It is the Academy's intention to move beyond the domains of Psychology and Psychiatry in order to invite and include dialogue from beyond the confines of academic and professional circles.

Consequently our classes are open to all members of the general public. You will not need qualifications or ‘prior learning'; you are not admitted into the Academy on the basis of what you already know but on the basis of what you wish to find out.

Our subject may include the paranormal, mystical experience, the effects of prayer, meditation, miracles, self-actualisation (realising and living out one's full potential) and self-transcendence. Our methods often range from the scholarly to the experiential (although it must be pointed out that these are not mutually exclusive domains).

Why do a course at the Manchester Academy for Transpersonal Studies?

Why do most people study? Is it for love of a particular subject, or a thirst for knowledge? In some cases this is the case, but sadly the majority of students within Higher Education are looking to get ahead, get good grades, get somewhere or get something. This is not to say that students are selfish, simply that they tend to reflect the current trends in education that elevate outcome over process, that is to say that the destination is all that really matters and the journey is a necessary evil.

We believe differently…

Socrates said that Philosophy begins with a sense of wonder and it precisely this sense of wonder that all our courses seek to cultivate. Joseph Campbell summed this up quite eloquently:

People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

Ideally you will take a course because you have found subjects that you wish to explore deeper for the purposes of personal or professional development.

What courses are on offer?

There are three courses on offer at the Manchester Academy for Transpersonal Studies. Buddhist philosophy and meditation, Daoist philosophy and cultivation and Kabbalah and Chasidic philosophy