R140: Mindfulness and the Art of Relationship

Thus, it seems astonishing that one of the fastest growing trends in therapy is the increasingly widespread use of meditation and mindfulness techniques—which, if they’re about anything, are about achieving a kind of inner and outer silence, encouraging a resonant, attentive, empathetic, and calming quiet within and outside of sessions. In this Reading Course you learn about the science, theory, and practice of meditation in therapy and its particular power in strengthening the client-therapist relationship. Jerome Front explores the neuroscience of meditation and how it can close the old gap between body and mind, self and others—a process that’s the foundation of psychotherapy. Molly Layton shows us how mindfulness can reveal the unspoken complexities of a couple’s relationship. David Treadway describes the paradoxical “lessons” of meditation for a therapist at a crisis point in his own life. Zindel Segal discusses the surprising power of mindfulness as a clinical adjunct in the treatment of depression.

Course Readings

A Quiet Revolution: Therapists Are Learning A New Way to Be with Their Clients by Jerome Front

The Soul of Relationship: Where Self and Other Meet by Molly Layton

Any Day Above Ground: After Recovery, What Then? by David Treadway

Finding Daylight: Mindful Recovery From Depression by Zindel Segal

Learning Objectives

1. Define the “body scan” and “whole body listening.”
2. Describe how teaching a couple to slow down and listen can have a transformative effect on their relationship.
3. Discuss the positive effects of mindfulness in therapy.
4. Develop an effective intervention using mindfulness to help a client dealing with grief.