Demons & Dharma
Fall 2012 Vol. 29 #1
Fall 2012 Vol. 29 #1
If you want to work more deeply with your emotions—as spiritual practice or simply as life practice—these links will get you started. The Internet provides an almost dizzying array of options; the programs and techniques listed here are offered by professionals with solid track records.
1) Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
This eight-week program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 has been proven through extensive research to address physical and emotional suffering, including depression, anxiety and chronic pain.
The Center for Mindfulness is the primary site for all information regarding MBSR:
On the West Coast, Bob Stahl offers many MBSR programs and teacher trainings:
Many branches of Kaiser Permanente offer MBSR programs to members and non-members alike. For classes in your region, enter MBSR or stress reduction in the search box at:
2) Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
An adaptation of MBSR designed specifically for people with depression, with robust evidence suggesting it is as good, if not better, than therapy and/or antidepressants.
3) Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance (MBEB)
An adaptation of MBSR which adds emotion theory and training to mindfulness to help with emotion regulation, intelligence and health.
4) Online MBSR and other mindfulness programs:
5) Emotional Freedom Technique:
EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over five thousand years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest while you think about your specific problem—whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, etc.—and voice positive affirmations.
6) CD/Audio Series:
Break Through Difficult Emotions: How to Transform Painful Feelings with Mindfulness Meditation—Shinzen Young, Sounds True
CD or audio download in which meditation mentor Shinzen Young adapts the core principles of mindfulness training to working with challenging emotions such as anger, grief, anxiety, shame. Through four steps, Shinzen teaches you to deconstruct any emotion into its harmless components; to recognize the location, shape and flow of your emotions; to melt frozen emotions into their natural, fluid state; to untangle emotional confusion by watching your thoughts; and to transform negative emotions into positive ones.
www.soundstrue.com/authors/Shinzen_Young/
7) YouTube:
Spirit Rock teacher Phillip Moffitt discusses working with difficult emotions in this ten-minute video:
8) Online site for writing apologies with Stephen and Ondrea Levine:
Steven and Ondrea Levine have offered workshops on Conscious Living/Conscious Dying for nearly thirty-five years. They have co-authored many books, and present their teachings online. One of their newest offerings is Apologies, a page where anyone can anonymously own up to past, troubling words or actions—and receive compassion in return.
http://levinetalks.com/Apologies
Video of the Levines describing the Apology Page is also on YouTube:
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From “Online Exclusives” for the Fall 2012 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 29, No. 1)
© 2012 Margaret Cullen
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