Grof's perinatal matrices actually work exactly as Grof and his followers described. The main idea in them is this: as a person was born, so he lives on. The experience of birth programs a person’s subconscious processes, his reactions and leaves its mark on all human reactions, especially to everything new and unknown.
My experience in working with clients, my personal experience, my vision confirms this.

Often a difficult, long birth that ends well for the child programs the worldview and reactions of the fighter and leader, although it would seem that this is how an easy birth should work. But no, that’s what a leader is for: to be able to fight, endure, wait and take advantage of the result.

In this way, children born through cesarean section fall into a special group. They have a different matrix from birth, many of them were born before the onset of labor with their mother, and in fact lived only BPM1 - “basic perinatal matrix 1”, from which they learned that the world is kind, beautiful, does everything for them, should take care . And if kesaevo occurred before the onset of BPM 2, then the child’s subconscious knows only this. And, as we know, the world is different. In it, a lot is gained through struggle, competition; in our world we have to achieve goals.
Such children see goals, but by their birth they are deprived of the tools, the resource with which they can achieve their goals.

It happens that cesarean is done already during the mother’s contractions, then the child ends up in BPM2, he understands that the world is not so friendly, there can be different things in it and we do not always have power over these different things. The child learns to accept conditionally bad things. And such children can reach BPM3 - feel asphyxia, compression of the head, they understand that the world is strong, it can crush, compress or kill, but since they are not born themselves, they do not have the experience of “I took it, I won,” but there is some kind of surrogate analogue of this. Those. These children do not receive BPM 4 (ability to achieve).
For these reasons, it can be difficult for children after Kesaev to not even adapt to our world... but it would probably be correct to say “live.”

Those who were born by Caesarean on BPM1 find it difficult to understand why the world is not as bright as it seems to them inside, why they are denied, where injustice comes from. Those who have gone through the stages of contractions and insertion of the head, i.e. BPM2 and 3 it is clear that the world is different and should be accepted in its ambiguity, but all these days do not have their own resources to achieve and achieve goals. Or rather, there may be a resource, but a person does not know how to use it, does not know how and what to do with it.

But you have to adapt, and Caesar babies often grow up to be manipulators. Where the born child himself, and then the adult, rushes and achieves victory, the Caesar baby will manipulate. First by parents, then by other surroundings. And this is quite important, because now more than 50% of children are born through cesarean section, there are especially developed cities and countries in which this figure reaches 70%.
It is important to understand that these children are not to blame for how they were born, they had such an experience, their Souls knowingly knowing that this would happen, went into it. But they are not to blame. It’s just that now is the time, the world of Earth needs it so much. And such children can also be adapted.

First, by helping them accept the plurality of the world. And secondly, helping them find their instrument and already at a conscious age, but through their unconscious, build BPM4 in their heads.
How? There are ways. I will write about those that I know, and you write to me, if you know any others, this will be very important for many readers, parents of children born through Caesarean section.

*holotropic breathing with a very high degree of probability will lead a person through the matrix of his birth if there was some kind of breakdown in it. Why? Because our structure strives for integrity and restoration. And, as soon as you turn off your consciousness, the subconscious rushes to heal itself.
What's not good about this method and why don't I particularly recommend it? Uncontrollability, cannot be used by children, physical consequences, including death, are possible. But the fact remains that the method works, people, I mean adults, breathe and heal. I holotropiced more than once, I didn’t go through birth, everything is fine there. But I have seen people who had a difficult birth, got stuck (and forceps were used), or had a C-section, and in holotropics they went into labor first.

*regressive hypnosis is good for everyone, but small child If you don't put him in jail, his mother should sit down for him. We perfectly build the entire energetic background of childbirth for the child, but we still need to teach him through the mentality. So read on.

*sport. All types of single sports in which a person will overcome and achieve victory over the conditions of the world and over himself. And for some time now rock climbing has been in first place for me. Also because, just as a child moves through the mother’s womb, overcoming resistance, so a person who climbs a wall or rock moves his arms. kicks, clings, crawls and reaches! Those. It’s not so important that a person is in a confined space, otherwise the slides in the water park would pass for ok, it’s important to overcome, fight, step over fear and, through strength, reach the top! Rowing also comes to mind, but the surrounding conditions should not be calm, ideally rough seas, waves. What am I talking about? Moreover, if you have a child born by Caesarean, and you need BPM4 to be built in his subconscious, he has learned the skill of “achieving” and not manipulating, then, it seems to me, the climbing wall, which is now “so convenient and completely by accident “The sea has multiplied, it will help you a lot with this. And just as a child who is born naturally has an internal quota of trust in the world, so a person who goes in for rock climbing is subconsciously prescribed it, because there is always a second person nearby who insures him. I probably don’t know now that is more responsive to the task of building the correct mechanism for the birth of activities in a child’s subconscious than rock climbing.
If you know, write in the comments, it is definitely important.

Perinatal matrices by Stanislav Grof are an interesting theory that deserves the attention of future parents: how do pregnancy and childbirth affect the baby? How do they affect his habits and character? Is it possible to correct anything during childbirth and postpartum period to make the baby happier?

MY EXPERIENCE

I first learned about Grof’s perinatal matrices at the age of 11, while writing a competition paper on architecture. I dreamed of designing a House in which every person would feel comfortable, cozy, where everyone would restore their strength after a working day, resting and relaxing. The basic principle is bionics - the use of natural elements and forms in the design.

And then a wonderful analogy was born to me - a House like a Womb, a House in which a person will feel like a small baby in his mother’s Womb - safe, easy, cozy, blissful and carefree. Delving deeper into psychology, I found the works of Stanislav Grof... And immediately many discoveries awaited me.

I remembered the story of my birth: at some point during contractions, my mother fainted. Doctors stopped labor, restored vital signs, and started the process again. All my life I have had a hard time withstanding situations of uncertainty, when I have to wait for a result, or an opportunity to act. Of course, for me this discovery has become a powerful resource: today I am preparing for the birth and gently accompanying it as a doula, and I am already waiting with reverence.

FIRST PREGNANCY AND BIRTH

My children and their birth also suggest that Stanislav Grof’s system is not a simple theory. The eldest child was very patient during pregnancy, preferred to move rather than kick his full stomach, “stayed too long” until 44 weeks, and throughout the birth he was not an active participant in the process, but responded to the work of the uterus, which “pushed” him to the exit. In life, he often gives in, it is difficult for him to decide on any step, he moves forward almost “kicks”.

SECOND PREGNANCY AND BIRTH

The youngest child was active throughout the pregnancy, kicking, eliminating all sources of pressure on him - the stomach after eating, a full bladder. During labor, I sometimes had the feeling that a rocket was flying out of me - he walked on his own, very quickly and rapidly, faster than I could adapt to his pace! In life, this child is a leader, active, quick to react, strong, with character. He will not tolerate (unlike the eldest son), but will act; he easily finds a common language with other children.

Funny thing: Born in Bali, he spent the entire last trimester, birth and first year of his life hearing English and Balinese spoken. Today, at three years old, he knows a lot English words, writes and recites the Russian and English alphabet. Sometimes Balinese words slip through his lips :)

STORIES OF DIFFERENT MOMS

Zoya: When I first heard about all this, I immediately puzzled my mother with the question: “How was I born? Tell me in every detail!” My mother assured me that I was a welcome child, the birth took place on time, without any problems, and I was born a real beauty. True, there was one unusual moment... At my birth there was a whole crowd of... African medical students studying in the Soviet Union. It turns out that the first thing I saw in my life was a group of black people in white coats. Has this affected my life? I don’t even know... In all my childhood photographs I am captured with my favorite toy - a plastic little black man. I loved the cartoon “Chunga-Changa” and constantly sang songs from it. But I’ve been afraid of crowds since childhood. What especially horrifies me is having to speak in front of a large number of people when all the attention of those present (even if they are not black) is focused on me. So judge for yourself: whether this whole story with the “aibolites” from the shores of the Limpopo affected me or not.

Natalie 82: When I found out that I was pregnant with my second child, I told my son about it. He looked at my belly and asked: “Is Lyalechka sitting there?” I nodded. “It’s dark and wet,” he said. I was simply shocked. Then he was 3 years old, now he is five - he no longer says or remembers anything like that.

Vera: When I heard such speeches from my baby, I was simply taken aback... My son also says that when he was sitting in his tummy, he played with the wire there. This, as I understand it, is the umbilical cord. Wow, it turns out that many people have had such conversations with their children. Why is so little written and spoken about this? I think people would approach childbirth differently.

Mila M: My daughter repeated many times that she remembers sitting in the dark. He says: “There was a snake there with me, but it was non-poisonous.” Was she also referring to the umbilical cord?

STANISLAV GROF

Once upon a time, when the American psychologist Stanislav Grof was still living in socialist Czechoslovakia and was a research fellow at the University of Prague, an extraordinary story happened to him: he went into a trance and relived his birth. This spiritual experience so shocked the materialist and atheist Grof that he soon left his socialist homeland and went to America, where he continued his research. And, in the end, he devoted his whole life to this. He invented a method that allows any person to again feel himself in the womb of his mother and relive his birth. This is a special breathing technique - holotropic breathing. Grof and his followers believe that, having learned where the legs of his problems “grow” from, a person will soon get rid of these problems.

Today there are many famous people among his followers. Remember the movie "The Matrix"? He has a direct connection to Grof - the directors the Wachowski brothers once attended his lecture, were impressed and created their own film trilogy. Steven Spielberg is also an admirer of his; wasn’t it Grof who suggested him to make “Back to the Future!”? And in our country there are many followers of Stanislav Grof, for example, Eduard Sagalayev, a famous television figure. According to him, holotropic breathing completely turned his life around and led him to God.

FOUR MATRICES

In the course of his research, Stanislav Grof identified certain patterns obtained in the process of healing the psyche with the help of breathing practices. People often recalled their birth experience during holotropic breathwork and lived it over and over again.

So 4 basic ones were opened perinatal matrices, which are imprinted in our consciousness during pregnancy and childbirth. Our ability to flexibly adapt to the limitations and difficulties of the material world into which we have come depends on the extent to which these perinatal stages proceed naturally and harmoniously.

FIRST PERINATAL MATRIX

During pregnancy, the first basic perinatal matrix is ​​laid. It carries information about symbiosis and harmony between mother and child. All the positive and negative impressions of this matrix appear most clearly in the first 7 years of a person’s life, but they have a powerful influence on the rest of his life.

POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRST MATRIX

In the belly, the child experiences a state of love, unity with something greater, with the Creator. Developing from one cell, a person participates in the creation of himself. This is how he reveals the divine aspect within himself. This creates a sense of self-improvement. When pregnancy is going well, a person has confidence in the growth process. He trusts the surrounding space, which protects and nourishes him, while the child experiences delight. This is the feeling of God in oneself and oneself in God. Returning, using various regression methods, to your intrauterine experiences, especially early dates When their stomachs were not yet tight, people remember how they identified themselves with images of the Divine world, harmony, abundance, the sound of beautiful music, and magical paradise landscapes. In the process of rapid growth and embodiment, a person feels oceanic bliss.

NEGATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRST MATRIX

During the stress that the child experiences in the stomach, he experiences a state of self-rejection and fear. He is worried, “squeezed.” The child does not trust the surrounding space, which this moment aggressive for him, doubts the successful process of self-improvement, because his process of creating himself at that moment is difficult, with obstacles, impaired by any stressful situation. If such experiences are dim, temporary, transient and rare, then they do not lead to the formation of negative character traits, and even help the child to adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions in the future. Remembering the stress experienced in the stomach, people talk about how they identified themselves with destructive images of burned fields, dry rivers, withered trees, cold suns, and images of decomposition. They may remember quarrels between parents, mom being scared, her drug poisoning, or wanting an abortion. If negative experiences in the womb are repeated frequently, such people will consider themselves disgusting throughout life and will make a corresponding personal history and behave in accordance with the established image.

If a child gets used to experiencing large stress overloads in the stomach, then he loses the feeling of a strong connection with the Universe, and he loses trust in this world. He develops such qualities as the inability to feel creative processes, he ceases to feel trust in himself and in God, because he loses the feeling of a connecting link with his intention, he ceases to experience the sensation of energy flows, and therefore he has no reason to trust the Universe.

A person who did not receive protection in the prenatal period - at a time when he needed this protection and security most for harmonious development, will psychologically need increased protection and care throughout his life and even show infantile traits in adulthood. Since his self-creation has been disrupted or infringed, his desire for creativity may be suppressed - he will experience uncertainty in the creative process and will not be able to enjoy it. But creating only for the sake of the process - even at an early age - will be difficult for him; the slightest failure will lead him to curtail creative activity and disappointment in his abilities. He will always strive to achieve the goal and not notice the charm of the process itself.

Self-doubt gives rise to jealousy in such a person, supported by the subconscious belief that “it is impossible to truly love such an insignificant person.” This uncertainty gives rise to frequent changes of partners in order to feed the insatiable desire to establish itself... A negative view of the nature of the world around us and one’s own nature gives rise to destructive tendencies. And the loss of the connecting link with intention complicates childbirth and prevents the child from harmoniously aligning with the birth flow during labor.

People with negative I BPM are unhappy people, often workaholics who sacrifice their interests for the sake of self-affirmation. Sometimes what is more important to them is not family, but many admirers, sometimes sacrificing everything for the sake of science; there are such people among scientists - if they are deep specialists only in their field, but otherwise they are helpless children. It is important for such people to work through their perinatal experience, remember and realize the reasons for their uncertainty and insecurity. After this they become happy.

SECOND PERINATAL MATRIX

During precursors and contractions, the second basic perinatal matrix is ​​laid - its content is the passive aspect of the will. It is characterized as a state of hopelessness. This matrix manifests itself most clearly in the 7–14 years of a person’s life. Then, when developed, it helps a person cope with difficulties throughout his life. This matrix is ​​formed during cervical dilatation and ends with full dilatation when the baby is ready to climb out. Archetypally, this can be perceived as something like "expulsion from paradise." At this stage, the child finally realizes the duality of the world: “It turns out that there is me, and there is the world, and this surrounding world can be favorable or unfavorable.” Before this, the child felt complete unity with the world around him. Moreover, all experiences at this stage are still passive. “Something is wrong, I have to leave this world, I don’t deserve to be here, but simply - I don’t fit here, this world is pushing me out.” Humility is formed: “Come what may.” But this feeling of humility gradually dries up, a feeling of mistrust is born in the world, which is no longer capable of protecting, and a desire arises to fight the situation - this is where the phase of the passive II matrix ends, it is replaced by the phase of the active III matrix.

POSITIVE SECOND PERINATAL MATRIX

During labor, the child experiences a state of resignation with the situation, he contemplates and accepts. It is experienced as the knowledge of misfortune, deprivation and at the same time the knowledge that one does not die from this, a feeling of self-sacrifice. According to the child’s perception, painful states are endlessly repeated – activated again and again and replaced by periods of rest.

This allows the child to develop such qualities as humility and patience, and the ability to endure difficulties. In the future, these qualities may be useful for developing the ability to contemplate and meditate. In addition, changes in the child’s surrounding world during labor develops the perception of the duality of the world, and this is the basis for logical thinking. For survival, this matrix gives the newborn the ability to take a blow. If the birth was quick, then such a person’s ability to wait and allow something to be structured, the passive aspect of the will will be less manifested. That’s why older children are often more patient because younger ones are born faster. Perhaps these qualities are especially important for older children, who are called upon to help their parents with younger children.

NEGATIVE SECOND PERINATAL MATRIX

With a long and painful phase of contractions, infantilism and lack of initiative are consolidated, which leads to a passive lifestyle. Due to prolonged suffering and addiction to it, even masochism can form. Patience in people traumatized by Matrix II is overdeveloped. With low self-esteem, they often scold themselves, are ready to receive punishment for the slightest offenses, considering themselves to blame for everything. At the same time, they are irresponsible, because they consider themselves insignificant people on whom nothing can depend. This is how future experimental subjects, victims, people who do not know about their needs are born. They are attracted to work that involves uncreative, heavy, monotonous labor that does not require initiative, or even violence against them; It is these people who may agree to low-paid work and not defend their interests.

The main condition for creating trauma according to the II matrix in our maternity hospitals now is drug stimulation. Oxytocin gives untimely and too strong tone of the uterus, the woman does not have time to open, this leads to increased pain. At the same time, the woman no longer understands anything, awareness disappears, fear grows, the woman becomes pinched, which entails emotional and psychological trauma for the child.

THIRD PERINATAL MATRIX

During pushing, the III Basic Perinatal Matrix is ​​laid. It manifests itself most clearly later in adolescents aged 14–21 years. In the stomach it is experienced as a separation between mother and child - the baby feels that the beautiful and cozy world where he lived no longer exists.

POSITIVE THIRD PERINATAL MATRIX

During attempts, the feeling of paradise that the child experienced in intrauterine life collapses. The state of loss of paradise gives rise to the first feeling of atheism that can exist in a person’s life. This rudimentary form of atheism will play a huge role in the formation of human thinking and flexibility of perception. In this state, the child experiences not only disappointment in paradise, but also revolutionary tendencies. Desperate, a person seeks a way out of the situation; resigned, a person rebels and fights. If logic was laid down during Matrix II, then here there is going beyond logic, paradoxical thinking, insight, discovery. From duality something third is born. From logic - a paradox, going beyond limits. Reproducing in memory the period of harmonious efforts of their birth, people perceive images of dramatic battles, revolutionary plots, and personal virtuoso victories. They overcome some tension with their own vibrant activity and initiative. They search and find, dare and win, take risks and are rewarded.

This matrix is ​​designed to awaken in a born person such qualities as the ability to move towards a goal, unbending intention, the ability to question dogmas, courage, daring, and the ability to overcome boundaries. In the future, these qualities develop such traits as the ability to fight back, respond to the blows of fate, activity in defending one’s rights, and a critical look at things.

NEGATIVE THIRD PERINATAL MATRIX

The state that a child experiences during too strong pushing, stimulated by oxytocin, is far from harmony and serenity. This matrix, already colored by the energy of struggle, in an accented version carries information of aggression, antagonism, and is filled with fear and despair. Here an attitude towards fighting is already being formed, not just for the sake of achieving a goal, but to fight simply for the sake of fighting, where the goal, means, state, external and inner world mixes in the opened subconscious labyrinths, leaving a contradictory imprint on the psyche of the child being born and the woman in labor. People remember images of wars, destruction, disasters, plunging into the memories of their negative III matrix.

The more negatively colored the III matrix is, the more cruel qualities it introduces into the character of the born child. Experiencing severe pain during birth, the child absorbs with this pain information about sadism, aggression, rigid boundaries and suppression of harmony. Such people feel good in responsible positions that require the manifestation of violence and power - bosses, generals.

FOURTH PERINATAL MATRIX

Immediately after birth, the IV Basic Perinatal Matrix is ​​laid. It manifests itself most clearly in life at the age of 21–28. This matrix ideally symbolizes the end of suffering, restoration and peace. And also the end of life in a closed space and the beginning of life in another world, with completely different conditions and parameters. There is a unity between mother and child, which was shaken during childbirth. All internal processes are harmonized, the child is attuned to the mother. His heart rate, breathing, nutrition, movement in space, heat exchange - everything happens synchronously with his mother. Even the child’s hormonal levels after childbirth and during feeding are interconnected with the mother’s.

The child reacts sensitively to all changes in the mother’s condition, and the mother intuitively adapts to the child’s needs. In the first hours of a child's life, and throughout the first days of his life, the child's attention is very active. A newborn is saturated with impressions and receives enormous amounts of information about the world. A picture of the world is imprinted in the child’s consciousness and subconscious, which will influence his worldview throughout his entire subsequent life.

In the first moments, the so-called imprinting occurs in the consciousness of a newborn - and it depends on us what it will be like for our baby. When we welcome our child into this world, being a guide for him, we are responsible for this moment, receiving full benefits both from above and from the newborn for a well-executed mission.

POSITIVE FOURTH PERINATAL MATRIX

Immediately after birth in the mother’s arms, the child experiences a state of returning back to heaven, regaining lost happiness. This experience of happiness is no longer the same as in the stomach. Previously, the child did not know that he was in heaven. Then, when paradise was lost, he realized how good it was there. After regaining peace and happiness, the child begins to recognize this feeling. If his trust in the world was formed in his stomach, now that he has understood and established himself in the caring and tenderness of this world, his true faith and conviction are being formed. This is a prerequisite for the formation of vision, the perception of non-verbal knowledge, and a state of enlightenment and insight. People, remembering this amazing moment in their lives, see images of an explosion ending all the chaos, stopping the world, and after that the rebirth of life.

Well spent first hours after childbirth lay in a person such qualities as the ability to truly believe in God, in oneself, in nature. The inner conviction in the existence of happiness, paradise, love is not even faith, but a true vision of divine laws and direct perception of happiness, readiness for it.

The inner conviction in the existence of happiness, paradise, love is not even faith, but a true vision of divine laws and direct perception of happiness, readiness for it. After a complete loss of faith and hope for a beautiful world, which was experienced and perceived throughout the III matrix, now, when a person gains everything, having lost everything, he is open to the perception of the harmonious energies of the universe, even when he is in the most difficult situations - he has it in him immunity, which is laid down by nature for the purest perception, not clouded by any stereotypes, and therefore this immunity to the complexities of our world is the strongest. Of course, much can be corrected with care and education. If we are able to show love to a child, then this compensates for a lot.

According to the intensity of imprinting on the child’s consciousness, the IV matrix is ​​laid in descending order - the first hour, the first 3 days, the first 3 months, the first year, the first 7 years, childhood. But the most important for imprinting is 1 hour of life! Of course, people are open to transformative, consciousness-liberating experiences throughout their lives, but powerful start gives a person primary energy for life.

This matrix also creates imprinting in the mother - after all, a woman, having given birth herself, in the first hour is filled with such a hormonal bouquet that at this moment she is maximally open to the love that she can pour out on the child and thus establish strong maternal ties between him and herself, tune him and yourself into a harmonious interaction full of love. Thanks to such care, the child gains trust in the world, through learning to trust his mother. A person gains the ability to feel like a drop in the ocean, which is the basis of the spiritual perception of the world. This matrix is ​​the final one. It gives the ability to be creative, but not the same as in Matrix I - not for the sake of the process, but for the sake of achieving a creative result. People who receive maximum care in the first hours of life, and then in the first year, get an excellent start in becoming self-sufficient, constructive, creative people.

