then life is beautiful again. I also recognize the Curious One who wants new impressions and
needs a lot of changes. She feels content when there is something new to discover.

What would need to happen to allow your "Inner Child" to feel differently?
Basically the child feels very good in this phase. She has split feelings towards her parents.
She should feel safe. The parents should lovingly cultivate her interesting life and her curiosity. They
should accept her lovingly if she wishes to return to them.

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

Since the child doesn’t know exactly (or doesn’t want to know) what is not all right with the
parents, I will assume the role of the parents and show her that I honor her activities and that I am there
for her when she needs me.

Maria recognizes and appreciates her subpersonality, Eternally in Love, which she discovers in this
exercise. She is fully identified with it and lives it in her daily adult life. The only limitation that she
experiences from this period is that she consistently pushes away uncomfortable issues and situations and
represses them. She doesn’t like to look at them. The next step for Maria may be a closer look at this part, in
order to acknowledge her resistance to confronting unpleasantness and to successfully resolve it within a safe
environment. This may free her to tap into her own power when necessary and deal with troublesome situations
that arise. This eventually may lend a better balance to Maria’s otherwise one-sided approach to life.

Example 5: Anna

Where are you?

In a room in my parents’ house.

Where is your mother or caretaker?

Nobody is present, I am completely alone.

How is it to stand up alone and walk?

I am free. I can go wherever I wish.

What feelings and sensations are evoked by this?

I feel like a true hero.
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How does your body feel?

I feel the sunshine touching my heart, and I want to go outside.

How is your relationship to your primary caretaker?

It is unimportant and of no value to me.

Take an Inventory.
I am very surprised that it is so simple to go back in time and have such clear and impressive
images. I have a very deep feeling as a child that "This is not where I belong."

Which feelings evoke which reactions?

The feeling of "standing on my two feet" makes me want to conquer the world and to leave
home.

Do you recognize a subpersonality which originates from that time?

The one who does everything alone, who doesn’t want to accept any help – the Loner.

What would need to happen to allow your "Inner Child" to feel differently?
(No answer.)

Describe the method and technique you are going to use.

(No answer.)

In this exercise Anna recognizes the subpersonality which is able to do everything on her own and
doesn’t need any help. This childhood pattern strongly influences her present day behavior. She often feels as
if she is in the wrong place and that she is free to go where ever she likes. At this point she is only able to
perceive the freedom of independence. Her dismissing the lack of bonding experience as "unimportant and of no
value," foreshades her current behavior as a loner. She is not nearly as free as she likes to believe, but by her
becoming aware of this, eventually these structures will be accepted and become more pliant.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPLICATIONS OF SUBPERSONALITY WORK

Individual Emotional Archives

During the process of psychotherapy deep insights are often gained through experiencing personal
psychodynamic structures which are emotionladen. This means that past events are brought into consciousness
and often lead to different and broader dimensions of therapy.
Psychodynamic structures are related to each other through their emotional content. For example, a
feeling of powerlessness experienced currently can be used to move back into the past where similar feelings
existed: the person identifies with the feeling of powerlessness, for example, and then follows feeling upon
feeling like oceanic waves into the past. This does not occur chronologically, but is based on the event and the
intensity of the feeling, here of powerlessness. The waves can carry back to the initial event in early youth
connected to powerlessness and then back even further to the original circumstances surrounding this issue.
In other words, the emotional content of a psychodynamic structure or a subpersonality has formed
through years by repetition of circumstances which elicit similar emotional reactions. The emotional content
will be stronger or weaker dependent both on the age and the frequency of the repeated circumstances and
reactions. The emotional content of a psychodynamic structure, its intensity and rigidity, depends on the age at
formation and the number of repetitions.
In my therapeutic practice, I encounter various emotional dimensions which may harbor the original
seeds of the psychodynamic structures. The first dimension to be touched is the present day personality level.
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Another dimension are the childhood events that created the particular patterns which now contain the
possibility of their transformation and healing.
Sometimes, however, a psychodynamic structure related to childhood trauma which has been
recognized, accepted, and transformed has even deeper roots. In the following examples of subpersonality
work, childhood events will be addressed first, followed by deeper emotional structures, apparently not
originating in the present life, but their structure and emotional content carry the same issue.

