Contemplative Practices in Action: Spirituality, Meditation, and Health

273 Pages·2010·1.55 MB·English

by  Thomas G. Plante

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Contemplative Practices
in Action
Spirituality, Meditation,
and Health
THOMAS G. PLANTE, PhD, EDITOR
Foreword by Huston Smith, PhD
Copyright2010byABC-CLIO,LLC
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Contemplativepracticesinaction:spirituality,meditation,andhealth/editedby
ThomasG.Plante;forewordbyHustonSmith.
p.;cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–313–38256–7(hardcopy:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–38257–4
(ebook)
1. Meditation—Healthaspects.2. Medicine—Religiousaspects.I.Plante,ThomasG.
[DNLM:1. Mind-BodyRelations(Metaphysics)2. ReligionandMedicine.
3. Spirituality. WB880C7612010]
BL65.M4C587 2010
2040.35—dc22 2010006509
ISBN:978–0–313–38256–7
EISBN:978–0–313–38257–4
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Contents
Forewordby HustonSmith vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Chapter 1 Introduction: Contemplative Practicesin Action 1
Thomas G.Plante, Adi Raz,andDoug Oman
PARTONE:INTEGRATEDCONTEMPLATIVE
PRACTICESYSTEMS 5
Chapter 2 Similarityin Diversity?FourShared Functions
of IntegrativeContemplative PracticeSystems 7
Doug Oman
Chapter 3 ManagingStress Mindfully 17
Hooria Jazaieri andShauna L. Shapiro
Chapter 4 TranslatingSpiritual Ideals into DailyLife:
TheEight-PointProgramof Passage Meditation 35
Tim Flinders, DougOman,Carol Flinders,
and Diane Dreher
Chapter 5 CenteringPrayer: A Methodof Christian
MeditationforOur Time 60
JaneK. Ferguson
vi Contents
Chapter6 Mantram Repetition:A “PortableContemplative
Practice” forModern Times 78
JillE. Bormann
PARTTWO:CONTEMPLATIVE TRADITIONS 101
Chapter7 “The EternalIs withMe, I ShallNot Fear”: Jewish
ContemplativePracticesand Well-Being 103
Zari Weiss andDavid Levy
Chapter8 A ComprehensiveContemplativeApproach
from theIslamic Tradition 122
AishaHamdan
Chapter9 ThePath of Yoga 143
T. AnneRichards
Chapter10 Zen and theTransformation of Emotional
and Physical Stressinto Well-Being 159
Sarita Tamayo-Moraga and DarleneCohen Roshi
PARTTHREE:CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES
IN ACTION:APPLICATION 181
Chapter11 TheImpactof MeditationPractices
in the DailyLife of SiliconValley Leaders 183
Andre L. Delbecq
Chapter12 “Shakingthe BluesAway”: EnergizingSpiritual
Practicesfor theTreatmentof Chronic Pain 205
AmyB. Wachholtz andMichelle J. Pearce
Chapter13 A PilgrimagefromSufferingto Solidarity:
WalkingthePath of Contemplative Practices 225
GerdenioManuel, SJ,and MarthaE. Stortz
Chapter14 ContemplativePracticesin Action:Now What? 243
ThomasG. Planteand Adi Raz
Index 247
About theEditor and Contributors 257
Foreword
IfIaskmyselfwhyitisIwhohasbeenaskedtowritetheForewordto
this important book, I suspect that it is because it is in line with my
own book, The World’s Religions, which is, like this one, ecumenically
inclusive.Inits14chapters,ContemplativePracticesinActionintroduces
a broad array of contemplative practices drawn from Hinduism,
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. No faith or religion is
accorded privileged statusabove others.
However, towering above the virtue (which I consider it to be) of
ecumenism, is this book’s persuasive conviction that the world’s reli-
gionshouseinexhaustibleresourcesfortransformingandaugmenting
the humanspirit,a conviction withwhich Iconcur.
Thereisanotherandsomewhatmorepersonalconnection,however,
whichhastodowiththefactthattheEight-PointProgramofPassage
MeditationdevelopedbythelateEknathEaswaranfiguresimportantly
in several chapters of Contemplative Practices in Action. Easwaran was
a professor of English from Kerala, in South India, who came to this
country on a Fulbright fellowship in 1959 and became a widely read
and deeply respected teacher of meditation who lived out his days in
an ashram in Northern California. I had the privilege of meeting
him morethanonce andheld himin highregard.
On several occasions, friends drove me to Easwaran’s ashram to
participate in the evening gatherings of the community that sprang
uparoundhim.Aftersupper,residentswouldjointheirteachertolis-
ten to his short homilies, ask questions about their spiritual practice,
or simply sit quietly in the community’s soothing, collective peace.
