Contemplative psychotherapy (Naropa)

Domain VII · Transpersonal, psychedelic & altered states · Chögyam Trungpa, Edward Podvoll, Karen Kissel Wegela · 1974 · Boulder, Colorado

What it is

Contemplative psychotherapy is an approach and training tradition, not a manualised therapy. It grew out of a dialogue between the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa and Western clinicians. Trungpa founded the Naropa Institute (Boulder, Colorado) in 1974. The psychiatrist and psychoanalyst…

Format

• The sources describe no fixed phases, session numbers or stage criteria for client work. The authors describe the structure on two levels: the clinician's preparation and the arc of helping.
• D. Working structure for client sessions

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• At Naropa, training adds body-mind awareness disciplines, group Maitri Space Awareness retreats and Body-Speech-Mind group supervision. Naropa-affiliated authors describe both in the edited volume Brilliant Sanity (rev. ed. 2021): Walker, "A Discipline of Inquisitiveness: The 'Body-Speech-Mind' Approach to Contemplative Supervision" (ch. 8), and Shenpen, Evans & Townsend, "Maitri Space Awareness: Developing the…
• What it is. Contemplative psychotherapy is an approach and training tradition, not a manualised therapy. It grew out of a dialogue between the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa and Western clinicians. Trungpa founded the Naropa Institute (Boulder, Colorado) in 1974. The psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Edward Podvoll founded its Contemplative Psychotherapy Department in 1978. The approach combines Buddhist…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• inventing an "official" version. Label your adaptation clearly.
• sounding critical. It is working when the client becomes curious about their own patterns.
• expert distance or over-identification. It is working when you feel collaborative rather than hierarchical.
• flooding (see 5.3). It is working when the past is held with perspective rather than relived or argued over.
• in your own retreat practice, strong emotional states can arise. Use the retreat staff and your own supervision.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.