Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

Psychiatric Care Using Buddhist Principles 319The third principle of Windhorse Therapy isthat recovery is discovering and synchronizingwith one’s own fundamental health and sanity. (3)As our clinical results show, the client gainshealth, skills for his or her particular life needs,confidence, and independence as this discoveryand synchronization take place and stabilize. ForWindhorse Therapy clinicians, recovery is characterizedby a significant, stable, and hearteningincrease in the client’s “windhorse” energy.A thoroughly trained Windhorse Therapyclinician has a confident and practical understandingof all three of these core principles, plustherapeutic expertise for treating specific psychologicaldisorders.4. CONTEMPLATIVE ROOTSWindhorse Therapy is a treatment process whoseinnovations are founded in the practice of a contemplativetradition. Whatever its form, contemplativediscipline invites a progressively more intimaterelationship with one’s own mind and life in a fresh,moment-to-moment way. (3) For our purposes, it’simportant to note that a typical individual’s contemplativepath follows the basic pattern of a typicalprocess of mental health recovery. (4) This parallelhas great implications for the design of our tailoredrecovery environments and for how a client’s recoveryprocess is understood, nurtured, and achieved.One’s contemplative path often begins withthe distinct sense that something is not right withthe way one’s life is going. For some individuals,a safe, simple, and attractive method to interruptthis repetitive confusion is to adopt a contemplativepractice such as meditation, tai chi, oryoga. Most Windhorse Therapy clinicians haveexperience with the contemplative practice ofBuddhist/Shambhala meditation. This is a simplediscipline of attending to or watching one’s stateof mind without judgment. This can be done formallyin periods of “sitting meditation” and alsoinformally in the midst of ordinary activity as cliniciansgo about their day. (6)To begin, one simply learns to tolerate how itfeels to be aware in the present moment, and howit feels to be with whatever is going on in one’slife without self-conscious judgment. Over time,one develops the ability not to be overly carriedaway by strong positive or negative thoughts andfeelings. As one’s mind becomes more settled,clarity and awareness develop. With this comesvivid insight, or islands of clarity, as this experienceis referred to in Windhorse Therapy. (7) Theability to tolerate and appreciate insight is a basiclife skill and is essential to any process of recovery.As a typical contemplative path continues,healthy self-love begins. This is called “maitri”in the Buddhist tradition. (8) Maitri is the experiencethat one has basic intelligence, warmth,compassion, good intentions, and the brilliantcapacity to love and forgive oneself for not livingup to unrealistic judgments. This healthy self-loveis also a basic life energy, and the discovery andexperience of maitri is frequently a turning pointin the path of recovery.In the contemplative process, one also discoversa naturally confident energy, windhorse ,that can be used in the service of counteringhopelessness, depression, and the mindless repetitionof habitual patterns. In contemplation, asin recovery, the more we see our lives and ourselvesclearly, the more we have a sense of whichactions and thoughts lead to harmonious livingand which lead to suffering and unnecessaryconfusion. Making skillful choices, and rousingthe confidence to implement them, becomes anemerging discipline. (9) In Windhorse Therapywe refer to this emerging discipline as having anallegiance to sanity . (2) With the recognition anddiscipline of one’s allegiance to sanity, it’s naturalto feel that recovery from a confused state is notonly possible, but likely.A thoroughly trained Windhorse Therapyclinician has direct experience of the processdescribed above. One result of this contemplativefoundation is the clinician’s personal convictionthat synchronization with one’s basic sanity andhealth is possible for all human beings. It is alsoclear that the more one knows one’s own mind,the more one has insight into and compassionfor how others’ minds are working. This is notacademic knowledge for the clinician, but livedexperience.