Abstract

The article explores the connection between transpersonal psychology, founded by S. Grof in the 1960s, and religious mysticism. According to the integrative methodology in psychology, the time has come to reconcile the experiences and achievements of all schools of Western psychology, as well as to integrate the knowledge of psychology, philosophy, and world mystical traditions, since this tendency reflects the imperative of human history.
Distinguished by its experimental and practical orientation, transpersonal psychology has established an expanded cartography of the human psyche, which includes, in addition to the personal (biographical) level, the transpersonal and perinatal levels of consciousness. The world-renowned psychologist, psychiatrist, and humanist thinker S. Grof criticizes the materialistic and mechanistic paradigm underlying academic science and substantiates a new paradigm typologically close to the worldview of religious-mystical systems.
The “Holotropic breathwork” method developed within this school is proposed as a modern psychotechnical approach created for self-knowledge and healing of psychological disorders. Due to its paradoxical and seemingly revolutionary nature, transpersonal psychology has not gained full recognition within academic psychology and within most of the global scientific community. Nevertheless, S. Grof’s works are received worldwide with great interest worldwide, and the number of his followers continues to grow. The article also touches upon issues of psychotechnics within shamanic and Sufi practices.