NEGATIVE FOURTH PERINATAL MATRIX

The child receives ideas about the world such as what pictures he sees in the first hour. These images are imprinted into his subconscious to cast shadow and light on his perception of the world around him throughout his life. Under unfavorable conditions, a newborn falls “from the frying pan into the fire.” The difficult process of childbirth has just been completed, the child, according to all natural laws, should receive compensation, a “reward”, and rest.

Deprived of refuge on the mother's breast, mother's warmth, attunement with her heartbeat, breathing, and simply comfortable rest and freedom of movement, tightly swaddled, having undergone the so-called necessary postpartum medical procedures, deprived of the portion of umbilical cord blood that was due to him, lying alone and looking at the ceiling ...

The child concludes that life is struggle and pain. It was difficult and scary to be born, but even after the birth things didn’t feel good, there was unhappiness and a soulless space all around. A child, even wrapped in thick blankets, does not warm himself and the surrounding space, he must be warmed by his mother, and left to himself, he experiences cosmic cold - only the vital centers warm up, the rest cools down. Immobility in the blanket only worsens the picture.

A mother, deprived of the opportunity to take care of her child, breastfeed him, pumped up with drugs, who has not gone through all the birth processes on her own, suffers a hormonal imbalance and is deprived of the opportunity to pour out her love on the child and show maternal feelings. It is very difficult for her to establish contact with the child, and sometimes to develop love for him... The images that arise when people return to the memory of this matrix: a cold hell, when everything seemed to be getting better, and then completely collapsed. Hopelessness. Deserted, lifeless, cold landscapes, loneliness.

Under unfavorable postpartum conditions, a person develops such qualities as pessimism, anti-environmentalism, aimlessness, lack of faith, closedness from the world, and distrust. A person cannot allow himself to experience pleasure from life, it seems to him that no one needs him, he is abandoned, he is a burden to himself, to the world, such a person cannot allow himself to simply be. The creativity of an adult without the desire for results is the result of a disturbed IV BPM. An anti-ecological attitude towards the world, when a person is not interested in what will happen in the world after him, and therefore the destruction of the environment.

Destruction of various human values, resources - after all, such a person has no connection with the future, the future does not promise him anything good. Even if such people achieve their goals, they do not feel happy. When interacting with people, they develop an impersonal, impersonal approach. People who are left alone in the first hours after childbirth, deprived of care and communication with their mother, find it difficult to have personal communication filled with love. These endlessly yearning people who do not feel love must do a lot of work on themselves in order to open up to this world.

Conditions for the formation of unfavorable IV BPM: cut the umbilical cord immediately, without waiting for the pulsation to stop, take the child away from the mother, hit him on the butt “to make him scream,” drop medicine into his eyes, intensively pump mucus out of his nose “so that he starts breathing faster,” quickly vaccinate him, instead colostrum from the mother's breast, give the newborn formula or glucose from a bottle to eat, shine a bright lamp on the eyes, swaddle him tightly and put him on his back, leave him alone, and so on - you can come up with many procedures that interfere with the child's recovery.

WHAT CAN PARENTS DO?

All this information would be useless if we could not influence how pregnancy and childbirth proceeded, if we did not choose the place, conditions and method of giving birth to the baby. It seems to me that one of the most important tasks of loving parents is to understand how they can help their baby enter this world as gently and smoothly as possible, wisely, without interfering, to help live through these basic matrices of development.

You will learn about the main points from the physiological side of Childbirth, what is worth considering, what needs to be done and what not, from the webinar by midwife Margarita Revati “Perinatal matrices by Stanislav Grof. Birth through the eyes of a child”:

Time 10.10.2015 at 18 o'clock

Cost 350 rubles

Registration for the webinar 8915 340 50 73, email [email protected],

For those who want to learn more about

Cartography according to Grof and the meaning of the Basic Perinatal Matrices, I give an excerpt from Stanislav Grof’s book “Beyond the Brain”:

Multidimensionality of the psyche: cartography of internal space

Multidimensionality of the psyche: cartography of internal space – Grof’s perinatal matrices

One of the most important contributions of the science of consciousness to the currently emerging scientific worldview was a completely new idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe psyche. Its traditional psychiatric and psychoanalytic model is strictly personalistic and biographical, and modern research consciousnesses open up new levels, spheres and dimensions in it, showing that the human psyche in its essence is commensurate with the entire Universe and everything that exists. Detailed description this new model, which does not fit into the scope of this book, can be found in separate work(Grof, 1975). Here I will only briefly touch on its main features, especially emphasizing their relationship with the emerging paradigm in science.

In the sphere of consciousness there are no clear limits and distinctions, however, it is useful to distinguish four separate levels or four areas of the psyche and the experience corresponding to them: 1) sensory barrier; 2) individual unconscious; 3) the level of birth and death and 4) the transpersonal area. Most people can experience experiences on all four levels. These experiences can be observed during sessions with psychedelic drugs or in modern experimental psychotherapy approaches that use breathing, music, dance or body work. Laboratory techniques for altering consciousness—for example, biofeedback, sleep deprivation, sensory isolation, or sensory overload—and a variety of kinesthetic devices can also produce many of these phenomena. It is their experience that is facilitated by a wide variety of ancient religious rites and eastern spiritual practices. Many cases of this kind can be observed during spontaneous episodes of extraordinary states of consciousness. The entire spectrum of experience related to these four spheres has already been described by historians and anthropologists in shamanic procedures, primitive rites of passage-initiation and healing ceremonies, mysteries of death-rebirth, trance dances in ecstatic religions.

The sensory barrier and the individual unconscious

Individual unconscious – Grof’s perinatal matrices

Any technique that makes it possible empirically, i.e. To enter the realm of the unconscious in an experimental way will first activate the senses. Therefore, for many people using such experimental methods, deep self-exploration begins with the experience of a wide variety of sensations. By nature, these experiences are more or less abstract and devoid of any personal symbolic meaning; they may be aesthetically pleasing, but they do not lead to greater self-awareness.

Changes of this kind can occur in any sensory area, although the most common phenomena are those related to the visual area. The field of vision behind closed eyelids comes to life and becomes colorful, a person can observe a variety of geometric and architectural forms - rapidly changing kaleidoscope patterns, mandala-like configurations, arabesques, Gothic cathedral spiers, domes of Muslim mosques and complex patterns reminiscent of lovely medieval miniatures or oriental carpets. Visions of this kind can occur during deep self-exploration in any form, but they are especially dramatic after taking psychedelic drugs. Changes in the auditory area may manifest as tinnitus, crickets, buzzing, bell ringing, or high-pitched sounds. This may be accompanied by unusual tactile sensations in different parts of the body. At this stage, smells and tastes sometimes appear, but much less frequently.

Sensory experiences of this kind do not have of great importance for self-exploration and self-awareness. It is they who, presumably, represent the barrier that must be overcome before the journey into the unconscious sphere of the psyche begins. Some aspects of such sensory experience can be explained in terms of certain anatomical and physiological characteristics of the sense organs. For example, geometric visions most likely reflect internal structure retina and other parts of the visual system.

The next area of ​​experience that is easy to access is the area of ​​the individual unconscious. Although the phenomena belonging to this category are quite interesting from theoretical and practical points of view, there is no need to spend a lot of time describing them, since almost all traditional psychotherapeutic approaches stop precisely at this level of the psyche. An extensive, albeit highly controversial, literature addresses the nuances of psychodynamics in the biographical field. Experiences belonging to this category are associated with events and circumstances of a person’s life that carry a strong emotional load from the moment of birth to the present. At this level of self-research, anything from the experimenter’s life - some unresolved conflict, some traumatic experience repressed from memory and not integrated into it, or some incomplete psychological gestalt - can emerge from the unconscious and become the content of current experience.

For this to happen, only one condition must be met: a sufficiently high emotional significance of the experience. This is where the enormous advantage of empirical psychotherapy lies over predominantly verbal approaches. Techniques that directly activate the unconscious selectively enhance the most relevant emotional material and facilitate its release to the level of consciousness. Thus, they seem to create a kind of internal radar that scans the system and looks for content with the strongest emotional charge. This not only relieves the therapist of the need to separate the necessary from the unnecessary, but also protects him from making decisions that will inevitably bear the imprint of his own conceptual scheme and many other factors.

Generally speaking, the biographical material that emerges in the course of working with experiences is consistent with Freud's theory or one of its derivative theories. There are, however, several serious differences. In deep empirical psychotherapy, biographical material is not recalled or reconstructed - it can actually be experienced again. It's about not only about emotional experiences, but also about bodily sensations, about the visual elements of the material, as well as about data from other senses. This is usually accompanied by complete age regression to the time when the event occurred.

Another important difference is that relevant memories and other biographical elements do not appear individually, but form dynamic combinations (constellations), for which I have found a term “systems of condensed experience” , abbreviated RMS . COEX system is a dynamic combination of memories (with accompanying fantasies) from different periods of a person’s life, united by a strong emotional charge of the same quality, intense bodily sensations of the same type, or some other important elements common to these memories. I first became aware of COEX systems as the principles that govern the dynamics of the individual unconscious, and I realized that knowledge about them is the essence of understanding internal processes at this level. However, later it became clear that. systems of condensed experience represent a general principle operating at all levels of the psyche, and not limited only to the biographical sphere.

Biographical COEX systems are most often associated with specific aspects of the birth process. Perinatal motives and their elements belong to the empirical material of the transpersonal sphere. Often a dynamic constellation contains material from several biographical periods, biological birth and certain areas of the transpersonal sphere - for example, memories of past incarnations, identification with animals, mythological events. Here, the empirical similarity of these themes from different levels of the psyche is much more important than the conventional criteria of the Newtonian-Cartesian worldview, which assert, for example, that years and centuries separate one event from another, that usually the experience of a person is incomparably different from the experience of an animal, that the elements of “objective reality” are combined with archetypal and mythological.

In traditional psychology, psychiatry and psychotherapy, attention is focused exclusively on psychological trauma. It is believed that physical injuries do not have a direct impact on a person’s psychological development and are not involved in the development of psychopathology. This is in stark contrast to data obtained through deep empirical processing, where memories of bodily trauma become of paramount importance. In sessions with psychedelics and other powerful experiential approaches, re-experiencing life-threatening illness, trauma, surgery, or drowning is more than common, and clearly more significant than ordinary traumatic events. Residual emotions and bodily sensations that arise when life or the integrity of the body are threatened appear to play a significant role in the development of various forms of psychopathology - which is still not recognized by academic science.

Thus, if a child suffered a severe, life-threatening illness (for example, diphtheria) and nearly suffocated, the experience of death and extreme bodily discomfort would not be considered the most serious injury. Traditional psychology will focus on the fact that a child separated from his mother during hospitalization has experienced emotional deprivation. Empirical research clearly shows that life-threatening trauma leaves an indelible imprint and greatly influences the development of emotional and psychosomatic disorders - depression, anxiety and phobias, sadomasochistic tendencies, sexual dysfunctions, migraines or asthma.

Experiences of serious bodily trauma represent a natural transition from the biographical level to the next sphere, the core of which is the dual phenomenon of birth and death. This experience includes events in a person's life and is therefore biographical in nature. Yet the fact that these events brought a person to the brink of death and were associated with extremely difficult conditions and pain combines them with birth trauma. For obvious reasons, memories of illnesses and injuries involving difficulty breathing - pneumonia, diphtheria, whooping cough or drowning - are of particular importance.