Example 1: Andrew

Andrew, a company executive, began therapy to deal with an issue of deep helplessness and
powerlessness. Working with the various personal levels related to his powerlessness, the therapy touched upon
a different emotional level, seemingly unrelated to his present day reality.
After two years of therapy I decided to use the technique described previously of being "carried from
emotion to emotion." Andrew was carried back to an early childhood event of sexual abuse. He describes his
feeling of powerlessness and helplessness in this situation as follows:

Just a boy, I am being pulled into a big room. Other boys are already there, each one tied to
his bed (the whole scene plays in a home for children). A man and a woman put me on a bed and tie
my hands and feet to it. They put a rope across my neck and tighten it. I cannot move. I cannot
breathe anymore. The man and the woman dance and make noises. We children scream and the more
we scream the better they like it. They turn themselves on and play with our sexual parts: they
"prepare" us. The woman mounts one of the other boys. The weight of this woman, like a demon
kneeling on me, excited by my fear is heavy. In my therapy session I enter the scene as an adult. I walk
into the room. I untie the little boy and the others and chase the man and the woman away.
The next therapy session is another act of liberation: I am holding the man and the woman
accountable for what they did. Suddenly a huge knight appears in front of me with a long sword and
cuts off their heads. As an observer, I am terrified. I see two heads and a lot of blood. And all of a
sudden I see a whining woman at the foot of the bed. She is helpless as she pleads for the life of her
children. The knight wants to take revenge on them. She appeals to his compassion. Her husband is
here too. I recognize him as myself. That well known feeling of powerlessness and helplessness, the
feeling of not being able to interfere in power abuse, is overwhelming. What does the man need to
protect her? Strength, will, and so forth. I help him to place himself in front of the children: "You kill
me first," I have him say. The stronger he becomes, the smaller and weaker the knight becomes.
Finally I feel ready to let him go.

To reach this level of emotional depth and the root of his psychodynamic patterns in a past life,
Andrew needed two years of regular therapy. Yet he was committed to follow through with it, convinced that
his issue of powerlessness contained enormous potential for personal growth.
The childhood trauma described appeared first in various dreams before it became accessible to
Andrew in images and through physically reliving it: He experienced a skin disorder around the neck where he
had been tied down so many years before. Identified with the emotions of the child he experienced the ropes
being cut as a feeling of immense relief. Andrew needed a lot of time before accepting the unbelievable. The
events which he detailed above were followed by other strong psychosomatic reactions. Clearly, it will take a
long time and patience before his "Inner Child" can recuperate fully from these traumatic events.
Andrew also sees himself in his powerlessness as a man trying to protect his family from a knight’s
sword. He consciously enters the scene and supports and empowers the husband to free himself from his
helplessness and powerlessness through decisive and courageous action.
Both events are experienced physically, through bodily sensations, and both contain the same issue and
structure of helplessness and powerlessness. The deeper level became accessible only after working on the
personal one. Such deep issues of sexual abuse, like Andrew’s helplessness and powerlessness, have a
pansystemic effect on the human psyche. In fact, most psychodynamic structures developed in childhood are
defensive reactions to such traumatic events and are rooted in early abuse. Such deep issues, often reaching into
past lives, offer enormous opportunities for dramatic growth.
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Example 2: Ellen

This example recounts Ellen’s discovery of her deeper emotional levels. At this point she had been in
psychotherapy for three years, prior to which she had worked with a different modality. When we started our
work together, she had just escaped from a destructive cult and was profoundly traumatized. During the next
two years she became aware of her deep injuries and developed a personal healing plan which she consistently
applied. The following report in Ellen’s words demonstrates one segment of the therapeutic events over the
course of two months:

