Buddhist Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Psychoanalysis:

     A dialogue for therapists exploring the healing
     insights of Buddhist and Western psychology

With Bernard Weitzman, Ph.D. and David Sable

October 10 -11, 2008

Click here to download a PDF flyer.

Credit Hours: 11

Buddhist psychology describes our addictive clinging to painful emotions and behaviors as the root of neuroses; mindfulness meditation is a means for exploring that experience directly.  The dynamics of clinging, or fixation, will be the central focus of the workshop. The course is intended for practitioners, researchers, and educators interested in the theoretical and practical contributions of mindfulness meditation to their work.  The implications of fixation and the grasping that often accompanies it are a focal point in Buddhist psychological thought for understanding the origins of suffering and a natural intersection with psychoanalytic views of neurosis. 

Objectives

In this retreat we will study the Buddhist understanding of neurotic processes, both the insight it offers into suffering and the practical tools it teaches for working with obstacles to interpersonal communication — in particular in its implications for the practice of psychotherapy.  Participants will:

• Learn to identify the similarities and differences between Buddhist and psychoanalytic views of neuroses and the contributions that each perspective offers to the practice of psychotherapy.

• Become familiar with the contributions of Buddhist psychology to appreciating peoples’ concerns with loneliness, identity, "self," meaning and mortality.

• Learn the practices of mindfulness meditation, contemplation, and contemplative interaction, and will learn to apply these practices through the disciplines of authentic listening, inquiry, and dialogue.

Tuition: Program fees include 3 meals per day served by the Karme Choling kitchen.
$275 early registration
$295 October 1, 2008 and later

This retreat begins at 9 AM on Friday, October 10, and ends at 6:30 PM on Saturday, October 11

Presenters

Bernard Weitzman, Ph.D. trained at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland and has been in private practice since 1963.  He became a Professor on the Graduate Faculty of The New School for Social Research in 1963 and retired in 2006, teaching theories of personality, psychoanalytic theories, clinical psychology, and Buddhist psychology.  He became a student of Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche in 1972 and has been a teacher at Shambhala meditation centers and a mediation instructor since 1975. 

David Sable began studying and practicing Buddhism in 1971 as he completed his Masters degree in psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University.  He studied Focusing with Dr. Eugene Gendlin, Dr. Robert Lee and David Rome from 2002 to 2005 and combined his Buddhist experience with focusing to develop a unique method for contemplative interaction. He is currently pursuing doctoral research at Dalhousie University on the impact of contemplative practices on critical thinking. 

This program is being held at Karmê Chöling Shambhala Meditation Center in Barnet, Vermont.  To register please email registration@tailofthetiger.org with your name, address, phone number, email address, name of the program and choice of accommodations. You will be contacted for deposit information and confirmation of registration.

In an effort to make our programs accessible to all, we offer an interest free payment plan. This plan allows you to pay 50% of the total prior to or at the time of registration and give post-dated check or credit card authorization for the remainder of the balance for up to six month post program. If you are interested in this payment option, please let the registration department know when you confirm your registration.