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Holistic psychology: An extrapolation.

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Journal of Psychology in Africa 2013, 23(3), 531–538 Copyright Ó2013
Printed in USA - All Rights Reserved Journal of
Psychology in Africa
ISSN 1433-0237

Holistic Psychology: A Brief Primer

Stephen D. Edwards
University of Zululand, South Africa

Address correspondence to Prof. Stephen David Edwards, University of Zululand, Private Bag X0001, KwaDlangezwa, 3996,
South Africa. Email: sdedward@telkomsa.net
This article explicates the foundations, essential themes and healing principles of holistic psychology; an approach
which provides a corrective for such trends in modern scientific psychology as disciplinary perspectives, the
overemphasis on the economics and politics of professionalism. Holistic psychology emphasizes spiritual healing,
multi-cultural counseling, community and ecological interventions. Its core pillars of practice and care stem from the
spiritual and wisdom traditions widely applicable to combating illness, injustice, violence, materialism, and
technocratic influences so prevalent in contemporary society. As a breath and/or spirit based healing practice, holistic
psychology provides a foundational exercise for personal, social and cosmic transformation.

Keywords: Holistic psychology, consciousness, wisdom traditions, spirituality, spiritual healing, multicultural counseling, com-
munity psychology

For millennia the major spiritual, wisdom traditions, includ- outside the realm of scientific inquiry for Psychology” (p.1). Ho-
ing ancestor reverence, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Tao- listic psychology is concerned with human Being in all the
ism, Christianity, and Islam have recognised a holistic form of consciousness, reality, aspects, essences and contexts of this
psychology including different levels of human consciousness phenomenon. These include a holistic view of psychology as
from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious corre- the study, use and improvement of the psyche, breath, soul,
sponding to the so called great Chain of Being, said to range spirit, self, Self, life, death, consciousness, energy, body, mind,
from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit. The traditions are in experience, behaviour, relationships, world etc. Being is spelled
accord that the seemingly miraculous processes of evolution with a capital B to include the further reaches of human con-
can not occur without a prior process of involution or emanation sciousness in the same way as Self may be distinguished from
and thus simply reflect the creative play of Spirit (Wilber, 2000). the ordinary, everyday self and ego. Such a holistic approach
For example in Hinduism this process is referred to as the was born in premodern times, suffered neglect and dissociation
dance of Shiva. Although not systematized and labelled as during modern and postmodern times and has recently gained
such, in prevalence, effect and function, holistic psychology still proper recognition with contemporary consciousness of our
remains the predominant approach to psychology in the devel- cosmic, ecological and interhuman interbeing.
oping countries of planet earth. The trend towards holistic psy- Holistic psychology embraces both the ‘felt sense’ of such
chology can be generally viewed as a healthy corrective for an everyday experience as energy as well as the immense,
forms of modern academic and professional psychology, which qualitative energy experiences occurring in meditation and
on the one hand have been too exclusive, theoretical and spe- non-meditation states. It attempts to combine the knowledge of
cialized and on the other hand have tended to lose their original other health related sciences such as nutrition, medicine and
guild and ethical functions through a destructive overemphasis psycho-immunology.
