The Psychobiolgical Approach
Last month, on March 12, we kicked off our first Sisters of the Forest gathering. All of our Architecture of Humanity (AoH) gatherings are informed by evidence-based content. We seek to inspire growth by offering community, practices, rituals, ceremonies and tools that are guided by this content. Our theme of content on March 12, was “Consciousness.” The why and the how to achieve and maintain greater consciousness was our starting point, and we will continue to build upon this depth, layer by layer, through events and online content.
It is our belief in AoH that, as we grow, we will naturally find independence and freedom within our own psyche; we will seek wisdom and intelligence from our own being. We do this by increasing our conscious awareness. In order to source our Self for increased conscious awareness, we must know our own organism first. This is where the psychobiological approach harmoniously offers a building block in conscious growth.
Whether you are attending our events or following along with our content online, we will continue to define terms, ideas and concepts so that there is a philosophical understanding and coherence. This is is critical when you are working with any practitioners who are closely interfacing with your nervous system (yoga teachers, energy healers, psychotherapists, massage therapists, etc.). Don’t be afraid to ask practitioners about their credentials, training and philosophy!
Let’s learn about our own organism and fellow humans! We will begin by defining biology and psychology. Very simply, biology is the study of living organisms. Biology has many specialized fields that fall under it’s broad definition. This includes anatomy (bodily structures) and physiology (functions and mechanisms of an organism). Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and behavior. Immense in depth and breadth, it includes conscious and unconscious phenomena.
Combining these two sciences, the psychobiological approach is a technical term used mostly in contemporary psychology, especially within individual and couples therapy. It is a non-pathologizing approach, meaning that as clinicians, we do not believe there is anything about our clients that needs to be fixed. Some clinicians, like myself, stay away from labels almost entirely. It is a compassionate approach, as well, because if there is nothing to be labeled and fixed, there is only curiosity and exploration to be done.
A little more on those Homo Sapiens. Yes, that’s you!
Humans are a very fragile organism. All of us are born premature, incomplete in our structural and nervous systems. We are, perhaps, one of the most altricial of all organisms. Compare that to other beings - such as horses - who are precocial, meaning they have full or a high degree of independence and mobility from the moment of birth. Had our mothers been permitted by nature to give birth to their babies to full-term, she would have been unable to walk as her hips had grown too wide. As we are, in fact, surviving as a species now, mother nature clearly gave way for sapiens females to give birth too early for our nervous system to function on it’s own right out of the gate. That produced an organism who loves to bond, seeks intimacy and is highly insecure in the world. It’s no wonder leaders have had such a difficult time in exalted positions!
Because of our highly altricial status, we are wholly dependent upon our caregivers not only to thrive, but to simply survive. We feel safest when we are pair-bonded with another and are at our best biologically and psychologically when we are in groups. Had these social structures not been laid into our genetic material thousands of years ago, we would have been wiped off the planet long ago. No other apex predator has maintained top status as humans have, whilst lacking the size, temperament or biological armory (fangs, claws, antlers, roar, etc.) as other top-rung animals. Indeed, our “safety in numbers” biological imprint is our saving grace.
Furthermore, due to the Cognitive Revolution about 20,000 years ago, humans are the only animal who holds hardware in their cortex which allows for an awareness of our awareness. This also permitted us to distinctly, and often neurotically, be aware of our own pending death. As such, much of our biology simultaneously works in favor of, and against, our inherent yearning to feel safe.
Going back to the psychobiological approach: As we learn, grow and support one another in AoH, may we consider how we biologically and psychologically move through this world with the strengths and weaknesses instilled in our nervous systems. May we first consider how we individually interface psychologically and biologically so that we can offer that same understanding and compassion to others.