Facing birth and death: the dynamics of perinatal matrices

Birth and death - Grof's perinatal matrices

As experiential self-exploration deepens, the element of emotional and physical pain can reach such extraordinary intensity that it is experienced as dying. The pain can become unbearable, and the researcher will feel as if the limits of individual suffering have been surpassed and he is experiencing the pain of an entire group, all of humanity, or even all living things. Typical of such experiences is identification with wounded and dying soldiers, prisoners concentration camp or captives in a dungeon, with persecuted Jews or the first Christians, with a mother and child during childbirth, with an animal overtaken by a predator. Experiences at this level are usually accompanied by striking physiological manifestations, such as varying degrees of suffocation, rapid pulse and heart rate, nausea and vomiting, changes in skin color and body temperature, spontaneous skin rashes or bruises, twitching, trembling, convulsions and other striking motor phenomena.

If at the biographical level only those who have actually experienced a fight with death will encounter life-threatening situations during self-exploration, then at this level of the unconscious the question of death is universal and completely rules the course of the experience. Re-experiencing injuries, mutilations, or operations will likely intensify and develop into the dying experience described above.

An empirical encounter with death with such depth of self-exploration will in many cases be organically intertwined with various phenomena associated with the process of birth. Those who experience this experience do not simply feel the struggle for birth or relief from the burden - many of the accompanying physiological changes that occur at this moment carry signs of typical events during childbirth. Researchers often experience themselves as a fetus and are able to experience various aspects of biological birth in very specific and authentic detail. The element of death can be represented by simultaneous or alternating identification with old, sick or dying people. Although the full range of experiences that occur at this level cannot be reduced to reliving biological birth, birth trauma appears to be the very essence of the process. That is why I call this sphere of the unconscious perinatal .

The connection between biological birth and the above-described experience of dying and rebirth is quite deep and specific. This makes it possible to use the stages of biological birth in the construction of a conceptual model that helps to understand the dynamics of the unconscious at the perinatal level. Typical themes are recognized in the death-rebirth experience: their basic characteristics can be logically deduced from certain anatomical, physiological and biochemical aspects of the respective stages of labor with which they are associated. As will be discussed below, judgments based on the birth model provide a unique way to gain new insight into the dynamic architecture of various forms of psychopathology and offer revolutionary therapeutic possibilities.

Despite its close connection with birth, the perinatal process transcends biology and carries with it important philosophical and spiritual dimensions. Therefore, it cannot be interpreted in a specific and simplified form. For a person who is completely immersed in the dynamics of this level of the unconscious (as a participant in an experiment or a researcher), birth can act as an all-explanatory principle. But, in my opinion, the birth process is a very convenient model, the use of which is limited to phenomena at a special level of the unconscious. If the process of self-exploration moves into the realm of transpersonal, the model must be abandoned and replaced with another approach.

Several characteristics of the death-rebirth process clearly show that the perinatal experience is not reducible to biological birth. In empirical events of a perinatal nature, emotional and psychosomatic aspects clearly appear. By the way, they also cause personal transformation. A deep collision in one’s own experience with birth and death is usually accompanied by an existential crisis of incredible magnitude, during which a person thinks most seriously about the meaning of existence, about his fundamental values ​​and life strategies. This crisis can only be resolved through connecting to the deep, truly spiritual dimensions of the psyche and the elements of the collective unconscious.

The resulting transformation of personality is comparable, judging by the descriptions, to the changes that took place in ancient temple sacraments, in rites of passage, or in primitive rites of passage. The perinatal level of the unconscious therefore represents an important intersection of the individual unconscious with the collective, of traditional psychology with mysticism or with transpersonal psychology.

The experiences of death and rebirth, reflecting the perinatal level of the unconscious, are very diverse and complex. Such experience manifests itself in four typical patterns or constellations of experiences that closely correspond to the four clinical stages of biological birth. For the theory and practice of in-depth empirical work, it turned out to be very useful to postulate the existence of hypothetical dynamic matrices that control processes related to the perinatal level of the unconscious, and call them basic perinatal matrices (BPM).

In addition to the fact that these matrices carry their own emotional and psychosomatic content, they also act as principles for organizing material at other levels of the unconscious. Elements of important biographical level COEX systems, including physical violence and abuse, threats, separations, pain or suffocation, are closely related to specific aspects of BPM. The perinatal unfolding is often associated with a variety of transpersonal elements - such as archetypal visions of the Great Mother or the Terrible Mother Goddess, Hell, Purgatory, Heaven or the Kingdom of Heaven, mythological and historical scenes, identification with animals and experiences of past incarnations. As in the various layers of the COEX system, the connecting link here is the same quality of emotions, bodily sensations and similar circumstances. Perinatal matrices also have a special relationship to various aspects of activity in the Freudian erogenous zones - oral, anal, urethral and phallic. What follows is a brief overview of the biological basis of individual BMPs: their experiential characteristics, their functions as organizing principles for other types of experience, and their relationship to erogenous zones. A summary of the information is presented in the table.

The importance of the perinatal level of the unconscious for new understandings of psychopathology and the specific links between individual PPMs and various emotional disorders is discussed in the next chapter.

First perinatal matrix (BPM-I)

First perinatal matrix – Grof's Basic Perinatal Matrices

The biological basis of this matrix is ​​the experience of the initial symbiotic unity of the fetus with the maternal organism during intrauterine existence. During periods of undisturbed life in the womb, conditions for the child are almost ideal, but some physical, chemical, biological and psychological factors can seriously complicate them. However, in the later stages of pregnancy the situation is likely to be less favorable - due to the large size of the child, increased mechanical compression or functional insufficiency of the placenta.

Pleasant and unpleasant memories of being inside the uterus can manifest themselves in a specific biological form. In addition, according to the logic of deep experience, people tuned to the first matrix are able to fully experience all the visions and feelings associated with it. Tranquil intrauterine state may be accompanied by other experiences that are also characterized by the absence of boundaries and obstacles - for example, ocean consciousness, aquatic life forms (whale, jellyfish, anemone or algae) or being in interstellar space. Pictures of nature at its best (Mother Nature), beautiful, peaceful and abundant, also accompany the blissful state of the child in the womb in a characteristic and quite logical way. From the archetypal images of the collective unconscious that are available in this state, it is necessary to highlight the visions of the Kingdom of Heaven or Paradise in the representation of various world cultures. The experience of the first matrix also includes elements of cosmic unity or mystical union.

Disorders of intrauterine life are associated with images and experiences of underwater dangers, polluted streams, contaminated or hostile natural environments, lurking for demons. The mystical dissolution of boundaries is replaced by their psychotic distortion with paranoid shades.

The positive aspects of BPM-1 are closely associated with memories of symbiotic unity on the mother’s chest, with positive COEX systems and with the restoration in memory of situations associated with peace of mind, contentment, liberation, and beautiful landscapes. There are similar selective connections with in different forms positive transpersonal experience. Conversely, negative aspects of BPM-1 are usually associated with certain negative COEX systems and corresponding negative transpersonal elements.

With regard to Freud's erogenous zones, the positive aspects of BPM-I coincide with a biological and psychological state when there is no tension in these areas and all private drives are satisfied. The negative aspects of BPM-I appear to be specifically associated with nausea and intestinal dysfunction accompanied by diarrhea.

Second perinatal matrix (BPM-II)

Second Perinatal Matrix – Grof’s Basic Perinatal Matrices

This empirical pattern refers to the very beginning of biological birth, to its first clinical stage. Here the original balance of intrauterine existence is disrupted first by alarming chemical signals and then by muscle contractions. With the full development of this stage, the fetus is periodically compressed by uterine spasms, the cervix is ​​closed and there is still no way out.

As in the previous matrix, this biological situation can be experienced again in a very concrete and realistic way. The symbolic accompaniment of the onset of labor is the experience cosmic absorption . It consists of irresistible feelings of increasing anxiety and awareness of impending mortal danger. The source of danger cannot be clearly determined, and the individual tends to interpret the world around him in the light of paranoid ideas. Very typical for this stage are the experiences of a three-dimensional spiral, funnel or whirlpool, inexorably drawing into the center. The equivalent of such a crushing whirlwind is the experience in which a person feels himself being devoured by a terrible monster - for example, a giant dragon, leviathan, python, crocodile or whale. Experiences associated with an attack by a terrible octopus or tarantula are also common. In a less dramatic version, the same test manifests itself as a descent into a dangerous dungeon, a system of grottoes, or a mysterious labyrinth. Apparently, in mythology this corresponds to the beginning of the hero's journey; related religious themes are the fall of angels and expulsion from heaven.

Some of these images will seem strange to the analytical mind, and yet they reveal the logic of deep-seated experiences. Thus, a whirlpool symbolizes a serious danger for an organism floating freely in an aquatic environment and causes it to move erratically. The devouring scene similarly transforms freedom into life-threatening constraint, which can be compared to squeezing a fetus through the pelvic cavity. The octopus captures, fetters and threatens organisms freely swimming in the ocean, while the spider lures, grabs and destroys insects that previously fluttered freely in the unlimited air space.

The symbolic expression of the fully manifested first clinical stage of labor becomes the experience no way out or hell . It involves feeling bogged down or trapped in a nightmarish, claustrophobic world and experiencing extraordinary mental and physical agony. The situation usually seems unbearable, endless and hopeless. The person loses the sense of linear time and sees neither the end of this torture nor any way to escape it. This may result in experiential identification with prisoners in a dungeon or concentration camp, with the inmates of an insane asylum, with sinners in hell, or with archetypal figures symbolizing eternal damnation, such as the Eternal Jew Ahastherus, the Flying Dutchman, Sisyphus, Tantalus or Prometheus.

Being under the influence of this matrix, the individual is selectively blind to everything positive in the world, in his existence. Standard components of this matrix include painful feelings of metaphysical loneliness, helplessness, hopelessness, inferiority, existential despair and guilt.

As for the organizational function, the BMP-II attracts the COEX system with memories of situations in which a passive and helpless person falls into the power of a powerful destructive force and becomes its victim with no chance of salvation. Here there is also a closeness to transpersonal motives of a similar nature.

In relation to Freud's erogenous zones, this matrix is ​​apparently associated with states of unpleasant tension and pain. At the oral level, these are hunger, thirst, nausea and painful irritations of the mouth; at the anal level – pain in the rectum and fecal retention; at the urethral level – pain in the bladder and urinary retention. Corresponding sensations at the genital level will be sexual frustration and excessive tension, spasms of the uterus and vagina, pain in the ovaries and painful contractions that accompany the first clinical stage of labor in women.

Third perinatal matrix (BPM-III)

Third Perinatal Matrix - Grof's Basic Perinatal Matrices

Many important aspects of this complex matrix of experiences can be understood in its relation to the second clinical stage of biological labor. During this stage, uterine contractions continue, but unlike the previous stage, the cervix is ​​now dilated, allowing the fetus to gradually move through the birth canal. Underneath this lies a desperate struggle for survival, severe mechanical compression, often a high degree of hypoxia and suffocation. During the final stages of labor, the fetus may experience direct contact with biological materials such as blood, mucus, amniotic fluid, urine, and even feces.

On an empirical level, this scheme becomes somewhat more complicated and ramified. In addition to the true, real sensations of various aspects of the struggle in the birth canal, it includes a large set of phenomena that follow a typical thematic sequence. The most important of these will be elements of titanic battle, sadomasochistic experiences, intense sexual arousal, demonic episodes, scatological involvement and encounters with fire. All this is happening in the context of a relentless death-rebirth struggle .