on the economic, political and plutocratic aspects of academia
and professionalism. Ancestral Traditions
Surprisingly, there is very limited academic research in the William James (1890, 1902) could be regarded as a recent,
field of holistic psychology. An Ebscohost search found no aca- early founding father in terms of his general approach. For ex-
demic journals or journal articles containing the combined terms ample his views on the selective adaptive functions of con-
‘holistic’ and ‘psychology’. Of 17 articles containing these termssciousness ranging from highly focussed all or nothing reac-
in their abstracts, only five were directly related to the presenttions to complexly differentiated and unstable intentionality are
article. On the other hand an internet search on 29/09/2008 re- typically holistic. Other central tenets are contained in the views
vealed various alternative, international academic and profes- of the gestalt psychologists, whose work established wholes as
sional holistic psychology programmes, with about 320,000 en- more than the sum of their parts, which was essentially based
on Smuts’ conception of holism, as an evolutionary corrective,
tries for the term holistic psychology. The aim of this article is to
explicate the foundations, essential themes and healing princi- linking matter, life and mind in ever more complex forms, which
also provided a foundation for Van Betalanfy’s general systems
ples in this approach. In doing so, the article will ground holistic
psychology in its historic and contemporary traditions. theory. Goldstein’s neuropsychological work similarly empha-
sized the wholeness of the individual as well as the unity and or-
Holistic Psychology: Definition and Concepts ganization of behaviour in shaping the parts of the whole, which
Moore (2004) defined holistic psychology to refer to “the sci- should therefore be described in terms of its totality and not in
ence to include looking at the whole of human behavior and to isolated parts. Pribram continued this work in revealing the ho-
consider some ‘parts’ that have been overlooked or deemed as lographic nature of brain functioning, with each part and subpart
532 Edwards
essentially being a microcosm of the macrocosm. Existential,
humanistic and phenomenological authors also emphasized
holistic education (Schutz), and therapy (Jung, Maslow, van
Kaam) with special reference to individuation, self actualization
and resilience, or the unique ability of humans to bounce back
from difficulties and rise above past experience to a new direc-
tion in their lives (Corsini, 2002; Hergenhahn, 2001).
What is typically neglected in contemporary literature on holis-
tic psychology are its ancient foundations. In this regard, in addi-
tion to its widespread contemporary practice in developing societ-
ies, some more relevant general literature informing holistic
psychology includes the spiritual, wisdom traditions; African an-
cestral reverence, Hinduism, Vedanta, Taoism, Buddhism, Juda-
ism, Christianity, as well as writings of such authors as Jung,
Heidigger, Husserl, Smuts, Koestler, Parthasarathy, and more re-
cently the holistic approach to the philosophy of science, exempli-
fied in the works of Ken Wilber (1993, 2000), a map making path-
finder. Wilber’s works have lead to the development of detailed
maps of an inclusive, integral form of psychology.
More recently Wilber’s spectrum and integral psychology
writings (1993, 2000) founded on the intuitive vision of the great
wisdom traditions, personal experience of the non-dual and in-
sights by such modern physicists as Einstein, Heisenburg and
Shroedinger into the inseparability of polarities such as subject
and object, known and knower, matter and spirit, have provide a
clear pathway linking realms of the great nest or Chain of Being
from ancient to postmodern times.
Central Themes
Stemming from the spiritual, wisdom traditions, the main ten-
ets of holistic psychology can be arbitrarily integrated into the fol-
lowing holistic themes, each of which could be given alternative ti-
tles, as they essentially reflect conceptual distillations of forms of
perennial, human experience, which have reoccurred over millen-
nia.
Reality
This theme could also be called being, becoming and/or
interbeing. Holistic psychology recognizes both nondual and
dual aspects of reality, being, becoming and interbeing, the
eternity/infinity of what the Vedanta call Self i.e., transpersonal
ultimate reality/consciousness (Parthasarathy, 2002) or what
Wilber (1993, p.37) has simply termed ‘reality as conscious-
ness’, which includes the changing reality of ordinary, everyday
human existence where life essences are ultimately intercon-
nected and cannot be absolutized into dominant characteristics.
Philosophical models, research methods and techniques are
similarly interrelated. For example, qualitative research tech-
niques such as phenomenology, grounded theory and thematic
analysis all emphasize two basic movements of consciousness,
moments and/or steps in the research microprocess involving
divergent and convergent phases. The analogous pattern in
quantitative research techniques is the examination of individ-
ual scores from frequency distributions in inferential or
non-parametric statistics. Typically the initial step is a divergent
one involving a broad scan of the problem to be investigated,
and a consideration of all factors before first important priorities
are listed. This is the essence of any creative thinking process in
which contextual and essential features are distinguished.
