Contemplative Practices in Action: Spirituality, Meditation, and Health
• Presents information about contemplative practices from various spiritual and religious traditions from a multidisciplinary perspective• Describes contemplative methods that are practiced across cultures, religions, and socioeconomic groups• Shows how contemplative practices can be used for stress management and with specific stress inducers• Offers information that is practical, as well as scholarly• Foreword by renowned author and scholar Huston Smith, subject of the five-part PBS special,The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith• Contributions from 13 expert authors• Case studies showing how contemplative practices are being used to cope with modern stress and disorders among groups as diverse as caregivers, pregnant women, people living with HIV, and veterans dealing with PTSD"Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers."-Choice"Overall, I highly recommend this book to practitioners and researchers alike. Practitioners will appreciate the details with which the practices are discussed, while researchers will benefit from the endnotes and the brief discussions of the current state of research for each system. This book is also well-written, cohesively integrated, and a rich source of wisdom for those interested in the intersection of contemplative practices and the fostering of personal well-being."-Practical Matters"In a time full of sensory and information overload, this is a welcome book."-PsycCRITIQUES"In an overall assessment it is a wonderful book, and is capable of transforming the life of the reader in making life more meaningful, purposeful and joyful, and herein lies the real worth of the book."-Journal of Psychosocial Research"Thomas Plante, a psychologist who is deeply invested in exploring these issues as the director of the Spirituality and Health Institute of Santa Clara University, has gathered together a noteworthy group of contributors to this volume. . . . This book serves as a useful introduction to a range of practices and contemplative traditions for both practitioners and researchers. Even those familiar with selected contemplative traditions should find distinctive perspectives and valuable material. . . . It begins to address a notable gap in the contemporary literature on both meditation and spirituality and does so in ways that should be valuable for practitioners or researchers in the area of cancer care, despite that not being an explicit focus of the volume. . . . an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to better understand how the historic traditions of contemplative practice, in the service of cultivating personal growth and well-being."-Psycho-Oncology