About the Institute for Emergence
Why We Exist
Something essential was missing from therapy
Clients were spending years in therapy, yet the real problems weren’t being identified—let alone solved. Even when they improved, they still weren’t fully engaging their Drives or passions, including their deeper, spiritual development.
We saw it firsthand.
After decades of delivering therapy—through psychology, neuroscience, social work, and spiritual development—we realized the existing models weren’t just limited, they were failing to reach the core.
As Clinicians and Scientists
We were frustrated.
Mental health was unraveling—faster than the field could respond.
Social media, overstimulation, and deepening isolation were triggering a tidal wave of depression, compulsions, procrastination, and anxiety across every age group.
Current models couldn’t reliably distinguish one kind of depression from another—nor explain why some clients turned to alcohol, porn, or others to a pint of ice-cream when craving intimacy. Diagnostic categories often felt too vague. The science lacked precision. The methods lacked sustainability.
Therapy helped—but often, it didn’t hold.
We took pride in our work and felt real joy witnessing breakthroughs. But too often, it felt like we were patching people up only to send them back into a world they didn’t fully understand—or couldn’t yet navigate. Some of us told ourselves we were growing too—and maybe we were—but it was often hard to name how, especially during the long stretches spent simply helping others. Parts of ourselves were sometimes put on hold just to keep showing up. We rode many of the highs and lows alongside our clients.
And quietly, some of us were burning out.
As Spiritual Seekers and Teachers
We were disenchanted.
It was wonderful that spiritual books were popular—and that meditation had gone mainstream.
The principles were beautiful: that we should live in accord with nature, not strain, live holistically. But even the most profound wisdom from diverse traditions remained abstract—far removed from everyday life. Ancient scriptures didn’t mention binge-watching Netflix or how to navigate abusive relationships, identity crises, or the paralysis of modern life. There was no clear way to translate insight into action.
Like many we taught—and like us—seekers were left trying to embody high ideals while secretly battling procrastination, anxiety, resentment, addiction. They couldn’t locate their struggles—let alone their flaws—within the context of spiritual growth.
And the paradoxes were everywhere. We were told the world is perfect—yet constantly warned about the ego. If our psychology is so perfectly natural, why were we fighting our impulses?
Meditation, though essential for mental and physical health, became a way to float above the pain rather than deal with the issues we faced.
In the effort to “rise above,” many lost touch with who they genuinely were. When our spiritual lives were severed from our emotions, challenges, and daily struggles, we became disconnected. Disengaged. Numb.
Then we found a model that ticked every box—and brought it all together.
We began working with couples on the edge of collapse, teenagers in silent revolt, clients drowning in depression, others chasing awakening—not by juggling theories, but through a single integrated paradigm.
No more patchwork. No more choosing between depth and precision.
This therapy unified trauma theory, attachment science, and Vedic knowledge—and grounded it all in neuroscience. What emerged was a profound understanding of human Drives and spiritual development.
It wasn’t floating in abstraction.
It mapped real human problems to real biological and spiritual realities.
Everything finally made sense—in one place.
And then—we used it.
Technique didn’t just make sense on paper—it came alive. With very little effort, we could now do what once felt impossible. Sessions felt natural. Change unfolded without resistance. Techniques that harness real laws felt almost magical. Like learning to use gravity with a lever—what ten people couldn’t push, one person could move with ease.
We weren’t imposing change. We were working with human nature. Supporting it. Trusting it. That was the feeling. That is the power.
“A vision of psychology I've spent my career looking for. What a gift it would have been to have had this from the beginning.”
— Samantha Stein, PsyD
It gave language to the beauty and intelligence of the human experience—without denying the painful, necessary elements of growth.
It saw all of us.
Today, we are a team of professionals, facilitators, therapists, and coaches, supported by a wider network of 48 psychologists, doctors, social workers, pharmacologists, Vaidyas, meditators, and graduate students—committed to developing and sharing this paradigm with the world. It doesn’t sit on paper. It lives—in conversations, in conflict, in healing—and becomes real in practice.
We invite you—whether practitioner or client—to experience what therapy was always meant to be.
To see clearly what drives people—and how they grow. To feel the clarity and precision of using symptoms, conflict, and desire as fuel for deep transformation. And to finally discover: healing happens not by overriding your hungers, but by learning what they’re really asking for.
The Institute holds a vision—but its story continues through the people who embody it.
Meet Us Here