I closed my eyes. On my left is a bright room. A child is in the playpen emanating joy and
love. She is waiting for me. I can not go there, it is impossible. She calls me to come. She lifts her
head, telling me again to come, that everything is all right. I am deeply touched by her love. As the
observer I began to cry. Then a living image of a beautiful thirteen to fifteen year old girl appears. In
the background are lovely white feathers with blue and red stones. The girl is very beautiful. A
celebration is being prepared. There is an air of deep reverence, expectancy of something new, maybe
an initiation. During all this time the fingers of my left hand move to form an oath. I ask my heart if it
is appropriate to continue. It says "No!" My heart is in great pain as I try to remain connected to my
higher Self. I then see a young girl on the ground, cowering next to a forest. I ask what she needs
and cover her with a blanket. I feel good. I actually feel it physically. This happens to my left.
On the right appears a middle aged man full of hatred and contempt, without any compassion.
I ask him to leave. He is strong and powerful. I sense that the girl has experienced something terrible,
I don’t know what, but far beyond her capacity to endure. She is incapable of defending herself, faint.
I begin to hit the man, a Native American. He walks backwards and falls down the cliffs. I am
surprised and frightened. I turn back to the place where the young girl is lying, a light figure, relieved,
observing me lovingly. Again I am deeply touched. I feel joy in my heart and upper body. I realize
immediately that the girl is dead. We walk towards each other and embrace. It is a beautiful moment.
The girl is composed of two parts, a light and a dark one standing next to each other looking over the
country. Then a white cloud, an arrow, something dark like an owl, crosses the circle. Most probably
I was abused and killed there. I can vividly recall my feelings of powerlessness with certain men. My
ovaries hurt a lot, and my lower body is bloated.
During this time I had a big dispute with my employer. I felt very angry and forbid him to talk
to me the way the did. A part of me, a "fourteen to sixteen" year old girl, wants to die. She is tired,
exhausted, feels misunderstood, rejected. She is gentle, like velvet. She embodies deep soul love and
profound sadness and loneliness. She is curled up, without contact. I love this part. I feel touched,
caring, protective of her. I accompany her on her way in the outer world. I want to make contacts for
her. I defend her and try to explain for her when she is misunderstood. Yet she still gets hurt, still gets
misunderstood. There is no connection between us, just hopelessness. She wants to leave and yet
stays. I feel her at my right shoulder, my face, and ovary."

These words speak for themselves. Reading these lines awakens a great respect for the depth and
wisdom of the human psyche. Something in Ellen’s psyche, the "Self," knows exactly which events need to
appear from the unconscious in order to facilitate healing and growth. As a therapist I simply create the space
and the supporting environment which allow such a process to unfold.
Since this session I have accompanied Ellen on many regular therapy sessions. The dramatic death of
the native American girl in the interim has been transformed into Ellen's acceptance of the positive qualities of
love and beauty that this particular part of herself has to offer. This newfound sense of self appreciation lends
her a striking sense of quiet beauty which is obvious to any observer.
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Psychological Heritage and Personal Empowerment

