Dr. Claudio Naranjo (Valparaíso, Chile, 1932) began his professional life as a psychiatrist in Chile, where he worked in the fields of Medical Anthropology and Personality, and also explored psychedelic therapy with various new substances. Then he became an early staff member of Esalen Institute, and later developed a synthesis of spiritual and therapeutic methods known as the SAT process, which includes the psychology of enneatypes, Buddhist meditation, spontaneous movement as a means of letting go, therapeutic theater, the reelaboration of important life relationships including those in the early family and other elements, and which has been widely applied in many countries to personal development, therapeutic training and to teacher education.

Once a research associate at the Berkeley UC Campus, he was a pioneer in the integration of therapy and meditation, and more generally, of therapy and spirituality. As a disciple and successor of Fritz Perls, he has become a worldwide reference for Gestalt therapy, and the University of Udine in Italy granted him an honorary doctorate in Education for his militancy for a transformation in education that would make it relevant to psycho-spiritual development and to the evolution of society. He was nominated two years ago for the Peace Nobel Prize and he is the author of 25 books.