ABOUT RAPHAEL

OVERVIEW

It is better

to live your own destiny imperfectly

than to live

an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection

- The Bhagavad Gita

The above lines  written in a great text of existential philosophy, The Bhagavad Gita, embodies Raphael’s purpose in all of theirprofessional practice: as a psychotherapist, mentor, coach, supervisor, and teacher trainer of art, dance-theater, meditation and yoga.

SUMMARY

Raphael’s life work, spanning several disciplines, is exploring the potential for authentic being in a turbulent world; as well as enabling others overcome life challenges, maximize their inherent creative potential, and enjoy satisfying lives.

Raphael is doing this in the fields of psychotherapy, academic research, education, training in meditation, art and dance. They are particularly supportive of those living at on the margins of societies.

Activity includes:

• Integrative Psychotherapist + Clinical Supervisor: rooted in an ecological, bio-psycho-social model: integrating ecological, mindfulness, compassion, CBT, existential, art, dance, photography, writing & play therapies  

• Researcher, Lecturer & Tenured Member of Faculty, Goldsmiths, University of London

• Designer and Director of Therapeutic, Educational, Communication and Creative Programs

• Artistic Director of International Arts / Artist: critically acclaimed, award-winning trans-disciplinary art

• Mentor and Teacher of Art, Film, Dance-Theatre: children, teenagers, students & adults of all ages

• Creator and Leader of Sublime Living personalized life mentoring program

• Retreat Leader & Trainer of Meditation incl. Mindfulness-based approaches, such as MSC, MBSR, MBCT, in private practice, for NHS, Mind UK, Center For Mindful Self-Compassion USA & other organizations

• Academic & Meditation Supervision

• Professional Affiliation and Registration:

  • Registered Member of British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy, BACP no. 389651  

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy aka AdvanceHE, UK, FHEA no. 27713

  • Registered Member of British Association of Mindfulness-based Approaches, BAMBA no. 13349458

  • Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, FRSA 

SELECTION OF EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

• PhD begun at Royal College of Art; completed at University of the Arts London UK

  with AHRC Scholarship

  • Thesis Title: Towards a Deep Ecology of Technology Art and Being

  • Inter-Disciplinary investigation spanning Science, Art, Architecture, Philosophy, Psychosomatic Medicine & Therapy

• MA Screen Writing and Screen Research, University of the Arts London UK 

• BA (Hons) First Class Film and Video, University of the Arts London UK 

• Professional Accreditation Teaching in Higher and Professional Education UCL London UK   

• Dance & Theatre Training, Incl. Etienne Decroux, Masters of Japanese & South Asian Dance-Theatre

• Post-Graduate Dip Counselling & Psychotherapy School of Psychology, University of East London UK

  Integrative program incorporating CBT, MBCT, CFT, ACT, MBTI, Art, Solution-Focused, Person-Centered & Existential therapies

• SCIP Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy clinical program of Center for Mindful Self-Compassion USA   2025

• Foundational Certificate Group Psychoanalysis, IGA Institute of Group Analysis UK   2018

• Intermediate Certificate Play Therapy Place-to-Be, London UK   2019

• MSC Mindful Self-Compassion Certified Teacher and Trainer, School of Medicine UCSD USA

• MBCT Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression Teacher under supervision, Oxford Mindfulness Center, University of Oxford UK

• MBSR Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Qualified Teacher and Trainer, Mind UK 

• MfH Mindfulness for Health and MfS Mindfulness for Stress Qualified Teacher, Breathworks UK

• Radical Self-Care Qualified Teacher & Trainer, evidenced-based program for LGBTQ+, Rainbow Mind UK

• MBCL: Mindfulness-based Compassionate Living, Teacher-in-training, Mindfulness Network UK  

• TSM Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness program completion with Dr David Treleaven

Raphael is an Enabler

This is their skill

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DETAILED DESCCRIPTION

What is important is

to keep our mind high in the world of true understanding,

and returning to the world of our daily experience

to seek therein the truth of beauty.

