Download or read book The Zen of Therapy written by Mark Epstein, M.D. and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A warm, profound and cleareyed memoir. . . this wise and sympathetic book’s lingering effect is as a reminder that a deeper and more companionable way of life lurks behind our self-serious stories."—Oliver Burkeman, New York Times Book Review A remarkable exploration of the therapeutic relationship, Dr. Mark Epstein reflects on one year’s worth of therapy sessions with his patients to observe how his training in Western psychotherapy and his equally long investigation into Buddhism, in tandem, led to greater awareness—for his patients, and for himself For years, Dr. Mark Epstein kept his beliefs as a Buddhist separate from his work as a psychiatrist. Content to use his training in mindfulness as a private resource, he trusted that the Buddhist influence could, and should, remain invisible. But as he became more forthcoming with his patients about his personal spiritual leanings, he was surprised to learn how many were eager to learn more. The divisions between the psychological, emotional, and the spiritual, he soon realized, were not as distinct as one might think. In The Zen of Therapy, Dr. Epstein reflects on a year’s worth of selected sessions with his patients and observes how, in the incidental details of a given hour, his Buddhist background influences the way he works. Meditation and psychotherapy each encourage a willingness to face life's difficulties with courage that can be hard to otherwise muster, and in this cross-section of life in his office, he emphasizes how therapy, an element of Western medicine, can in fact be considered a two-person meditation. Mindfulness, too, much like a good therapist, can “hold” our awareness for us—and allow us to come to our senses and find inner peace. Throughout this deeply personal inquiry, one which weaves together the wisdom of two worlds, Dr. Epstein illuminates the therapy relationship as spiritual friendship, and reveals how a therapist can help patients cultivate the sense that there is something magical, something wonderful, and something to trust running through our lives, no matter how fraught they have been or might become. For when we realize how readily we have misinterpreted our selves, when we stop clinging to our falsely conceived constructs, when we touch the ground of being, we come home.
Download or read book Zen Therapy written by David Brazier and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhism, from Abhidharma to Zen, offers a practical path to harmony of head and heart. For over 2,000 years Buddhists have been developing sophisticated psychologies to guide the work of achieving freedom from mental suffering. Now East and West are beginning to learn from each other. In a readable and practical manner, this book challenges basic assumptions of Western psychology, demystifies Buddhist psychology and presents Zen as a therapy. Giving examples of its effectiveness in psychotherapeutic practice, the author shows how Zen derives from the Buddhist theory of the mind and throws new light upon the Buddhist theory of relations and conditions. This seminal wok is a resource full of intriguing and controversial ideas.
Download or read book Thoughts Without A Thinker written by Mark Epstein and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blending the lessons of psychotherapy with Buddhist teachings, Mark Epstein offers a revolutionary understanding of what constitutes a healthy emotional life The line between psychology and spirituality has blurred, as clinicians, their patients, and religious seekers explore new perspectives on the self. A landmark contribution to the field of psychoanalysis, Thoughts Without a Thinker describes the unique psychological contributions offered by the teachings of Buddhism. Drawing upon his own experiences as a psychotherapist and meditator, New York-based psychiatrist Mark Epstein lays out the path to meditation-inspired healing, and offers a revolutionary new understanding of what constitutes a healthy emotional life.
Download or read book Advice Not Given written by Mark Epstein, M.D. and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Most people will never find a great psychiatrist or a great Buddhist teacher, but Mark Epstein is both, and the wisdom he imparts in Advice Not Given is an act of generosity and compassion. The book is a tonic for the ailments of our time.”—Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth Our ego, and its accompanying sense of nagging self-doubt as we work to be bigger, better, smarter, and more in control, is one affliction we all share. But while our ego is at once our biggest obstacle, it can also be our greatest hope. We can be at its mercy or we can learn to work with it. With great insight, and in a deeply personal style, renowned psychiatrist and author Dr. Mark Epstein offers a how-to guide that refuses a quick fix. In Advice Not Given, he reveals how Buddhism and Western psychotherapy, two traditions that developed in entirely different times and places, both identify the ego as the limiting factor in our well-being, and both come to the same conclusion: When we give the ego free rein, we suffer; but when it learns to let go, we are free.