The titanic aspect is completely understandable when one considers the monstrous forces involved in this stage of birth. The baby's delicate head is forced into the narrow pelvic cavity by uterine contractions that range in pressure from 50 to 100 pounds. When encountering this aspect of BPM-III, a person experiences powerful flows of energy, intensifying to an explosive eruption. Characteristic symbolic motifs here are violent forces of nature (volcanoes, electromagnetic storms, earthquakes, tidal waves or hurricanes), violent scenes of wars and revolutions, high-power technological objects (thermonuclear reactors, atomic bombs and missiles). In a milder form, this empirical pattern includes dangerous adventures - hunting, fights with wild animals, exciting exploration, exploration of new lands. Corresponding archetypal themes – paintings Last Judgment, extraordinary feats of great heroes, mythological battles of cosmic proportions with the participation of demons and angels or gods and titans.

The sadomasochistic aspects of this matrix reflect the mixture of aggression to which the fetus is subjected by the female reproductive system and its violent biological response to suffocation, pain and anxiety. Frequent themes here include blood sacrifice, self-sacrifice, torture, executions, murder, sadomasochism and rape.

The logic of experiencing the sexual component of the death-rebirth process is not so obvious. It can be explained using the example of widely known data that suffocation and inhuman suffering in general cause a strange form of strong sexual arousal. Erotic motives at this level are characterized by an exciting intensity of sexual desire, mechanical and indiscriminate in its quality, pornographic and deviant in nature. In experiences belonging to this category, sex is combined with death, danger, biological material, aggression, urges to self-destruction, physical pain and spirituality (approximating BPM-IV).

The fact that at the perinatal level, sexual arousal occurs in the context of mortal threat, fear, aggression and biological material becomes the key to understanding sexual deviations and other forms of sexopathology. We will discuss this relationship in detail later.

Elements of demonism at this stage of the death-rebirth process are perhaps particularly difficult for both therapists and patients. The creepy properties of such material can cause complete reluctance to deal with it. The most common themes here are the Witches' Sabbath (Walpurgis Night), satanic orgies or the rituals of the Black Mass and temptation. What the birth experience at this stage and the witches' sabbath or Black Mass have in common is a bizarre combination of experiences of death, perverted sexuality, fear, aggression, scatology and distorted spiritual impulse.

The scatological side of the death-rebirth process has its natural biological basis in the fact that in the last stages of childbirth the child may come into close contact with feces and other biological products. Such experiences usually exceed anything a newborn could actually experience. These are sensations of wallowing in excrement, crawling in garbage or cesspools, eating feces, drinking blood and urine, or disgusting scenes of decomposition.

The element of fire manifests itself either in its usual form - as identification with a victim given up for slaughter - in the archetypal form of cleansing fire (pyrocatharsis), which destroys everything rotten and disgusting in a person, preparing him for spiritual rebirth. This element of birth symbolism is the most difficult to understand. The corresponding biological component could probably be the culminating overstimulation of the newborn by a random “firing” of peripheral neurons. Interestingly, a similar experience befalls the woman in labor, who at this stage often feels as if her vagina is on fire. It should also be noted that the combustion process converts solids into energy; the experience of fire is accompanied by the death of the Ego, after which the person philosophically identifies himself no longer with solid matter, but with energy patterns.

The religious and mythological symbolism of this matrix is ​​especially drawn to those systems where sacrifice and sacrifice are glorified. Frequent are scenes of sacrificial rituals in pre-Columbian America, visions of the crucifixion and identification with Christ, and the worship of the terrible goddesses Kali, Coatlicue or Rangde. Scenes of Satan worship and images of Walpurgis Night have already been mentioned in this regard. Another group of images is associated with religious rites and ceremonies in which sex is combined with frenzied rhythmic dance - for example, phallic cults, rituals dedicated to the goddess of fertility, or various ritual ceremonies of primitive tribes. The classic symbol of the transition from BPM-III to BPM-IV is the legendary Phoenix bird, whose old body burns in fire, and a new one rises from the ashes and soars towards the sun.

A number of important characteristics inherent in this pattern of experiences distinguish it from the already described patterns of hopelessness. Here the situation no longer seems hopeless, and the experiencer himself is not helpless. He takes an active part in what is happening and feels that suffering has a certain direction and purpose. In a religious sense, the situation will be more like purgatory than hell. Moreover, the role of the individual here is not limited solely to the suffering of a helpless victim. He is an active observer and is able to simultaneously identify himself with both sides to such an extent that it is sometimes difficult to understand whether he is the aggressor or the victim. While a hopeless situation implies only suffering, the experience of the death-rebirth struggle represents the border between agony and ecstasy, sometimes a fusion of both. One might perhaps define this type of experience as “volcanic ecstasy,” in contrast to the “oceanic ecstasy” of cosmic unity.

Special characteristics of experience link BPM-III with COEX system, formed from memories of vivid sensory and sexual experiences, of battles and victories, of exciting but risky adventures, of rape and sexual orgies, or of contact with biological products. The same relationships exist for transpersonal experiences of this kind.

As for Freud's erogenous zones, this matrix is ​​associated with those physiological mechanisms that bring sudden relief and relaxation after prolonged tension. At the oral level, this is chewing and swallowing food (or, conversely, vomiting); at the anal and urethral level these are defecation and urination; at the genital level - the ascent to sexual orgasm and the sensations of a woman in labor in the second stage of labor.

Fourth perinatal matrix (BPM-IV)

Fourth Perinatal Matrix - Grof's Basic Perinatal Matrices

This perinatal matrix is ​​meaningfully associated with the third clinical stage of labor, with the immediate birth. In this final stage, the painful process of the struggle for birth comes to an end, the movement through the birth canal reaches a climax, and the peak of pain, tension and sexual arousal is followed by sudden relief and relaxation. The baby is born and, after a long period of darkness, encounters the bright light of day (or the operating room) for the first time. After cutting the umbilical cord, the bodily connection with the mother ceases, and the child enters into a new existence as an anatomically independent individual.

As in other matrices, some of the experiences associated with this stage represent an exact imitation of the actual biological events that occurred at birth, as well as special obstetric techniques. For obvious reasons, this aspect of BPM-IV is much richer than the specific elements tested in the context of other matrices. In addition, the specific details of the released unconscious material are easily verifiable. These include details of the mechanics of birth, the anesthesia used, the method of manual and instrumental labor and delivery, and the details of the postpartum experience and care of the newborn.

The symbolic expression of the last stage of labor is death-rebirth experience , it presents the ending and resolution of the death-rebirth struggle. It is paradoxical that, being literally on the threshold of liberation, the individual feels the approach of a catastrophe of enormous magnitude. In experiential sessions, this is precisely what often causes a firm decision to stop the flow of experiences. If the experiences continue, the passage from BPM-III to BPM-IV entails a feeling of complete annihilation, annihilation on all conceivable levels - that is, physical death, emotional collapse, intellectual defeat, final moral failure and eternal individual damnation of the transcendental dimension. Such an experience of “death of the Ego” consists, apparently, in the instantaneous merciless destruction of all previous supporting points in the life of an individual. Experienced in its final and most full form, it signifies an irrevocable renunciation of philosophical identification with what Alan Watts used to call the “Ego in Skin.”

The experience of complete annihilation and “direct fall to the very bottom of space” is immediately followed by a vision of a blinding white or golden light of supernatural brightness and beauty. It can be compared to the marvelous appearances of archetypal divine beings, to a rainbow, or to the intricate pattern of a peacock's tail. In this case, there may also be visions of the awakening of nature in the spring, the refreshing effect of a thunderstorm or storm. A person experiences a deep sense of spiritual liberation, salvation and atonement for sins. He typically feels free from anxiety, depression and guilt, and experiences purification and unburdenedness. This is accompanied by a flow of positive emotions about oneself, others, or existence in general. The world seems beautiful and safe place, and interest in life clearly increases.

The symbolism of the death-rebirth experience can be drawn from many areas of the collective subconscious, since every major culture has corresponding mythological forms. Ego death will be experienced in connection with a variety of destructive deities - Moloch, Shiva, Huitzilopochtli, Kali or Coatlicue - or in full identification with Christ, Osiris, Adonis, Dionysus or other sacrificial mythological beings. A theophany can be a completely abstract image of God in the form of a radiant source of light or a more or less personified representation of different religions. Also common is the experience of meeting or uniting with the great mother goddesses - the Virgin Mary, Isis, Lakshmi, Parvati, Hera or Cybele.

Relevant biographical elements include memories of personal success and completion dangerous situations, about the end of wars and revolutions, about survival after an accident or recovery from a serious illness.

With regard to Freudian erogenous zones, BPM-IV at all levels of libidinal development is associated with a state of satisfaction that occurs immediately after activities that relieve unpleasant tension - after satisfying hunger, vomiting, defecation, urination, orgasm and childbirth.

Beyond the Brain: Areas of Transpersonal Experience

Cartography of the Human Psyche – Transpersonal Experiences

With many of its features, transpersonal experience shatters the fundamental assertions of materialistic science and the mechanistic view of the world. Although these experiences occur during self-exploration, they cannot be interpreted as merely intrapsychic phenomena in the conventional sense. On the one hand, this experience, together with biographical and perinatal experiences, forms a certain empirical continuum. On the other hand, it often, and without the intervention of the senses, provides direct access to sources of information that clearly go beyond the conventional circle. It may include conscious experience of other people and other animal species, plant life, elements of inorganic nature, microscopic and astronomical regions inaccessible without special instruments, historical and prehistoric experience, knowledge of the future, distant places or other dimensions of existence.

At the level of recollective analysis, information is drawn from individual history and is therefore clearly biographical in nature. The perinatal experience appears to represent the intersection of the personal and the transpersonal, a division between both; this is reflected in its connection with birth and death, the beginning and end of individual existence.

Transpersonal phenomena reveal the connection of the individual with the cosmos - a relationship that is currently incomprehensible. One might speculate in this regard that somewhere in the course of perinatal development there occurs a strange quantitative leap, as if on a Mobius strip, when a deep exploration of the individual unconscious becomes an experiential journey through the entire Universe including what is best called the superconscious mind.

What this group of diverse and ramified phenomena have in common is the feeling that the consciousness experiencing them has acted for normal limits The ego has overcome the limitations of time and space. In a “normal”, ordinary state of consciousness, we are aware of ourselves within the boundaries of our physical body(body image), and our perception of the world around us is constrained by the physically determined range of sensitivity of external receptors. Both our internal perception (intraception) and the perception of the external world (extraception) are limited by the usual time and space frames. Under ordinary circumstances, we clearly experience only the present situation and perceive only the immediate environment; we remember past events and anticipate or fantasize about future ones.

In transpersonal experiences, some of the above-mentioned limitations, sometimes several at once, are transcended. Many experiences in this category are interpreted by those experiencing them as a return to historical times and an exploration of their biological and spiritual past. Quite often, with deep empirical self-study, one is able to experience very clear and real episodes, recognizable as memories of the fetus and embryo. Many report vivid event sequences at the level of cellular consciousness that seem to reflect their past existence in the form of a sperm or mature egg at the time of conception. Sometimes the regression goes even further, and the person has a confident feeling of reliving memories from the life of ancestors or even connecting to the racial or collective unconscious. There have been cases in which participants in LSD sessions have reported the experience of identifying with animal ancestors in the evolutionary lineage or clearly reliving episodes from their past incarnations.

