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James Spira
The Use of Meditation in Medicine and Psychotherapy
July 14-18
For thousands of years, meditation has been used to understand and reduce suffering in order to improve the human condition. Over the past decade, health care professionals have been increasingly utilizing meditative techniques to improve psychological and medical dysfunction. This seminar trains the health practitioner to understand the underlying principles and methods of Eastern meditative disciplines for both Correcting psychological and psychophysical pathology as well as improving quality of life for those who wish to enhance their mental clarity and daily performance. Practical applications for use in therapy and daily life will be discussed and practiced within a variety of contexts, from the clinic to the workplace.
Drawing from Zen, Mindfulness, Yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Gung, participants will learn how to develop powerful personal practices for their use and those of their clients. While there are universal aspects to meditative practices that apply to all humans, there are also important differences that will be taken into account when developing an individualized program for each person's optimal development.
This course is didactic, experiential, and interactive. Participants will learn and practice authentic methods of moving and sitting meditation and effective applications for a range of psychological and physical disorders and to assist themselves and those they work with for developing optimal cognitive, emotional and behavioral performance. Ways to adapt meditative principles and methods for use in therapy will be taught and practiced. Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to immediately incorporate these methods into their current therapeutic modalities.
Monday
Principles and Practices of Meditation:
Tuesday
Wednesday
Meditation Practice (until 1:30pm): Practicing a series of Yoga, TaiChi/Chi Gung and Meditation techniques useful for teaching groups to optimize their cognitive, affective, physiological and behavioral performance, no matter what their level of functioning.
Thursday
Applications to Psychological Difficulties:
Small group practice and discussion
Friday
Applications to Health Problems:
Small group practice and discussion
James L. Spira, Ph.D., M.P.H., ABPP, is director of the Institute for Health Psychology in San Diego. He is also Senior Manager - Psychology, RTI International, and Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego. He has been a serious student of Zen Meditation since 1970, and Tai Chi Chuan since 1977, including several years in a Rinzai Zen monastery. Dr. Spira received his doctorate and M.P.H. from the University of California at Berkeley, completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Psychiatry at Stanford, and served on the faculty at Duke University, where he directed the Program in Health Psychology. Dr. Spira also was Head of the Division of Health Psychology at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. He is author of Group Psychotherapy For Medically Ill Patients (Guilford, 1997), Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder (Jossey-Bass, 1996), Group Psychotherapy for Women With Breast Cancer (American Psychological Association Press, forthcoming), Zen Meditation and Tai Chi Chuan: Videotape and Manual for Persons with Psychological and Medical Disorders (Duke University, 1994), several treatment manuals for group psychotherapy for cancer patients, and many chapters and articles in the area of health psychology. Dr. Spira has conducted research and has lectured worldwide on the role of meditation for psychological and medical disorders. Since 1998, Dr. Spira has hosted an online discussion about Meditation In Psychotherapy at Behavior OnLine.
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