Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book proposes that the core purpose of contemplative psychotherapy is to guide clients towards adaptive expressions of the existential drive and ultimately towards understanding and sustaining the experience of existential realization. It draws important distinctions between immediate and long-term effects of meditation practice. The book distinguishes between formal practice and informal practice in daily life. It explores specific ways of developing and sustaining long-term meditation practice, from mindfulness, through explicit practices developing compassion, and techniques utilizing visualization. The book considers broader societal consequences of long-term meditation practice and outlines associated recommendations for further research and practice in the field. It focuses on secular meditation-based techniques derived from various Buddhist traditions and on Buddhist practices, mostly in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen.