Synopses & Reviews
Living Deeply transcends any one approach by focusing on common elements of transformation across a variety of traditions, while affirming and supporting the diversity of approaches across religious, spiritual, scientific, academic, and cultural backgrounds. Each chapter in the book ends with Experiences of Transformation, exercises drawn from wisdom traditions or scientific investigations meant to enhance your direct experience of the material.
Opportunities to actively engage in your own transformation and that of our world are woven into the fabric of your everyday life. Learning more about the terrain of consciousness transformation can not only give you a map, but can help you become the cartographer of your own transformative journey. Research over the last decade at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) has systematically surveyed hundreds of people's stories of their own transformations, as well as conducting over 50 in-depth interviews with teachers and masters of the world's spiritual, religious, and transformative traditions.
No matter who you are,where you come from, or what your current path is - whether you seek to transform your life completely or simply make adjustments that will add a layer of richness and depth to your life - exploring the many ways that transformation is stimulated and sustained can hold great power. Weaving together cutting-edge science with wisdom from teachers of the world's transformative traditions this book explores how people experience deep shifts in their consciousness, and how those shifts can lead to healing and wholeness.
Research over the last decade at the Institute of Noetic Sciences has explored in depth the phenomenon by which people make significant shifts in the way they experience and view the world. Focusing in particular on positive transformations in consciousness, or those that result in improved health, well-being, and sense of meaning, purpose,and belonging, hundreds of people's stories of their own transformations were included in the research, as well as in-depth interviews with over 50 teachers and masters of the world's spiritual, religious, and transformative traditions.
Authors Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Ph.D., Cassandra Vieten, Ph.D., and Tina Amorok, Psy.D. - will begin conducting workshops based on the information they have gathered for this book. These workshops will blend the rigors of science with the deep wisdom of the worlds spiritual traditions. Drs. Schlitz, Vieten, and Amorok will offer key insights from the decade-long qualitative and quantitative research study, of how people transform their lives. The workshops will include rigorous inquiry, group dialogue, and direct experience about the kinds of transformations in consciousness that change a persons worldview to one that is more connected to others.
For more information about the Signature Education Workshops, please visit www.livingdeeply.org
Also available is a companion DVD.
Review
“Mindful Motherhood contains what so many other parenting books omit: the consoling information that each mother has the ability to know, deep within, how to care for her child. Mindful Motherhood is a gem.”
—Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom
Review
“Wise, soothing, and helpful—this is really good stuff for new mothers.”
—Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart
Review
“In Mindful Motherhood, you’ll experience the wisdom of a mother, clinician, and researcher who outlines the accessible, practical steps to take to turn challenge into triumph during pregnancy and the parenting of young children. Read this book, give it as a baby shower present, carry it with you into the pediatrician’s office—but most of all, take it in and savor its secrets for a richer life for yourself and your child.”
—Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of Parenting from the Inside Out and The Mindful Brain
Review
“This book will inspire, guide, and reassure mothers in pregnancy and after childbirth. Nothing could be more important to our families, our children, and the future of the world. Dads will benefit, also.”
—Paul Ekman, Ph.D., coauthor, with the Dalai Lama, of Emotional Awareness
Review
“The connection between mother and baby is one of the most spiritual relationships we have.”
—Baba Ram Dass, also known as Richard Alpert, author of Remember, Be Here Now
Review
“This is a beautiful book—deeply moving, intensely practical, and filled with wisdom.”
—Ruth A. Baer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at University of Kentucky
Review
“This is a welcome and needed book. These practical meditations for women may be a great help with prenatal and postnatal challenges. These essential psychological practices come from a woman who has earned the right to teach a classical path of human development through motherhood.”
—Robert Bruce Newman, author of Calm Birth and Calm Healing
Review
“Mindfulness, when extended from mother to child, weaves a blanket of grounded attunement sufficient for two. Cassandra Vieten’s down-to-earth suggestions will help all newly enlarged families navigate this wonderful, but often disruptive milestone.”
—Zindel V. Segal, Ph.D., C.Psych., Morgan Firestone Chair in Psychotherapy at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, ON, Canada
Review
“With wisdom, depth, and humility, Mindful Motherhood guides us through the miraculous and challenging path of becoming a mother. It weaves together scholarship, personal experience, and practical tools, helping us become the most loving, present and joyful parents we can be. As a scholar and mother, I found this book immensely valuable.”
—Shauna Shapiro, coauthor, with Linda Carlson, of The Art and Science of Mindfulness
Review
“Vieten writes with love and tenderness about the mindful mother and the importance of staying in the present. Regardless of the age of your child, you will never go wrong by acting as a teacher of love and patience.”
