Mindfulness Meditation in Psychotherapy

Book excerpt: Embodying mindfulness allows both therapists and clients to make the most of treatment sessions. More than just a guide to techniques and benefits, this book provides a comprehensive understanding of mindfulness meditation, and shows how to effectively incorporate mindfulness into every aspect of the therapeutic process. Mindfulness isn’t simply a therapeutic tool that can be used at a specific time. If you’re a psychotherapist interested in implementing mindfulness practices into your therapy sessions, you must first embody a mindful presence yourself. In Mindfulness Meditation in Psychotherapy, psychotherapist Steven Alper presents the mindfulness pyramid model, an easy-to-use reference approach for integrating mindfulness into the very fabric of your therapy sessions—in every action you take. A therapist’s mindfulness practice and the mindful activity during sessions forms the foundation of clients’ mindfulness practice. This practical guide will help demystify mindfulness meditation; elaborate on the psychotherapeutic benefits of practices such as body scan, breath awareness, sitting meditation, and lovingkindness; and offer helpful strategies for teaching formal and informal mindfulness skills to clients. This book conceptualizes and explores the applicability of mindfulness and delves into the many ways in which mindfulness can manifest in psychotherapy. This is a must-have resource for any therapist interested in honing their own mindfulness practice and incorporating mindfulness in treatment sessions.