Episode 39: Meditation and Psychotherapy with Ian Singer
Episode 39 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Ian Singer come on to the show to talk about his work integrating meditation within a psychotherapy context.
For the full podcast, check out the episode here.
In this episode, we cover...
Why he advises to ‘start from where you are’ when first approaching psychotherapy.
Differences in therapeutic approaches, including mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
How his career continues to influence and evolve his own spiritual practice.
Ian Singer is a psychotherapist and experienced meditator who has worked with thousands of clients and students across the world. An expert in mindfulness-based skills development, Ian is a faculty member at the Centre for Mindfulness Studies, Toronto.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
Therapeutic experiences can be a stepping stone to speaking about problems face-on.
”You are in this kind of middle space where it's like: I can be with another person and show them all my messiness and all my snot, all my tears and everything like that - but it's not totally real. It isn't my girlfriend or my business partner or my boss or whoever it is - but you can practice. And then it becomes sometimes a halfway station on the way to doing that stuff in the world.”
Engaging in these practices is about finding and empowering our true inner self.
”When you look at highly developed spiritual people, they're all so different from each other, not all so the same... but when you're meditating, at the beginning you're thinking I'm just going to become this quiet composed little Buddha statue or something. That's not what you're going to turn into.”
Working through other people’s suffering daily reflects on Ian’s own practice.
”When you're sitting with people all day who are in their suffering... and you are resonating empathically with their suffering, that's not just phenomenological, you're resonating because you know what they're talking about, you feel it in yourself.”
The best place to find Ian is here.
See you next week!
