Carsten Rietz – Psychotherapist MPF | Open Mind Therapy
About
I am Carsten Rietz, a certified psychotherapist (MPF) and founder of Open Mind Therapy in Copenhagen. I offer psychotherapy in English and Danish, both online and in person in Copenhagen.
My work combines psychotherapy with a particular understanding of spiritual processes. I work with people experiencing spiritual emergence, Kundalini processes, challenges related to meditation and non-duality, as well as anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties and other psychological issues.
I have more than 30 years of personal experience with meditation and spiritual practice. This background, combined with my psychotherapeutic training, has given me a particular interest in what can happen when psychological development and spiritual practice meet.
Some people come to me because a spiritual process has become difficult or overwhelming. Others have had profound experiences or insights but find that old emotional patterns, relationship difficulties or unresolved psychological issues remain. My focus is not on explaining these experiences away, but on helping you understand and integrate them while staying grounded in everyday life.
My Approach
My work integrates modern psychotherapy with an understanding of spiritual development and the psychological challenges that can arise through meditation, Kundalini processes and other profound spiritual experiences.
I draw from several therapeutic approaches and adapt the work to the individual rather than following one fixed method. My approach includes neuroaffective developmental psychology, mentalization, depth psychology, mindfulness, and body- and emotion-oriented psychotherapy.
I am particularly interested in the meeting point between psychological development and spiritual practice. Spiritual insight can be profound, but it does not necessarily resolve old emotional patterns, attachment difficulties, trauma or problems in relationships. Sometimes spiritual practice can even bring unresolved material more clearly to the surface.
In therapy, we can work with both dimensions without reducing everything to either psychology or spirituality.
Spiritual Emergence and Kundalini
Spiritual development is not always peaceful. Meditation, Kundalini awakening or profound shifts in consciousness can sometimes be accompanied by anxiety, emotional intensity, sleep disturbances, changes in identity, unusual bodily sensations or a feeling of losing your usual sense of stability.
These experiences do not automatically mean that something is wrong, but they need to be taken seriously. Sometimes psychological difficulties and spiritual processes overlap, and it can be important to consider both.
My aim is to help you understand what is happening, become more grounded and integrate the experience into your everyday life.