ThoseeveningsmademethinkofMahatmaGandhi’sashram,where,
viii Foreword
after their simple suppers, villagers would gather around their leader
for brief prayer meetings. Gandhi always made sure those services
included prayers and scriptural readings from all the great religious
traditions,and so did Easwaran.
That is half of the story, and the book in hand tells the other half.
Contemplative evenings with a great spiritual teacher are not ends in
themselves.Itwouldnotbeamisstothinkofthemastimeswhencom-
municantsrechargetheirbatteriesforthenextday’swork.Thetitleof
this book, Contemplative Practices in Action, splices the two halves
together. Like Gandhi, like the Buddha, like all great spiritual teach-
ers, Easwaran had no use for beliefs unless they generated actions.
Doing,not saying,is whatcounts.
Welcometothisbook,whichoughtnottoleaveanyseriousreader
unchanged.
HustonSmith
Berkeley,California
January 2010
Preface
There has been a remarkable amount of interest in the relationship
betweenscience,faith,andcontemplativepracticessuchasmeditation
for centuries and perhaps especially in most recent years as new
scientifically based research and clinical findings have appeared in
the professional and popular press. In addition to the publication of
high-quality scholarly articles and books, the popular news weeklies
such as Time and Newsweek have published cover stories on this topic
on multiple occasions in recent months and years. The professional,
medical,andpsychologicalcommunityhasrespondedwithnumerous
conferences, articles, and scholarly activities that have greatly helped
movethisareaofresearchandpracticeforward.Infact,ourSpirituality
and Health Institute (SHI) group here at Santa Clara University
recently published an edited book on spirituality and health entitled
Spirit,Science,andHealth:HowtheSpiritualMindFuelsPhysicalWellness
(2007,Greenwood).Inthisbook,weexaminedabroadrangeoftopics
that highlight both research and practice in spirituality and health
integration.Inthisbookproject,wewouldliketofocusourattention
on contemplative practices such as meditation among the various
religious and spiritual traditions in efforts to improve health and
well-being. Contemplative practices such as mindfulness meditation
have become very popular both in the general population as well as
among health care professionals. However, mindfulness is just one of
manycontemplativepracticesthathavebeensuccessfullyusedinvari-
ousprofessionalandnonprofessionalhealthcareoutletsthatalsohave
adequateresearchsupportfortheiruseinimprovingbothpsychologi-
cal and physical health. Other contemplative approaches generally
x Preface
have not entered the public or professional imagination. Our book
project seeks to help to educate a wide audience in the various forms
of contemplative practices used within a wider range of spiritual and
religious traditions in achieving well-being, wisdom, and healing,
mostespeciallyin these stressful times.
This book seeks to provide a scholarly and multidisciplinary
approachonthetopicofcontemplativepracticesforthedevelopment
of well-being, wisdom, healing, and stress management that includes
state-of-the-art science, practice, and applications of contemplative
practices in the professional workplace, educational settings, pastoral
care, and medical, psychological, or other health care interventions.
Thechaptersarticulatecurrentfindingsandpracticeincontemplative
practices from a wide range of religious and spiritual traditions and
fromexpertsintheintegrationofcontemplativepracticesandpsychol-
ogy, nursing, pastoral care, business, and so forth in order to achieve
well-being.
Inorder to avoid some of the disadvantages of edited books, which
sometimesfeelfragmented,andtoincreasetheflowbetweenchapters,
almost all of the contributors participated in a conference at Santa
ClaraUniversityduringOctober2009topresenttheirresearchtoeach
other and to the local professional health care community. The
conferencewascosponsoredbySantaClaraUniversityCenterforPro-
fessionalDevelopment,theIgnatianCenter,andgenerouslyfundedby
a Bannan grant and SHI. Furthermore, many of the contributors are
members of SHI who meet regularly to discuss multidisciplinary
research and practice in the area of spirituality and health. We hope
that the conference and ongoing research institute activities have
resultedinamorecohesiveandseamlessbook.