The Psychology of Awakening

Navigating the Path to Liberation

 7 module self-study online course: pre-requisite for October 10-13th healing & embodiment retreat registration in Sedona

A powerful opportunity to dive deep into your awakening transformation in this Live- 7 week online course with Payton Tontz, Ph.D. as preparation for the “Psychology of Awakening: Healing & Embodiment Retreat"

A unique teaching curriculum synthesizing western psychology and ancient non-dual teachings on spiritual awakening to support you optimally on your path of awakening, healing, and transformation.

The awakening process is one of illumination…of waking up from a state of unconsciousness to realize the truth of who we really are, what the world is, and what in the world is going on! 

The process requires active participation and intention to turn within…inquire, explore, and discover things that were previously hidden or confused within ourselves.

This is a process of diving into the depths of the inner soil to uncover the roots of our conditioned unconscious landscape in the form of organizing principles/core-belief structures.

 

The unconscious realm of the psyche must be illuminated by the light of consciousness and met with wisdom and compassion. 

We must connect the dots, and weave a coherent understanding of how we have come to be shaped and conditioned by our life experience.

We must come to know the traumatized and wounded aspects of our psyche in mind and body, and identifying the inner landscape of our core wounds. 

The good news is that what we discover when we explore within, is that the reality of who we are is a limitless being of pure light…pure conscious awareness. 

As we realize this truth of who we are, this inner source of security and well-being becomes available to the psyche as a source of ultimate healing.  

This is the healing transformation required if we are to fully embody the process of spiritual awakening.

It is an inner alchemy of transmutation, purifying all of the density held in the mind/body down to the cellular matrix of our physical tissues, with the recognition that we have this inner light as a source of true refuge and peace. 

 

I am so excited to offer this 7-module self-study course to lay the groundwork for your participation in our Healing & Embodiment Retreat in Sedona October 10-13th: 

The Psychology of Awakening

Navigating the path to Liberation

 

This course is designed to create the following outcomes:

  • deeper knowledge of the psychological process of transformation at the heart of the awakening journey
  • inner freedom and living from a place of conscious choice vs. unconscious conditioning
  • claiming individual power and living from a place of empowerment vs. victimhood
  • learning practices and tools that can be used to navigate the day-to-day and make progress towards rewiring the brain and body 

This course offers you a powerful set of teachings and practices to help you deepen your self-knowledge and gain greater mastery as you continue to traverse the spiral path of awakening and healing. 

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 at the time.

I went from being a fully self-reliant high functioning young adult, with great agility and strength to being physically disabled and dependent on help within a matter of weeks.

For the 15 years that followed, I experienced multiple episodes of severe neurological malfunction and extreme pain in my lower back with little relief.

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 debilitating physical pain, not having a medical diagnosis after seeking answers from every kind of doctor imaginable, along with many other social challenges was quite overwhelming. 

This was devastating for my ego which had been identified as being a strong, healthy, high functioning, and very independent young professional.

The real raw suffering that I experienced had me on my knees with no choice but to reckon with parts of my humanity that my ego had been unconsciously defended against, namely my human vulnerability.

Through a healing journey that included so many spirals and every possible modality one can imagine, I humbly embraced my humanness and became a beautiful integration embracing my limitations and cultivating a healthy relationship with my needs. 

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!

After 12 years of this I finally received a medical diagnosis that helped make my experience at least fit into some physiological reality that explained all of my symptoms in a coherent picture.  Amazing how much of a difference this made, since I had been blaming myself as we all tend to do… “It must be my unhealed psychological wounds, and not believing enough in myself."

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 forcing me to break through spiritual bypass spaces where many of us can get stuck.

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.

Register Now!

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

Watch the replay video of the Free Introductory Class “The 3 Keys to Awakening” to learn more...

Watch Video Replay now!

7 Course Modules 

Module 1:

What is “The Psychology of Awakening”?

This module will present an overview of the process of awakening through “direct knowledge” based on the non-dual vision of the ontological nature of reality. 