In order to understand the impact of the various emotional layers from which psychodynamic structures
originate and form, I would like to share the story of Martha. A forty-year-old Swiss woman, Martha came into
therapy with a fear issue: fear of death of herself and her child in childbirth. We addressed this by using
subpersonality work with its attendant inner images and inner dialogues. This led her to recognize her fear as a
prenatal psychodynamic structure stemming from her in utero experience.
This in turn led Martha to reexperience a prenatal event in her mother’s womb during which she
recognized her fear as being her mother’s fear when she was pregnant with Martha. Further identification with
her mother led Martha to the recognition that her maternal grandmother also experienced the same fear!
Through imagery, eventually Martha perceived the long succession of her maternal mothers, one lined up
behind the other, passing to each daughter the same pattern: fear of her own death and that of her child in
childbirth.
Exploring this ancestral inheritance (again using subpersonality work) Martha came to understand on a
deep level that the fulfillment of feminine wisdom and creativity for generations of women had been reduced to
conceiving, giving birth, children dying, and mothers dying during childbirth.
She was very much aware of the distinction between the personal, ancestral, and collective depth of her
fear. She knew that as an individual she could heal both her mother's and the ancestral fears and thereby affect
the collective unconscious as well.
Martha felt it her responsibility to effect a conscious "step-by-step-healing" of the individual, maternal,
and collective levels of her psyche. She consciously made a choice to influence the deep dimensions of her
psyche. To allow this healing to take place, it was necessary for her to become aware of these psychological
layers as they currently exist. She decided to take the following steps:
On the personal level she turned towards her fear and brought an unconscious thought pattern into
consciousness by first accepting and then expressing it. Martha also looked at the maternal and ancestral levels.
By using subpersonality work it was possible for her to become conscious of her maternal inheritance, to accept
it, and, ultimately, to transform it.
She recognized that the fear held on an ancestral level masked the collective distorted belief that
feminine wisdom is limited to giving birth and survival. Recognizing, accepting, and transforming this belief
gradually led to the integration of a new belief in her psyche. This opened new possibilities not only for Martha
but also for changing a collectively held belief about feminine wisdom and creativity in general.
Martha’s conscious choice to heal her part, then, allowed her to influence belief patterns which are held
in the own personal, ancestral, and collective unconscious of humanity as a whole.
Influencing her psychological past and ancestral inheritance has changed her personal pattern of fear as
well as her attitude towards feminine wisdom and creativity. By transforming these old beliefs she has broken
the chain of inheritance: they will not be passed on to her children. As an individual, then, she has been able to
change psychological patterns multidimensionally simply through healing her own personal past. Obviously,
different psychological patterns will emerge in the future as a direct result of Martha's encounters with the
unconscious.
Once an individual becomes conscious of their own psychodynamic structures or subpersonalities and
their impact on the collective psyche (family, nation, humanity), they can make a conscious choice to participate
in life fully. Each action and each event influences the greater whole. This implies that each action and event
initiated by another necessarily also influences me and the larger whole. Similarly, events and actions of the
greater whole (family, nation, humanity) impact the individual as a part of that whole.
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Assagioli describes the individual and society as such:

Each human and each group are elements, cells and organs, living parts of a larger organism which
comprises the whole of humanity .... The essential unity in origin, nature and goal and the
indestructible dependency and solidarity among all people and groups are a spiritual, psychological
and practical reality. (1965)

Each individual expresses their culture, religion, education and past (childhood, ancestors) by their
present way of thinking, feeling, acting, and reacting – in short, by living.
Today, many of us are searching for deeper meaning in life. One way to get closer to that goal is the
conscious acceptance of old patterns and the realization that these patterns are in fact living us! However, once
such restricting patterns with their related emotions are recognized, accepted, transformed, and eventually
integrated, they no longer are capable of controlling our current behavior. Instead, we have the ability to
recognize, accept, transform, and eventually integrate them. Rather than remaining the haphazard structures of
our heredity and environment, we can participate in designing our own future and become its co-architects.

Collective Traumata

The previous chapters present a therapeutic approach using subpersonality work which affects different
levels of the individual psyche. Since the individual psyche is embedded in the collective, though, individual
work can positively influence the collective as we have seen. This is only possible, though, once all of these
various levels have become conscious.