These may also take the form of an ongoing, alternating or oscil-
lating process involving figure ground perception. Other exam-
ples of central themes include:
The Absolute
Depending upon varying emphasis in spiritual wisdom tra-
ditions informing the particular holistic psychological approach
taken, this theme could also be called Emptiness, God and/or
Love. Although we are unable to make any definitive statement
about ultimate reality owing to its very indefinable nature, such
reality may be inferred from our everyday experience, the great
spiritual wisdom traditions and the language of poetry. Images,
symbols and concepts of the Absolute are typically in the form of
such phenomena as light, love, breath, fire, sound, spirit and
nature. Chopra’s (2000, 2008) writings are particularly clear in
tracing the theme of light in the experience of God-conscious-
ness, super-consciousness, and physical/spiritual enlighten-
ment, which are revealed to physicists and meditators in jour-
neys beyond the quantum level. John’s Gospel reveals Christ
consciousness as absolute love for God and other persons.
Edwin Hatch’s inspirational hymn begins ‘Breathe on me Breath
of God’ and continues ‘till I am wholy Thine, till all this earthly
part of me, glows with Thy fire divine.’ Hindu tradition gives
proper recognition to the universal sound ‘Aum’ (or Amen in Eu-
ropean traditions) and view of life as a perennial, cosmic cycle
of creation and destruction, birth, death and rebirth, as symbol-
ised in the energy flow of the dance of Shiva.
“In the night of Brahman, Nature is inert, and cannot dance
till Shiva wills it: He arises from His rapture, and dancing
sends through inert matter pulsing waves of awakening
sound, and lo, matter also dances, appearing in a glory
around Him” (Coomarasamy, 1969, p.78).
Similarly, the inextricable interrelatedness of Spirit and mat-
ter as revealed through nature mysticism is beautifully por-
trayed through Wordsworth’s vision, in the immortal lines from
the poem, Tintern Abbey, as ‘a motion and a spirit, that impels
all thinking things, all objects of all thought and rolls through all
things.’
Consciousness
This theme could also be called breath, energy, Self, soul
and/or spirit. In a characteristically introspective insight, a fa-
mous North American founding father of phenomenological, be-
havioural and functionalist schools of thought in psychology,
William James, remarked that the stream of consciousness,
was only a careless name for what, when scrutinized, revealed
itself to consist chiefly in the stream of his own breathing
(James, 1890). A widely traveled man, James was distilling
thousands of years of knowledge of the art, science, spirituality
and controlled practice of breathing, found in African ancestral
breathing (umoya), Yogic pranayama, and Taoist chi-gung
methods. This vital life- and or spirit-breath is experienced and
conceptualized as the connecting link between matter, mind,
energy and consciousness in the great Chain of Being (Hewitt,
1977; Reid, 1998; Taub-Bynaum, 1984; Wilber, 2000).
The Vedanta note that consciousness in an individual is the
same Consciousness underlying the entire universe. Three ba-
sic states of consciousness; waking, dreaming and sleeping,
are distinguished (Parthasarathy, 2002), which correspond to
gross, subtle and causal levels of world/energy respectively as
well as pure Self, the fourth state of consciousness, which sub-
stratum respectively creates the deep sleeper, dreamer and
waker, and which we realise as our essential spirituality,
super-consciousness, soul or Atman. In the macro-cosmic, uni-
versal sense this very same reality is called Spirit, Brahman,
God and/or the Absolute. This is both a logical inference as we
are aware of a continuity of consciousness after periods of
 Psychology for Wisdom
sleep, as well as an intuitive experience of pure, ultimate,
Self-realization (i.e., of a Self that endures beyond cycles of
birth and death), which is a truth related to all forms of knowl-
edge, from ancient, spiritual wisdom and religious traditions,
through modern quantum physics and genetics to contempo-
rary transpersonal psychology and meditation. These terms can
all be distinguished holographically. For example, focus can be
on the soul in the heart, which in theory can change from an en-
ergy form that is smaller than a single quantum to a pattern of
immanent Spirit, transcending all reality.
The terms soul and spirit are conceptually distinct. For ex-
ample, in relation to respective energetic currents of manifesta-
tion and liberation, Judith (2004) refers to soul as the individual
expression of spirit and Spirit as the universal expression of
soul. Jung (1957) and Hillman (1975) refer to the feminine and
masculine connotations and alchemical equivalents e.g. salt
and sulphur, of these terms. Wilber (2000) provides further de-
tailed mapping, e.g. from ego to soul to spirit, makes further dis-
tinctions, and using metaphorical language, draws together
contemporary movements of consciousness towards holistic,
integral forms and theories of psychology.
