exercises, and observing the contents of the mind in mindfulness meditation (Mikulas
1981; Muzika 1990; Urbanowski and Miller 1996).
Based on the client’s developmental characteristics, detailed models for therapists
who wish to teach meditative techniques in psychotherapy have been devised (Kelly
1996). Such techniques may include relaxation, body awareness and slow breathing,
imagery and metaphors for internal phenomena, imaging pain, sensing reactions in
body areas, finding the inner child and opening to emotional expression, acquiring
a better sense of limits and personal space, accepting intuitions and letting go of old
perceptions and judgments that have outlived their usefulness (Kelly 1996).
Some Western Buddhist therapists emphasize that psychotherapists should not
pretend to be spiritual authorities. By teaching formal meditation practice to their
clients, the roles of psychotherapist and meditation teacher may be confused (Watson
1996). Clients may be coached to be mindful in action and daily life, but if they wish
formal meditation instruction, therapists should recommend they seek it elsewhere
(Kutz et al. 1985; Watson 1996). Some Western Buddhist therapists avoid teaching
formal meditation practice, and limit their recommendations in session to coaching
clients in watching their symptoms without trying to change their course, and
suggesting that they engage in activities that promote groundedness, such as
gardening, mindful walking, body awareness exercises, and observation of their
surroundings (Brazier 1995).
To teach clients to meditate during a therapy session may well contaminate the
transference, in which case assigning meditation as homework might be preferable
(Kutz et al. 1985). Introducing meditation procedures to clients in therapy, regardless
of its potential efficacy, may reflect transference and countertransference issues that
have not been explored and worked through by the therapist (Cooper 1999, Deikman
1982). Such practices may be introduced prematurely and may not necessarily be
what the client needs from the therapist at that particular time (Cooper 1999,
Deikman 1982).
Other Western Buddhist therapists neither hide nor flaunt the fact that they are
meditation practitioners, abstain from prescribing meditation to their clients, yet are
open to offering information so they may seek it elsewhere if they are so inclined. Yet
other therapists do not even bring up the subject of concentration and mindfulness
in session, to the point where their clients are surprised when they find out that their
therapist is a meditation practitioner (Coltart as cited in Molino 1998). This raises
the Buddhist ethical question of withholding the Dharma. Unless clients know what
their therapists’ theoretical affiliations are and what influences their clinical approach,
how can they make informed choices about their own treatment?
Instead of teaching meditation techniques to clients, some Western Buddhist
therapists advocate teaching therapists only. Using centering exercises, focusing on
symptoms rather than getting rid of them, and observing symptoms as they arise, are
common techniques (Dubin 1991; 1994). In workshops for psychotherapists,
meditation teacher Shinzen Young (as cited in Tart 1990) advises therapists to teach
meditation only to some, but not all, clients who are ready for meditation and to
work in session in meditative states.
162 KATHERINE V.MASÍS