A collective of a nation is understood as a group of people who have a similar cultural and religious
background and whose languages have similar roots. If the individual psyche is embedded in the cultural
heritage of a nation, then repressed national traumata now unconscious can in fact be accessed by the individual.
Such unconscious traumata determine the attitude and direction of a nation in the future. Collective
psychodynamic structures push to express themselves in the attitude of a nation just as they do in an individual
psyche. Powerful complex structures such as the national trauma of the German "Third Reich" or Stalin’s
Russia are more or less repressed by the nation. Unfortunately, though, these structures will find their
expression through individual groupings within the nation. National psychodynamic structures have their own
will, wishes, and needs but can be made conscious in a manner similar to the process of becoming conscious of
structures in the individual psyche: one can get to know them. This can be done through using subpersonality
work in large groups. Because the individual psyche is interwoven within the system of the collective as noted,
each transformation of an individual influences this collective; and this collective, in turn, with its various
national traumata is accessible both through the individual and the collective.
The first two steps of transformation of the subpersonality work are readily applicable to approaching
collective traumata in large group settings. The process of recognition, the first step in the transformation of
subpersonality work, is the same in an individual and a national psyche. Just as unconscious childhood traumata
influence an individual’s daily actions, so in the national psyche do unconscious traumata influence the politics
of a nation.
The following step is to discover our own patterns in the psychological inheritance of our family and
ancestors. It allows us to acknowledge our own national inheritance of collective traumata. Once this is
accepted, we become aware of our ability to influence the collective psyche via our own individual actions. It
can also mean that an individual participating as a soldier in a war, for example, actually creates a part of
national trauma. This perspective demands an in depth look at the victim-oppressor mentality. The time seems
ripe to work in larger groups with the German national heritage, especially the third Reich and its consequences.
The rhythm of a national psyche has a beat different from that of the individual psyche. An individual
having suffered a personal trauma needs many years before they can look at it. A nation, on the other hand, may
need several generations before it is able to look at its trauma.
Oppressors, victims, and hanger-ons all suffer from a tremendous shock. One suffering from shock
needs a safe environment first and then time to gain distance from the traumatic events. The post-Hitler
generation in Germany had been informed about the activities of the third Reich primarily on an intellectual or
mental level. The present generation, having had more distance from the events, is able to deal differently with
this national trauma: It can accept the collective psychodynamic structure of the national trauma on an
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emotional level as well. Doing so requires a collective mourning and the shedding of unshed tears for the
oppressors, victims, and hanger-ons alike. Allowing love to flow into the collective suffering needs, in other
words, the emotional acknowledgment of the trauma.
For many years now in my Psychosynthesis work, I have assisted groups from different nations to turn
towards their respective psychopolitical heritage. The weight of guilty feelings often hampers this, however.
National guilt, as a collective psychodynamic structure, paralyzes the individual and the nation and prevents the
acceptance of the trauma. Here, Psychosynthesis techniques can be quite helpful. Guilt as one’s national
heritage can be approached via the technique of disidentification. To be able to accept the national trauma, it
helps to temporarily put such guilt aside. This in turn opens new possibilities for working with the traumata.

FIRST EXERCISE

The following exercise emphasizes experiential work with inherited psychodynamic structures through
the individual psyche. The work with the subpersonality in this case is focused on the German national heritage.
Such an exercise should be preceded by intensive training with the method of "identification with one’s own
center" in order to establish a contact with the "Self" and the "Transpersonal Self."

Intervention: Try to give yourself permission to become aware of the positive and negative characteristics and
qualities which you see as your national heritage. This can arise as an image, a thought, or feelings.

Sabina

Guilt weighs heavily on my back. There is a woman curled up on the floor dressed in black.
Everything is dark around her. How can we compensate for this guilt? The guilt seems gigantic. The
woman is powerless and doesn’t seem to have the right to stand up, to come into her own power. She
is ashamed about what happened, ashamed to acknowledge that she is a German. I am conflicted about
my national identity and am jumping from one nationality to the other (my parents come from Croatia).
In order to adapt in Germany and accept my German nationality I do not openly recognize the heritage
of my parents. In foreign countries when spoken to about my nationality, I have no problem in talking
about my Croatian heritage and, of course, everybody’s attitude towards me changes since I am not a
real German. It is a very strange experience. I am very ambivalent about acknowledging my national
identity. It depends on the country I am visiting.

