| Perennial Psychology
Richard Valinsky, Ph.D.
Human relationships could be truly joyous; they could create a great and complete happiness, if two human beings really understood and accepted each other, and learned to follow the spiritual path together. All the great religions repeat one message; that God is the principal of equality, love, peace and happiness, within and without, which is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. If that is true, then who are you and from where did you come? You live in that love and peace; you have come from that. So that love, peace and happiness are within you too. - Swami Rama,
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Biography
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Contact Rich
email: rich@prpsy.com |  | Biography
 Since you have opened this page there is a chance you might be thinking, "who is this guy to write on these things?" Therefore I thought I should tell you something about myself. I am a psychologist who has been practicing psychotherapy since 1964. I have held a number of positions in the field of Mental Health including Supervising Clinical Psychologist at Niagara County Mental Health Services, Director of the Department of Consultation and Education of the Niagara Falls Community Mental Health Center, Director of Behavioral Science Training for the Family Practice Residency Program at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, Consultant in Behavioral Medicine for the Pain Management Program at Presbyterian University Hospital in Pittsburgh, Director of Rehabilitation Psychology and Counseling for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at St Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh and Director of a holisitically oriented Private Practice of Psycholgy.
Faced with the challenge of helping people ameliorate and heal emotional suffering I studied many approaches including the healing potential of altered states of consciousness. I had a number of psychedelic experiences under the expert guidance of a psychiatrist with extensive experience as a guide. These experiences led me to an interest in combining spiritual and psychological approaches to healing emotional pain and to promoting personal and spiritual development.
In 1976 I met Swami Rama, founder of the The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, and was initiated by him into a meditative tradition. Two years later he instructed me to teach meditation and appointed me director of the Himalayan Institute of Buffalo, New York. It was from Swami Rama that I received my deepest and most profound experience of inner silence. Besides studying with Swami Rama and some of his leading disciples and students I also studied Native American Spirituality with Chief Luciano Perez, a student of the Lakota Sioux leader Chief Leonard Crow Dog. Under his guidance I participated in Inipi(Sweat Lodge) and Yuipi (healing) ceremonies and a vision quest.
I have been deeply touched by the love, understanding, wisdom and joy that these spiritual teachers communicated. Swami Rama and Chief Luciano Perez presented a unifying vision that included all and excluded none. Being deeply impressed with the the unifying thrust of their approaches to psychology and spirituality I decided to explore whether the same unifying potential is present in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Based on my understanding of psychological and spiritual development I have undertaken a study of the Bible to explore this issue. In some sense I have come full circle. I grew up in a Jewish home, attended services in a synagogue, was barmitzvahed, became enamored of a scientific outlook that excluded God, had mind altering experiences that convinced me that there was something more than the material world, explored various spiritual traditions and am now engaged in what every Jew is supposed to do, the study of the Torah.
Swami Rama and Chief Luciano Perez have both left their bodies but their energy still vibrates within me to the extent that I am capable of allowing it. Swami Rama, who left his body in November 1996, left a number of disciples to carry on various aspects of his mission. His mission through the Himalayan Institute in the USA is now being carried on through the current Spiritual Director of the Institute, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait Ph.D. The Institute offers a variety of courses, books and services in the areas of yoga, meditation, and health. | |
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