Contemplative Practices in Action

Contemplative Practices in Action: Spirituality, Meditation, and Health

Author	Thomas G. Plante (ed.), Huston Smith (foreword)
Language	English
Genre	medicine, religion, psychology
Publisher	Praeger
Publication date	2010
Publication place	US
Pages	245
ISBN	978-0-313-38256-7
OCLC	529295626

Contemplative Practices in Action: Spirituality, Meditation, and Health is an interdisciplinary scholarly and scientific book. It examines the nature, function, and impact of meditation and other contemplative practices in several different religious traditions, both eastern and western. Edited by Thomas G. Plante and with a foreword by Huston Smith, the book was published in the US in 2010. Across traditions, the book reviews evidence for health effects, and examines methods for appropriately incorporating contemplative practice into education, healthcare, and other human services.

The book includes 14 chapters divided among three major parts that focus on well-defined systems of practice, traditions as storehouses of many alternative forms of practice, and applications.

The book has been reviewed in several professional journals, including PsycCRITIQUES, and the Journal of Psychosocial Research,.

Topics covered

The book contains 14 chapters written by scholars in the health and behavioral sciences and religious studies. Chapter titles and authors are listed in the table (below, at right). Huston Smith's foreword describes the book as "ecumenically inclusive," "in line" with Smith's own work. The editor's introductory chapter notes an increasing usage of meditative practices in health and human service practice, along with an increasing evidence base. It also acknowledges "a number of books" available on contemplative practices, but expresses concern that

	Chapter Title	Author(s)
	Foreword	Huston Smith
1.	Introduction: contemplative practices in action	Thomas G. Plante, Adi Raz, & Doug Oman
Part I: Integrative Contemplative Practice Systems
2.	Similarity in diversity: four shared functions of contemplative practice systems	Doug Oman
3.	Managing stress mindfully	Hooria Jazaieri & Shauna Shapiro
4.	Translating spiritual ideals into daily life: the eight point program of passage meditation	Tim Flinders, Doug Oman, Carol Flinders, & Diane Dreher
5.	Centering prayer: a method of Christian meditation for our time	Jane Ferguson
6.	Mantram repetition: a "portable contemplative practice" for modern times	Jill Bormann
Part II: Contemplative Traditions
7.	The eternal is with me, I shall not fear: Jewish contemplative practices and well-being	Zari Weiss & David Levy
8.	A comprehensive contemplative approach from the Islamic tradition	Aisha Hamdan
9.	The path of yoga	T. Anne Richards
10.	Zen and the transformation of emotional and physical stress into well being	Sarita Tamayo-Moraga & Darlene Cohen
Part III: Contemplative Practices in Action: Application
11.	The impact of meditation practices in the daily life of Silicon valley leaders /	Andre L. Delbecq
12.	Shaking the blues away: energizing spiritual practices for the treatment of chronic pain	Amy Wachholtz & Michelle J. Pearce
13.	A pilgrimage from suffering to solidarity: walking the path of contemplative practices	Gerdenio Manuel & Martha E. Stortz
14.	Contemplative practices in action: now what?	Thomas Plante & Adi Raz

<> "almost all [of the existing books] focus on one particular religious or spiritual tradition... Usually, they highlight the Eastern traditions and overlook the Western ones.h".

The remaining 13 chapters are divided into three major parts, beginning with Part One, which examines well-defined systems of contemplative practice, such as Mindfulness-based stress reduction, Passage Meditation, and Centering Prayer. Part Two describes contemplative practices in Judaism, Islam (especially Sunni Islam), Yoga, and Zen, citing a growing empirical research literature that links better health to research on Yoga, Zen, and Islamic practice. Part Three emphasizes applications.

Reviews and influence

Reviews have appeared in PsycCRITIQUES, Practical Matters, the Journal of Psychosocial Research, Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Psycho-Oncology, and Choice.