Download or read book Zen Meditation in Psychotherapy written by C. Alexander Simpkins and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-10-26 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The world and all that is in it expresses reality. Every therapy session, each moment in your life, is a koan to be solved, an opportunity to learn about your deeper being. How you respond is your choice. You always have the option to respond with your most enlightened nature." —from Zen Meditation in Psychotherapy A thoughtful and pragmatic guide for integrating Zen meditation into traditional psychotherapy Grounded in both neuroscientific and clinical evidence that supports the use of Zen meditation to improve clients' mental health, this inspiring "how-to" guide encourages creative use of its techniques to suit your personal therapeutic style as well as your clients' needs. Zen Meditation in Psychotherapy provides you with methods that can be seamlessly integrated into ongoing treatments for a broad range of psychological problems, as well as with ways to enhance your own life, both professionally and personally. It covers: General protocol for integrating meditation into treatments at every phase Applying meditation for problems such as depression, anger, addiction, and weight management Meditative ways to reduce anxiety, stress, and burnout Meditative training to enhance therapeutic sensitivities Filled with vivid case examples and writings from traditional texts, modern interpretations, meditation research, and illustrative legends, Zen Meditation in Psychotherapy encourages a therapeutic process in which clients move their attention from outside concerns to inner mindfulness. With a range of techniques that embrace the diversity and uniqueness of clients, this book offers methods and tools for seeing feelings and problems directly and objectively, which can lead to a profound shift in perspective.
Download or read book Zen and the Heart of Psychotherapy written by Robert Rosenbaum and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Classic Morita Therapy written by Peg LeVine and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shoma (Masatake) Morita, M.D. (1874-1938) was a Japanese psychiatrist-professor who developed a unique four stage therapy process. He challenged psychoanalysts who sanctioned an unconscious or unconsciousness (collective or otherwise) that resides inside the mind. Significantly, he advanced a phenomenal connection between existentialism, Zen, Nature and the therapeutic role of serendipity. Morita is a forerunner of eco-psychology and he equalised the strength between human-to-human attachment and human-to-Nature bonds. This book chronicles Morita’s theory of "peripheral consciousness", his paradoxical method, his design of a natural therapeutic setting, and his progressive-four stage therapy. It explores how this therapy can be beneficial for clients outside of Japan using, for the first time, non-Japanese case studies. The author’s personal material about training in Japan and subsequent practice of Morita’s ecological and phenomenological therapy in Australia and the United States enhance this book. LeVine’s coining of "cruelty-based trauma" generates a rich discussion on the need for therapy inclusive of ecological settings. As a medical anthropologist, clinical psychologist and genocide scholar, LeVine shows how the four progressive stages are essential to the classic method and the key importance of the first "rest" stage in outcomes for clients who have been embossed by trauma. Since cognitive science took hold in the 1970s, complex consciousness theories have lost footing in psychology and medical science. This book reinstates "consciousness" as the dynamic core of Morita therapy. The case material illustrates the use of Morita therapy for clients struggling with the aftermath of trauma and how to live creatively and responsively inside the uncertainty of existence. The never before published archival biographic notes and photos of psychoanalyst Karen Horney, Fritz Perls, Eric Fromm and other renowned scholars who took an interest in Morita in the 1950s and 60s provide a dense historical backdrop.
Download or read book Zen and Therapy written by Manu Bazzano and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-06-26 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zen and Therapy brings together aspects of the Buddhist tradition, contemporary western therapy and western philosophy. By combining insightful anecdotes from the Zen tradition with clinical studies, discussions of current psychotherapy theory and forays into art, film, literature and philosophy, Manu Bazzano integrates Zen Buddhist practice with psychotherapy and psychology. This book successfully expands the existing dialogue on the integration of Buddhism, psychology and philosophy, highlighting areas that have been neglected and bypassed. It explores a third way between the two dominant modalities, the religious and the secular, a positively ambivalent stance rooted in embodied practice, and the cultivation of compassion and active perplexity. It presents a life-affirming view: the wonder, beauty and complexity of being human. Intended for both experienced practitioners and beginners in the fields of psychotherapy and philosophy, Zen and Therapy provides an enlightening and engaging exploration of a previously underexplored area.
Download or read book The Zen Way of Counseling written by Svagito Liebermeister and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular psychology.