“Evolution in all forms has started to become conscious of it-
self. Evolution as Spirit-in-action is starting to awaken on a
more collective scale... This Eros moves through you and
me, urging us to include, to diversify, to honour, to enfold.
The Love that moves the sun and other stars is moving theo-
ries such as this...” (Wilber, 2000, p.193).
Experience
This theme could also be called wisdom, knowledge, sci-
ence, enlightenment and/or beyond enlightenment. All the wis-
dom traditions give proper recognition to immediate, conscious
experience as the basis of reason and judgements. There is
also recognition that such conscious experience is by its very
nature biased, selective and the tip of an iceberg, most of which
is immersed or enfolded in a sea of unconscious and/or
superconscious processes, variously known as Spirit, God, an-
cestors and given many respective names such as amadlozi,
Brahmin, and Tao in African Zulu, Indian and Chinese cultural
traditions. These unconscious and superconscious processes
in the form of pre-reflective experience become conscious in the
form of images, symbols, language, concepts, traditions, prac-
tises, myths, art and science reflecting shared interpersonal
and collective historical experience, gathered, treasured and
transmitted by parents, grandparents and other respected el-
ders. Over time this treasured store of collected experience is
modified and adapted in response to changing circumstances,
folklore and traditions, which today include contemporary scien-
tific methods such as double blind, randomised controlled trials
leading to accumulated forms of evidence based knowledge.
This is a perennial processing of reflection, finding words for
pre-reflective experiences and using language to accurately re-
flect and systematically transform such experience into scien-
tific knowledge.
Meister Eckhart distinguished two forms of knowledge: ‘twi-
light knowledge’ in which creation is perceived by clearly distin-
guished ideas (or symbolic representational knowledge) e.g.
subject-object, spirit-matter vs. the nondual mode of ‘daybreak
knowledge, where creatures are perceived without distinctions,
all ideas being rejected, all comparisons being done away in
that One that God is’ (Blakney, 1941, p.79). Knowledge that
was once based on immediate experience becomes seg-
mented, crystallized and known by other names. Wisdom co-
533
mes in such rational forms as philosophy, epistemology, ontol-
ogy and axiology, as well as through supra-rational peak in-
sights of cosmic consciousness. Such enlightened experiences
have been termed !kia in San, eureka in Greek and satori in
Japanese. Other ultimate experiences are beyond all language.
In English poetical vane, Wordsworth speaks of ‘trailing clouds
of glory do we come from God who is our home’. Wisdom tradi-
tions speak of returning to the Source of all knowledge. This ex-
perience may include a return to the womb, journeying to meet
immediate ancestors, continuing past the original face of cre-
ation and pure, luminous emptiness. These are ongoing practi-
cal forms of experience and knowledge.
Harmony
This theme could also be called order, balance, morals, val-
ues and/or principles. All wisdom traditions emphasize the im-
portance of order above chaos, of balance between polarities,
of finding the golden mean and achieving harmony amongst
distinguishable but inseparable relations such as body, mind
and soul. Recognizing the dynamic reality of endemic, conflict-
ing energies and forces in the universe, traditional Zulu people
in Africa refer to the process of ukulungisa when harmonizing
human, environmental and ancestral relationships (Edwards,
2002). In this sense, harmony becomes an original and funda-
mental value. In ancient Greece, similar great value was at-
tached to arête or harmonious excellence which was consid-
ered a worthy end for achievement, a goal to be prised highly.
Harmony may be holistically achieved by blending into one’s
environment, distinguishing and balancing figure ground, whole
and part relationships. In sporting endeavours equal attention
may be given to the training of speed, suppleness, strength,
stamina, spirit and sportsmanship, and not overemphasizing
any particular aspect to the detriment of any other or the whole,
which could lead to forms of excess, which is known in Zulu as
ukudhlula and in Greek as hubris.
