Thomas Atum O'Kane. Ph.D
has a doctorate in Transpersonal Psychology and a Masters degree inspiritual Counselling. His major work is conducting the two year training in Spiritual Guidance from an interfaith perspective with insights from Jungian psychology. He also teaches a one-year program on the Soul of Christianity, which explores the mystical element of the tradition as an inner path. The above are offered in the Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, Canada and several locations in America. He also presents seminars on a broad range of themes that integrate psychological and spiritual dimensions with the intention of making the deepest teachings accessible and relevant.
Leading pelgrimages to sacred places such as Jerusalem and Assisi is a spiritual practice for him. His gift for the art of story telling is woven through all his presentations. Atum has served as a Secretary General and senior teacher in the Sufi order. He has trained at the Christian Guilt for Spiritual Guidance. Among his mentors Are Sufi Master Inayat Pir Vilayat Khan and the Jewish mystic Zalman Schachter. His four children have been wonderful heart-teachers.(see also website: www.atumokane.com).Drs. Cora Barakat Slieker
is founder and (retired) trainer of the Dutch Institute for Bio Release and Biodynamic Psychology, that goes back to the late seventies. Originally a graduate in romanistic studies and a French teacher for seven years, she changed direction and trained in biodynamic psychology and psychotherapy in which she found a path that suited her.
She met Atum in the early seventies in the Sufi Camp in Chamonix, both at the beginning of their long journey into sufism. She also studied seven years in the Diamond Heart School of A.H. Almaas, who stimulates a deepening in the connection between psychotherapy and spirituality. Now, a senior therapist, she loves to be involved in the Spiritual Guidance program. She also leads retreats in the Tunesian desert, and coordinates a women-zikhr-group Assistant Peter Frugte MA Dip.Psy.
For several years I worked as an art-therapist at an Institute for Mental Health. Later I started to study clinical psychology, as I was eager to learn more about the human spirit, emotions, the unconsciousness, body-mind and psychopathology. My study at the University of Amsterdam was (too) behavioral and experimental research minded, and didn’t answer the themes that I think are important to know: what really moves people – their body, heart and soul. I studied at the Netherlands Institute for Bio Release and Biodynamic Psychology and became a body psychotherapist. It is there that I met Atum for the first time. By following his courses and programme’s, I learned more about Transpersonal en Jungian Psychology. I very much appreciate the way he shares his knowledge and wisdom – he is serious, dedicated and (thank God) full of humor. The last years my object of study lies more in understanding the human nervous system. I follow Peter Levine’s Somatic Experience programme – how to treat and understand trauma. I am thankful that I will be able to follow the Spiritual Guidance Programme once again, this time as an assistant. As life needs a good balance, I look forward to Atum’s invitation: “let’s read the heart”.
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