Primal Center

"It’s too bad that Dr Arthur Janov didn’t get out into the world more and experience other approaches to healing and wholeness. He might have discovered there are other paths to health and well-being that are much gentler and not fraught with the danger and ferocity of primal therapy. (Janov often warns in his books that any noncertified primal therapist can lead to serious harm.) One of these time tested paths is meditation. Janov often dismissed meditation as a just a flight of fancy or an escape from pain. He even joked about meditation and eastern religions in his books. This is understandable because he was only aware of two states, thinking and feeling; with feelings being the Holy Grail and goal of primal therapy. Going beyond feelings, in his view, was delving into the “mystical” or the unreal. It’s pretty clear to me that Janov never encountered anyone that had truly benefited from meditation. If only he had experienced for himself some of the fruits of meditation, rather than rely on some of his patient’s half-baked experiences and obsessions with it. He would have discovered something quite extraordinary and also indescribable; a state more compelling and more fundamental than either thought or feeling. It would have become obvious to him that this experience has huge implications for healing and wellbeing, and why the east has embraced it through the ages. He would also have realized that meditation is a doorway into feelings rather than a flight from them. Had he grasped the possibility of becoming more conscious and present outside the context of a primal, it is likely that he would have incorporated the simple act of mindfulness into his primal therapy. An alert and conscious mind is much better equipped to delve into and process past pain and trauma than an unconsciousness and fearful mind. Real meditation does to the mind much like what a scalpel does to a festering wound. It opens the mind to healing. This healing can be painful and difficult at times as distressing material starts to ooze into consciousness, but it is manageable and usually welcomed. The manifestations of this released pain are much less full of the fury and the violence of primal therapy. It's as if our inner demons become demoralized when exposed to the light of meditation and put up much less of a fight on the way out. Janov was fixated on removing these demons the hard way; kicking and screaming in the dark."

"A pseudoscientific therapy that nevertheless had the ability of such social influence that it extracted extraordinary testimonials from some clients. An iatrogenic therapy that was never as effective as advertised."

"The therapy itself was excellent when it was in the hands of Dr. Janov and his wife, France.  The new director, Ken Seman, however is not following in the footsteps of Janov's philosophy. He's taking it in a new direction that is inconsistent with primal theory. It's a different kind of therapy now. It's not "primal therapy". I don't think it is realistic to expect the therapists to have fully recovered from their childhood wounds, but it is concerning to experience therapists act out or project their unresolved wounds. Sad to see the center in Santa Monica take a dive like this. If you are looking for primal therapy, I recommend you seek elsewhere."

"Great place for anyone wanting to change his state of being for better. It's a legendary place, as well!"