No matter what we may be doing at a given moment,

we must not forget that

it has a bearing upon our everlasting self

which is Poetry

- Zen influence Haiku poet Matsup Basho

RAPHAEL’S PERSONAL STORY

I cover here some of the life experiences and journeys made that shape my original thinking, my pioneering methodology and my ability to enable the personal growth of people all over the world.

This detailed description covers the following:

• The Early Years

• Art and Dance as Philosophical Practice

• The Way of Psychotherapy

THE EARLY YEARS

Forget about Enlightenment

Think instead of

Enlightening Moments

- Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki

This “Way” began as child born and brought up in a Hindu-Jain Indian family. This was in Africa and Europe.

With my grandmother, l undertook Bhakti Yoga: devotional practices.

This took place alongside action-oriented practices for the greater good: Karma Yoga, influenced by ideas of Mahatma Gandhi.

As a young child I was already thinking seriously about the meaning of life and life purpose. I was inquisitive about science, art philosophy and activism.

Despite a tough, violent upbringing I retained through life my childlike playfulness, curiosity and wonder. This is embodied in almost everything I do.

Play shapes the brain,

opens the imagination

and invigorates the Soul

- Play researcher Professor Stuart Brown

Play cultivates neuroplasticity and lifelong personal growth.

The Way developed through engagement with Buddhism, inter-disciplinary Tantra in its golden age in India, and fascination with the dialogue between the god Krishna as therapist and the warrior Arjuna as client in The Bhagavad Gita. The voice of Krishna can be understood as the inner voice: the inner therapist. It is this voice that I cultivate in others.

Raphael is an Enabler

This is their skill

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ART AND DANCE AS PHILOSOPHICAL PRACTICE

There is no other Knowledge

no other Learning,

no other Art,

not even Yoga

or Action

that is not found in Dance

- The Natya Shastra

The Way evolved further through engagement with Philosophy of Being, alongside Art and Dance as a Philosophical practice.

This includes:-

• Classical South Asian Dance such as

  • Kathak

  • Kathakali

  • Bharata Natyam

  • Manipuri

• Noh Dance-Theater in Japan

• Contemporary Dance-Theater such as

  • Butoh

  • German Expressionist Dance

• Contemporary Performance Art / Live Art

• Film as Philosophy and Poetry, including Tarkovsky, Marker and Ozu

• Creative Writing, including Concrete Poetry

• Site-Specific Art

• Inter-active, Immersive Art, Architecture and Design, including:

  • Sado, the Way of Tea, known also as The Japanese Tea Ceremony

  • Tantric rock-cut architecture of Ellora India

  • The Water Temple of Tadao Ando

• Art and Sensibility in Japan historically

This exploration involved curiosity with geometry, line and form: in classical, classical south asian dance, in yoga, in architecture. It was an interest in sculpting in space and time. It also involved facilitation with atmosphere and mood.

These creative interests are embodied in a number of Informal Tea Ceremonies I have created. These were inspired by Sado - the way of tea, as multi-sensory participatory installations, cultivating an art of conviviality between artist-host and guest-spectator.

One of these embodied in concept and title the feeling I brought to the art work : Omomuki 趣. Omomuki is a a Japanese word meaning: atmospheres, deep flavors, and tastes of space.

I bring this unique quality of Omomuki to the therapy room, to the meditation space, and to the dance and art studio and to the yoga hall to enable your fulfillment; to enable you to taste THE DELICIOUS DELIGHT OF LIVING.

Raphael is an Enabler

This is their skill

ARRANGE AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTATION FOR BESPOKE PROGRAMS I CAN DESIGN AND TEACH FOR YOU

BOOK AN INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, MENTORING, SUPERVISION YOGA OR MEDITATION

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TRAINING

My pathway of Art involved study and training at University of the Arts London, the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths University of London, and with a number of pioneering teachers.

Raphael was one of the most gifted students

I had the pleasure to teach.

I cannot forget the moment

When they presented to me their final PhD artwork:

“Relationship-Place Naka-Ma”:

It was so serene

Just magic!