The spiritual wisdom traditions give the balance of opposites
due recognition. Just as striving for success is prized, so is its
opposite relaxation, the essence of which may be viewed as
faith. For example in martial art and many forms of sport, em-
phasis may be given to the right balance between tension and
relaxation in relation to the particular activity concerned. Many
mistakes may be needed, many losses incurred, before faith in
relaxation is achieved, before flow in forms of harmonious
breath co-ordinated movement becomes automatically
grooved.
Life
This theme could also be called movement, breathing
and/or stillness. Life means movement, the first form of which is
breath. Movement is intrinsically meaningful as movers live the
experience, experience the energy and realize in motion their
potential. Movement initially allows the human being to become
a bodily centred moment in the world. This here and now experi-
ence and presence are a precondition for meaning, transcen-
dence and ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). At such times there
is the accompanying experience of great stillness, peace and
oneness with a changed, wider world, which is realized in and
through movement. Such peak, human movement moments
are typically accompanied by complete, harmonious breathing
patterns (Loehr & Migden, 1999). There may be the experience
of being effortlessly breathed by the infinite energy of the uni-
verse as the human being become truly aware of the life-breath
534 Edwards
as an ongoing, essential component of our embodiment (Ed-
wards, 2008).
The life- and or spirit-breath forms the foundation for various
spiritual traditions informing holistic psychology in the original,
essential and literal meaning of this term as the study (logos) of
the breath, soul and spirit of life that leaves a person at death
and continues in some other form (psyche). This soul and/or
spirit is experienced as a natural form of energy and conscious-
ness that may be accessed in various ways such as conscious
breathing, meditation, prayer and ceremonial dance for healing
purposes. The earliest forms of conscious breathwork seem to
have been related to spiritual beliefs and practices such as
those concerning nature, ultimate reality, ancestors and human
existence with special reference to such matters as survival,
growth, health, life and death. The importance of soft, flowing
breath co-ordinated movements in promoting health has been
recognized for centuries, beginning in Africa then extending
through India, China and the rest of the planet (Edwards, 2008).
This emphasizes an essential feature of holistic psychology; its
recognition of spirituality, spiritual healing and the importance of
ongoing practise for personal and communal transformation.
Traditional Zulu healers experience being breathed by the
ancestors in divination and healing (ukububula kwedlozi). Simi-
lar patterns are practised in African Indigenous Church healing.
Consciously regulated breathing is a most important aspect of
practice in yoga and chi-gung, where prana and/or chi is re-
garded as the most vital nutrient in nature and the essence of
both still and moving forms of meditation. During tai chi, a spe-
cial form of chi-gung, the focus is on experiencing stillness while
moving. In some still sitting forms of breath-based meditation,
the experience is of the breath/soul/spirit becoming finer until it
‘breathes’ the meditator, to discover infinite spiritual realms.
Other active forms of meditation involve movement in stillness
through the use of intent in visualising, mobilising and circulat-
ing the energy of the life-breath during spiritual healing.
Psyche
Holistic psychology has always been clearly revealed
through art forms such as literature, poetry and novels; for ex-
ample biographical and autobiographical works; sculpture,
dance, drama, cultural processes and products. Art forms en-
able fuller appreciation of the metaphorical, ambiguous and par-
adoxical phenomenon of the psyche, as a forgotten presence
that includes the totality of unconscious, conscious and
superconscious processes towards reaching its final infinite,
eternal and ultimately indefinable nature as Spirit. Psyche is the
initial context for holistic psychology. It includes all facets, pro-
cesses and characteristics of being human in the world, includ-
ing the following (Brooke, 1991; Hilman, 1975; Leary, 1990).
The psyche is holistic and interrelated with all other events,
moments and systems in the cosmos. It accommodates and as-
similates; is essentially revealed through the breath, soul and
spirit; becomes more focused in verbal and non-verbal utter-
ances, language and song; lives in and through human relation-
ships; confirms the existence of others through authentically hu-
man, contextualized, dialogical and conversational meetings
and becomes readily, immediately accessible in terms of meta-
phorical, poetic, hermeneutic and phenomenological methods.