Some other transpersonal phenomena involve the transcendence of spatial rather than temporal barriers. This includes the experience of merging with another person in a state of duality (that is, the feeling of merging with another organism into one state without losing one's self-identity) or the experience of completely identifying with him or her, attuning to the consciousness of an entire group of people, or expanding consciousness to such an extent that it seems as if all humanity is covered by it. Likewise, an individual can go beyond the boundaries of purely human experience and tap into what appears to be the consciousness of animals, plants, or even inanimate objects and processes. In the extreme case, one can merge with the consciousness of the entire creation, the entire planet, the entire material Universe. Another phenomenon associated with the transcendence of normal spatial limitations is the consciousness of individual parts of the body, that is, various organs, tissues, cells. An important category of transpersonal experience with transcendence of time and/or space will be various phenomena of extrasensory perception - for example, the experience of existing outside the body, telepathy, predicting the future, clairvoyance, movement in time and space.

In a large group of transpersonal experiences, consciousness seems to expand beyond the phenomenal world and the time-space continuum as we perceive it in Everyday life. Common examples of this are the experience of encounters with the souls of the dead or with superhuman spiritual entities. After LSD sessions there are also reports of countless visions of archetypal forms, specific deities and demons, and complex mythological episodes. Other examples in this category include intuitive understanding of universal symbols, experiencing the flow of energy “chi” as described in Chinese medicine and philosophy, or awakening the Kundalini and activating the chakras. In its ultimate form, individual consciousness embraces the entire totality of existence and identifies itself with the Universal Mind or the Absolute. The highest point of all experiences will obviously be the Supercosmic or Metacosmic Void, the mysterious primordial nothingness which is conscious of itself and contains all existence in embryonic form.

Thus, an expanded cartography of the unconscious is of key importance in any serious approach to phenomena such as psychedelic states, shamanism, religion, mysticism, rites of passage, mythology, parapsychology and schizophrenia. This is not just a matter of academic interest - as will be shown below, cartography offers profound and revolutionary applications for understanding psychopathology and new therapeutic pathways unimaginable in traditional psychiatry.

– A therapist using traditional forms of psychotherapy faces important task distinguish relevant material from irrelevant material, determine the type of psychological defense and find an interpretation. The difficulty of the task is that it is limited by the paradigm. Relevance is not determined by general agreement, it all depends on what direction the therapist adheres to - the school of Freud, Adler, Rank, Klein, Sullivan or some other school of dynamic psychotherapy. If we add countertransference distortions, the advantages of the empirical approach become clear.

– Ego death and rebirth are not a one-time experience. In the course of systematic deep self-exploration, the unconscious represents it again and again in different dimensions and with different emphases until the process is completed.

– This description reflects the ideal situation of a normal and uncomplicated birth. Long and exhausting labor, the application of forceps or the use of general anesthesia, or any other complications cause specific empirical distortions in this matrix.

Excerpt from Stanislav Grof’s book “Beyond the Brain”

After reading, you will understand more clearly what I talk about in the video: The Theory of Holotropic Breathwork, cartography by Ken Wilber, Stanislav Grof. Safety precautions for Holotropic Breathwork. Passing the sensory barrier, Grof's perinatal matrices, transpersonal experiences, How to stop living in the past: translate “why, for what?” – in “Why, for what?” and live in the present. Absolutely happy man, importance, social games, duality, “victim” position, “success” position.

As always, we have a choice: we can fully live the corresponding stage of life and be relieved of the burden associated with it, or we can get stuck in it, and then the development of the situation can turn against the child.

First matrix: intrauterine phase (conception and pregnancy)

In the case of a fully lived first matrix, the child feels himself freely floating in a perfect paradise. He is a welcome child and feels in seventh heaven or like in a country with milk rivers and jelly banks. If he lives this time in a negative way, because he is unwanted or is subject to abortion attempts, he feels like in hell, full of mistrust and despondency and doomedly awaits new meanness from his environment.
We are talking about a long period of time from nidation to a later phase, when the fetus first encounters the boundaries of its previously seemingly limitless world. Ideally, the feeling that arises should be a feeling of unity with the whole world. Regressive dreams of a country of milk rivers and jelly banks in later life are associated with this early situation. But never again will a child experience this state in such a pure form as at the beginning of his life. All regressive attempts to return this world end in disappointment and disappointment.
Our deepest aspirations are directed towards unity, although the divine, sacred world for a person who grew up in polarity, it is not on this Earth: one can find access to it only by following the spiritual path. In earthly life we ​​may experience opposites one after another and must take into account the influence of polarities. If we are looking for total security, then we doom ourselves to experience its spatial boundaries in their oppressive, limiting closeness. If we strive for complete freedom, then we are faced with the cold that surrounds us at its height.
We have no choice but to sacrifice this heavenly state of unity in order to advance life path and regain unity for more high level. A variety of spiritual traditions describe transcendental states that allow us to rediscover the beauty of the first phase of our life (The technique of connected breathing can help us experience this state especially effectively, since only in the depths of our own essence can we return to that quality that cannot be achieved at the level external experiences).
People with a positive experience of interacting with the first matrix live experiencing full-fledged basal trust and taking everything for granted. They are confident in themselves and seem to be the darlings of fate, to whom life gives everything and for whom everything turns out as if by itself. True, such a full-blooded experience of the first matrix is ​​fraught with the danger that self-confidence can deprive them of the ability to adequately evaluate themselves, especially if they try to ignore any criticism. Under lucky star They may have a hard time noticing dark clouds, which often result in a huge shadow forming around them.
Such people easily find positive aspects in life changes, but it is more difficult for them to free themselves from the influence of their mother and dependence on her. They can free themselves from a lot, but they hold on to this hem especially tightly, not least because they are connected with such wonderful experiences with their mother. Their main chance is to grow through internal liberation from their mother and truly take responsibility for their life, and not skillfully stage it. Let us remember the heroines of fairy tales and myths who, one way or another, had to lose their usual paradise, in order to later find it again at a higher level. Otherwise, there is a danger that they will remain eternal teenagers or eternal girls.

Second Matrix: Discovery Phase

While the first matrix promises heavenly bliss, the second can be compared rather to expulsion from heaven. Having encountered the boundaries of its space, the fetus feels that the mother’s womb is shackling and limiting it, and the situation is becoming more and more severe. His own growth continuously increases this pressure until, in the opening phase, it reaches the first highest point. Incredible pressure also compresses the supplying blood vessels, which can cause sensations of cold and suffocation, which are often relived as part of reincarnation therapy or a linked breathing session. The child is stuck in a dead end. There is no way back to heaven, and the one that opens before it inspires fear, primarily because it is vast. There seems to be no way out. There is no light at the end of the tunnel because the cervix has not yet opened.
The situation of hopelessness leaves its mark on people who are stuck with their consciousness in the second matrix. They often feel that they are at the limit of their capabilities, they feel pressure that plunged them into a hopeless state during labor and in everyday life. They do not know what will happen to them next, and the feeling of meaninglessness can become decisive in their lives. For part of their lives, they may suffer from fears that are activated in explosive situations that, from their point of view, lead to a dead end. The consequence is a reflex of flight in the direction of the old prosperous world first matrix.
In searching for possibilities of relief from the burden of a pronounced second matrix, it can be useful to look at the circumstances of the birth of a particular person. In this phase, the child is increasingly pressed with his head into the still unopened uterine os. Pain and suffering become subjectively unbearable, and there is no light or way out in sight. But at some point, it is this pressure that provokes the opening of the uterine pharynx, and a breakthrough into the next phase begins. In the same way, pressure has meaning in life, helping to open gates and doors, especially if we withstand it and treat it consciously - and, of course, do not lose faith that one day this situation will be resolved.
An association arises with the passage of the underworld, without which it is impossible to emerge into the light. However, many people negatively fixed on the second matrix fry in hell for most of their lives, because they do not lose faith that it is in regression that salvation and deliverance await them, and they try to escape. Such people should be helped to realize that in the search flow they have forgotten about such an important component as the ability to find a way out.
If we empathize with the situation typical for such a person, we will be able to understand what kind of frustration his attitude to life is permeated with. For example, a person tends to study carelessly until exam time comes; breaks off relationships just before they threaten to become commitments, and then spends a lot of time grieving over unfinished life situations and open questions. People of the second matrix are distinguished not only by low frustration tolerance, but also often face the problem that they want to achieve a lot at the same time in different areas and as a result, they scatter their strength. If they manage to concentrate their energy on one goal, they most often have enough resources to ensure that their efforts are crowned with success.

Third Matrix: The Struggle for Birth

After the child has endured a long phase of pressure and hopelessness, the third phase comes. Pressure, which does not make much sense to resist, stimulates the gradual opening of the uterine os. A second wind opens, new forces are mobilized. As soon as light appeared on the horizon again - an image that could well have originated from the situation of obstetrics - the situation, while not losing tension, nevertheless became less deadlocked. Hope comes, even if your strength is completely exhausted.
A child experiences approximately the same thing when he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. The actual struggle for birth begins, associated with painful and frightening sensations. Passing through the birth canal, the child feels oppressed and pushed out at every moment. His head pushes through blood and feces, but from that moment on he can begin to fight for life.
Each of the many traumatic moments of this phase can, being unprocessed, resurface years or decades later and for a completely different reason. Fear of open spaces and sexual deviations, such as choking, arousal due to acts of excretion of feces and urine, suddenly become explanatory when the third matrix is ​​taken into account. Since the pain of constraint and the joy of release often go hand in hand in this phase, some describe this temporary space as an episode of having their first sexual experience.
People fixed on the third matrix can turn into tireless fighters who do not lose sight of their goal for a moment. They love change and sometimes disaster. Tirelessness may be one of them distinctive features. And if a person with problems in the second matrix is ​​accompanied throughout life by feelings of fear and meaninglessness, then prisoners of the third matrix feel obliged to prove to themselves and the world how strong in spirit they are, how kind they are, or how much better they are than others.
In the context of the teaching of first principles, these people, being Plutonists, are often well acquainted with the god of the kingdom of the dead, because in this phase of exile, children come into closer contact with death than ever before. In general, the third matrix represents the most dangerous fragment of the act of birth and is associated with the largest number complications.
If the problem of people of the second matrix is ​​that they tend to give up and run away, then the third has difficulties with completing a task and relaxing. Death and rebirth are the central theme of their lives, but they are often replaced by continuous external changes, testing their strength in the leap to the next level of development. The ersatz rituals of puberty are associated with this phase, as are all forms of extreme sports and many other life-threatening attempts to grow up.
The occurrence of problems in connection with any phase is always associated with a lack of awareness. Just as an infant has had to lose its former paradise and is struggling to live outside the mother's body, many big children are trying to make the leap into adulthood. However, in the absence of awareness, such a rebirth of a person who is responsible for his actions is simply impossible. Bungee jumps, which African children have successfully performed for hundreds of years due to their ritualistic nature, even if repeated a hundred times, will not lead us to the Goal. As a result, the hostages of the third matrix are forced to constantly seek new difficulties and challenges for themselves, spurred on by a hope that is as intense as it is mistaken that another expansion of the outer boundaries of fear and pain will finally grant them liberation.
Countless mythological battles with dragons indicate how mindfulness helps a person overcome his own immaturity. Fairy tale and mythical monsters symbolize fierce, instinctive and selfish forces that must be conquered. Only when these internal battles are won does the path to the princess, the beautiful young woman, and at the same time to one’s own soul open. The final breakthrough is made, and the baby, like the adult, moves on to new level life.

