The Psychology of Awakening
Rooting into Your True Nature to Sow the Seeds of Liberation
Self Study Online Course with Dr. Payton Tontz, Integrative Psychotherapist and founder of New Paradigm Psychology
Discover a powerful guide map for the process of awakening so you can align with your true nature, bringing you the clarity, security, and confidence, to embody your full potential.
Are you ready to take the next step in committing to a path of true empowerment and healing?
Imagine feeling fully present and open to all that is possible in your life and in the world around you.
Imagine feeling solid and secure with who you are and fully trusting in your own reality.
You may know that these possibilities are real, but need a bit more guidance, encouragement, or support.
Do you wish to access and align with your authentic needs more easily, but still find it difficult?
You may long to live more of the time in a state of clarity with who you are and able to set healthy boundaries when needed.
With so many distractions pulling you in different directions, it can be hard to drop below the noise and access the deeper dimensions within you.
You might also be struggling with addictive behavior patterns or self-limiting beliefs that keep you in a perpetual state of disconnection and separation.
The heart of the problem lies at the root of the psyche in the deep unconscious realms that are difficult to see. But down in the depths, there are conclusions you have made about yourself that are limiting and ultimately untrue, but they are still running the show or the program in your psyche.
If you are like I was, you have been trapped in the psychological prison of the mind ruled by conditioned beliefs created from cultural and family indoctrination.
This leaves you living in a state of disconnected from your deeper nature and source.
The good news is that there is a pathway that can guide you out of this painful vortex of confusion and negative false beliefs.
There is a guide map and a process that can lead you to discovering the deeper truth of who you are as a spiritual being that is the inner light of your natural state of being.
There are teachings and practices of inquiry and direct experiential learning that can help you access the deeper self-evident truths that are available within your own psyche, and this gives you the keys to break free from the limiting constructs that have kept you trapped within a limited bandwidth of experience.
When you realize the true beauty and wholeness that lies at your own core, you will begin to heal the wounds of lack and limitation.
When you begin to have greater access to root into your essential spiritual being, it catalyzes a deeper process of healing and transformation in the psyche and sets you free.
This is why I created this new online course:...
The Psychology of Awakening
Rooting into Your True Nature to Sow the Seeds of Liberation
To help you gain clarity on the deep psychological nature of the awakening process by providing a roadmap and the tools, and practices to help guide you on your journey.
By the end of course, you’ll experience:
- Being more embodied within the nature of who you are as a spiritual-present-centered-being
- Feeling secure and believing more fully in your own truth
- Developing a stronger connection with your inner knowing and guidance
- A stronger capacity to connect and root into the heart center for resourcing
- More inner freedom and flow with yourself and the world around you
- Being clear about what you want, and having the confidence to go for it
- Greater ease and flow in relationship dynamics
This course will help you to gain a depth of clarity and insight into the source of the psychological struggles that can can be deeply painful and difficult to transcend while supporting a deeper alignment with your true spiritual nature as a home base within your psyche that is safe and secure.
My Personal Story and Invitation
I had stepped onto the path of awakening early in life, but my dark night of the soul initiation began in my mid 30’s when minor lower back pain quickly turned into a full blown medical emergency almost overnight with no logical explanation.
I went from being a fully self-reliant high functioning person, with great agility and strength to being physically disabled and dependent on help within a matter of weeks.
For the 12 years that followed, I experienced multiple episodes of severe neurological malfunction and extreme pain in my lower back.
Over this course of time I searched high and low and didn’t find any answers that would explain my symptoms.
The trauma from the physical pain and not having a medical diagnosis after seeking answers from every kind of doctor imaginable was immense.
This was devastating for my ego which had been identified as being a strong, healthy, high functioning, and spiritually awake young professional.
The real and raw suffering that I experienced forced me to reckon with parts of my humanity that my ego had been unconsciously defended against, namely my human vulnerability.
Through this journey, I humbly embraced my humanity, and learned to receive much needed help from others with grace. This became a deep healing of my sacred human heart.
The more I embraced my humanity the more I felt a deepening inner wholeness that I had never known was possible. This was the true alchemy of the spiritual and human aspects of my being merging and aligning as one…the sacred marriage!
In 2019 I received a proper diagnosis that fully aligned with my symptoms and this brought great relief and blessings as well as treatments that helped address the underlying issue.
I have known from a very young age that this was my path to help awaken and heal the planet, but this healing crisis has been the crucible for my real integration and embodiment of my awakening process.
My calling now is to bring forward the medicine and wisdom I have gained through my own direct awakening journey to share with as many people as possible.
If you feel the call to this invitation, I would love for you to join me and receive the support and guidance that I have to offer you on your unique journey of healing and awakening.