—Jerry Jampolsky, MD, coauthor of A Mini Course for Life
Review
Living Deeply is the accumulated wisdom of many of our greatest living teachers, all adepts in the goal of personal transformation. This is one of the finest collections of gentle, penetrating insights available. Highly recommended.
—Larry Dossey, MD, author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things
Review
Living Deeply provides us with some of the most significant insights into spiritual transformation that I have ever read. Based on interviews with spiritual teachers, leading scientific researchers, religion scholars, important public intellectuals, and major writers, this volume is a remarkable example of an integrative approach to a topic of immense importance. It is marvelous to look through the different windows of transformation that are so richly described and interpreted both spiritually and scientifically. Living Deeply is a major accomplishment that will hopefully become a classic in an emerging field. It is truly a brilliant synthesis. I think Living Deeply will change lives and change the world for the better.
—Stephen G. Post, Ph.D., professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Review
Acceptance and mindfulness [methods are] drawn from multiple cultures around the world. That is a part of what makes this work so relevant to cultural issues on the one hand, and in need of culturally competent application on the other. This ground-breaking volume walks through both sides of this issue in a way that will uplift, energize, and empower practitioners. Highly recommended."
Steven C. Hayes, PhD, codeveloper of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
Review
Mindfulness and Acceptance in Multicultural Competency addresses challenges in the application of mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions to diverse groups. The emphasis throughout the book is on the principles of these approaches rather than on their topographical or surface characteristics. There is a breadth of topics, including cultural issues, such as cultural competence and cultural adaptation of interventions, as well as sociocultural issues, such as discrimination, prejudice, stigma, and minority status.
This book provides a useful conceptual framework to guide research and clinical practice.”
Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, professor of psychology and director of clinical training at the University of Oregon
Review
Most therapists aspire to be culturally competent, but what does this mean for those using mindfulness and acceptance-based treatments? Are these interventions effective with diverse groups? Should they be adapted to reduce cultural bias? If so, how? Can clinicians use mindfulness- and acceptance-based methods to improve their own cultural competence? Fascinating and practical, this book provides compelling answers to these and other important questions.”
Ruth Baer, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky and editor of Mindfulness-Based Treatment Approaches
Review
“This book fills a very important gap in the training of most mental health professionals. Carefully researched, well organized, and wonderfully practical, it will help any clinician who recognizes the importance of spirituality and religion in most people’s lives yet feels uncertain of how to approach these issues in psychotherapy.”
—Ruth Baer, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky and author of The Practicing Happiness Workbook
Review
“Spiritual and religious competency is a foundational skill for clinicians, but has typically received much less attention than it deserves. This book thoughtfully engages key issues and provides clinicians with up-to-date resources and strategies for building this core skill.”
—Willoughby Britton, PhD, assistant professor of research in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Review
“If you’re a psychologist or clinician, put
Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Clinical Practice on your list of must-read books. It will be your guide to helping clients access the religious and spiritual resources—like coping skills or social support—available for their treatment or recovery. Keep it close and refer to it often!”
—Christine Carter, PhD, author of The Sweet Spot and Raising Happiness
Review
“If you are unaware of the spiritual dimensions of healing, your competence will be seriously compromised. This is a must-read manual for therapists, healers, doctors, nurses, or anyone in the healing professions.”
—Deepak Chopra, MD
Review
“This critical resource takes a deep look at the self-insight, knowledge, and skills that clinicians need to have in working with clients of varying spiritual and religious identities. Unlike vague advice to be open and empathic, this book relies on research and provocative clinician experiences to highlight specific recommendations to take seriously psychologists’ oft-ignored requirement to respect and take seriously clients’ diverse spiritual and religious identities.”
—Adam Cohen, associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University
Review
“This is a much-needed contribution that significantly raises awareness of religious and spiritual dimensions of clients’ lives, highlights client resources that can be drawn upon, and expands the diversity discussion in a thoughtful and inclusive way. I would recommend this book for every therapist.”
—Brant Cortright, PhD, professor of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and author of Psychotherapy and Spirit and Integral Psychology (SUNY Press)
Review
“One of the major developments in psychology and medicine in recent decades is the realization that spiritual and religious practices can have major positive influences on health and longevity. These findings, buttressed by thousands of studies, are now largely accepted as part of the canon of medical science. These practices are not handed down from on high, but can be taught by professionals who are competent to do so. The development of these competencies is what this breakthrough book is all about.
Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Clinical Practice is a doorway toward a more empathic, compassionate, and effective form of healing. This book is of value not just for mental health professionals, but for practicing physicians as well.”
—Larry Dossey, MD, executive editor of Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing and author of One Mind
Review
“Aimed at clinicians, this is also a quietly profound and transformational book. It draws readers into a heartfelt engagement with their own deepest questions and longings while offering many practical guidelines and suggestions for skillful, effective work with diverse spiritual, religious, and existential issues. Unique, and destined to be a classic in the field.”
—Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha’s Brain
Review
“Grounded solidly in research, Vieten and Scammell do a masterful job of applying general multicultural competence issues involving therapist attitudes, knowledge, and intervention strategies to the spiritual and religious domains. A must-read for all mental health professionals, but especially those who find their commitment to diversity most challenged by clients’ spirituality and religiousness.”
—Peter C. Hill, PhD, Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University
Review
“In this revolutionary book, Vieten and Scammell open our eyes to the power of the sacred in the therapeutic encounter, enabling client and clinician to find purpose, healing, and joy in the individual’s religious and spiritual convictions.”
—Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley; director of Greater Good Science Center; and author of Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life
Synopsis
In Mindful Motherhood, a psychologist specializing in mood disorders who is also a mother herself presents a mindfulness training program developed at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute. Clinical studies showed that this program was effective in helping new mothers parent their children and manage changes in mood, stress levels, and behavior.
Synopsis
From hormones to stretch marks, labor pains to diaper changes, motherhood is an adventure like none other. The rapid changes in your body, your lifestyle, and your very identity call for a certain mental agility. Mindfulness can help you meet the challenge and approach every experience with your new baby with open eyes and an open heart.
Easy ten-minute meditation exercises and yoga poses throughout this book will help you cultivate greater flexibility and mindful awareness during pregnancy, childbirth, and your baby's first year. Whenever you have a moment to spare, open Mindful Motherhood and discover a skill that will help you find balance and fulfillment during those times when you feel most overwhelmed.
Co-published with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS).
Mindful Motherhood contains what so many other parenting books omit:: the consoling information that each mother has the ability to know, deep within, how to care for her child. Mindful Motherhood is a gem.
-Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom
Wise, soothing, and helpful-this is really good stuff for new mothers.
-Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart
Synopsis
The book Living Deeply is the product of the Institute of Noetic Sciences decade-long investigation into transformations in human consciousness. It transcends any one approach by focusing on common elements of transformation across a variety of traditions, affirming and supporting the diversity of approaches across religious, spiritual, scientific, academic, or cultural backgrounds. Living Deeply makes these teachings accessible without diminishing their complexity, empowering readers to become their own scientists, develop and test their own hypotheses, and reach their own conclusions.
Synopsis
Private Practice Made Simple is a complete practical guide to starting and maintaining a successful mental health therapy and coaching practice. Written in an entertaining, lighthearted style, this book covers everything from making the decision to open a private practice to preventing burnout once the practice begins to thrive.
Synopsis
Start and Run Your Own Private Therapy Practice
Running your own private practice takes more than an advanced degree, memberships in professional psychology organizations, and the ability to be a good therapist. And while your continuing education and training may be useful, setting up and managing a successful practice is a matter of business and organizational know-how as much as professional proficiency.
If you're opening your own private practice or want to run your existing practice more efficiently, Private Practice Made Simple is your detailed guide. This book offers tips on everything from getting client referrals and creating a positive and comfortable office atmosphere to building a strong and thriving therapy practice that can serve both you and your clients. You'll learn how to attract clients as a new therapist and how to manage your practice as it grows.
This complete tool kit will help you: - Find an office and set up a treatment room
- Establish headache-free routines for organizing client information and forms
- Decide on a fee and manage your finances
- Prevent burnout by maintaining a healthy work-life balance
Synopsis
Religion lies at the heart of many clients' core values, and helps shape their perception of themselves and the world around them. In Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Clinical Practice, two clinical psychologists provide a much-needed, research-based road map to help professionals appropriately address their clients spiritual or religious beliefs in treatment sessions. This book is a must-read for any mental health professional.
Synopsis
Religion lies at the heart of many clients' core values, and helps shape their perception of themselves and the world around them. In this book, two clinical psychologists provide a much-needed, research-based road map to help professionals appropriately address their clients’ spiritual or religious beliefs in treatment sessions.
More and more, it has become essential for mental health professionals to understand and competently navigate clients' religious and spiritual beliefs in treatment. In Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Clinical Practice, you’ll find sixteen research-based guidelines and best practices to help you provide effective therapy while being conscious of your clients' unique spiritual or cultural background.
