67th Annual Conference

Thursday, February 25

Morning Workshops

10:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M.

Workshop 9

East Meets West: Meditation in the Group Process

Chair:                

Joseph Tarantolo, M.D., CGP, Private Practice, Washington, DC

The Workshop will integrate group process exploration with mindful meditation. "Free association" is a close cousin of non-judgmental mindful awareness. Meditation can be escapist or a useful way of experiencing deeply- felt strength or inadequacy. "Interminable" analysis can deepen understanding or , as Freud pointed out, merely bring us to the "common misery". The two modalities together offer the potential for synergistic richness.

experiential-demonstration-sharing of work experiences-didactic

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Utilize meditation to complement psychodynamic group work.
2. Distinguish between the goals of mindful meditation and insight-oriented psychotherapy.
3. Interpret how mindful meditation can have deep preoedipal roots.
4. Interpret resistance psychodynamically and understand "hindrances" to meditation.
 

Course References:

Freud, S. "Analysis, Terminable and Interminable", Vol 23, Standard Edition.
 

Kornfield, Jack. A Path With Heart. 1993, Bantam New Age Book, New York.
 

Epstein, Mark. Thoughts Without a Thinker, 1995, Basic Books, New York.