Awakening the Heart: East/West Approaches to Psychotherapy and the Healing Relationship

Can a meditative practice assist and promote the healing relationship between psychotherapist and patient? The notable contributors to this practical book draw on a wide range of Eastern and Western disciplinespsychoanalysis, Gestalt, Aikido, and various Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist contemplative traditionsto show that it can. What they propose is a meeting between the Western psychotherapeutic approachgrounded in working with the personal problems and the need to carve out a strong awareness of selfand Eastern tradition, which emphasizes a larger kind of awareness and equanimity as a continuously available source of clarity and health for those who know how to find it. They show that joining psychotherapy with meditation can mutually awaken the hearts of both therapist and client, sparking them both to open more fully.

Jacob Needleman, Erich Fromm, Robin Skynner, Ram Dass, Karl Sperber, Roger Walsh, Chgyam Trungpa, and Thomas Hora are among the contributors.