- Art Historian Professor Toshio Watanabe and

Former Director of TrAIN,

research centre in Transnational Art Identity and Nation, University of the Arts London

The Red Version in particular of the film Relationship-Place Naka-Ma, is an exploration of space-time, interval, pause, stillness and emptiness. These can be understood as the Japanese word Ma. 

 It was a dance without a visual body.

It was the auto-ethnographic experiencing of the Shingon Buddhist Water Temple designed by architect Tadao Ando, on the island of Naoshima, Japan.

It was sculpting in space and time: borrowing from the ideas of filmmaker Andrey Tarkovsky, the architectonics of Tadao Ando and the Tantric architecture at Ellora, India.. The intention was of existential enquiry of Being where form and theme coming together in the making.

Zen pathways of being particularly inspired me, such as Sado: the way of Tea. This is known internationally as The Japanese tea Ceremony. I was deeply moved by meeting Tea master Hisashi Yamada whose own playfulness and intelligence touched me deeply. For me Sado is a multi-sensory, multiple media, immersive and inter-active installation, before such terms were invented.

The philosophy of tea involves

architecture, the garden, calligraphy,

flowers, pottery and much more

- Tea Master Hisashi Yamada

I created a series of contemporary Tea Ceremonies in different countries and contexts, Including Japan, Thailand and United Kingdom. I share this with many students such as post-graduate Live Art/Performance Art students at the University of Worcester.

Raphael is an Enabler

This is their skill

ARRANGE AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTATION FOR BESPOKE PROGRAMS I CAN DESIGN AND TEACH FOR YOU

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EDUCATION AND PEDAGOGY

Raphael has a way of immediately making people

feel at ease with the present.

Feelings and thoughts are validated

in that moment.

This made it possible for

communication and engagement to flow.

The students valued

Raphael's demystification of

quite complex philosophical ideas.

They were able to examine

their everyday experiences and

appreciate the art of simplicity and conviviality

in a present and authentic way

- Dr Daniel Somerville Senior Lecturer, University of Worcester,

commenting on Raphael’s work with his students

The Way continued with ongoing inter-disciplinary research, including Education.

DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION

Education Methodology / Pedagogy has interested me very early in life. I stated getting involved in practical teaching and facilitation as a teenager. This began in the field of Development Education in Europe and in Asia. I engaged in projects that could elevate the lives of those at the bottom of the pile. For me this too was Karma Yoga.

We, all beings and all things, are children of “goddess”: all things are equally sacred. I adapt words here of Mahatma Gandhi, who called Untouchables, the lowest class in India, “children of god”.  My understanding of this through my study and activity in Development Education including Ecology.

I intend honoring all things, including people equally: King, street worker, dog, forest, rock, ocean. This feeds my approach to Psychotherapy, where I hold each person, as best I can in “unconditional positive regard”; and where I apply principles of Deep Ecology in my Psychotherapy System: PSYCHOCREATIVITY. This System infuses my WATER THERAPY, MEDITATION, MIND FLOW YOGA, MENTORING and SUPERVISION.

ART EDUCATION

It broadened into art education, teaching creative art on the streets of Paris, France, to primarily children from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Traveller communities. They often felt like misfits in formal schools. I too had been a misfit in schools. Before he wrote the book, from direct experience personal and with these kids, I was essentially reflecting on Sir Ken Robinson’s question: Are Schools Killing Creativity? I engaged with various creative approaches such as that of Arno Stern.

I began to understand more deeply here the importance of play and creativity for adults throughout life. I began here formulating ideas that are now found in in my Psychotherapy System. My work on the streets was discussed in a focused article in the newspaper Le Monde.  

I am highly sensitive to the ideas and pathways of Creatives and for many years have taught in universities around the world at undergraduate, masters and doctoral level; as well as mentoring the work of individual creatives in my private practice.

MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION

I continued to reflect on these Parisian kids’ marginalization and that of my own childhood growing up in largely racist and homophobic Europe, subject to violent racist and homophobic attacks.

I began to understand more as the research of Professor Robin Murray at the Institute of Mental Health evidences, how the very experience of living day to day in a racist society inevitably engenders mental illness.

I was just a kid until I was six

Then I became a Negro

- Comedian Richard Prior in his autobiography

I witness how our sense of identity and personality is shaped by our circumstances, societies, and early life experiences. This too began to shape my Psychotherapy System.

I began working in a multiple mental health contexts, teaching and facilitating initiates to enable recovery, growth and self-knowledge. This included for the NHS British National Health Service, and the mental Health organization Mind.

It shapes the work I do with people of all genders.around the world. People from diverse backgrounds. I am particularly sensitive to the needs of LGBTQ+, Black People, People of Color, Indigenous Peoples, Refugees, Disabled.

I am particularly sensitive to the needs of LGBTQ+, BIPOC, Disabled, Refugees and other minorities. Organizations I have worked  with  this specific objective include:

• Center for Mindful Self-Compassion USA

• Rainbow Mind, UK

• Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest, UK

• MNPC: Mindfulness Network for People of Color, UK

• Galop, UK

• Outright International, Asia

• Mindfulness in Schools Project, UK

• Goldsmiths, University of London, Uk

• NHS Psychiatric Unit in East London, UK

I have produced, directed and taught programs for other organizations committed to Diveristy, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

Raphael is an Enabler

This is their skill

ARRANGE AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTATION FOR BESPOKE PROGRAMS I CAN DESIGN AND TEACH FOR YOU

BOOK AN INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, MENTORING, SUPERVISION YOGA OR MEDITATION

RESEARCH AND PROGRAM DESIGN

I design and direct therapetuic, creative and educational programs.

I have published research on Pedagogy including for the academic journal ADCHE: Art Design and Communication in Higher Education. I am currently a member of ADCHE’s research peer review panel and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I apply my ideas to the way I teach and have taught in/at:

• Undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels at Goldsmiths University of London and other universities around the world

• Communities

• Commercial business

• Non-profit activist organizations

• Mental health and addiction recovery contexts

• Awakening and healing centers

• Centers of Art

I work with children as young as 5, with teenagers, and with adults in all stages of life.

I am an Enabler

This is my skill

ARRANGE AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTATION FOR BESPOKE PROGRAMS I CAN DESIGN AND TEACH FOR YOU

BOOK AN INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, MENTORING, SUPERVISION YOGA OR MEDITATION

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THE WAY OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

What we can feel,

with Mindfulness and Kindfulness

We can heal

- Dr. Raphael Jay Adjani, adaptation of saying in Neuroscience

My life experiences and reflections prompted training,  qualification and professional activity as a Psychotherapist. Psychotherapy inspires me as a Teacher-Trainer of Meditation and Yoga.  

For me the Buddha is perhaps the first psychologist, authoethtogrpahcially trying to understand the nature of body mind and external space. Krishna in The Bhagavid Gita is the inner therapist.

I now integrate this eclectic, iconoclastic and inter-disciplinary research into my PSYCHOTHERAPY System, my SUBLIME LIVING Personalized Mentoring Program and MIND FLOW YOGA.

The research infuses:

• WATER THERAPY

• Life Transformation Coaching

• Wider MEDITATION based Training

• Creativity Education such as BEYOND ECSTATIC Playshop

• CONSCIOUS DIVING

• Mental Health Education

PSYCHOTHERAPY, whose root meaning is “therapy for the soul” is understood here as PSYCHOCREATIVITY

My approach is not so much teach as share their Way: helping  you to cultivate your Way

I am a companion and navigator for your creative, therapeutic and existential journey.

I  am a navigator to help you better pilot your own life: in order to more fully live authentic lives in an imperfect, transient world.

Working with Raphael was an amazing experience.

Their practice really helped me see the world differently

And helped me remember how to reconnect with the world around me

And recognize my connection with the universe

And how beautiful it is to be a part of it.

Their practice has highlighted things in my life and areas that

I could bring further attention to, moving forward.

If you ever get the chance to take a class from them,

I highly recommend it

It has been so impactful

- Christina Rivera, Breathwork Teacher Training Course

Get in touch if you feel this rich, eclectic and inter-disciplinary knowledge base can add value to you as an individual/ organization.