___. Therapy, meditation and successful action. Ordinary Mind, Aug 1999, No. 6.
Cohen, Michael H. Ethics, adjustments, and carthartic release. My Yoga Mentor, May 2005, No.
- Article available online: http://www.yogajournal.com/teacher/1565_2.cfm.
“The owner of successful yoga studio in a major metropolitan city recently welcomed his new
yoga teacher with this advice: ‘Our Power Practice is extremely rigorous and precise; therefore,
to ensure that all students are appropriately following the correct sequence of poses, be sure to
give each the same adjustment.’
“Across the same city, the owner of a rival successful studio instructed his teachers as follows:
‘Adjustments should be correct, precise, standard. Teach every student the correct pose.’ He
demonstrated. ‘Tailbone tucked in, shoulders back, like so.’ He added, ‘Now you do exactly like
me.’
“In a third studio somewhere between the two, a student began crying during shivasana.
‘Process emotions through the breath,’ the teacher responded, and the student immediately stifled
her tears. In a fourth studio nearby, the teacher encouraged another student’s crying. ‘These are
all of our griefs’" he said. In response, many pent-up voices wailed at once.”
“Which of these practices are ethically and legally risky? And which could be justified as
essential components of yoga teaching? Would it make a difference if, in any of these studios,
one of the students claimed an injury (physical or emotional) from the recommended advice? If
your answer to each of these questions is ‘it depends,’ you are well into the gray zone of ethics.
Like questions of liability, most ethical issues require analysis, call for a delicate balancing of
values, and cannot easily be answered with certainty. While at times academic, ethics discussions
are meant to be applied in practical situations, and the values that guide the discussion are quite
established, at least in the care-giving professions.”
Coleman, D., and M. Epstein. Meditation and well-being: An Eastern model of psychological
health. In R. Walsh and D. H. Shapiro, eds., Beyond Health and Normality. New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold, 1983, pp. 228- 252.
Collins, C. Yoga: Intuition, preventive medicine, and treatment. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs,
sep-Oct 1998, 27(5):563-568.
Cooper, P. C. Buddhist meditation and countertransference: a case study. American Journal of
Psychoanalysis, Mar 1999, 59(1): 71 - 85.
___. The gap between: being and knowing in Zen Buddhism and psychoanalysis.
American Journal of Psychoanalysis, Dec 2001, 61(4):341-362. Contact: [email protected].
PMID: 11760662.
Abstract: The author discusses various relationships derived from the image of gap, precipice,
and abyss with specific emphasis on interacting dynamics between being and knowing as
explicated in the Zen Buddhist teachings of Hui-neng and in the psychoanalytic writings of
Wilfred Bion. While of significant value to psychoanalysis, it is argued that symbolic meanings
can occlude the actuality of the analysand’s or of the spiritual seeker’s affective experiencing,
particularly concerning the human tendency to concretize experiential states engendered through
meditation and/or the psychoanalytic encounter. The author draws from Matte-Blanco’s