Integrate Spiritual Depth Into Your Practice — Without Losing Clarity or Professionalism
You’ve seen how spiritual practice can transform your own life. But how do you bring that same depth into your client work — without crossing ethical boundaries or losing professional ground?
The 5 Knots Education gives you a grounded, evidence-informed way to integrate spiritual awareness into therapy and coaching.
You’ll learn to work with greater depth, ease, and presence — helping your clients open to profound transformation, without ever imposing beliefs or losing scientific integrity.
For therapists and coaches who want to bridge science and spirituality — with clarity, confidence, and compassion.
Transform The Way You Work With Clients
Many therapists and coaches know from their personal process how working with awareness and presence have transformed their own life — yet they can feel uncertain about how to bring that same depth into thier work with clients without crossing professional or ethical lines.
In this education, you’ll learn how to use the content of a client's minds to point their awareness beyond the mind and become aware of Being, allowing this awareness to transform the client and dissolve psychological issues naturally — without the need to impose any beliefs or the risk of moving beyond what clients are ready to meet.
As awareness becomes less entangled in mental, emotional and behavioural patterns, both you and your clients experience greater clarity, freedom, and ease, greatly enhancing the therapeutic process.
The work is supported by the framework of The Five Knots — five types of patterns that block awareness of Being — and the five corresponding processes through which these knots can be untied in your clients — and yourself. The framework gives you a systematic approach to realiably help awaken clients to awareness of Being, making the therapy simultaneously more effective and less effortfull.
What Are The 5 Knots?
The 5 Knots are five processes that are a natural part of human cognitive development, which can lead to a loss of awareness of Being and the present moment, creating a deep sense of loss and dissatisfaction that underpin and sustain many of the psychological issues clients bring to therapy sessions.
- Positive Reification: Mistaking qualities of Being for things to be grasped
- Conditionality: Believing the experience of Being depends on external or inner conditions
- Negative Reification: Condemning aspects of experience and, thereby, rejecting Being
- Alienation: Fighting what we ourselves unconsciously create and project outward
- Fragmentation: Feeling split between personality parts, pursuing Being in conflicting ways, unaware they seek the same wholeness
Who Is The Education For?
- Therapists and coaches with a strong practice who sense there’s “more” beyond techniques.
- Those who value science and professionalism, and who are unwilling to sacrifice these values when working with states and insights sourced from spiritual traditions.
- Those ready for personal transformation, not just new tools.
- Not for those seeking a quick fix, surface-level techniques or "spiritual highs".
What You Will Learn
The 5 Knots Education offers a clear, structured way to integrate spiritual depth into therapeutic work — while staying firmly grounded in psychological understanding and professional ethics.
You will learn to:
- Recognise the Five Knots that Block Awareness of Being
Learn to identify the five distinct ways awareness becomes entangled in mental, emotional and behavioural patterns — and how these patterns shape experience and behaviour in clients. - Guide Awareness Back to Being
Develop practical skills to support clients in unhooking their awareness from those patterns — allowing direct experience of Being, beyond interpretation or belief. - Use Familiar Therapeutic Tools in a New Way
Discover how common therapeutic interventions can be used in new ways, specifically to invite awareness of Being — helping clients realise profound insights through their own lived experience. - Speak About Spiritual Insight with Clarity, Integrity and Flexibility
Learn to describe experiences traditionally called “spiritual” in simple, precise, and psychologically grounded language that clients of any background can relate to. - Integrate Spiritual Understanding without Losing Scientific Grounding
Gain a coherent, evidence-informed framework that connects psychological process with classical spiritual insights relating to abundance, inner wholeness, and the creative nature of consciousness.
Curiculum Overview
The education consists of 5 modules. Each module focuses on a particular technique related to a particular knot and a particular spiritual insight. Each module build upon the skills learned in previous modules.
- Module 1: Life is abundance - the knot of positive reification
You will be introduced to the model of the 5 knots. We will examine in detail the first knot of positive reification, where we project being onto external phenomena. This knot underlies states, such as idealisation, infatuation, and fear of loss. We will also look at the process of Sensing Abundance, which dissolves the first knot. - Module 2: What you seek is already present within you - the knot of conditionality
In this module, we will examine the second knot, the knot of conditionality, where we fortify the separation created by the first knot with ideas about conditions for overcoming the (fictional) separation. This knot is what generates phenomena such as compulsive behaviour, depression, hopelessness and despondency. We will also look at the process of Sensing Scope, which dissolves the second knot. - Module 3: Evil does not exist - the knot of negative reification
In this module, we will examine the third knot, the knot of Negative Reification, where our accumulating frustration leads us to develop negative perceptions of being. It is this knot that generates feelings of walking on eggshells, inhabiting a fundamentally unsafe world, and feeling insecure and threatened. This knot is responsible for the shrinking of our world as we avoid more and more situations, emotions, thoughts, etc. We will also explore the process of Sensing Taboos, which dissolves the third knot. - Module 4: You are the creator of your world - the knot of alienation
In this module, we will examine the fourth knot, the knot of Alienation, where we turn away from being and set ourselves up for reinforcement of the first knot of positive reification, thus completing the negative circle that is responsible for the degradation of consciousness to a state where we are asleep and unaware that we are asleep. This knot is the force behind self-destructive urges, the persistence of negative thoughts and emotions and the absence of positive thoughts and emotions. We will also look at the process of Sensing Agency, which dissolves the fourth knot. - Module 5: You are already whole - the knot of fragmentation
In this module, we will examine the fifth knot, the knot of fragmentation, where the other knots have created dynamics in our personality structure that are pursuing mutually exclusive objectives. This knot creates feelings of being split or torn, being caught between a rock and a hard place, ambivalence, indecision and paralysis in life. We will also look at the process of Sensing Systems, which dissolves the fifth knot.
Teaching Approach
The teaching consists of a mix of short theoretical presentations, exercises in smaller groups, sharings and mini-processes in plenum. The overall purpose is skills building. Students are encouraged to apply the approaches they learn between modules and to share their experiences during the modules.
The primary type of group exercise will be focused practice sessions, with three students assuming the roles of client, therapist, and observer, punctuated by collaborative reflections.
To further support the learning, students will have access to a dedicated email address, where they can ask Claus questions that may arise in between modules. Whenever students permit, the questions and answers will be shared on a closed webpage, accessible only to the students in the particular cohort, so all can benefit.
About Claus Springborg, PhD
What Other Therapists Say About Working With Claus
“Claus brings great clarity and a non-judgemental presence that makes real and lasting change possible.”
Caroline McCoy, Psychologist, 2 Balance Consulting
“A heartfelt thanks to Claus for contributing hugely to my journey and that of my clients.”
Susanne Niedrum, Counsellor and Executive Coach
“His minimalist, zen-like approach slices through confusion and guides you straight to your essence.”
Joe Church, Psychotherapist/Bodyworker, London
“I discovered a deeper capacity for peace, joy and contentment—more meaningful than anything society usually offers.”
Ian Fuller, Counsellor and Psychotherapist, MBACP (Accred.)
Practical Details
Dates:
Module 1: Mar 6-8, 2026
Module 2: Apr 17-19, 2026
Module 3: May 8-10, 2026
Module 4: Jun 19-21, 2026
Module 5: TBA
Time:
Friday 19-21.30 CET / 6-8.30 pm UK time
Saturday 10-18 CET / 9 am - 5 pm UK time
Sunday 10-18 CET / 9 am - 5 pm UK time
Frequently Asked Questions
❓ Who is this education for?
This education is designed for experienced therapists and coaches who are interested in deeper ways of working — particularly those who have engaged in personal or spiritual work themselves beyond the modality they practice, and are curious about how to integrate that depth into therapy in an ethical and professional manner.
❓ Do I need a background in spirituality?
No. This approach does not require you to believe anything or adopt any particular framework. In fact, the methods you’ll learn are based on familiar therapeutic techniques — simply used in a new way to open up deeper possibilities for client transformation.
❓ Is this workshop religious?
Not at all. While it explores experiences traditionally associated with spiritual traditions, it stays fully within the boundaries of professional, client-centred practice. There is no religious content, dogma, or belief system involved.
❓ Will this be too much for my clients?
On the contrary, this approach is designed to be gentle and client-led. It helps clients discover insights and inner resources at their own pace, without overwhelming them or imposing anything from the outside.
❓ Will I get a recording?
Yes. All sessions will be recorded and shared on a closed webpage only accessible to the members of your own cohort.