Bøger af Bradford P. Keeney

The fundamental concern of psychotherapy is change. While practitioners are constantly greeted with new strategies, techniques, programs, and interventions, this book argues that the full benefits of the therapeutic process cannot be realized without fundamental revision of the concept of change itself. Applying cybernetic thought to family therapy, Bradford P. Keeney demonstrates that conventional epistemology, in which cause and effect have a linear relationship, does not sufficiently accommodate the reciprocal nature of causation in experience. Written in an unconventional style that includes stories, case examples, and imagined dialogues between an epistemologist and a skeptical therapist, the volume presents a philosophically grounded, ecological framework for contemporary clinical practice.

A guide to reconnecting with Jesus, Mary, and the saints as shamanic teachers of divine mysteries• Contains meditations, contemplations, parables, and active ritual tasks that help bring forth a shamanic understanding and practice of Christianity• Shows shamanic experience to be the root of mystical communionWhen the missionaries came to North America to “save” the American Indians, they were perplexed to discover that while they talked about Jesus, some of the Indians claimed to talk directly with him. Among Christians there is almost complete silence on the subject of the place of shamanism in experiencing the divine, yet shamanic experience is at the root of all mystical communion. Shamanic Christianity offers a chance to rekindle the shamanic practices of Christianity to those who wish to restore their direct connection to the spirit world. In the tradition of contemplative practice, this reconnection takes the form of devotions. Presented in four forms, these devotions begin with a specific contemplation, followed by a meditative focus, then a parable from the author’s own visionary experiences, and finally an active mystical practice to help ground the meditations and contemplations in a ritual or ceremony that involves active participation. These four forms serve to reintroduce Jesus, Mary, and the historically renowned saints as shamanic teachers of divine mysteries whose spiritual presence is readily available to contemporary lives. The author also presents specific directives for handling everyday challenges in a shamanic-inspired manner, drawing upon creative activities and resources that encourage approaching the world with the imaginative and playful spirit of a child, whose personal freedom and creative expression is always wide open to possibilities.

In this book, the authors identify the therapist's values and beliefs which they describe as prejudices, they then identify the equivalent prejudices held by the family, and finally, they trace the ways a prejudice from one side affects the other and is, in turn, affected by the other.

In this unusual volume, Bradford Keeney depicts psychotherapy as a performing art. Emphasizing the advantages of improvising one's own therapeutic style, he presents a host of tried-and-true strategic interventions, a short course on brief intervention design, a way of "scoring' conversations with clients much like one would score music, a collection of therapeutic moves, and chapters on creating one's own clinical design. As such, IMPROVISATIONAL THERAPY is a book that will be valued by all who do clinical work.

A revolutionary call to reawaken our bodies and minds to powerful healing through ecstatic movement • Shows how shaking medicine is one of the oldest healing modalities--practiced by Quakers, Shakers, Bushmen, Japanese, and others • Teaches readers how to shake for physical as well as spiritual therapeutic benefit • Includes 40-minute CD of ecstatic drumming music to use while shaking Shaking Medicine reintroduces the oldest medicine on earth--the ecstatic shaking of the human body. Most people’s worst fear is losing control--of their circumstances, of their emotions, and especially of their bodies. Yet in order to achieve the transcendent state necessary to experience deep healing, we must surrender control. Examining cultural traditions from around the world where shaking has been used as a form of healing--from the Shakers and Quakers of New England to the shaking medicine of Japan, India, the Caribbean, the Kalahari, and the Indian Shakers of the Pacific Northwest--Bradford Keeney shows how shaking can bring forth profound therapeutic benefits. Keeney investigates the full spectrum of the healing cycle that occurs when moving from ecstatic arousal to deep trance relaxation. He explains how the alternating movement produced while shaking brings all the body’s energetic systems into balance. He includes practical exercises in how to shake for physical therapeutic benefit, and he shows how these techniques lead ultimately to the shaking medicine that both enables and enhances spiritual attunement. The book also includes a 40-minute CD of ecstatic drumming music to use while shaking.

Bradford Keeney details his initiation into the shamanic tradition of the Kalahari Bushmen. He was drawn to this tradition, wherein dancers' bodies shake uncontrollably during healing ceremonies, with hopes that it might explain his own ecstatic "shaking," which he first experienced at the age of 19. Keeney went on to dance with the Bushmen for more than a dozen years.