Rated 5.0 out of 5
Based on 3 reviews

Already Free

Buddhism Meets Psychotherapy on the Path of Liberation
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Full Description

"Both psychotherapy and Buddhism seek to provide freedom from suffering," writes Bruce Tift, "yet each offers a completely different approach to this intention." Each way of working contains valuable tools to help us heal, grow, and find happiness—but how can we know which one to choose when these methods appear to contradict each other? Already Free opens a fresh and provocative dialogue between these two profound perspectives on the human condition.

In Already Free, therapist and Buddhist practitioner Bruce Tift examines how psychotherapy's "Developmental" approach of understanding the way our childhood experiences shape our adult selves both challenges and supports the "Fruitional" approach of Buddhism, which tells us that the freedom we seek is always available. Here he offers unique wisdom and imminently practical guidance on:

  • Therapy and meditation—the strengths and limitations of each practice, and how you can use them together effectively
  • What is freedom? How our assumptions about personal liberation often undermine our ability to experience it.
  • How we can stop generating unnecessary anxiety for ourselves without numbing our emotions
  • Why we use "neurotic organization" to limit our life experience, and how to challenge this self-perpetuating process
  • Cultivating a healthy state of mind regardless of our history or current circumstances
  • Uncovering and untangling codependent dynamics, the four evolving stages of relationships, and much more

Endorsements:

"In Already Free, Bruce Tift is a clear, wise, and honest seer who reveals deep understandings about how we relate to our experience, anxiety, and struggle. At once, this book holds a mirror to our emotional life, while opening a window to the depth of our being. This book is fresh, real, and useful."
—Mark Nepo, author of Reduced to Joy, The Endless Practice, and The Book of Awakening

"Tift masterfully shows us how to accept inner forces that seem in opposition, move beyond struggle and self-absorption, and claim a life in which nothing is excluded."
—Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and A Hidden Wholeness

"A fresh, penetrating, and thought-provoking exploration of how therapeutic process and spiritual realization are not only compatible, but necessary to each other in order to make the full human journey in our modern world."
—Reginald A. Ray, author of Touching Enlightenment

"A rare gift from a virtuoso, a masterful Operator's Manual for life—for how to remove suffering and live authentically. Beautifully written, immensely practical, and infinitely wise, this book is destined to become a classic. Read it. It can change your life."
—Andrew Holecek, author of The Power and the Pain

Format Details
Paperback Book eBook
Contents Paperback Book (344 pages) eBook (338 pages)
Dimensions 5 1/4 x 8 inches
Product Code BK04205 BK04205W
ISBN Number 978-1-62203-411-6 978-1-62203-456-7
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Bruce Tift

About Bruce Tift

Bruce Tift, MA, LMFT has been in private practice since 1979, has taught at Naropa University for 25 years, and has given presentations in the US, Mexico, and Japan. A practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism for more than 35 years, he had the good fortune to be a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and to meet a number of realized teachers.

REVIEWS

average rating 5.0 out of 5
Based on 3 reviews
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3 Reviews
Reviewed by Donald T.
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I recommend this product
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Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

East meets West in Complementary Approaches to Psychotherapy

This is the first book I’ve come across that juxtaposes Western psychotherapy with an approach based upon Buddhist psychology and fundamental Buddhist views. The author’s long association with Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche is obvious in what he describes as the Fruition Approach to psychotherapy. However, I also sense, perhaps coincidentally, the influence of Karen Horney, Eric Fromm, etc. I found the book very readable and applicable to practice.

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Reviewed by Wade
I recommend this product
Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

Bruce's personal path is great but there is a better approach.....

I have not read the book but can relate to Bruce's work from his message but I feel he is making hard work of a subject that has been so well covered over recent years by teachers such as Tolle, Adyashanti, AH Almaas, Rupert Spira and J Krishnamurti earlier.

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Reviewed by Darka
I recommend this product
Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

Excellent combination and evaluation of Eastern and Western therapy.

Dear Bruce,

Thank you for the work you've done to present a great book that helps people like me understand how the ego stands in our way of truely incorporating present awareness and honest acceptance of our own responsibility to live in a place that is nonjudgemental or drama filled with distraction. I was already on the path and received your book as a Mother's Day gift from my oldest daughter who understands me. I have been studying, A Course In Miracles and hit a slow spot which your book totally explained to me. I am only a little over half way through your book but it has reaffirmed everything I have already learned through, A Course In Miracles. I pray you continue with your books and helping others understand what it takes to be present and uniquely in the experience.

Darka Watters

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