Preserving Indigenous Spirituality

David Lukoff, PhD

David Lukoff, PhD, is Co-President of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and on the faculty of the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. The Spiritual Competency Resource Center (www.spiritualcompetency.com) created by David, provides access to online resources that enhance the cultural sensitivity of mental health professionals. In August 2008 he taught a 7 day course on transpersonal psychology in Kyrgyzstan at the Aigine Research Centre for traditional healers and other cultural practitioners.

In August of 2008, I taught a seven-day course on transpersonal psychology in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet bloc republic with a population of 5 million, is landlocked and mountainous. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest, and China to the east. It was on the original Silk Road and has a multicultural blend of Siberian nomadic tribes, Chinese and Muslim influences, with the addition of Russians who were systematically relocated to the region following Kyrgyzstan's incorporation into the Soviet Union. The Aigene Research Center in Bishkek invited me to present a course on transpersonal psychology. Why invite someone from halfway round the world to teach transpersonal psychology? The Aigine Research Center provided the following rationale to me after convening a working group to explore academic and scientific approaches to preserving their indigenous spirituality: 1) In the Kyrgyz traditional society, there is a strong folk belief that certain people are chosen for a spiritual mission like healing, reciting epics, guarding sacred sites, mediating between this world and other worlds.

Their health is directly affected by their acceptance or rejection of this spiritual mission. Learning transpersonal psychology could provide a scientific paradigm to help explain many cases which the Aigine Research Center has been observing in Talas and Issyk-Kol. Especially Stanislav Grof's theory of consciousness may effectively explain phenomena in Kyrgyz culture, such as reciting the Manas epic while in an altered state of consiousness (ASC), zhaichylyk (a person's ability to change the weather), and other practices of healers. 2) Traditional Kyrgyz spiritual practices have a great influence in public health: 88% of the patients at the Republic Centre of Mental Health had previously visited traditional healers. Many healthcare specialists are interested in studying transpersonal practices in order to\ adapt orthodox medical paradigms to the Kyrgyz cultural beliefs and to the Kyrgyz practices.

In Integrating Spirituality into Multicultural Counseling (Fukuyama M and Sevig T, 1999, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications), Mary Fukuyama observed that "There is no transpersonal psychology without the multicultural and the spiritual perspectives." The definition of consciousness in Western psychology is restricted to an artificial, cultural-bound concept that dramatically limits the study of the human psyche. Recognizing that perspective, Dr. Fukuyama noted: "Transpersonal psychology opened the door to studying a broader range of human experiences." The vision of transpersonal psychology includes being a societal force directed at restoring humanity and nature through systematic engagement with spiritual aspects of consciousness in global contexts. This seminar was an opportunity for me to personally explore how well transpersonal psychology actually interfaces with the indigenous form of spirituality in Kyrgyzstan.

The Aigine Cultural Research Center (www.aigine.kg) was founded by Dr. Aitpaeva Gulnara in 2004 with a stated mission to "promote tolerance and mutual understanding among the ethnicities, cultures, religious groups, and generations of Kyrgyzstan." Prior to my visit, the Aigine Research Center in Kyrgyzstan had convened a roundtable on transpersonal psychology including healthcare professionals, philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and traditional healers. The final report stated: "One of the most important results of the roundtable was a realization that the main concepts of transpersonal psychology can be successfully applied in development of various psychotherapeutic methods." A prior publication of the Aigine Research Center was entitled Transpersonal Psychology in Central Asia: Searching between Spirituality and Science. "The researchers discovered that the theories and clinical approaches of transpersonal psychology allowed them to present their cultural heritage scientifically, and explain the connections between their national cultural heritage, epic poetry, and cases of healing."

The Aigine Center invited me to present on three topics: Basics of Transpersonal Psychology, Culture and Consciousness: Bridging the Traditional and Scientific, and Spirituality and Mental Health. The teaching was a collaboration with several of the scholars from the Aigine Center who study Kyrgyz sacred sites, along with local healers, ritual specialists, and clairvoyants. Although I did cover a wide range of topics in transpersonal psychology including the history of the field, Grof 's theories of consciousness, transpersonal psychotherapy, spiritual emergencies, ecopsychology, and shamanism, the focus was on their relevance to indigenous spirituality. Because I was presenting basic theory which required adaptation and articulation into the Kyrgyz cultural context, the program became a dialogue with the other presenters and participants. During one of the sessions, a participant demonstrated his use of a whip to chase away evil spirits by dislodging a couple of them from my own personal space (see photo).

Many of the cultural practitioners described how they were called into their role as healers through a crisis that could be considered a spiritual emergency. I gave a very media rich set of presentations with segments from Kevin Page's DVD Science of the Soul (a history of transpersonal psychology), a video on spiritism by Emma Bragdon, and one on shamanism and spiritism, and a Powerpoint presentation with photos of rituals, sacred sites, and altars. I also included experiential exercises such as sharing religious/spiritual histories, meditation, drawing one's spiritual journey, and practicing aikido exercises. It was a rich experience for me to be sharing and mgenuinely collaborating to explore the intersection of transpersonal psychology with indigenous spirituality and practices. The exchange of knowledge exchange was inspirational in both directions.

I can attest to the power of integrating more indigenous practitioners and scholars into collaborations around healthcare, education, and research. After having had lunch or dinner with each of the participants individually, I can truly say that I learned as much as I taught. I hardly consider myself an expert after only nine days in Kyrgyzstan, but I see it as a very multicultural society with many types of interacting mythologies. The Kyrgz people have shamanic roots min their tribal cultures. There is also the Islamic overlay from Turkish invasions more than 1,000 years ago, as well as the influences from the Silk Road connections between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kyrgyzstan can be considered an archetype of multiculturalism. In spite of my short-lived exposure to their culture, I was impressed by how open the Kyrgyz people are to this variety of traditions. Of course, that is the mission of the Aigine Research Center: "to document and preserve this unique form of spirituality." After the week-long seminar, I was taken on a twoday tour of sacred sites. I staye with a four generational family and observed their sustainable lifestyle. In the traditional way, they grow most of their ownfood; yet, in contrast, they are able to function in today's world, including communicating with their own cell phones.

The World Wide Learning Exchange (WWLE) at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, headed by Dr. Olga Louchakova, cosponsored this program with the Aigine Research Center. Both the WWLE and the ARC create programs that build interdisciplinary bridges between indigenous peoples and scientists to enhance the conservation of bio-cultural diversity and the well-being of the planet.