The Zen of Therapy

Informationen zum Autor Dr. Mark Epstein is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Advice Not Given , The Trauma of Everyday Life , Thoughts without a Thinker and G oing to Pieces without Falling Apart . He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University. Klappentext "In The Zen of Therapy, Dr. Epstein reflects on a years 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 usand allow us to come to our senses and find inner peace."-- Leseprobe One Inner Peace I first tried to meditate during the summer of 1973, between my sophomore and junior years of college, when I was working as a research assistant for a cardiologist at Boston City Hospital. This physician, Dr. Herbert Benson, a specialist in the treatment of high blood pressure, or hypertension, was the first to publish a scientific paper about the relaxation benefits of Transcendental Meditation, made popular by the Beatles several years earlier. His coauthor, Robert Keith Wallace, was a student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who popularized TM, and together Benson and Wallace were among the first to show that meditation had measurable physiological effects. According to their studies, meditation slowed the body's metabolic rate, reducing both oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide output, inducing what they called a "wakeful hypometabolic state." In essence, they suggested that meditation flipped the nervous system into neutral, allowing the body to rest, digest, recuperate, and recharge. They christened these bodily effects "the relaxation response" (the antidote to the stress-induced fight-or-flight response) and suggested that its regular elicitation might actually lower blood pressure as well as relieve stress. Meditation was given scientific credence by their research. It was a real thing, not just someone's wishful thinking, and it had the potential to become an important tool of modern medicine. This research became the basis for The Relaxation Response, a popular book Dr. Benson published in 1975 that was among the first to suggest the health benefits of meditation. I was intrigued by this work and met with Dr. Benson at the behest of my father, who had recently taken over as chairman of the department of medicine of which Dr. Benson was a part. I think it was an effort on my father's part to keep me in the medical fold despite my burgeoning interest in what he considered a rather esoteric pursuit. I had become intrigued by Eastern thought in general and Buddhism in particular in my first years of college and regularly perused the spiritual bookstores then popular in Harvard Square. At the university itself Eastern spirituality was looked down upon, but I had stumbled upon two graduate students, one in the religion department and one in psychology, who quietly encouraged my nascent interests. Diana Eck, who went on to become a distinguished professor of religion, the first female "master" of a Harvard house, and the author of a comprehensive book on the Indian holy city of Banaras, was my section person in a freshman world religion class, and Daniel Goleman, who later wrote Emotional Intelligence and who had already been to India to learn about meditation, was my section leader for a second-year class in psychophysiology. They each, in their own discreet wa...

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Drawing on decades of personal and professional experience, Dr. Mark Epstein considers how his practice of psychotherapy and meditation can be used in tandem to lead his patients, and himself, to greater awareness and fulfillment.

For much of his career, Dr. Mark Epstein kept his beliefs as a Buddhist separate from his work as a psychiatrist. But as he became more forthcoming with his patients about his personal spiritual leanings, he was surprised to find how many of them 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 a given hour, his Buddhist background influences his work. He emphasizes how Western therapy can be considered a two-person meditation, and how mindfulness, much like a good therapist, can “hold” awareness, creating the necessary conditions for inner peace. Throughout this deeply personal and wise inquiry, Dr. Epstein illuminates the therapy relationship as a spiritual friendship, and reveals how a therapist can help us realize that there is something magical running through our fraught lives. For when we understand how readily we have misinterpreted ourselves, when we touch the ground of our own being, we come home.

Résumé
“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

Drawing on decades of personal and professional experience, Dr. Mark Epstein considers how his practice of psychotherapy and meditation can be used in tandem to lead his patients, and himself, to greater awareness and fulfillment.

For much of his career, Dr. Mark Epstein kept his beliefs as a Buddhist separate from his work as a psychiatrist. But as he became more forthcoming with his patients about his personal spiritual leanings, he was surprised to find how many of them 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 a given hour, his Buddhist background influences his work. He emphasizes how Western therapy can be considered a two-person meditation, and how mindfulness, much like a good therapist, can “hold” awareness, creating the necessary conditions for inner peace. Throughout this deeply personal and wise inquiry, Dr. Epstein illuminates the therapy relationship as a spiritual friendship, and reveals how a therapist can help us realize that there is something magical running through our fraught lives. For when we understand how readily we have misinterpreted ourselves, when we touch the ground of our own being, we come home.

Échantillon de lecture

One

 

Inner Peace

 

I first tried to meditate during the summer of 1973, between my sophomore and junior years of college, when I was working as a research assistant for a cardiologist at Boston City Hospital. This physician, Dr. Herbert Benson, a specialist in the treatment of high blood pressure, or hypertension, was the first to publish a scientific paper about the relaxation benefits of Transcendental Meditation, made popular by the Beatles several years earlier. His coauthor, Robert Keith Wallace, was a student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who popularized TM, and together Benson and Wallace were among the first to show that meditation had measurable physiological effects. According to their studies, meditation slowed the body's metabolic rate, reducing both oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide output, inducing what they called a "wakef…