Download or read book Ordinary Mind written by Barry Magid and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-08-20 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is meditation an escape from--or a solution to--our psychological problems? Is the use of antidepressants counter to spiritual practice? Does a psychological approach to meditation reduce spirituality to "self-help"? What can Zen and psychoanalysis teach us about the problems of the mind and suffering? Psychiatrist and Zen teacher Barry Magid is uniquely qualified to answer questions like these. Written in an engaging and witty style, Ordinary Mind helps us understand challenging ideas--like Zen Buddhism's concepts of oneness, emptiness, and enlightenment--and how they make sense, not only within psychoanalytic conceptions of mind, but in the realities of our lives and relationships. This new paper edition of Magid's much-praised book contains additional case study vignettes.
Download or read book The Trauma of Everyday Life written by Dr. Epstein and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2014-07-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trauma does not just happen to a few unlucky people; it is the bedrock of our psychology. Death and illness touch us all, but even the everyday sufferings of loneliness and fear are traumatic. In The Trauma of Everyday Life renowned psychiatrist and author of Thoughts Without a Thinker Mark Epstein uncovers the transformational potential of trauma, revealing how it can be used for the mind's own development. Epstein finds throughout that trauma, if it doesn't destroy us, wakes us up to both our minds' own capacity and to the suffering of others. It makes us more human, caring and wise. It can be our greatest teacher, our freedom itself, and it is available to all of us. Western psychology teaches that if we understand the cause of trauma, we might move past it while many drawn to Eastern practices see meditation as a means of rising above, or distancing themselves from, their most difficult emotions. Both, Epstein argues, fail to recognize that trauma is an indivisible part of life and can be used as a tool for growth and an ever deeper understanding of change. When we regard trauma with this perspective, understanding that suffering is universal and without logic, our pain connects us to the world on a more fundamental level. Guided by the Buddha's life as a profound example of the power of trauma, Epstein's also closely examines his own experience and that of his psychiatric patients to help us all understand that the way out of pain is through it.
Download or read book Awakening and Insight written by Polly Young-Eisendrath and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhism first came to the West many centuries ago through the Greeks, who also influenced some of the culture and practices of Indian Buddhism. As Buddhism has spread beyond India, it has always been affected by the indigenous traditions of its new homes. When Buddhism appeared in America and Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, it encountered contemporary psychology and psychotherapy, rather than religious traditions. Since the 1990s, many efforts have been made by Westerners to analyze and integrate the similarities and differences between Buddhism and it therapeutic ancestors, particularly Jungian psychology. Taking Japanese Zen-Buddhism as its starting point, this volume is a collection of critiques, commentaries, and histories about a particular meeting of Buddhism and psychology. It is based on the Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy conference that took place in Kyoto, Japan, in 1999, expanded by additional papers, and includes: new perspectives on Buddhism and psychology, East and West cautions and insights about potential confusions traditional ideas in a new light. It also features a new translation of the conversation between Schin'ichi Hisamatsu and Carl Jung which took place in 1958. Awakening and Insight expresses a meeting of minds, Japanese and Western, in a way that opens new questions about and sheds new light on our subjective lives. It will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and analytical psychology, as well as anyone involved in Zen Buddhism.
