International University
of Professional Studies

Somatic and Spiritual Psychology - Selected Course Descriptions

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(Please note: All Doctoral coursework (600 courses) involve more advanced research and in-depth study.)

 

REQUIRED CORE COURSES

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For further course descriptions, please contact the University. 

SSP 501  Foundations of Somatic and Spiritual Psychology

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SSP 502  Somatic Awareness

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SSP 503  Principles of Conscious Relationships

Contemporary literature on interpersonal relations and intimacy is surveyed, including the most recent research and theory on relating with awareness and cultivating love.  An experiential component to this course is optional.  Some focus on the connection between conscious relationships and individual somatic-spiritual practices is included.

 

SSP 504  Somatic Centered Therapies

 

SSP 505  Spiritual Therapy Approaches

 

SSP 506   Neuroscience and Somatic Spiritual Psychology

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SSP 507   Tantric Traditions of Healing and Cosmology

 

SSP 590  Masters Thesis Project (Masters program only)
A Masters level thesis is required and the proposal must be submitted to the mentor and department chair. Upon approval, students will work with their mentors to gain direction for research, format, and editing. This project may be an extended essay on a topic of special interest, a comprehensive literature review on a specialty issue, a write-up of some research undertaken, or a report of a project such as a workshop that the learner has designed and facilitated. The thesis will be a culmination of the student’s knowledge, making a significant contribution to the field of Somatic and Spiritual Psychology.

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SSP 601  Spiritual Traditions
This course introduces students to the world’s spiritual and religious traditions, with their different cosmologies and practices. It focuses in particular on how these traditions view the human body and how the body is involved in spiritual practices. An experiential component of the course is optional if students wish to experience physical spiritual practices like meditation techniques, fasting, and yoga.

 

SSP 602  Readings in Embodied Spirituality
This course reviews spiritual texts and research on the experiences and practices of embodied spirituality. Readings include Yogic, Hindu, Buddhist, Tantric, Christian, Jewish, and other texts that give insight into different spiritual traditions’ views of the body and its role in spiritual practice. They also include studies on the physical and psychological effects of these practices.

 

SSP 603  Theory and Practice of Therapeutic Relationships
A good therapeutic relationship is the basis for all psychological work with a clients. This course acquaints students with the basic theories on how the therapeutic relationship both succeeds and fails. It provides tools for creating beneficial therapeutic relationships with clients, and addresses ethical issues presented in all therapeutic relationships, but particularly when the treatment involves physical techniques and sexuality.

 

SSP 604  Principles of Yoga
This course provides an overview of the theory behind the different types of Yoga and how those theories have been implemented in the form of physical spiritual practices. Readings will include Yogic texts, modern interpretations of Yoga, and studies on the effects of Yogic practices. An experiential component of Yogic practice is optional.

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SSP 605  Introduction to Shamanic Practices
This course surveys the literature on anthropological and psychological studies of shamanic practices and how they evolved in various cultures. It also looks at the shamanic practices found in modern Western culture. Students may opt to add an experiential component to the course and attend or participate in shamanic rituals.

 

SSP 606 Approaches to Somatic Human Sexuality
Completion of SSP 504 is prerequisite for this more comprehensive training to acquaint individuals with the erotic potential of their embodiment via methods of breath-work, touch, massage, and pelvic release.
 

SSP 607  Practicum / Internship in Somatic and Spiritual Psychology
Under the guidance of the Program Director, learners design and undertake a practicum or internship experience within the general area of Somatic and Spiritual Psychology.

 

SSP 690  Dissertation Research Project
A dissertation is required and the proposal must be submitted to the mentor and department chair. Upon approval, students will work with their mentors to gain direction for research, format, and editing. The dissertation will be a substantial and original contribution to the literature in the field of Somatic and Spiritual Psychology.

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ELECTIVE COURSES

Elective courses may be recommended by the university to ensure the student receives a well-rounded education and students are encouraged to take electives that focus on their core areas of educational interest. Alternative electives to the courses below may be designed by students and submitted to their mentor and the university for approval, truly giving students to opportunity to customize their education. In addition, with prior university approval, students can receive course credits for certain relevant workshops and conferences attended.

 

SSP 650  Readings in Embodied Spirituality
Examines in more detail the notion that the lived experience of our embodiment is our access to the divine. Readings draw on tantric literature as well as works from closely related traditions.

 

SSP 651  Progressing in Meditation
This course offers learners the opportunity to deepen their meditation practice, and to experiment with practices that involve “meditating with the body.”

 

SSP 652  Theories of Bodywork
Reviews some of the major approaches to somatic healing, including such methods as Rolfing, Feldenkreis, Alexander technique, etc.

 

SSP 653  Readings in Shamanic Practice
Examines in more detail some of the major methods and beliefs of shamanic practice from various indigenous traditions.

 

SSP 654  Advanced Study of Interpersonal Relationships
Building on SSP 504, this course studies in more detail the theory and practice of conscious relationships and associated issues of intimacy.

 

SSP 655  Advances in Somatic Human Sexuality
Studies in more detail the major theoretical perspectives and healing practices of somatic human sexuality. The emphasis of this course may be more theoretical or more experiential depending on the interest of the learner.

