Revealing the Soul's Intelligence

Ursula Kirti Grimm’s unique soul-level work goes far beyond traditional psychotherapy methods. In fact, Kirti works from a different dimension entirely. She is a soul therapist, guiding clients through the process of releasing traumas and blocks that prohibit expression of our most authentic, soul-connected qualities. Her work with clients combines a non-dual approach along with the Family Constellation work of Bert Hellinger and bioenergetic mind-body therapy.

Kirti and I met in South India through a shared connection to advaita (non-duality). Over several conversations with Kirti, I learned the importance of bringing ever-deeper awareness to one’s personal history, even after one has plunged into the heart of Self-realization.

In Kirti Grimm’s unique approach to psychotherapy, it is the soul that knows exactly what is needed in any circumstance...

Erin Reese: Kirti, since I’ve met you, I’ve been fascinated by the particular approach you have to psychotherapy – that of clearing a person’s entire energy field of traumas from generations, in order to allow one’s soul to reveal itself and express itself. It is as if you are going into the Matrix and healing one’s very history.

Kirti Grimm: Yes, an ‘individual’ is simply a collection of experiences. Without going into the field of experiences to see what is there, what is happening, and clearing the blocks, these experiences continue to play over and over again, like a cassette tape, repeating themselves through automatic actions and reactions. Without awareness, the tape keeps rolling and we continue to experience suffering. One’s soul, the true nature, is not able to express itself unless the blocks are cleared.

ER: What are these blocks?

KG: The blocks are traumatic events that have occurred in a person’s history and make up the constitution of you as an individual collection of genes and experiences. These circumstances – events, personalities, dramas, situations, relationships between people – repeat themselves again and again in the family structure throughout generations, causing real suffering in this present daily life. An individual who is exhausted from this suffering may eventually come to me for assistance in clearing the blocks.

ER: It sounds like cleaning a house.

KG: Yes, it’s exactly like that! If you have a dirty house filled with clutter and garbage, you have to clean it with awareness. Otherwise, the fresh soul energy will not come in and the situation or pattern will not change!

ER: Can you give us an example?

KG: Sure, let’s take a person who continues to experience one failed partnership after the next – conflicts, heartbreak, sadness in relationships. This person has undergone years of therapy, self-examination, and so on and so on. Perhaps she has tried to change her external behavior and has met with some success, yet every time she comes into contact with a man with the possibility of starting a relationship, there is quickly suffering and things fall apart. This is due to the field she carries with her from one generation to the next. Until she goes deep into this energy field – the collection of experiences – to see what actually happened in her family history beyond the current generation, the trauma will repeat itself and she will continue to have unhappy relationships with men.

ER: Is that karma?

KG: Yes, it is karma. But make no mistake: it is not only personal karma we are talking about. It is not as if you did something bad to someone in a past life, and now that person is taking revenge on you. It is much bigger than this. It is a collective karma of happenings amongst individuals and over several generations. It is in this field that we must observe what happened and therefore unravel the knots that affect us in this present.

Another important part is what happened during conception, pregnancy, and very early childhood, the relationship between the individual and the parents in this present life. That part of the client’s history has to be closely examined as well.

ER: I see, so what’s happening now is simply a reflection of what happened then?

KG: Exactly. You see, if we take one traumatic event in a client’s life, and we go into the field, there we will find a whole generational family structure – a field of partners, jobs, money, sexuality, abuse, death, war, abandonment and so forth. It goes far beyond just what seems to be happening today. That is just what’s happening on the surface of the field.

ER: Okay, so let’s say I enter this ‘field’ with you as my guide. Is that what happens? Are you accompanying me so I can look safely? Because it seems I wouldn’t want to enter these fields alone.

KG: Exactly. The therapist is holding the space in the field of the trauma.

ER: What’s next after we see the situation in the generations and in early childhood as it actually happened? Am I better? Can I go forward into a happy life without this old pattern repeating itself?

KG: That is really up to the intelligence of the soul. We are only freeing the field so that the soul is able to express itself. This is a process that varies from person to person. Usually, it takes a long time. That is why I generally work with clients that are truly committed to the work over a period of time.

ER: How would one know that the process is working?

KG: Some change may happen after a series of sessions, giving the individual relief. Relationships may begin to shift and the daily life begins to change, all without any external “doing” or “effort” from the individual. This is the soul’s intelligence at work.

The idea is that awareness of the field grows over time, so for example if you have stress with your partner or with your job, you become trained to see how this is your history showing up in your daily life. And then, the field opens up more and it is easier to make the therapy sessions. Eventually, there is no separation between the therapy and the daily life awareness. When the awareness is deep enough, then the transformation – the healing – occurs.

ER: I see.

KG: We are building a foundation – a ground – for the soul to express itself. It is slow. The ground builds according to the time we need. It is nothing we do, or that we make. Over time, we see that the life itself brings all the information of the generations to work with. All that we need to do the work with is right here in the current field, and we stay in our awareness, being with whatever happens.

ER: So everything that happens in my present life has connection to the field?

KG: Yes. There is no ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in the field. When you come into the soul, you have all that you need. Through awareness, and through feeling, it happens by itself. Healing has a mysterious quality. Until we actually go into the field and feel it, we cannot have the awareness, and we stay in a victim mode, or child consciousness. We say (whining), “I don’t like this job,” or “this relationship” or “this pain,” but we are completely at a loss as to why it is this way, or how we can come out of it. So we continue to suffer. Wherever there is awareness, there is soul energy.