The psyche is earthy, incarnated and embodied. It implies
temporality, finitude, historicity and futurity. It is a realm in which
synergistic, synchronous events occur in circular, spiral rhythms
and holograms, which are immediately available via fantasy,
dreams, images, myths and divinity. It specifically encompasses
the open lived world and the various modes of world; personal, so-
cial, environmental and divine, in a perennial yet changing,
contextual cosmology. As perspective and worldview, it refers to a
revelatory realm with intentionality as a core characteristic. A hum-
ble, open, authentic attitude allows greater truths to be revealed.
The psyche is pre-personal, impersonal, personal,
transpersonal and cosmological. It is concerned with individuated
authenticity and collective archetypes. It is mediated via language
to the extent that the unconscious and superconscious contain lin-
guistic patterning and is revealed through dreams, moments,
events, happenings, experiences and relationships. It tends to
structure a holistic pattern at a particular level of consciousness
development. Such patterns include matter, sensation, percep-
tion, exocept, impulse/emotion, image, symbol, endocept, con-
cept, role/rule, formal, vision-logic, psychic, subtle, causal,
non-dual (Wilber, 2000).
Healing Principles
The etymology of the term healing is derived from the Ger-
man terms heilin (whole), helig (holy) and related old English
terms hael (whole), haelen (heal) and halig (holy). Etymologi-
cally speaking, to be healthy is to be whole or holy, which em-
braces aspects of humanity; physical, mental and spiritual. This
means that the term such as ‘holistic healing’ as sometimes
used these days, is linguistically incorrect and repetitive in that
the true meaning of the term ‘healing’ already implies total,
global care, which can render individuals, couples, groups and
societies free from illness and ultimately perfectly healthy.
Based on the premise that body, mind and spirit function as
a harmonious unit, the goal of holistic psychology is to restore
harmonious balance, to heal, to make whole, to transform from
illness to health. Myers (1993) has articulated fundamental
philosophical assumptions of ancient African healing. The main
ontological assumption is that reality is at once spiritual and ma-
terial, with an all-pervading spiritual energy as source and es-
sence of all phenomena. Everything is spirit manifested, where
‘spirit’ is known in extrasensory fashion via energy/conscious-
ness/God and an extended Self–concept which includes ances-
tors, the yet unborn, all of nature and the entire community.
Spiritual healing logic embraces polarities yielding “both/and”
conclusions, with axiology and ‘ntuology’ respectively empha-
sizing the value and interrelationships of communal, human,
spiritual networks. This is an essentially holistic worldview that
has become increasingly valued and recognized in modern
forms of healing, which take into account the influence of relativ-
ity and quantum theories, the uncertainty principle and a holo-
graphic universe with dissipative structures. This implies a posi-
tive view of illness as a necessary re-ordering of a system
grown increasing coherent and complex, with greater instability
and potential for novel restructuring interactions, including per-
fect health through the harmonization of all forms of energy
(Capra, 1983; Chopra, 2000; Graham, 1990).
Ancient Egyptian views on healing were based on the vision
of a harmoniously interrelated universe suffused with the ener-
gies of heaven and earth. The sun god Ra radiated cosmic
forces of light on microcosmic humanity, whose ultimate pur-
pose in life was to become enlightened, through opening to the
light, then channelling, distributing and merging this light with
earth energy, which was symbolised in the form of a rearing ser-
pent. Successful energy channelling was depicted in Egyptian
paintings and sculpture as a snake rising from the forehead of
enlightened persons such as energy healers. The vital energies
of heaven and earth were believed to merge in a vital human,
 Psychology for Wisdom
spiritual, energy body called ka. The aim of the Egyptian Mys-
tery System, some five thousand years ago, was to educate and
to enlighten humanity with regard to such beliefs and practices.
Healers recognised cycles of the sun, seasons, especially
those related to the flooding of Nile, and other rhythms of life,
music and movement (Graham, 1990; Gumede, 1990; Myers,
1993).
Over many centuries, indigenous healers in Africa, India,
China and other areas of planet earth have practised various
forms of holistic psychology. Healing traditions variously extol a
form of healing energy called Ra and Ka (Ancient Egypt), N/um
(San), Umoya (Zulu), Elima (Congolese), Ruach Ha Kodesh
(Hebrew), Prana (Hindi), Nafas Ruh (Moslem), Baraka (Sufi),
Spiritus Sanctus (Latin for Holy Spirit), Pneuma (Greek), Chi
(Chinese), Mana (Figian), Ni (Sioux), Manitu (Alonquin), Chindi
(Navajo) (Elinwood, 2004; Reid, 1998; Taub-Bynum, 1984).