What People Are Saying
"Payton has created a program like none other. Combining the insights of modern depth psychology with ancient spiritual wisdom, her work supports integration of all aspects of what it means to be a spiritually alive human with creative desires and aspirations. Her gentle, encouraging manner created a safe space that enabled me to realize the next steps on my journey to freedom. Payton is a rare individual who can walk her talk in both worlds."
Robert Caldwell
Participant, Psychology of Awakening Course 2022
"This course helped me expand my understanding of what it means to be moving into a state of liberation. At a time when I was facing a painful injury, the teachings pointed me towards embodiment, self-resourcing and developing a deeper connection with the Self, rather than disconnecting and detaching. I'm grateful for Payton's skillful and deeply thoughtful approach and I appreciate the opportunities she provided for our cohort to connect and support each other on the journey."
Tori Fulkerson Jones
Musician
"Payton Tontz is a deeply gifted psychotherapist and teacher. Her Psychology of Awakening course provided me with powerful assistance on the liberating path of awakening! During the course, we received very helpful tools which allowed me to become aware of areas not yet addressed on my long healing journey. Most significantly, I uncovered deep core wounding around feeling unworthy which resulted in self-neglect of my body and physical health. Since taking the class, I have been embracing my true self-worth and deepened my self-care. Identifying this limiting core belief has been transformational in my healing and awakening."
Kate Rorrer
Visionary Artist/Business Owner Cielo Connection in Sedona, AZ
"The "Psychology of Awakening" course offered a much needed community of sweet souls on what often feels like a solitary path. Payton offers an organizing map and framework which helped me make sense of what awakening truly is, how it feels, and how to stay the course. The class also gave me hope that a more unified spiritual reality is the Truth, and that more and more people are awakening by trusting the guiding light, and movements within."
Elise Noland
Integrative Psychotherapist, San Francisco
Here's What You'll Learn
Module 1
You Are That: Activating Your Capacity for Direct Knowing
In this first module you will be introduced to an innovative approach to awakening put forth in a psychological framework. We will discuss the bigger picture overview of the process of awakening through “direct knowledge”. We will practice how to “wield the sword of inner discernment” within the psyche to discover and identify the deeper nature of who you are. You’ll discover…
- A clear map of the awakening process and definition of non-dual reality
- How to orient yourself clearly to where you currently stand in your journey of awakening
- Your capacity for determining what is real within the inner landscape of your psyche
- How to approach the process of Awakening as a shift in your core identity structure
Module 2
Who Am I: Exploring the Inner Matrix of Identity
Bridging elements of Vedic and Western Psychology we will explore the subtle dynamics involved in the psyche to see the inner workings of how “the core construct” of our identity is formulated within. We will look at the functional role this core construct plays as the central organizing principle in the psyche and the crux of the process of awakening. You’ll discover…
- How the “Tree of Bondage” and “Tree of Liberation” provide a roadmap of the psychological dimension of the awakening process
- How the core construct of identity is the root of our psychic structure
- The dynamic relationship between the mind and pure conscious awareness
- How to translate these conceptual maps to your personal experience of awakening
Module 3
The Tree of Bondage: Illuminating the Branches of Conditioned Beliefs and Trauma
In this module we will sink into the nitty gritty details of what living in the “state of bondage” is like in your lived experience. We will bring to light the kinds of emotional and psychological suffering that are real and begin to articulate how you experience this in the form of your own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behavior patterns. You’ll discover…
- How the process of transformation unfolds differently; top down vs. bottom up awakening
- How your internal infrastructure is shaped and conditioned according to your unique experiences of wounding/trauma.