Marianne

The image comes to me of one who is bent down, sitting on the sidewalk and observing – full of
sadness, but detached with feelings of guilt and seeing many people. Question: What role would I
have played in those times? Would I have been the victim? the oppressor? the hanger-on? the silent
witness? I am resisting the burden of guilt. I don’t want to run around with my head pulled in just
because I am German. I don’t want to see only bad things about being German. Actually, I do not
wish my country to be destroyed by the Neo-Nazis.
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Magdalena

Unspoken messages: "Life worth living" is "healthy, natural, normal." Everything "unworthy" will be
destroyed. There are difficulties for my family in the village which cannot accept my brother’s mental
disability after a car accident. I support him, I am with him, yet I pay for this by being lonely,
excluded, different.
To be German means order, cleanliness, discipline, obedience to the bitter end, abnegation of
responsibility upstairs, doing your duty. I rebel against these so-called "virtues." I am afraid of my
own abuse of power.

Monika

I see a blond child standing on a globe and walking around a grave. This is my father as a five-year-old
child after his mother died. Separated from his own feelings, he leaves the little child alone at the
cemetery. This allows for cruelty. He doesn’t feel what he does to others. A very important part is
perfection, the urge to have perfect, mathematical order in human relationships. Sentimentality is
considered a feeling, for example: German songs (Deutsches Liedergut), fellowship (Kameradschaft),
sentimentality (Rührseligkeit) – all are construed as false feelings.
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Heike

Guilt, shame, hatred, anger, arrogance, fear, coldblooded-ness, uniforms, grandiosity, power,
inferiority, obedience, "wounding." Reliability, philosophical thoughts, poetry, music, artistic
potential, industriousness. Coziness. Cleanliness. Why the need to accept guilt, shame, arrogance and
fear?
Becoming conscious. Creative potential is used for material things, the economy, not
spiritual/playful values. Both victim and oppressor need quietude, silence, compassion and acceptance.
I am upright in front of a deep bottomless pit of blackest black. A wave of deep sadness hits me
(tears). I know I will not fall into this hole. I kneel in front of it and look into it. In spite of my
tremendous sadness I have a feeling of great power (warmth in my heart). I have the image of a
powerful darkness and a bright light and a feeling of a situation right at the border. The light could be
too weak for the darkness. Fear, battle, fear of life, not for my life, but for the light quality of life, life
itself. I sing.

Claudia

I sense an old woman with a wise face, dressed in black. She is bent under the burden of the national
guilt. She is very sad but used to be very beautiful. She is holding a vicious dog on a leash. The dog
has great white tearing teeth, is short-haired and light brown. It is totally stupid and greedy. It
swallows everything. It feeds on negative emotions. It is in the process of growing and becoming
stronger, and the old woman will soon be too old and too weak to keep it on the leash.
An opposing image, the enthusiastic one. She can be excited by anything. She loves life and sees
something beautiful in everything. With her enthusiasm she can carry others away as well. She
emanates joy and love.

Helga

My mother’s perspective – a woman has to give birth to children to rebuild a nation. She wanted to
have eleven men, healthy and ready to fight and die for the fatherland. This dishonors her, her
femininity, her person, and dishonors me, her daughter, as a woman, as a human being. Using oneself
and using others. Being a fanatic for an idea. No weakness is allowed, no pain and no sensitivity. Her
image is the strong, healthy woman. National pride determines her attitude to the handicapped and to
foreigners.

Peter

It is difficult to have an image when several parts merge into each other. A soldier with a German
helmet is very sad and desperate. He has nothing to do with the whole affair. He was never a follower
of Hitler, but was a skeptic. Now he has to leave his family alone and go to war. Next I see a
Gestapoman with a short blond haircut and a leathercoat. He is cold and full of hatred. Then a teacher
of a school in the Third Reich. Inside he is stiff like a stick and full of principles, orders and duties.
He has absolutely no feelings or lightness.

In the previous exercise the participants were asked to look at both the positive and the negative aspects
of their national heritage. Sad to say, in the examples elicited here, only one person was able to perceive any
positive national qualities.
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SECOND EXERCISE

Trying to address the national heritage, the burden and the guilt of World War II and the Holocaust
seem to quickly paralyze a group. This guilt is interwoven with the collective, and each German carries it as a
part of their heritage. This heritage is a national psychodynamic structure currently expressing its qualities both
through groups and individuals.
Turning towards the guilt as a national subpersonality allows it to be accepted and a concomitant
collective mourning to take place. In the following exercises the extent of this national suffering becomes more
visible as does the need for higher powers to assist in its transformation. (This presupposes, of course, that each
individual can accept and emotionally surrender this suffering to higher powers.)

