Christina Grof was a renowned author, teacher, artist, and psychotherapist who co-created Holotropic Breathwork and founded the International Transpersonal Association and the Spiritual Emergence Network. She was also the wife and collaborator of Stanislav Grof, one of the founders of transpersonal psychology. Christina Grof passed away unexpectedly from pneumonia on June 15, 2014, at the age of 72, leaving behind a legacy of healing and transformation for thousands of people around the world.
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Early Life and Education
Christina Grof was born on December 30, 1941, in Roanoke, Virginia, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied with mythologist Joseph Campbell and poet Muriel Rukeyser. She was a mother and wife, and a former teacher of art, writing, and Hatha Yoga. For many years, she was also a student and devotee of Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa, head of the Siddha Yoga lineage. After 11 years of marriage, she divorced her first husband Winston Healy, principal of the Honolulu Punaho School, and moved to California.
Spiritual Emergency and Holotropic Breathwork
In 1975, Christina met Stanislav Grof, a Czech psychiatrist and researcher of non-ordinary states of consciousness, at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. They fell in love and married in 1976. Christina experienced a profound psychospiritual crisis that took the form of activation of Kundalini, a powerful energy that is said to reside at the base of the spine and can awaken through spiritual practices, meditation, or spontaneously. She described her experience as a “stormy search for the self” that involved intense physical sensations, emotional upheavals, visions, and insights. She realized that her crisis was not a mental illness, but a spiritual emergency, a term coined by Stanislav Grof to describe a process of accelerated personal growth and transformation that can be triggered by various factors, such as existential crisis, trauma, psychedelic drugs, or spiritual practices.
Christina and Stanislav Grof developed Holotropic Breathwork, a method of inducing altered states of consciousness through accelerated breathing, evocative music, and focused bodywork. They believed that these states could facilitate healing, integration, and expansion of the self. They traveled the world conducting workshops and training programs in Holotropic Breathwork and transpersonal psychology, reaching more than 25,000 people by the mid-1990s.
Addiction and Recovery
Christina also struggled with alcoholism and addiction for eight years, until she found recovery through the Twelve Step Program. She became very active in the field of addiction treatment, and wrote a influential book on the relationship between spirituality and addiction, titled The Thirst for Wholeness. She also organized an Esalen month-long workshop and two large conferences of the International Transpersonal Association that focused on the mystical quest, attachment, and addiction. She aimed to create a comprehensive treatment program that combined the Twelve Step Program with transpersonal psychology.
Writing and Art
Christina was a prolific writer and co-authored several books with Stanislav Grof, such as Beyond Death, The Stormy Search for the Self, Spiritual Emergency, and Holotropic Breathwork. She also wrote a memoir, The Eggshell Landing, which she finished shortly before her death. The book tells the story of her journey of forgiveness and redemption during her dying stepfather’s last days. She also used art as a tool for pleasure, healing, and self-exploration. She was an accomplished painter and created many beautiful artworks inspired by her inner experiences.
Honors and Legacy
Christina received three honorary doctorates during her lifetime and was recognized as a pioneer and leader in the field of transpersonal psychology. She also founded the Spiritual Emergence Network, an organization that helps people who are going through psychospiritual crises to find alternative and supportive treatment. She also co-founded the International Transpersonal Association, which promotes transpersonal education and research. In 2014, the Stanislav and Christina Grof Foundation was established to continue their work and vision.
Christina Grof touched the lives of many people with her wisdom, compassion, creativity, and courage. She was a source of inspiration and guidance for those who sought healing and transformation. She left a lasting impact on the fields of psychology, spirituality, and art. She will be remembered as a transpersonal pioneer, a loving wife, a devoted mother, and a beautiful soul.