- The central role that the nervous system plays in both holding onto trauma and healing trauma
- The Sensory Awareness Resourcing Meditation to support your nervous system to gain more self-mastery
Module 4
Hack the Tree of Bondage: Revealing the Roots of the Core Wound
In this module we will deepen our exploration of the “Tree of Bondage”, by looking into the core belief structures down at the root of the tree in the unconscious depths of the psyche. We will work to uncover and reveal the shape and form of the “core wound” which lives differently in each individual in the form of a foundational negative belief structure. You’ll discover…
- How to connect the dots between your conscious patterns of activation/reactivity/ dysregulation, and the deeper unconscious roots of the “core wound”
- How to identify and uncover the shape and structure of the “core wound” as it currently lives in you
- The way in which the core wound can begin to heal through the awakening process
Module 5
The Tree of Liberation: Rooting into Our Innate Wholeness & Healing the Core Wound
This module focuses our attention on the healing of the “core wound” through gaining Self-Realization. We will explore how the discovery of your true nature as a spiritual being or “Self” establishes a new core identity structure in the psyche, which is rooted in your true nature that is whole, free, and an endless source of well-being and love. You’ll discover…
- How the healing of the “Core Wound” is catalyzed by awakening to your spiritual nature
- What the direct experience of your spiritual nature is and how to express it in words
- What new core beliefs begin to grow out of this core identity structure of the “Self” as the trunk, giving rise to new branches in the “Tree of Liberation”
- How rooting into the Self supports the overall process of bringing the psyche into a state of greater coherence/wholeness
Module 6
Embody the Tree of Liberation: Growing Your Branches as a Sovereign Being
This module will identify the new set of core beliefs that grow when your identity is more firmly established in the Self which is inherently worthy, secure, and full. We will bring to light the positive emotional qualities that naturally arise from this state of being, and specifically focus on the dimension of empowerment and sovereignty that come from the knowing of our innate power as a conscious and awake human. You’ll discover…
- What it looks and feels like to be living from the inner “Tree of Liberation”
- How to identify where you are at in your process of growing the “Tree of Liberation” and what areas you want to cultivate and strengthen consciously
- How to integrate and align with the reality that your nature is infinite creative potential
- How to sit with the question of what you are inspired to create in your life in the short term/long-term vision
Module 7
All Our Relations: Navigating our Relationships Consciously from an Awakened State
This module will turn our focus to our relationships with each other, with all forms of life, and the great cosmic creation as a whole. We will explore how these relationships are transformed when we realize our inherent interconnection with All that Is. The critical nature of cultivating healthy boundaries in relationships will be emphasized as a key element in the embodiment process. In this final module, you’ll discover:
- How our relationships are transformed by realizing our inherent interconnectedness with All Life
- How to cultivate healthy boundaries, and gracefully navigate inner and outer conflicts
- An overview of the spiral vs. linear process of transformation
- How to apply specific principles and practices in your everyday navigation of the landscape of continued healing and awakening
It’s More Than a Course - It’s a Community!
When you register for this course you are invited to participate in our monthly "Psychology of Awakening Group Integration Coaching Calls" with Payton and other participants who have previously or are currently taking the course. This is an opportunity to engage in a sacred group container, ask live questions, and share about how you are experiencing the course as it applies to your personal journey and what is coming up for you as you move through the course.
The next monthly meeting taking place on Tuesday, January 16th at 10am PST is free as a part of registering for the course. After that you can register on a monthly basis for a sliding scale fee of $11-$33.
Here’s What You’ll Receive:
7 Pre-Recorded In-Depth Teaching Videos
Each module of the course will include a pre-recorded video teaching, recorded in the live class setting. Each teaching video presents a section of the course curriculum guiding you through an intelligently designed process of learning and transformation.
7 Tutorial Training Videos Supplemental to Teaching Videos
Each weekly module is accompanied by a short tutorial video that briefly recaps the main points from the teaching video and walks you through the applied practices for that module and how to utilize the materials that are part of the home study portion of learning.
Teaching Materials and Resources to Enrich Your Experiential Journey
This course is supported with many different material resources including readings, guided meditations, diagrams, and "self-assessment tool" documents to support you to experientially apply and explore these teachings in the field of your direct experience.
Course Materials & Bonuses Include:
“Seer-Seen Differentiation” Guided Meditation
An ancient self-inquiry practice. You will receive a downloadable recording of this guided self-inquiry tool to support you to incorporate this powerful practice in your own life.
Video Mini Series: Healing Codependency
As a part of this course you will receive a three part mini-video series helping you to understand "codependency" as I define it within the bigger context of "The Psychology of Awakening". This gives you insight into seeing where you may be operating out of a codependent structure in yourself, and how to shift these patterns for the better.
Video Mini Series
Self-Regulation: A Powerful Key to our Self-Mastery
You will receive this free mini video training presenting the cutting edge science emerging from the field of neuroscience about the importance of learning how to self-regulate our own nervous systems. The training will give you key tools and practices to increase your ability to self-regulate your nervous system.
Register Now!
Psychology of Awakening Course Self-Study
is available to you now!
Two versions available to choose from below:
Self-Study Course Only
Self-Study Course + Private Sessions
2 individual hour long private sessions with Payton
Meet Your Facilitator
Payton Tontz Ph.D.
Dr. Payton Tontz is an integrative psychotherapist, scholar, teacher and healer. Experiencing a spontaneous and direct awakening at the age of 19, she was charged with the task of bringing together Western psychology and Eastern wisdom teachings on nature of the self and the process of spiritual awakening.
A licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and Arizona, she completed her M.A. in Integral Counseling Psychology and Ph.D. in East West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
She is the originator of New Paradigm Psychology, a discipline which draws from the fields of Western depth psychology, Advaita Vedanta, neuroscience, neurobiology and quantum field theory with the goal of self-mastery through self-knowledge, psychological healing and liberation from all forms of conditioning.
Frequently Asked Questions
For any questions not answered here please contact me at: [email protected].