In PsycCRITIQUES, Edward F. Bourg stated that "in a time full of sensory and information overload, this is a welcome book." While mindfulness "has entered the popular imagination as a curative factor" for health and well-being, this book shows that many other forms of contemplative practice are also being used successfully. The book's "twofold" premise is that both Eastern and Western traditions have a contemplative side, and "Doing, not saying, is what counts." So "when faced with a bewildering set of religious and spiritual traditions to draw on," Bourg wrote, it can be

helpful to have the organizational overview in Chapter 2 [that] lays out what [Doug Oman] calls [four] concrete resemblances that culminate in “integrated contemplative practice systems”.... [This chapter also] provides a useful chart that captures how... eight contemplative traditions... fare in this reckoning [and is] a very useful template for examining other contemplative practices.... The three parts of the book are well delineated against this backdrop.

The book also shows an "emphasis on application":

in one chapter after another explicit and detailed examples are given in which these various forms of contemplative practice are shown to be put to work in classrooms, prisons, therapy offices, hospitals, the workplace, AA programs, and so forth.

Bourg stated that although generally "the various chapters are very well integrated," the book "isn’t seamless," and some Part III chapters analyze practices, such as lamentation and fire-walking, that "are somewhat unusual... and... would appeal to very few of us." Finally, "beyond making the case for contemplation as the broader category, [the book] addresses the concern of some that mindfulness can be directed toward the glorification of the self."

In Practical Matters, Eric J. Kyle of the Claremont School of Theology wrote that the book was "well written, cohesively integrated, and a rich source of wisdom [on] the intersection of contemplative practices and... well-being." To Kyle, the book provides "robust introduction to the breadth of contemplative approaches" from "various religious traditions." Furthermore, unlike "other texts that seek to accomplish similar goals with only a superficial survey," the book

addresses depth by exploring the religious contexts and histories from which these practices have evolved. The common format that many of these chapters follow... allows the reader to make comparisons more easily across them, and it minimizes the fragmentation that edited texts sometimes have.

However, Kyle found himself "asking why three full chapters (5, 11, and 13) were given to practices and applications from the Christian tradition and none to native or aboriginal spiritualities." Still, Kyle would "highly recommend this book to practitioners and researchers."

In the Journal of Psychosocial Research, Uma Gupta of Banaras Hindu University stated that a "strength of this book is its comprehensive identification of issues that are relevant to reducing hypertension in the present era that values speed, productivity and multitasking." To Gupta, the book provides "excellent summaries of historical roots, current research, directions for future research and general applications of the contemplative practices from Eastern and Western religious and spiritual traditions." She also described the book as "capable of transforming the life of the reader in making life more meaningful, purposeful and joyful."

In Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies, KJ Sherman wrote that she found the book "unsatisfying," since "for many traditions, the studies reported seemed to focus on religious or mental health outcomes, rather than physical health." She found "no logic to the traditions included," since they varied greatly in their level of empirical support, and would not recommend the book to healthcare providers or researchers. However, "the description of the practices themselves" may be useful to "healthcare providers whose patient populations may embrace contemplative practices in the context of multiple spiritual traditions," and to "religious scholars who want to understand how other practices may be similar to those of their tradition."

In Psycho-Oncology, JL Kristeller stated that "Even those familiar with selected contemplative traditions should find distinctive perspectives," and that the book "lays out a surprising richness of resources related to engaging spiritual well-being though a world heritage of contemplative practices. 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."

In Choice, G. R. Thursby of the University of Florida wrote that Contemplative Practices in Action was structured into "a meaningful whole that can serve as a tool kit for health care professionals and enable religious leaders to find positive points of contact," and he recommended the book for lower-level undergraduates and above, as well as general readers. He stated that "among the best in the book" are the three chapters about Easwaran's Passage Meditation, Keating and others' Centering Prayer, and Delbecq's meditation program for Silicon Valley leaders.

The published book also contained comments from Kenneth I. Pargament, Margaret Benefiel, Dan Schutte, and Carl E. Thoresen.

See also

• Handbook of Religion and Health
• Faith and Health: Psychological Perspectives