  • A clear map of the awakening process and definition of non-dual reality
  • 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

This module reveals the inner dynamics involved in the formulation of identity. We will explore the functional role of the “ego” as the central organizing principle in the conscious mind and the crux 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

Module 3

Mapping the State of Bondage & Human Conditioning

This module explores the psychological dynamics at play in the state of bondage, a state of unconsciousness rooted in a fundamental false conclusion about the self. 

  • Introduce the “tree” metaphor and diagram for the psychological state of bondage 
  • Understand the root of this state of being as the result of the true nature of the Self being unconsciously identified as being one with the “mind-body complex” 
  • Introduce “core-beliefs” as organizing principles that operate structurally in the psyche

Module 4

The Function of the Ego in the State of Bondage

This module continues to explore the state of bondage focusing on the conscious mind and how the “ego” functions as the central organizing principle of the psyche. 

  • Definition of the “ego” as a psychological construct that is a natural part of the human psyche
  • How the "ego" comes to be formulated through our developmental journey and the environment we had to learn to adapt to

Module 5

Liberation from Bondage through Gaining Self-knowledge

This module explores the way in which gaining “self-knowledge” catalyzes the liberation process as a great undoing of the state of bondage.

  • Exploring liberation as one of de-conditioning that happens as a result of releasing the lynch pin of the false identification of the self, and recognizing our spiritual nature as the non-dual Self. 
  • Discuss the natural process of healing/repair that happens in the psyche as a result of releasing/ deconstructing false limiting beliefs 

Module 6

Healing and Growing into the Liberated State

This module will explore the process of healing and transformation that results from realizing the true nature of the Self, and beginning to root our human identity structure into the reality of who we are as whole, free, limitless, and secure. 

  • Explore the “Tree of Liberation” diagram and how this state of being is rooted in a new core organizing principle of identity which grows new branches of the tree such as “I am free”, “I am worthy”, and “I belong"
  • How the Self becomes a “secure base” within the psyche as this source of love and well-being, which creates the optimal conditions to catalyze the overall healing of the psyche

Module 7

The Awakened Human: Love, Freedom, & Sovereignty

We will go into depth in exploring what it looks like to live according to the “law of dharma” in Advaita Vedanta, and how the “awakened human” begins to live more and more deeply in alignment with the principles of love, freedom, and sovereignty.

  • Explore specific methods for working with inner conflicts that arise between the wounded self and awakened self as we step into full responsibility and integrity with ourselves and others
  • Look at the alchemy of healing transformation as a process of transmutation of darkness/denseness to light/enlightenment at a cellular level
  • Process of awakening and activating the heart center as we become rooted in the heart as the center of who we are and become ultimately an emanation of love through our cellular matrix

Course Content Includes:

7 Pre-Recorded Deep Dive Teaching Videos w/ Cacao

Each module of the course includes a pre-recorded teaching video expounding on the teaching content for that module guiding you through an intelligently designed sequential process of learning and transformation. The teaching videos are released a week before the paired live class meeting for the module, so that each week’s learning includes the teaching video paired with the live class which will discuss that material in greater depth and engage with the material in group dialogue, sharing, as well as Q & A sessions.

7 Tutorial Training Videos for each Module

 

Each weekly module is accompanied by a short tutorial video which will present the embodied practices that are recommended for that week for experiential applied learning of the teaching material for the week.  For example, this may include self-inquiry practice, guided meditations, building an altar, journaling explorations and filling out your own “tree of bondage and liberation” diagrams and self-assessment worksheets. 

Additional Teaching Materials and Resources Included

This course is supported with many different material resources easily accessed in the course website 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 as you wish depending on the level of engagement with which you choose to participate.

Course Materials & Bonuses Include:

“Seer-Seen Differentiation” Self-Inquiry Practice

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!

The Psychology of Awakening 7 module self-study course 

is available to you now at a discounted cost as part of the Healing & Embodiment Retreat package! 

11am Pacific / 12pm Mountain/ 1pm Central / 2pm Eastern / 6:00 pm GMT

The Psychology of Awakening Self-Study Course 2025

Full Fee Registration

$197

1 payment

REGISTER NOW

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].