Fourth Matrix: Birth, Liberation

At the time of final liberation, the child had overcome all stress, and life in freedom outside the mother’s body opened up before him. All constraint is left behind, and the breadth of a new, as yet unknown world is waiting for new person will begin to get to know her. If the previous phases have been lived and suffered consciously, one can leave the past behind and enter the present. At this moment the opportunity opens up to start all over again. clean slate. Since in the understanding of spiritual philosophy everything begins from the beginning, first impressions can have a decisive influence on how a child will perceive the world throughout the rest of his life.
Frederic Leboyer drew our attention to the importance of first impressions in life, but, unfortunately, most modern adults have not yet had the opportunity to come into the world through childbirth without violence. Blinded by the bright light, forced harshly and suffocatingly to take their first breath, many of them find it difficult to use the freedom and development opportunities granted by the fourth matrix.
In this regard, there is a need to re-live the phases of childbirth that are incomplete at the internal level in order to be able to truly free ourselves from the suffering of the past. Many people seek and instinctively find life situations and experiences that support them in this. And someone “hangs” in the same place and needs therapeutic help in order to enter into this process of liberation from the birth patterns that have eaten away all their livers.
At the level of the soul, a step towards freedom means, first of all, taking responsibility for your life. Only those who recognize the laws of the polar world can take advantage of their potential, that is, that every action also carries an opposite aspect. When a person takes the independent path of gaining freedom, he gains freedom to manage his life, but is deprived of the security and safety of a career as an official or official. On the other hand, every little bit of security marks a loss of freedom. The deeper we venture into the polarity of life, the wider our range of experiences becomes.
Ideally, within the framework of the fourth matrix, a person makes a real breakthrough and can enjoy the fruits of his efforts. Such a person has realized the opportunity to begin the life that truly suits him. In all significant breakthroughs, the quality of this matrix can be seen.

Perinatal matrices by S. Grof

Perinatal matrices

Pre- and perinatal psychology - studies the circumstances and patterns of human development in the early stages: prenatal (antenatal), perinatal (intranatal) and neonatal (postnatal) phases of development, and their impact on the rest of life.

Perinatal - the concept consists of two words: peri (peri) - around, about and natos (natalis) - relating to birth. Thus, pre- and perinatal psychology is the science of the mental life of an unborn child or a newly born one (the science of the initial phase of human development - prenatal and perinatal).

Basic perinatal matrices (BMP) - a concept introduced by S. Grof, characterizes four stages that
a child goes through before it is born. Each matrix forms a unique strategy for relating to the world, others, and oneself.

PERINATAL MATRIX I

Primordial unity with the mother (intrauterine experience before the onset of labor)
This matrix refers to the initial state of intrauterine existence, during which the child and mother form a symbiotic union. If there are no harmful effects, the conditions for the child are optimal, taking into account safety, protection, a suitable environment and the satisfaction of all needs.

First perinatal matrix: “Matrix of naivety”

When its formation begins is not very clear. Most likely, it requires the presence of a formed cerebral cortex in the fetus - i.e. 22-24 weeks of pregnancy. Some authors suggest cellular memory, wave memory, etc. In this case, the matrix of naivety begins to form immediately after conception and even before it. This matrix forms a person’s life potential, his potential capabilities, and ability to adapt. Desired children, children of the desired sex, with a healthy pregnancy have a higher base psychic potential, and this observation was made by humanity a long time ago. 9 months in the womb, from the moment of conception to the moment contractions begin - HEAVEN. Even the very moment of conception is imprinted in our psyche. Ideally, a child lives in conditions that correspond to our idea of ​​​​Paradise: complete protection, the same temperature, constant satiety, lightness (floats as if in zero gravity). The normal first BPM is that we love and know how to relax, rest, rejoice, accept love, it stimulates us to develop.

A traumatized first BPM can subconsciously form the following behavioral programs: in case of an unwanted pregnancy, the “I’m always at the wrong time” program is formed. If parents were thinking about abortion - fear of death, the program “As soon as I relax, they will kill me.” With toxicosis (preeclampsia) - “your joy makes me sick,” or “how can you develop when children die of hunger.” If mom was sick - “if I relax, I’ll get sick.” For those who find it difficult to sit through the second part of the rebirthing process - to relax, then most likely there were problems in the first matrix.

PERINATAL MATRIX II
Antagonism with mother (contractions in a closed uterus)

The second perinatal matrix refers to the first clinical stage of labor. Intrauterine existence, close to normal conditions towards the ideal, coming to an end. The world of the fetus is disrupted, at first insidiously - through chemical influences, later in a rough mechanical way - by periodic contractions. This creates a situation of complete uncertainty and threat to life with various signs of bodily discomfort. At this stage, uterine contractions affect the fetus, but the cervix is ​​still closed and there is no way out. Mother and child become a source of pain for each other and enter into biological conflict.

Second Perinatal Matrix: “The Sacrifice Matrix”

It is formed from the moment of the onset of labor until the moment of complete or almost complete dilatation of the cervix. Approximately corresponds to the 1st stage of labor. The child experiences the pressure of contractions, some hypoxia, and the “exit” from the uterus is closed. In this case, the child partially regulates his own labor by releasing his own hormones into the mother’s bloodstream through the placenta. If the load on the child is too high, there is a danger of hypoxia, then he can somewhat slow down his labor in order to have time to compensate. From this point of view, labor stimulation disrupts the natural process of interaction between mother and fetus and forms a pathological matrix of the victim. On the other hand, the mother’s fear, fear of childbirth provokes the release of stress hormones by the mother, spasm of the placental vessels occurs, fetal hypoxia, and then the victim matrix is ​​also formed pathological.

During a planned caesarean section, this matrix cannot be formed; during an emergency, it is formed from the beginning of contractions to the beginning of pushing - EXILEMENT FROM PARADISE or THE ARCHETYPE OF THE VICTIM

The second BPM begins from the moment contractions begin until the cervix is ​​fully opened and pushing begins. At this moment, the compression force of the uterus is about 50 kilograms; imagine that the body of a 3 kilogram child can withstand such pressure. Grof called this matrix “Victim” because the state of a victim is when it’s bad, you’re under pressure and there’s no way out. At the same time, a feeling of guilt arises (expulsion from Paradise), the blame is taken upon oneself: “I was bad and I was expelled.” The development of love trauma is possible (loved, and then hurt and pushed out). In this matrix, passive power is accumulated (“me with bare hands you won’t take it, I’m strong”), patience, perseverance, the ability to survive. A person knows how to wait, endure, endure the inconveniences of life.

The negatives of this matrix are divided into two groups: when it is not there (caesarean: planned and emergency) and when it is excessive.

If the first matrix is ​​insufficient, a person does not have enough patience; it is difficult for him, for example, to sit through a lesson or lecture, or to endure an unpleasant situation in his life. The influence of anesthesia leads to “freezing” in life situations that require patience. With an emergency caesarean section (when there were contractions and then they stopped), it is difficult for a person to complete the job. During a rapid birth, a person tries to solve problems very quickly, “right off the bat,” and if something doesn’t work out, give up.

If there is an excess of the second matrix (long labor), a person plays a strong role of the Victim throughout life, he attracts situations when he is “pressed”, pressured, either by his superiors or in the family, he suffers, but at the same time subconsciously feels comfortable in this role . During labor stimulation, the program “until they push me, I will not do anything” is written down.

PERINATAL MATRIX III
Synergy with mother (pushing through the birth canal)
This matrix is ​​associated with the second clinical stage of labor. The contractions continue, but the cervix is ​​already wide open, and the difficult and complex process of pushing the fetus through the birth canal gradually begins. For a child, this means a serious struggle for survival with crushing mechanical pressure and often suffocation. But the system is no longer closed, and the prospect of ending the intolerable situation arises. The efforts and interests of the child and mother coincide. Their joint intense desire is aimed at ending this largely painful condition.

Third Perinatal Matrix: “The Matrix of Struggle”

Approximately corresponds to the 2nd stage of labor. It is formed from the end of the opening period until the birth of the child. It characterizes a person’s activity at moments in life when something depends on his active or expectant position. If the mother behaved correctly during the period of pushing, helped the child, if he felt that during the period of struggle he was not alone, then in later life his behavior will be adequate to the situation. During caesarean section, both planned and emergency, the matrix does not appear to be formed, although this is controversial. Most likely, it corresponds to the moment the child is removed from the uterus during the operation.

Pushing and childbirth – LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL – MATRIX OF STRUGGLE or THE HERO’S PATH

The third BPM covers the period of pushing, when the baby moves from the uterus along the birth canal. Normally this lasts 20-40 minutes. In this matrix, active strength (“I will fight and cope”), determination, courage, courage are developed. The negatives of this matrix can also be either its excess or its deficiency. So, with a caesarean section, rapid labor, or pushing a child out, people subsequently do not know how to fight; when a situation of struggle arises, they must be pushed in the back. Children intuitively develop this matrix in fights and conflicts: he fights, he is beaten.

The excess of the third matrix is ​​manifested in the fact that for these people their whole life is a struggle, they fight all the time, they always find themselves against someone and with whom. If at the same time asphyxia develops (the child was born blue or white), a huge feeling of guilt arises and in life this manifests itself in playing with death, in a deadly struggle (revolutionaries, rescuers, submariners, extreme sports...). With the clinical death of a child in the third BPM, a hidden suicide program arises. If obstetric forceps were used, someone's help is needed in action, but on the other hand, he is afraid of this help, because it is painful. With breaks, there is a fear of one’s strength, a feeling of guilt, a program “as soon as I use my strength, it will cause harm, pain.” When giving birth in a breech position, people tend to do everything in an unusual way in life.

PERINATAL MATRIX IV
Separation from the mother (termination of the symbiotic union with the mother and the formation of a new type of relationship)
This matrix refers to the third clinical stage of labor. The painful experience reaches its climax, the pushing through the birth canal comes to an end, and now extreme tension and suffering are replaced by unexpected relief and relaxation. The period of breath holding and, as a rule, insufficient oxygen supply ends. The baby takes his first deep breath and his airway opens. The umbilical cord is cut, and the blood that previously circulated through the umbilical cord vessels is directed to the pulmonary area. The physical separation from the mother is complete and the child begins its existence as an anatomically independent being. After the physiological balance is again established, the new situation turns out to be incomparably better than the two previous ones, but in some very important aspects it is worse than the original undisturbed primary unity with the mother. The child’s biological needs are not met on a continuous basis; there is no constant protection from temperature changes, irritating noises, changes in light intensity, or unpleasant tactile sensations.

Fourth perinatal matrix: “Freedom Matrix”

It begins from the moment of birth and its formation ends either during the first 7 days after birth, or in the first month, or it is created and revised throughout a person’s life. Those. a person throughout his life reconsiders his attitude to freedom and his own capabilities, taking into account the circumstances of his birth. Different researchers estimate the duration of the formation of the 4th matrix differently. If for some reason a child is separated from his mother after birth, then in adulthood he may regard freedom and independence as a burden and dream of returning to the matrix of innocence.

