Total exertion: zen, psychoanalysis, life
1National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, Institute for Expressive Analysis, New York, NY, USA. pshaku@aol.com
Journal of Religion and Health
|June 16, 2011
Abstract:
This paper integrates Zen and psychoanalytic concepts; introduces the Zen concept of total exertion; elaborates the profound implications that the notion of total exertion has for the psychoanalytic encounter and the psychotherapist's capacity for maintaining an optimal attentional stance; addresses anxiety-driven interferences to both the psychoanalytic process and deepened Zen practice. Clinical vignettes, personal experiences, poetry and psychoanalytic theory serve to demonstrate the abstract aspects of the discussion.
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