This study explores therapists' spiritual experience, personally and within the therapeutic relationship. It focuses on the lived experience of therapists and the different meanings made of what is experienced. The purpose of this research is to bring into the light spiritual experiences of therapists and how they are experienced in the therapeutic process. It contributes to current debate about spiritual experience in the day- to- day practice of psychotherapy. The methodology of phenomenological hermeneutics is chosen as it provides the means to study therapists' lived experience. The study is guided by the philosophical thinking of Heidegger, Gadamer and Van Manen.The findings of this study reveal different types of spiritual experience. These include non-ordinary states of consciousness where there is a feeling sense of being beyond the boundaries of linear time and space. Experiences involve noticing subtle body feelings before they manifest in everyday consciousness. They include hearing and seeing phenomena that may normally be overlooked or disavowed in psychotherapy. The findings show therapists' ability to notice, explore and utilize subtle body phenomena was a combination of their own capabilities, their spiritual practice, and years of experience as therapists. The therapist's body appeared to be like a doorway into experiences that had transformative effects on both therapists and clients. The meanings made of experiences reflected therapists' spiritual and cultural beliefs. These beliefs meant that therapists are attuned to something bigger than everyday identity that gave meaning and purpose to the work and was a rich source of wisdom and guidance, comfort and a sense of being held in the work. Specific attitudes and qualities of presence are revealed that reflect therapists' spiritual beliefs. Participants described experiences that emerged out of the context of the therapeutic relationship but could not be explained clinically. The findings show therapists' world views, their spiritual and cultural beliefs and capacity to experience the unknown, bring a richness and diversity of meanings to the therapeutic relationship that includes the wider contexts of culture and the environment. This study explores current thinking about spiritual experience in psychotherapy and its effects on the therapist. It raises issues for further discussion relating to the role of therapists' spiritual experience in contemporary psychotherapy.

This study explores therapists' spiritual experience, personally and within the therapeutic relationship. It focuses on the lived experience of therapists and the different meanings made of what is experienced. The purpose of this research is to bring into the light spiritual experiences of therapists and how they are experienced in the therapeutic process. It contributes to current debate about spiritual experience in the day- to- day practice of psychotherapy. The methodology of phenomenological hermeneutics is chosen as it provides the means to study therapists' lived experience. The study is guided by the philosophical thinking of Heidegger, Gadamer and Van Manen.The findings of this study reveal different types of spiritual experience. These include non-ordinary states of consciousness where there is a feeling sense of being beyond the boundaries of linear time and space. Experiences involve noticing subtle body feelings before they manifest in everyday consciousness. They include hearing and seeing phenomena that may normally be overlooked or disavowed in psychotherapy. The findings show therapists' ability to notice, explore and utilize subtle body phenomena was a combination of their own capabilities, their spiritual practice, and years of experience as therapists. The therapist's body appeared to be like a doorway into experiences that had transformative effects on both therapists and clients. The meanings made of experiences reflected therapists' spiritual and cultural beliefs. These beliefs meant that therapists are attuned to something bigger than everyday identity that gave meaning and purpose to the work and was a rich source of wisdom and guidance, comfort and a sense of being held in the work. Specific attitudes and qualities of presence are revealed that reflect therapists' spiritual beliefs. Participants described experiences that emerged out of the context of the therapeutic relationship but could not be explained clinically. The findings show therapists' world views, their spiritual and cultural beliefs and capacity to experience the unknown, bring a richness and diversity of meanings to the therapeutic relationship that includes the wider contexts of culture and the environment. This study explores current thinking about spiritual experience in psychotherapy and its effects on the therapist. It raises issues for further discussion relating to the role of therapists' spiritual experience in contemporary psychotherapy.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:24:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gislaine Aparecida de Vilas Boas.pdf: 1501739 bytes, checksum: 79e8a5cd9d5f40a715f64f0ab10260e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work is part of a larger project developed by the research group GEIM (Research Group of Indeterminacy and Metaphor) coordinated by Prof. Dr. Mara Sophia Zanotto. To contribute to the development of the group, this study investigates a practice of reading as a social event (Bloome, 1993; Street, 1993) in a real context of language use, with real readers. Therefore, this work fits in the Applied Linguistics, as this area is concerned with the real problems of language use (Celani, 1998; Moita Lopes, 2006). Thus, the objective was to discuss the role of conceptual metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) in the process of interpreting a literary text, within a practice of reading in which it admits to making sense of the text by the reader, validating, thus, the multiple readings. Metaphor, under socio-cognitive paradigm, is one of the pillars of the constructions of meaning, so it is essential the discussion of its influence on reading literary texts. The metaphorical concepts structure our thought and therefore have implications in the way of interpreting a text. Thus, it was addressed in this work, the importance of literary texts in the classroom, offering a reading practice to consider the subjectivity of readers, rescuing the pleasure of literary reading. To this end, this work was developed under the current interpretive, a qualitative chain, in which the research instrument used in this work is part of: the Think-Aloud in Group. That tool is now used by the group GEIM also as a pedagogical practice that has shown influence on reading as social practice (Zanotto, 1997, Zanotto & Palma, 2008). Therefore, the Think-Aloud in Group is considered a practice of literacy, for all practical literacy is a social practice (Street, 1993). Thus, when working with this practice, which focuses on the interaction among readers, it was possible to investigate how conceptual metaphors influence the construction of the readings during the interpretation of a literary text into a social event of reading / Este trabalho faz parte de um projeto maior desenvolvido pelo grupo de pesquisa GEIM (Grupo de Estudos da Indeterminação e da Metáfora) coordenado pela Profa. Dra. Mara Sophia Zanotto. A fim de contribuir para o desenvolvimento do grupo, esta pesquisa investiga uma prática de leitura como um evento social (Bloome, 1993; Street, 1993) em um contexto real de uso da linguagem, com leitores reais. Por isso, este trabalho se insere na Linguística Aplicada, pois essa área preocupa-se com os problemas reais de uso da linguagem (Celani, 1998; Moita Lopes, 2006). Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi discutir o papel da metáfora conceptual (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) no processo de interpretação de um texto literário, dentro de uma prática de leitura na qual se admite a construção dos sentidos do texto pelo leitor, validando, assim, as múltiplas leituras. A metáfora, sob concepção sociocognitivista, é um dos pilares das construções do sentido, por isso torna-se imprescindível a discussão de sua influência na leitura de textos literários. Os conceitos metafóricos estruturam nosso pensamento e, consequentemente, terão implicações na maneira de interpretar um texto. Dessa forma, foi abordada, neste trabalho, a importância do texto literário em sala de aula, propondo uma prática de leitura que considere a subjetividade dos leitores, resgatando o prazer da leitura literária. Para isso, este trabalho foi desenvolvido sob a corrente interpretativista, uma corrente qualitativa, na qual se insere o instrumento de pesquisa utilizado neste trabalho: o Pensar Alto em Grupo. Esse instrumento passou a ser utilizado pelo grupo GEIM também como uma prática pedagógica e tem revelado grande influência na leitura como prática social (Zanotto, 1997, Zanotto & Palma, 2008). Desse modo, o Pensar alto em Grupo é considerado uma prática de letramento, pois toda prática de letramento é uma prática social (Street, 1993). Assim, ao trabalhar com essa prática, que privilegia a interação entre os leitores, foi possível investigar como as metáforas conceptuais influenciam a construção das leituras durante a interpretação de um texto literário em um evento social de leitura