In the following exercise first a connection with the heart, the seat of the individual’s, love and compassion, is
sought and the heart is then asked what would be needed to heal the national heritage.
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Sabina

The message of the heart: It has to be very, very wide, and it has to fill my chest. It flows into my left
side, into my arms and legs and then into the earth.

Marianne

The energy flows into the different parts of my body and carries images with it. Next to the national
heritage was the image of the oppressor wanting to receive this energy I gave. I reflected on whether I
would like to contribute something. I gave it to him, but reluctantly. The heart spoke to me and said:
"Not now, another time."

Monika

My heart and I are pulled into the national heritage. I experience deep sadness and loneliness. But I
can step out of it, disidentify. Then my heart flows into a large stream. It knows exactly where to
flow.

Claudia

I realized during the exercise that I am identified with a part of the national inheritance. My heart
could only expand to the right. To my question why it wouldn’t expand to the left, it replied that it
couldn’t. When I asked it to flow, blood flowed out of it instead! I stepped back into my center and
thought about all the beautiful qualities of the heart, and then my heart energy began to flow again.

Helga

During the heart exercise my heart acknowledged and said yes to the healing. The left side of my body
was very bright, the right side dark. When I gave permission for the energy to flow I got goose bumps
along the right side of my body. When I gave permission for the light to flow into the national
inheritance, a huge tomb opened, and screaming, wounded, fearful, despairing skulls looked at me. I
freaked and had the feeling that these beings have no possibility of receiving light and life. There was
a moment of standstill. I wanted to let it flow, but I continued to just give it permission. There was
also a measuring of powers: what is stronger, the darkness or the light? The thought that love and light
could flow, simply giving permission to choose itself where it would like to flow, resolved the inner
battle. I felt solid strength in me, and I was centered.

Peter

Allowing the heart energy to flow into national consciousness brought deep sadness. However, I was
not pulled into that hole.
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Heike

I am again in front of the dark hole and physically feel how the heart emits streams of energy. A spiral-
like green light flows into the hole and is swallowed by it. I become very serious and aware of the
immense power of the black hole. At the same time I feel my heart’s power of acceptance. As yet,
there is no connection between the two powers.

Angela

A golden stream of light travels from my head through my heart to the ground. A dark, sad, angry man
appears. I send him the gold light. He smiles. I feel released. The golden light goes through my veins
into my legs and down into my feet. Warmth spreads throughout my body.

Karin

I see many hands stretching and trying to get hold of the stream of heart energy.

A national trauma, much like an individual one, contains an opportunity for growth for a whole nation.
The way the collective deals with it determines the circumstances and the length of the potential healing
process. Of course, this presumes that, as in individual therapy, a nation becomes aware of the trauma and turns
towards it consciously accepting it with courage and heart. Given these, I believe that national traumata can
indeed be transformed through the healing power of the heart.