This healing energy is typically experienced through what Jung
(1957, p.46) has referred to as the ‘breath-body’ or ‘spirit body.’
Still sitting and moving forms of breath co-ordinated behaviour
provide the psychological foundation for all forms of healing and
transcendence as exemplified in alpha conditioning, biofeed-
back, transcendental meditation, !Kung healing dance and Tai
chi (Edwards, 2008; Hewitt, 1977; Reid, 1998). Healthy breath-
ing experiences, that have been bodily re-experienced as an-
chors, provide a phenomenological foundation for various forms
of imagery, light, sound, colour, touch and movement used in
breathwork, expressive therapy, progressive relaxation, sys-
tematic desensitisation, crisis intervention and other forms of
holistic psychological caring, counselling, psychotherapy, ill-
ness prevention, health promotion and ultimate spiritual healing
(Edwards, 2008; Ivey, D’Andrea, Ivey & Simek-Morgan, 2002).
Contemporary healing based on holistic psychological prin-
ciples accepts all types of scientific endeavors in increasing the
scope of practice and study of psychology, harmonizes collabo-
rative healing amongst practitioners, applies techniques from a
variety of disciplines and attempts to use modern techniques to
disseminate knowledge and experiences related to psychology.
The aim of scientific inquiry is to learn truth and even though the
amount of knowledge from a given scientific field is limited, ho-
listic psychology attempts to apply the knowledge from many
sources of scientific discovery (Moore, 2004). All ethically prac-
ticed healing arts and sciences including medicine, homeopa-
thy, nutrition and acupuncture are embraced within the realm of
holistic psychology, with emphasis on the fundamental central-
ity of spirituality.
Wilber (2000, p.113) has summarized the essential, integral
healing principle of holistic psychology as ‘exercise body, mind,
soul and spirit in self, culture and nature’. This takes into ac-
count all levels of the four quadrants of the integral psychology
system. For example, the emotional level of the upper left indi-
vidual, subjective, intentional quadrant might focus on breath
techniques, such as yoga, tai chi and bioenergetics; the mental
level in this quadrant could include psychotherapy and cognitive
therapy, and the spiritual level be concerned with psychic, sub-
tle, causal and nondual levels ranging respectively from nature,
deity and formless mysticism through to Zen. The upper right,
individual, objective, behavioural quadrant could include vita-
mins, diet and resistance training at physical level, and medica-
tion or biofeedback equipment at the neurological level. The
lower left cultural, intersubjective quadrant might include levels
of relationship counseling, multicultural counseling, community
service and compassionate moral practices. The lower right so-
cial interobjective quadrant might include exercising responsi-
535
bilities to Gaia at the system level and community service at the
institutional level.
Writing from an applied psychotherapeutic perspective,
Jeanette (1999) characterises holistic psychology in terms of
the following twelve points: transformation; unhealthiness de-
fined by lack of vital energy flowing through the cells, body,
emotions and mind; focus on helping a person find her/his own
strengths and use them; process based; energy approach; di-
rect affect on the frozen energy in the mind, body and emotions;
awareness of energy inside and outside of self; body and spirit
equal to mind; feeling equal to thinking; inner knowing offers so-
lutions; equal relationships values all equally; commitment to
global well being.