Download or read book Northern Light written by Kazim Ali and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2021-03-09 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the lingering effects of a hydroelectric power station on Pimicikamak sovereign territory in Manitoba, Canada. The child of South Asian migrants, Kazim Ali was born in London, lived as a child in the cities and small towns of Manitoba, and made a life in the United States. As a man passing through disparate homes, he has never felt he belonged to a place. And yet, one day, the celebrated poet and essayist finds himself thinking of the boreal forests and lush waterways of Jenpeg, a community thrown up around the building of a hydroelectric dam on the Nelson River, where he once lived for several years as a child. Does the town still exist, he wonders? Is the dam still operational? When Ali goes searching, however, he finds not news of Jenpeg, but of the local Pimicikamak community. Facing environmental destruction and broken promises from the Canadian government, they have evicted Manitoba’s electric utility from the dam on Cross Lake. In a place where water is an integral part of social and cultural life, the community demands accountability for the harm that the utility has caused. Troubled, Ali returns north, looking to understand his place in this story and eager to listen. Over the course of a week, he participates in community life, speaks with Elders and community members, and learns about the politics of the dam from Chief Cathy Merrick. He drinks tea with activists, eats corned beef hash with the Chief, and learns about the history of the dam, built on land that was never ceded, and Jenpeg, a town that now exists mostly in his memory. In building relationships with his former neighbors, Ali explores questions of land and power?and in remembering a lost connection to this place, finally finds a home he might belong to. Praise for Northern Light An Outside Magazine Favorite Book of 2021 A Book Riot Best Book of 2021 A Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2021 “Ali’s gift as a writer is the way he is able to present his story in a way that brings attention to the myriad issues facing Indigenous communities, from oil pipelines in the Dakotas to border walls running through Kumeyaay land.” —San Diego Union-Tribune “A world traveler, not always by choice, ponders the meaning and location of home. . . . A graceful, elegant account even when reporting on the hard truths of a little-known corner of the world.” —Kirkus Reviews “[Ali’s] experiences are relayed in sensitive, crystalline prose, documenting how Cross Lake residents are working to reinvent their town and rebuild their traditional beliefs, language, and relationships with the natural world. . . . Though these topics are complex, they are untangled in an elegant manner.” —Foreword Reviews (starred review)
Download or read book Zen and Psychotherapy Partners in Liberation written by Joseph Bobrow and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-04-30 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new take on the interplay of emotional and spiritual development. Insight, attentiveness, and transformative experience are central in both Buddhism and psychotherapy. An “intimate dialogue” that examines the interplay of emotional and spiritual development through the lens of Zen Buddhism and psychotherapy, this book artfully illuminates the intrinsic connections between the two practices, and demonstrates how these traditions can be complementary in helping to live a truly fulfilled and contented life. As this book deftly explores, integrating the two streams of Zen and psychotherapy can help us to better grasp our conscious and unconscious experiences and more fully develop the fundamental capacities of the self. Bobrow shows how the major themes of trauma, attachment, emotional communication, and emotional regulation play out in the context of Zen and psychotherapeutic practice, and how, in concert, both provide a comprehensive, interactive model of fully functioning human life.
Download or read book Zen and Psychotherapy written by Christopher J. Mruk and published by Springer Publishing Company. This book was released on 2006-04-28 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors--one a clinical educator and social scientist, the other a nurse psychotherapist and practicing Buddhist--present a fascinating dialog on the "science" and the "art" sides of the art-science debate. Practical suggestions are included for achieving a balance between these two poles of the helping and healing process.
Download or read book Psychotherapy without the Self written by Mark Epstein and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immersed in Buddhist psychology prior to studying Western psychiatry, Dr. Mark Epstein first viewed Western therapeutic approaches through the lens of the East. This posed something of a challenge. Although both systems promise liberation through self-awareness, the central tenet of Buddha's wisdom is the notion of no-self, while the central focus of Western psychotherapy is the self. This book, which includes writings from the past twenty-five years, wrestles with the complex relationship between Buddhism and psychotherapy and offers nuanced reflections on therapy, meditation, and psychological and spiritual development. A best-selling author and popular speaker, Epstein has long been at the forefront of the effort to introduce Buddhist psychology to the West. His unique background enables him to serve as a bridge between the two traditions, which he has found to be more compatible than at first thought. Engaging with the teachings of the Buddha as well as those of Freud and Winnicott, he offers a compelling look at desire, anger, and insight and helps reinterpret the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and central concepts such as egolessness and emptiness in the psychoanalytic language of our time.
Download or read book The Art of the First Session Making Psychotherapy Count From the Start written by Robert Taibbi and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-02-22 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making Psychotherapy Count from the Start The average client today only comes to therapy five to eight times, and many only come once, so it is increasingly important, therefore, for therapists to achieve first-session success. Therapeutic skills and sales and marketing savvy are equally important to this task. In the first sixty minutes, clinicians must build trust, communicate what they have to offer, and ensure that the client feels different when they walk out than they did walking in. Short, practical, and applicable to all therapeutic modalities, this book walks readers through all the first-session essentials, including preparation for the first session, action-steps for each stage of the session, techniques for changing the emotional climate, and “closing the deal,” to make sure that clients come back for more. Packed with case examples, vignettes, tools, and techniques, The Art of the First Session prepares clinicians with critical skills to cut through performance anxiety, feel and convey confidence with clients, and hit the ground running in therapy with new clients.