With this professional resource as your guide, you will be prepared to:
- Take a spiritual and religious history when treating a client
- Attend to spiritual or religious topics in a clinical setting
- Hold clear ethical boundaries regarding your own religious or spiritual beliefs
- Know when and how to make referrals if topics emerge which are beyond the scope of your competence
This book is a must-read for any mental health professional looking to develop spiritual, religious, and cultural competencies.
Synopsis
Mindfulness and Acceptance in Multicultural Competency explores the nuances of applying acceptance and mindfulness therapy to clients from diverse cultural and ethnic groups. This book addresses the question of whether acceptance and mindfulness treatments such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) can be applied equally to different cultures, what kind of adjustments are necessary when applying these techniques, and discusses how values are often culturally biased and individualistic.
Synopsis
In recent years, mindfulness and acceptances-based therapies have gained immense popularity in the field of behavioral health. And as these therapeutic models have proliferated, their teachings and practices have been introduced to a wide range of diverse applications. Cognitive behavioral approaches often rely on a clients values as a catalyst for treatment. But because values are often culturally biased, it can be difficult to apply the same techniques to clients from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Thats why multicultural competency training for mental health professionals is so important. Mindfulness and Acceptance in Multicultural Competency presents a contextual approach to sociocultural diversity in both theory and practice.
In this book, author Akihiko Masuda examines the cultural competency and cultural adaptation of three major therapeutic models based in mindfulness and acceptance: dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Readers will learn how to translate these treatment models to other language communities, and how to tailor therapeutic approaches to address a number of cultural factors, including religion and spirituality, social stigma, and prejudice. Written for professionals, students, and practitioners, this book offers solid data and research that shows how innovations in acceptance and mindfulness therapies can be directed for the health and wellness of all people, no matter their race, creed, or cultural background. The book includes contributions by Lynn McFarr, PhD, Holly Hazlett-Stevens, PhD, Michael P. Twohig, PhD, Jason Lillis, PhD, Michael Levin, MA, and Jason Luoma, PhD.
The Mindfulness and Acceptance Practica Series
As mindfulness and acceptance-based therapies gain momentum in the field of mental health, it is increasingly important for professionals to understand the full range of their applications. To keep up with the growing demand for authoritative resources on these treatments, The Mindfulness and Acceptance Practica Series was created. These edited books cover a range of evidence-based treatments, such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), compassion-focused therapy (CFT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) therapy. Incorporating new research in the field of psychology, these books are powerful tools for mental health clinicians, researchers, advanced students, and anyone interested in the growth of mindfulness and acceptance strategies.
About the Author
Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, PhD, is a clinical research scientist, medical anthropologist, writer, speaker, thought leader, and change consultant. Her work over the past three decades explores the interface of consciousness, science, and healing. Her recent book, Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind Body Medicine has been described as a tour de force. Her research has been featured in such forums as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and ABC World News. Schlitz serves as vice president for research and education at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and as senior scientist at the Research Institute, California Pacific Medical Center.
Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, president and CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and a scientist in the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, development and pilot testing of mindfulness-based approaches to cultivating emotional balance, and transformative experiences and practices. She is coauthor of Living Deeply (New Harbinger/Noetic Books 2008) and author of Mindful Motherhood (New Harbinger 2009).
Tina Amorok, PsyD, is a clinical and research psychologist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences where she coedited the anthology, Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine and is an investigator on the IONS Transformations of Consciousness Study. with a background in integral health and healing, clinical psychology, and change management, Amorok has designed and implemented programs for professional, university, corporate, and lay sectors on wellness and transformation. Her current research, entitled the Eco-Trauma and Eco-Recovery of Being, examines how to heal and transform the primal wound of human alienation from nature from which destructive ecological behaviors, violence, and unhealthy life styles arise.Dr. Robert A.F. Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of the Tibet House U.S., a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, a non-profit affiliated with the Center for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and dedicated to the publication of translations of important texts from the Tibetan Tanjur. Thurman's work and insights are grounded in more than 35 years of serious academic scholarship. He has a B.A., A.M. and PhD degrees from Harvard and has studied in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India and the United States. A long-time advocate of Buddhist monasticism, in 1962, Thurman became the first American ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He gave up his robes after several years, however, when he discovered he could be most effective in the American equivalent of the monastery, the university. He has written both scholarly and popular books, and has lectured widely all over the world. His special interest is the exploration of the Indo-Tibetan philosophical and psychological traditions, with a view to their relevance to parallel currents of contemporary thought and science.