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 disciplines- psychoanalysis, Gestalt, Aikido, and various Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist contemplative traditions-to show that it can. What they propose is a meeting between the Western psychotherapeutic approach-grounded in working with the personal problems and the need to carve out a strong awareness of self-and 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, Chogyam Trungpa, and Thomas Hora are among the contributors. In the first section of the book, they address the question, How far can psychotherapy go in awakening the heart and liberating oneself from the distortions of the confused mind? In the next section, they explore working with oneself as the ground for working with others. The third part of the book is a discussion of how the openness of heart that arises out of meditation practice can influence working with others.
John Welwood is a writer, teacher, and psychotherapist in private practice. He is also the editor of Ordinary Magic: Everyday Life as Spiritual Path and Challenge of the Heart: Love, Sex, and Intimacy in Changing Times.

Awakening the Heart, John Welwood, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 240 Pages, $24.95

John Welwood, Ph.D., has published six books, including the best-selling Journey of the Heart (HarperCollins, 1990), as well as Challenge of the Heart (Shambhala, 1985), and Love and Awakening (HarperCollins, 1996). He is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist in San Francisco, and an associate editor of the Journal for Transpersonal Psychology.

Introduction vii

I. Basic Questions: Psychotherapy and Spirituality xv
Introduction 1
1. Psychiatry and the Sacred Jacob Needleman 4
2. Psychotherapy and the Spiritual Tradition A.C. Robin Skynner 18
3. Psychological Adjustment is Not Liberation Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass (Richard Alpert), Mokusen Miyuki 33
4. On Psychotherapy and Meditation John Welwood 43

II. Working on Oneself 55
Introduction 57
5. The Nature of Well-Being Erich Fromm 59
6. Where is the Self? Joshu Sasaki Roshi 70
7. Psychotherapeutic Materialism Karl Sperber 75
8. Befriending Emotion John Welwood 79
9. Anger and the Gentle Life Adrian van Kaam 91
10. Things Are Not as They Seemed Roger Walsh 103

III. Working with Others 121
Introduction 123
11. Becoming a Full Human Being Ch�gyam Trungpa 126
12. Asking the Right Question Thomas Hora 132
13. Nowness in the Helping Relationship David Brandon 140
14. Vulnerability and Power in the Therapeutic Process John Welwood 148
15. Teaching Therapists How to Be With Their Clients Diane Shainberg 163
16. Entering into the Place of Conflict Richard Heckler 176
17. Uncovering a Patient's History of Sanity Edward Podvoll 183
18. Working With the Old and Dying 192

Notes on Contributors 202
Glossary 205
Bibliography 209
Acknowledgments 212
Index 214