Ira Progoff, PhD
It is hard to remember a time when I did not know about the work of Ira Progoff (1921-98). I did the Intensive Journal workshop for the first time in my 20’s and have attended several times since then. It is still my primary tool for increasing self/Self-awareness and dealing with blocks to creativity.
I was privileged to attend one of the last workshops he gave. Already in the grip of his final illness, he modeled a genius for listening others into self-discovery.
Two weeks ago I attended the Life Study module of the IJ program—a profound writing experience. I delved into the life of Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Spanish mystic and teacher.
To learn more about Dr. Progoff’s life and work, check out the website:
Quotes From the Website
“The meaning of life cannot be told; it has to happen to a person.”
“The Intensive Journal Workbook is specifically designed to provide an instrument by which persons can discover within themselves the resources they did not know they possessed.”
“The method provides an indirect approach to solving our life problems…we step back and move inward and meet them at a deeper level.”
“Each person is engaged in finding the way of life and of being that is true to our own nature.”
“When our attention is focused inwardly at the depths of our inner being, in the context of the wholeness of our life, resources for a profound knowledge of life become accessible to us.”
“People become sensitive to the elusive threads of their inner lives when they have a definite way of working with them.”
“The intensive workbook will become a companion, a portable alter ego, and an intimate friend who will respond and discuss with you in dialogue the decisions of your life.”
“The Intensive Journal process is our inner workshop, the place where we do the creative shaping of the artwork of our life.”
“A special value of the Intensive Journal approach is that it enables individuals to break through situations of stalemate where their lives had seemed to have reached a dead end it achieves this in part because it’s not an analytic approach generates a movement of inner energies.”
Publications
- The Death and Rebirth of Psychology: An integrative evaluation of Freud, Adler, Jung and Rank and the impact of their culminating insights on modern man. New York City, Julian Press. 1956. OCLC1375551.
- Depth psychology and modern man: A new view of the magnitude of human personality, its dimensions & resources. New York City, Julian Press. 1959. OCLC1025952.
- The Symbolic & The Real; A New Psychological Approach to the Fuller Experience of Personal Existence. New York City, McGraw-Hill. 1963. OCLC1039530.
- The Star/Cross: A Cycle of Process Meditation. New York City, Dialogue House Library. 1971. ISBN0-87941-001-9. OCLC 206826.
- The White Robed Monk: A cycle of process meditation. New York City, Dialogue House. 1972. ISBN0-87941-002-7. OCLC 409796.
- Jung, synchronicity, & human destiny: Noncausal dimensions of human experience. New York City, Julian Press. 1973. ISBN0-87097-056-9. OCLC 763819.
- Death and Rebirth of Psychology. New York City, Julian Press. 1974.