 

SSP 656  The Impact of Repression on the Human Experience  
Surveys the contemporary crises faced by the human species and its planet. This course reviews ways in which the tragedies of genocide, ecocide, and endemic violence can be addressed by looking at the impact of emotional, spiritual, and sexual repression on the human experience. Readings of relevant cultural critics from Marcuse to contemporary work in ecological psychology are discussed.

 

SSP 657  Practicum in Embodied Spirituality
In collaboration with an IUPS Mentor, learners design and implement a personal experience that deepens their appreciation of their own embodied spirituality. Such experiences might be a vision quest, a program of relevant training, etc.

 

SSP 658  Practice of Living in Meditation
By reviewing a range of contemporary spiritual leaders, this course will inquire deeply into the practice of meditation, as well as reviewing contemporary findings in the psychology and neuroscience of consciousness.

 

SSP 659  Advanced Study of Yoga
Building on SSP 604, this course is for the learner interested in deeper study and experience within the ancient and contemporary practices of yoga.

 

SSP 660  Practicum in Bodywork
Learners select a particular modality of somatic healing and deepen their own experience of its methodology.

 

SSP 661  Practicum in Shamanic Practice
Learners engage in an apprentice relationship with a bone fide shamanic practitioner, and learn some of his/her ways of working.

 

SSP 663  Advanced Methods of Embodied Meditation
Specifically examines meditation practices that dynamically involve the body, including methods of breathing, moving, dancing.

 

SSP 664  History and Philosophy of Yogic Practice
Building on SSP 604 and SSP 658, this course is intended for learners who teach, or who intend to teach, some type of yoga practice.  It reviews more intensively the great traditions of yoga in all eight aspects, as defined by Patanjali and as developed into the contemporary world.

 

SSP 665  Neuroscience and Meditation
Surveys the current neuroscientific literature on the beneficial effects of meditation on the functioning and chemistry of the brain.

 

SSP 666  Altered States of Consciousness
Reviews the literature on altered states of consciousness as induced by pharmacological agents, by breathwork, and by other methodologies.

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SSP 667  Neuroscience and Somatic-Spiritual Psychology
Building on SSP 665, this course enables the learner to study more intensively the findings of contemporary neuroscience that are pertinent to the concerns of somatic and spiritual psychology.

 

SSP 668  The Body in Human Experience
Examines the notion of the “lived experience of embodiment” as it has been developed in phenomenological and other philosophical literatures.

 

SSP 669  Aspects of Somatic and Emotional Growth
A course in comparative psychotherapy, with a strong emphasis on the development of dynamic methodologies in the course of the twentieth century.

 

SSP 670  Teaching Embodied Processes to Solo Practitioners   
Reviews the basics of any one-on-one healing relationship including such matters as the intersubjective field, the relevance of “transference” and “countertransference,” and addressing difficulties and breakdowns in the healing process.

 

SSP 671  Teaching Embodied Processes to Partnered Practitioners
Completion of SSP 657 is a prerequisite for this course, which examines the challenges of coaching couples in embodied spiritual practices.

 

SSP 672  Teaching Embodied Processes in Workshop Settings
Completion of SSP 657 is a prerequisite for this course, which offers learners the fundamental skills of designing and implementing a workshop.

 

SSP 673  Ethics of Healing Relationships
Examines the nature and crucial importance of ethical conduct in healing relationships, with a particular emphasis on issues of consent, boundary, and explicit communication.

 

SSP 674  Sexuality and Culture throughout History
Completion of SSP 655 is a prerequisite for this course, which offers the opportunity for learners to examine more deeply the processes by which different cultures have curtailed sexual freedoms.

 

SSP 675  History of the Hindu-Jain Lineages
Examines the distinctive features and practices of embodied spirituality in the Hindu-Jain traditions.

 

SSP 676  History of the Buddhist Lineages
Examines the distinctive features and practices of embodied spirituality in the Buddhist traditions.

 

SSP 677  History and Practices of Taoism
Examines more deeply the embodied spirituality of Taoist practice.

 

SSP 678  History and Practices of Sufism
Examines more deeply the embodied spirituality of Sufi practice.

 

SSP 679  Embodied Spirituality in the “Religions of the Book”
This course offers learners the opportunity to investigate the place of embodied spiritual practice in the  Judaic-Christian-Islamic traditions.

 

SSP 680  Advanced Readings in Somatic and Energetic Psychology 
Reviews the development of somatic and energetic psychology as it has entered the awareness of the western world.   

 

SSP 681  Images of the Goddess
Learners explore the significance of Goddess imagery and mythology, as well as the practical experience of the energies of the Goddess, in their personal and professional practice.

 

SSP 682  Advanced Readings in Ecology and Spiritual Practice
Examines the interconnected intentionality of somatic spirituality and ecological awareness.  The importance of promoting an understanding of this interconnectedness is emphasized.

 

SSP 683  Readings in Liberation Psychology
Basic texts in liberation psychology are read with the intent of understanding their significance for the practice of embodied spirituality.

 

SSP 684  Witnessing Embodied Spiritual Practice
Helps the learner to develop skills of writing, speaking, and teaching, that are necessary to propagate the vision of somatic and spiritual psychology.

 

SSP 685  Diversity and Embodied Spirituality
Examines the development of teachings directed toward particular populations; for example, the development of gay and lesbian tantra, transgendered tantra, etc.