Matt Licata, Ph.D.

In this mini webinar, psychotherapist and author Matt Licata explores the nature of an integral spirituality which is embodied, emotionally-attuned, and sensitive to trauma. Spiritual transformation is not only a movement “upward” into transcendence, but also “downward,” into shadow, earth, and ground.

We are wired as relational beings to attach and connect with others, and as little ones with open and sensitive hearts, brains, and nervous systems, we’ll do whatever it takes to feel safe, seen, held, and included.

In order to be received and to feel that we truly belong, we inevitably disconnect from parts of ourselves, aspects of our personalities, and vulnerable pieces of our souls. These split off dimensions of what we are - the “lost orphans of psyche and soma” - end up being “relocated” in what is referred to as “the shadow,” where they remain, awaiting a time when it is safe to return.

We all have strategies - including at times the use of our spiritual beliefs and practices - to keep us out of too much pain, fear, panic, overwhelm, and shame, from a direct confrontation with our own trauma and attachment wounding, and from the terror of rejection, blame, and abandonment.

By bringing curiosity and discernment to how these strategies may be manifesting in our lives, we can discover the light and the gold that have been sent into the shadow, and what it would mean to provide a home, or sanctuary, for this material to return home, back into embodied, conscious awareness. For it is through this sacred return that we are able to live a life of wholeness, purpose, meaning, and aliveness.