Psychophonetics is a modality of personal transformation, life coaching, counselling and consultancy based on Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and Psychosophy.
It regards the human being as a living body, soul and individual spirit with a potential connection to vast resources of vitality, creativity, intelligence, compassion, intimacy, expanded awareness and spirituality.
As an expression based counselling modality developed by Yehuda Tagar, it combines a client-centred verbal approach to psychotherapy with non verbal expressive modalities of body sensing, gesture and movement, visualization and the skillful application of the sounds of human speech, which allows for rapid access to deep psycho-emotional layers of experience.

Psychophonetics claims that it’s relatively short, effective counselling-coaching process enables clients to:

Human life experience is never lost or forgotten; it is all stored in the body as a memory to be activated consciously or unconsciously by similar experiences in later life. The past is therefore ever present and as such interferes with and distorts present reality. This leads to the perpetuation of dysfunctional behaviour patterns, difficulties in relationships, limitation of creative potential , stress, exhaustion and illness on many levels.
Such “inner scripts” can be accessed directly, explored and transformed in short-term psychotherapeutic interventions (3 to 6 sessions) using the techniques of Psychophonetics. The transformation enhances well being on all levels. Physical health is enhanced through healing of psycho-somatic problems while relationships are transformed through recovery from past abuse, addictions and suppressions. Clients often experience a release of energy and creative potential and a deepening of intellectual, emotional, interpersonal and spiritual awareness.

Psychophonetics facilitates effective recovery from addiction, past sexual and other abuses, reactions, projections, panic and anxiety disorders, dysfunctional behaviour patterns, relationship difficulties, burn-out, trauma, fatigue, creative blocks and a whole range of psychosomatic issues. It enables a deep and intimate connection to one’s Inner Child, Inner Man and Woman and to the deeper meaning of one’s experience, purpose, direction and meaning in life.

Psychophonetics in Medical Practice
After 20 years in general medical practice, I realized that the one thing my holistic approach lacked was the option of skillfully using a psychotherapeutic intervention. I discovered that the psychophonetic counselling modality fitted perfectly into my medical practice. In 2005, I completed a 3 year training diploma in Psychophonetic Counselling which has now become an active and essential part of my practice.

Patients consult me for a wide range of physical and psycho-emotional problems. In the course of the interview, attention is invariably drawn to psychosocial factors which may be connected with the clinical problem. Using simple preparatory psychophonetic techniques, the patient may be invited to experience his or her physical symptoms on a deeper level. For instance, if the complaint is abdominal pain, the patient is asked to focus on the bodily sensation of pain and then to gesture with the hands and then the whole body the character of the pain. The patient then steps away from the gesture and observes imaginatively the body form that was created by the gesture. This imaginative picture frequently unveils for the patient new and sometimes overwhelming insights into the nature of the illness which he will wish to explore in a follow up psychophonetic session.

Psychophonetics methodology provides a wide range of techniques which enables the practitioner to deepen the diagnostic and therapeutic picture. The specific process that emerges during each session through the dynamic interaction between client and counselor will determine which methodological utilities are used.
The client carrying his or her own unique life experience is entrusted to steer the ship and thereby gives direction to each session. He is inwardly equipped and carries the innate guidance for his own life journey. The counselor accompanies the client as a well traveled voyager and will help to navigate the ship and coach the client through the uncharted seas until he/she has learned the skill to travel alone. For in the end it is the client’s higher self that is challenged to take charge of the ship of life and to create his own truth and meaning for his own unique destiny.

A Psychophonetic Session
Each session has a unique form in which the various psychophonetic processes are utilized.

I have used this methodology on a wide range of physical illnesses and I invariably have found that it adds significant value to the nature of the diagnosis and the therapeutic picture.

This methodology was developed by Yehuda Tagar over the past two decades through the integration of his insights in Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy, his training in the humanistic school of psychotherapy, his professional expertise in the expressive performing arts and his own unique contribution of skillfully using the sounds of human speech in psychotherapy. From the latter Psychophonetics gets its name.

Yehuda is an Israeli/Australian professional counselor, psychotherapist, personal development and executive coach, international lecturer and trainer now based in Cape Town. He is the principal of Persephone College International, an international adult education institute dedicated to the development, practice, fostering and teaching of Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy / Psychosophy and Philophonetics / Psychophonetics.
He has been training professional practitioners in Psychophonetics in Melbourne, Australia since 1991 and in Cape Town and Johannesburg since 2002.
He practices as a Psychophonetics Practitioner at Syringa Holistic Health Centre, Plumstead. Since 1987 he has been presenting Psychophonetics and Psychosophy in many parts of the world in lectures and workshops. He runs a 1 year course in Psychophonetics Personal Transformation and a 3 year professional training in Psychophonetic Counselling and Coaching

A more detailed description and overview of Psychophonetics can be found on the website www.persephone-institute.com