Transpersonal Perspectives of Subpersonality Work

Contained in the psychodynamic structures of our psyche are all the qualities, both negative and
positive, which represent our potential for growth. The traumata which occur in the prenatal and early
childhood periods through environment and heredity create our inner dynamic structures. Seeing traumata as
our inherent potential for growth requires a new perspective: traumata and problems can remain traumata and
problems, or they can be transformed into gifts. Perceiving personal suffering solely as a problem, something
negative which needs to be battled or overcome, does not allow us to become aware of its hidden treasures.
Each psychodynamic structure contains suffering but also potential for growth. Once these structures can be
made conscious, suffering can be looked at in a different light. One may ask "What is the purpose and the goal
of my suffering? What does this suffering teach me? What do I have to learn by getting to know this inner
psychodynamic structure or subpersonality?"
To become aware of this and to gain another perspective on it requires a much broader and deeper
perspective as well as the art of disidentification. Only then can we work with our behavioral patterns in order
to grow. As we have seen the stages of growth are awareness and recognition, acceptance, coordination and
transformation, integration, and synthesis. Each stage broadens our awareness and our consciousness.
The questions of the purpose of life and the purpose of personal and collective suffering in this world
are existential ones. Yet this suffering takes on a different meaning once our perspective is broadened and
changed: The seemingly rigid and often destructive psychodynamic structures in our psyche are waiting to be
transformed and released from their suffering. Since these inner patterns determine our outer behavior, change
can only be made from the inside out.
The gift of growth is hidden within the process of transformation and answers the question regarding
the purpose and meaning of life. Suffering transformed brings other qualities into conscious daily living. Each
process of transformation contains the element of change. Inner growth and expansion of consciousness, then,
are one continuous change. Growth is a gradual refinement of the quality of life and of our inner and outer
values. The process of embracing and transforming traumata is a step by step one on the way to wholeness.
Experiencing this, it becomes possible for the individual to acknowledge suffering as purposeful, as something
which tries to call attention to itself in order to be healed. Suffering does hold our attention! From this
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perspective each transformation can be understood as a step on our personal evolutionary ladder. Actually
reaching the goal becomes relatively unimportant. What takes precedence instead is the quality of the
transformational path which can refine our quality of life through inner transformation.
Seeing the composition of the inner psychodynamic structures, their purpose, suffering and pain, their
joys and needs and the storehouse of energy that they in fact are leads to a yearning for our deeper qualities to
be manifested and lived. To honor this is to cooperate with their true and deep desires.
Each of us has a "Self," a deep inner wisdom or spiritual center. This "Self" tries to realize and express
itself through us as individuals. Its aim is to transform the quality of life to the point where unlimited growth
becomes possible. This allows for vast learning and for an untellable expansion of consciousness into even
vaster realms of the Self only hinted at here.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My heartfelt thanks to all my clients and training participants who allowed me to work with new
techniques and methods to explore the depths and heights of subpersonality work and who gave me fruitful
feedback.
Special thanks to Judi Doumas and Claudia Huetter for their support in bringing this book to
completion.

NOTES TO THE EXERCICES

Inner Role Play

A combination of techniques taken from different schools synthesized by Margret Rueffler. Examples
for these exercises were provided by first year training participants in Body/Psychosynthesis.

Tracing Subpersonalities
This exercise is based on a psychosynthesis exercise by Molly Brown.

Getting Acquainted with Our Inner Actors

An exercise dating from the training of Margret Rueffler at the Psychosynthesis Institute in New York.

The Center and Our Parts

An adapted exercise originally described by Heidi Sloan, Synthesis 3-4.

The Temple of Silence

An adapted exercise originally described by Tom Yeomans.

Dialoguing with Subpersonalities

The examples shown were provided by participants in the training group in Body/Psychosynthesis.

Recognizing Distorted Qualities

The exercise was developed by Margret Rueffler. The examples are from first year participants in the
training group in Body/Psychosynthesis.
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Autistic-Symbiotic Phase, Individuation and Practicing Phase

This exercise has been developed by Margret Rueffler. The examples are given by second year
participants in training in Transpersonal Psychology and Counseling.

Individual Emotional Archives

The two examples are from clients in private practice with Margret Rueffler.

Psychological Heritage and Personal Empowerment

The example is a story of a client in private practice with Margret Rueffler.

Collective Traumata
These exercises have been developed by Margret Rueffler. The examples are given by seminar
participants in Berlin in their first year of training in Body/Psychosynthesis.

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The author:
Dr. Margret Rueffler is a transpersonal psychologist and a Psychosynthesis psychotherapist. She
trains both those who want healing and those who want to facilitate healing in others, helping a broad
spectrum of professionals on an international level. She is also the founder of the PsychoPolitical
Peace Institute in New York and Staefa, Switzerland.