Essential healing practices may be further explicated as fol-
lows: although many communities in developing countries, such
those found in Africa and Asia, do still get sufficient physical ex-
ercise in the form of such activities as walking to and from
school or work and collecting firewood, typically communities in
economically developed countries such as Europe, UK, and the
USA do not. Such individuals, communities and societies need
to engage more regularly in various forms of physical activity
that they enjoy, as well as being culturally valued, such as walk-
ing, running and dancing. Psychological health has been found
to be especially associated with activities involving breath-coor-
dinated, diaphragmatic and aerobic breathing patterns lasting
at least 30 minutes. Formal education and the information age
have boosted regular mental activities, especially in households
with computers, and there is good evidence for the effective-
ness of cognitive behavioural therapy for the mind and psycho-
therapy for the soul. Holistic psychology tends to emphasize
spiritual healing, multi-cultural counseling, community and eco-
logical interventions as these forms of care are established pil-
lars of practice in the wisdom and spiritual traditions, which are
suitable for combating, materialistic, alienating, dehumanizing
and technocratic influences so prevalent in contemporary, eco-
nomically developed, postmodern pockets in society. This all
boils down to the fundamental corrective and health psychologi-
cal recommendation of regular breath and/or spirit based heal-
ing practice, preferably in relation to some form of wisdom
and/or spiritual tradition, which provides the necessary founda-
tional exercise for personal, social and cosmic transformation
and intervention.
Along with their enormous expertise in spiritual healing
through wisdom traditions and meditation, developing societies
have enriched holistic psychological practice with their intrinsic
emphasis on community psychology and multicultural counsel-
ing. The essence of community psychology lies in the develop-
ment of a sense of community by a particular community, who
then emphasize provision and shared care by, with, in, of and
for the community by that particular community. Such an ap-
proach empowers the accessing of necessary resources as
well as social action by knowledgeable and active community
members in their struggle against illness injustice and/or human
rights abuses, typically related to economic and sociopolitical
oppression, tyranny and/or violence (Edwards, 2002).
Tricket (1996) has described community psychology as in-
tervention involving contexts of diversity in a diversity of con-
texts. In this regard workers need skill in multicultural counsel-
ing. This implies that counselors need to be sufficiently
developed in the universal culture of humanity and relatively
free from personal trauma in order to be able to provide an au-
thentic culture of care. General counselling skills include build-
ing, maintaining and improving relationships through specific
536 Edwards
competencies such as empathy, warmth, genuineness, listen-
ing, interviewing and influencing skills as well as more specialist
skills in various types of counselling and psychotherapy, all of
which require a sound multi-cultural ethical basis to their prac-
tice. Specific skills include cultural intentionality: the creative
ability to experience and create alternative cultural perspec-
tives, scenarios and narratives; balance: knowing when to gen-
eralize or individualize specific cultural behaviours that appear
in counselling and scientific mindedness: whereby counsellors
form and test hypotheses concerning cultural diversity rather
than make premature conclusions. Specific cultural knowledge
and experience is needed in order to appreciate the changing
multi-cultural context. Counsellors also need knowledge, expe-
rience, insight and expertise in their own cultural background
and in those of other individuals, families and communities.
Consciousness raising workshops helping counsellors to ex-
plore cultural identity development and worldview using com-
munity genograms, sculpting and role playing are valuable in-
structional resources (Ivey et al., 2002).
Conclusion
Holistic psychology has recently become a major alternative
approach to modern, scientific, academic and professional
forms of psychology. It is founded on ancient, spiritual, wisdom
traditions, such as ancestor reverence, Judaism, Hinduism,
Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam, which have recog-
nised a holistic form of psychology which includes different lev-
els of human consciousness. Thus an essential feature of holis-
tic psychology is its recognition of spirituality and the
importance of ongoing practise for personal, communal and
cosmic transformation. The trend towards holistic psychology is
generally viewed as a healthy corrective for such trends in mod-
ern scientifically orientated, academic and professional psy-
chology with their overemphasis on the economic, political and
plutocratic aspects of professionalism. Holistic psychology
tends to emphasize spiritual healing, multi-cultural counseling,
community and ecological interventions as these forms of care
are established pillars of practice, stemming from the spiritual,
wisdom traditions, which are suitable for combating illness, in-
justice and violence as well as the materialistic, dehumanizing
and technocratic influences so prevalent in contemporary, eco-
nomically developed, postmodern pockets in society.
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Author Note
This work is based on research supported by the University
of Zululand and the South African National Research Founda-
tion (NRF). Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommen-
dation expressed in this material is that of the author(s) and the
NRF does not accept any liability in regard thereto. The re-
search assistance of David John Edwards is gratefully acknowl-
edged.
 538 Edwards

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