7. "It's very much a question of what works for the individual." With Dr Mike Rush

Mike recently completely his PhD on the empirical evidence for interventions in spiritual crisis. Always interested in myth, magic, and mysticism, he has extensively studied religious and spiritual phenomena through the lens of transpersonal psychology. His research brings much-needed academic attention to an experience so often overlooked by both the spiritual and therapeutic worlds, and is deeply informed by his work supporting people going through spiritual crisis.

In this episode, we talk about a central aspect of Mike’s research; the strands of what he broadly refers to as grounding – the practices, attitudes, and behaviours that might support a move from disconnection towards connection, or ungroundedness towards groundedness, during spiritual crisis. In the order we discuss them, these themes are: a connection to self, world, and others (including the transpersonal other); keeping a foot in both worlds; cultivating a relationship with experience; word-weaving with embodied metaphors; a centred, balanced, and embodied self; a balance between containment and release; resonance or contagion; and last but by no means least, a sense of humour. We also discuss the importance of creative expression; the difference between naming and labelling; and the interplay between culture and spiritual crisis.

Dr Mike Rush is a researcher, hypno-psychotherapist, and co-director of The Spiritual Crisis Network in the UK. He has published in a variety of academic journals on subjects as varied as Near Death Experiences, the neuroscience of religious experience, and Western Esotericism. He co-facilitates online and in-person peer support groups for people going through spiritual crisis, and also offers one to one counselling and consultation.

Connect with Mike

Fiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers both a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops and a reflective space for therapists and counsellors.

Connect with Fiona

Mentions

Mike mentions the following organisation and individuals:

The Spiritual Crisis Network UK.

Marie-Grace Brook’s list of 84 possible grounding or integration practices.

Emma Bragdon.

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Music by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit