From physics to counseling, energy plays big role in dealing with change

Making the leap from physical energy to the metaphysical kind is not too far of one, according to Alan McAllister.

The owner of Whole Being Explorations has a doctorate in physics and spent much of his career doing physics research before becoming a counseling clinical hypnotherapist, in which he uses intuition as well as intellect. “I’ve always had a right brain life and a left brain life,” he says. “I figure you’ve got two hemispheres, you might as well use them.”

But the link between physics and the “transpersonal” counseling he offers is more concrete, as well. “It’s all about energy,” McAllister says. “Emotions, thoughts, or physical levels, these are all different types of energy, different perspectives and different ways of working. Many aspects of the things I learned about energy by doing physics apply to the work I’m doing now.”

Alan describes “transpersonal” counseling as that done with an understanding of the existence of spirit in one form or another – that humans are not just animals running around. “I’m helping people connect with that aspect of themselves,” he says. “We have so many tools we’re not accessing that can be beneficial in many different areas.”

The issue Alan helps most people deal with is change, he says. “They’ve either got not enough of it or too much of it. I help them to acquire skills or tools to adjust to shifts in their lives. It’s always unique depending on who I’m working with.”

Alan grew up in Philadelphia and worked in California, Japan and Texas, where he attained his doctorate at the University of Texas, before coming to Boulder to do physics research in 1993. He has been doing spiritual counseling for 12 years and opened his own practice four years ago after becoming trained in hypnotherapy.

While he enjoys traveling and even living in different places, the father of two says remaining in Boulder for longer than he has anywhere else has provided his school-aged children with stability and his family easy access to nature.

“It’s a good place,” Alan says. “For someone who’s interested in learning things at all levels, you could spend a lifetime in Boulder covering all the things that are offered here. It’s also still a place where I can run into people I know around town. I like the scale of it; it’s by far the smallest place I’ve ever lived.”