From the moment of birth to 3-9 days – FREEDOM + LOVE

This matrix covers the period from the moment the baby is born until 5-7 days after birth. After the hard work and experiences of childbirth, the child is freed, loved and accepted. Ideally, the mother should take the child in her arms, give the breast, the child needs to feel care, love, security and freedom, relief. Unfortunately, in our maternity hospitals, only in recent years have they begun to think about and implement the principles of the non-traumatic fourth matrix. Most of us, unfortunately, subconsciously associate freedom with cold, pain, hunger, loneliness... I strongly recommend everyone to read Leboye’s book “Birth Without Violence,” which very vividly describes the child’s experiences during childbirth.

In connection with the birth experience, we also determine the experience of love in our lives. You can love according to the first BPM and the fourth. Love according to the first BPM is reminiscent of placing a loved one in an artificial womb: “I am everything to you, why do you need others - you have me, let’s do everything together...” However, such love always ends, and after a conditional 9 months the person is ready to die , but break free. Love on the fourth BPM is a combination of love and freedom, unconditional love, when you love no matter what the other person does and give him the freedom to do whatever he wants. Unfortunately for many of us this is extremely difficult.

There are also other situations associated with childbirth, for example, if the child was expected to be a boy or a girl, but he was born of a different gender, a trauma of gender identity arises (“will I live up to my parents’ hopes”). Often these people try to be the other gender. If a premature baby is placed in an incubator, then a barrier subconsciously arises between itself and the world. In the case of twins, a person needs the feeling that someone is nearby; during childbirth, the second has the trauma of abandonment, that he was betrayed, left behind, and the first has guilt that he abandoned, left behind.

If the mother had abortions before this child, they are recorded in the psyche of this child. You can experience the fear of violent death and feelings of guilt, the fear of giving yourself freedom (in case they kill you again). Pain relief during childbirth can leave a program that my pain is not felt or stupefied. It is believed that full breastfeeding for up to a year, good care and love can compensate for negative perinatal matrices (for example, if there was a cesarean section, if the child was admitted to a children’s hospital immediately after birth and was separated from the mother, etc.)

It is likely that each stage of biological birth has a specific additional spiritual component. For a serene intrauterine existence, this is an experience of cosmic unity; the onset of labor parallels the experience of a feeling of all-encompassing absorption; the first clinical stage of labor, contraction in a closed uterine system, corresponds to the experience of “no escape” or hell; pushing through the birth canal in the second clinical stage of labor has its spiritual counterpart in the struggle between death and rebirth; the metaphysical equivalent of the completion of the birth process and the events of the third clinical stage of labor is the experience of the death of the Ego and rebirth.

The first matrix has a special meaning. The process of its formation is determined by the most complex processes of development of the fetus, its nervous system, sensory organs, and various motor reactions. It is the first matrix that makes the body of the fetus and the newborn child capable of forming complex mental acts; for example, in the normal position of the fetus, it reflects the biological unity of the fetus and mother. Under ideal conditions, this is so, and the resulting matrix is ​​manifested by the absence of boundaries of consciousness, “oceanic consciousness” connected “with mother nature”, which provides food, security, “bliss”. Under the influence of unfavorable factors during the first months and years of life, symptoms may appear, the content of which will be unconscious danger, “inhospitability of nature,” perverted perceptions with a paranoid tinge. It is assumed that when such a person develops already in mature age mental disorder, the main symptoms will be paranoid disorders, hypochondria. For various complications during pregnancy (hypoxia of the intrauterine fetus, emotional breakdowns in the mother during pregnancy, threat of miscarriage
etc.) memories of a “bad womb” are formed, paranoid thinking, unpleasant bodily sensations (trembling and spasms, “hangover” syndrome, disgust, a feeling of depression, hallucinations in the form of a meeting with demonic forces, etc.).

The second matrix is ​​formed over a relatively short period of time (4-5 hours) as contractions intensify. For the first time after a period of “bliss” and security, the fetus begins to experience strong external pressure and aggression. Activation of this matrix under the influence of unfavorable factors throughout a person’s subsequent life can lead to the identification of nervous system patient, i.e. in memory of situations that threaten the survival or integrity of the human body. It is also possible to experience being in a closed space, apocalyptic visions of a world ominously painted in dark colors, a feeling of suffering, being trapped, a hopeless situation with no end in sight, a feeling of guilt and inferiority, the meaninglessness and absurdity of human existence, unpleasant bodily manifestations (a feeling of oppression and pressure, heart failure, fever and chills, sweating, difficulty breathing).

Of course, all statements about matrices are largely a hypothesis, but the hypothesis received some confirmation in the study of patients who underwent cesarean section. The latter leads to the fact that a child born by caesarean section does not pass the 3rd and 4th matrices. This means that these matrices cannot manifest themselves in a subsequent life. S. Grof, who has specifically dealt with this issue, concludes that “having reached the level of birth under hypnosis, those who were born by Caesarean section report a feeling of wrongness, as if they were comparing the way they came into this world with some phylogenetic or archetypal matrix, showing what the process of birth should be like. It is amazing how they clearly lack the experience of a normal birth - the challenge and stimulus it contains, the encounter with an obstacle, the triumphant exit from a constricting space."

Of course, this knowledge served as the basis for the development of special techniques. When giving birth by caesarean section, transpersonal psychologists believe that in order to eliminate the consequences of an unexpected severance of contact with the mother, a number of special measures must be taken immediately after birth (lay the baby on his stomach, place him in slightly warmed water, etc.) and then the newborn develops " psychologically favorable impression of the world."

At the same time, it is known that experienced obstetricians have long been striving (in the absence of fetal suffering) during a cesarean section to restrain the rapid extraction of the newborn, because this, through the reticular formation, contributes to the inclusion respiratory system, more precisely, the first breath of a newborn.
Recognition of the role of perinatal matrices makes it possible to come to the fundamentally important conclusion that in the womb the fetus lives its own mental life. Of course, the latter is limited by the unconscious mental, but, nevertheless, the fetus can register its own mental processes occurring during childbirth. Knowledge of the pattern of activation of matrices allows us to predict the symptoms of the development of the clinical picture in specific conditions of exposure to harmful factors

Ways of transmitting information.

If we recognize that the fetus and newborn have the opportunity to record information about the perinatal period for life, then the question immediately arises about the ways of transmitting this information from the pregnant woman to the fetus and back.

According to modern ideas, there are 3 main ways:

1. Traditional - through the uteroplacental blood flow. Hormones are transmitted through the placenta, the levels of which are partly controlled by emotions. These are, for example, stress hormones, endorphins, etc.

2. Wave - electromagnetic radiation of organs, tissues, individual cells, etc. in narrow ranges. For example, there is a hypothesis that an egg in favorable conditions can accept not any sperm, but only one that matches it in terms of the characteristics of electromagnetic radiation. The zygote (fertilized egg) also notifies the mother's body of its appearance at the wave level, and not at the hormonal level. Also, the mother’s diseased organ emits “wrong” waves to the fetus, and the corresponding organ in the unborn child may also develop pathologically.

3. Aquatic - through the aqueous environment of the body. Water can be an energy-informational conductor, and the mother can transmit some information to the fetus simply through the fluid media of the body. The electromagnetic field of a pregnant woman operates in the millimeter range, changes in accordance with changes in the environment and plays the role of one of the adaptation mechanisms. The child, in turn, also exchanges information with the mother in the same range.

It is interesting that the problem of surrogacy can be viewed from a completely different angle.

A surrogate mother carrying someone else's (genetically) child for 9 months inevitably influences him informationally, and this turns out to be partially her child. A child being carried also influences its biological stepmother.

The problem of "unwanted children", i.e. children unwanted by one of the parents or both, children of an unwanted sex, children with further disruption of social adaptation - this is the bread of a large army of specialists in
civilized countries. "Unwanted" is a very vague concept. Which relative is bothered by the birth of this child, when, for what reason - always different. How do children in the perinatal period learn about their unwantedness? Maybe then all the person’s problems, which can no longer be attributed to anything, are blamed on undesirability. Enthusiasts are engaged in these problems, and all of these are nothing more than hypotheses, although they are very beautiful and, I want to believe, somewhat true.

Practical conclusions.

If a child can be influenced by its mother, can it be raised in utero? Perinatal
psychology claims that it is not only possible, but also necessary. For this purpose, there are prenatal education programs. The main thing is a sufficient amount of positive emotions experienced by the mother. Classically, pregnant women were encouraged to look at the beautiful, at nature, at the sea, and not to get upset over trifles. It is very good if a mother draws, even without knowing how to do it, and conveys her expectations, anxieties and dreams in the drawing. Handicrafts have a huge positive effect. Positive emotions include “muscular joy,” which the child experiences when his mother engages in physical education and sports, or during long walks. To perceive all this, the fetus uses its sense organs, which are developed to varying degrees in utero.

Touch.

The first thing the fetus develops is the sense of touch. At approximately 7-12 weeks, the fetus can feel tactile stimuli. A newborn also experiences “tactile hunger” and there is the concept of “tactile saturation”, which should occur by 7 months if the child is carried enough, massaged and generally touched. In Holland there is a system called "haptonomy". This is a system of tactile interaction between mother and fetus. You can talk to the child, tell him sweet words, ask his name, pat his stomach and determine the answer by his kicks. These are the forms of the first game. The father can also play with the child.

The auditory and vestibular apparatus of the fetus are formed by 22 weeks of pregnancy. Newborns hear quite well. In the first days, they may be bothered by fluid in the middle ear cavity - this is amniotic fluid that has not had time to leak out or be absorbed. Some children hear well right away. In utero, children also hear, but they are disturbed by the noise of the mother’s intestines, uterine vessels, and heartbeat. Therefore, external sounds reach them poorly. But they hear their mother well, because... acoustic vibrations reach them through the mother’s body. Newborns recognize the songs their mothers sang to them, the sound of their heart and her voice.

Many specialists around the world deal with music and pregnancy. It has been proven that children whose mothers sang during pregnancy have best character, easier to learn, more capable of foreign languages, more diligently. Premature babies who play in the incubator good music, gain weight better. In addition, singing mothers give birth easier, because Their breathing normalizes and they learn to regulate their exhalation. In order for the child to hear his father, you need to make a large cardboard megaphone, place it on your stomach and speak or sing into it. You can put headphones on your stomach or tuck them behind the bandage and turn on calm music. But you can’t drown out your child with music for a long time, because... This is still a kind of aggression. Regarding what kind of music a child needs and when, there are many versions, and even at the Conservatory of Prof. Yusfin is doing this. Some believe that a child needs Mozart and Vivaldi, some - folk songs and lullabies, some - popular light music.

The reaction of the pupils to light is observed from 24 weeks of pregnancy. Whether the red part of the spectrum passes into the uterus, as some believe, is not very clear. A newborn sees quite well, but does not know how to focus his vision, so he sees everything blurry. It is not clear exactly which objects he sees better - at a distance of 25-30 cm (i.e. the mother’s face when the child lies at the breast) or 50-70 cm (a carousel toy). Most likely this is the distance
individually. But the toy should be hung up at the first opportunity. Toys, according to some observations, should be black and white or shiny, or yellow. The idea that a child sees everything upside down is not confirmed. There is the concept of “bonding” (“attachment”, “imprinting”) - this is a very important event to restore the first emotional contact of a newborn with his mother after birth. Usually, a few minutes after birth, the baby begins to look into the mother's eyes very consciously and examine her face. Often this happens before he takes the breast, sometimes an hour or two after birth. It’s hard to say whether he’s really looking at her facial features or not, but it’s very impressive to everyone.