Freedom from Anguish
| 
| 
Buddhist practice and psychotherapy are both engaged in ending certain forms of suffering, especially suffering which arises from unskillful use of the mind. They share, too, a love of depth - they each explore what is in the depths of the human being. In this sense (speaking generally, of course) they are both directed toward the awakening of wisdom, the liberation of the human being. This website will be devoted to presenting some of the main ideas that underpin a Buddhist psychotherapy.
When we, as individuals, free ourselves from our prejudices - from our emotional and intellectual baggage - then, we not only feel happier ourselves, but we are freed up to make a significant contribution to the peace and happiness of our families, and to the well-being of local, national, and international communities. Personal peace also contributes to the welfare of all other species with whom we share this fragile blue planet, because inner peace removes the causes of the violence we otherwise visit on our environment. When we go into our psychological depths, with no limit to the investigation, we find there a common, inexhaustible, spiritual nature, which extends kindness in all directions.
Psychotherapy with Christopher McLean
Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:31 | Last Updated on Thursday, 01 September 2011 13:45 | Written by Christopher |
| |
My original training was as a high school teacher, and I spend many years teaching English to adult migrants in Sydney. I have a B.A, and GradDip(Ed). Later, I trained in psychotherapy, gaining a Grad.Dip Psychotherapy/Couns. My main practice is located in Blackheath, NSW. I do phone and Skype sessions for people from afar. I practice a mindfulness-based psychotherapy which is influenced very strongly by Eugene Gendlin's Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy. I am a Focusing trainer. This is very experiential work. It's body-aware. (See the Focusing Institute). Of course, the beautiful intricacy of the Buddhist psychology of perception has been central to my understanding of human life, for decades, and remains so. However, another strong influence in my work – both in theory and in practice – is the work of Hameed Ali's Diamond Essence Approach. (He is better known to many as A.H.Almaas.) I was a student of Hameed's Ridhwan school, for about ten years, so this is definitely an influence in my personal life and in my psychotherapy work. My teacher was Jean Berwick, to whom I am very grateful. (In my estimation, one of Hameed's important contributions to psychotherapy practice has been his unique way of acknowledging and attending experientially to 'holes.' See: Theory of Holes. He has also contributed an expansive spiritually-based interpretation of 'object relations' and 'self psychology' founded in immediate experiential inquiry. To spiritual work he has contributed a welcome re-balancing, so that individuation and the personal can be honoured in the spiritual work.) The guiding principles in my work are always 'person-centred.' Here are some main features of my approach...
|