ER: I see. That’s the drama – the lila of life. But how exactly does this clearing happen?

KG: In the therapy session, we use the Family Constellation model [of Bert Hellinger] to literally lay out the various parts and players of the drama in the therapy room. I personally use a large room so we can easily move about to have a clear feeling of the dynamic.

We talk about the current issues in the field of the client and then write down the names of the mother, father, grandparents, sisters, brothers, and so forth on separate pieces of paper. We also write down the names of strong feelings, issues, themes, and messages that are present. Then, we lay the papers down on the floor, arranging them in such a way that reflects the interrelationships. Next, we enter the field and feel the actual soul energy connecting the family members.

We have to feel what the soul intelligence reveals about the situation. Then, we leave it up to the soul to unravel the knots. We don’t have to do anything but see it – and feel it.

ER: That last part seems to be a very important point – we don’t have to do anything but see it and feel it.

KG: Yes, very important. You have to come into contact with the feeling. That is where the awareness lies – in your own body. There is no other way. The blocked soul energy will only open up with awareness. We have to go from mental awareness into body awareness. The Family Constellation and generational work connects to the blocks in the body. After we know the history, it is much easier to step into the physical awareness and go through the feelings from that point because we then have an orientation. The field gives an orientation.

ER: Ah, I see, it’s like the constellation work is our own personal GPS system – a map!

KG: Yes! That is just like it. I love my nice GPS in the car. It gives me direction, and orientation – I can relax and know exactly when I need to turn left, and turn right when I need to turn right. The GPS tells me, like Family Constellation, exactly where I need to go. It’s the best navigation system for this sort of therapy – it’s so easy then to know where to put our awareness.

ER: That’s exactly how I work with my astrology clients. The chart is the map, the guide – the literal constellation of the person’s life!

KG: That’s right. And you and I both know how powerful this work and astrological counseling go together! That’s your part.

ER: Can you tell us more about how your work differs from traditional psychotherapy?

KG: In soul work, the important point is that we are working to free the field from past traumas so you can experience the soul connection. Over time, we are softening the ego structure so that a person can come into contact with the essential qualities of the soul – joy, vitality, love, compassion, real peace, and so forth – freeing the natural potential that we bring into this life to express. This is what makes soul therapy different than traditional psychotherapy. Most therapists say, “Okay, let’s look at your family history,” and it stops there. If you’re a spiritual seeker, you go separately to a spiritual advisor or meditation class. Usually, therapy just rearranges the ego structure – your behavior, your collection of experiences – so the client feels, “Okay, now I have this nice new ego structure and things are changing on the surface,” but then they soon realize they are still suffering. These are the people that come to me. Here, we are really coming at it from another dimension entirely. We start from the knowing that you are not the ego structure. I am always looking at both the ego structure and the soul – we soften the ego structure so that the person can live from their real nature, the soul.

ER: I get it – you’re the next level, the deeper revealing.

KG: Exactly. Not everyone will want to do this work – only those who have real curiosity about the mystery of life, and those that are truly ready to move beyond suffering. The people that come to me are interested! They want to inquire!

ER: Yes, that makes perfect sense. It would take a lot of curiosity to want to dive into these depths, not knowing what one might find there. I have a question, though, about those folks on the spiritual path who have had a lot of experiences of oneness with the soul, experiences of union or ‘enlightenment.’ I’ve heard some spiritual friends say they wouldn’t need therapy anymore, that their guru has cleared the past entirely, or they need to simply forget the past and move on, or simply say that it’s all an illusion anyway, and it doesn’t matter – that sort of thing. Why would these people need to go back into psychotherapy? Shouldn’t they just meditate more?

KG: That’s a great question. Every single one of us has traumas that need clearing… everyone. And spiritual practitioners that have had deep experiences of the soul also tend to have huge, traumatic experiences arise to be healed. This is because, when the soul opens up, there is more space, more room, more power in the field – more strength is present. There is enough energy, and the awareness has increased enough to hold a traumatic experience. This is why it is often exactly those soul-connected people that have a major crisis even while they are minding their own business meditating in an ashram or doing their spiritual work. Out of nowhere, they are attacked by some external circumstance that forces them to look at their history once more. This is because, on a soul level, they are now strong enough to do so.

ER: A-ha. And the converse is true, is that right? That a client who is working on healing deep trauma may experience a state of oneness?

KG: Exactly. It is a state of oneness – in 99.9% of the cases, it is not permanent. There is a back and forth between this movement of oneness and soul, and separation and ego or pain. By doing this work over time, there is more relaxation as we move in and out of these states. And as the client heals deeper layers of trauma, there is a settling deeper into the soul’s essential qualities. And this is the peace which we all seek. That is the whole point.

ER: Right. That is the whole point! (laughs) Great, Kirti. You’ve explained the fundamental connection between spirituality and psychotherapy. It actually gives me incentive to do the work. Thank you.

KG: You’re welcome. Now let’s see what happens.

Ursula Kirti Grimm, soul- and psychotherapist, can be reached for individual and group sessions in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany. She can be reached at +49 (0754) 8105 or grimm-seminare@t-online.de.

Erin Reese is a freelance writer, astrologer, and yoga instructor. She divides her time between the U.S., Europe, and India. For more information, visit her website, www.erinreese.com.

Watch a video clip of Erin Reese and Kirti Grimm discussing the soul's intelligence: