Shauna Shapiro

Shauna L. Shapiro, Ph.D. is associate professor at Santa Clara University, and previously served as adjunct faculty for Andrew Weil's Center for Integrative Medicine. She began her study of psychology and meditation at Duke University, graduating summa cum laude, and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona. Dr. Shapiro pursued her training in meditation in Thailand and Nepal, as well as in the West, training in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Dr. Shapiro has conducted extensive clinical research investigating the effects of mindfulness-based therapies across a wide range of populations, and published over 70 book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles. She is the recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies teaching award, acknowledging her outstanding contributions to graduate education in the area of mindfulness and psychotherapy and co-author of, The Art and Science of Mindfulness: Integrating Mindfulness into Psychology and the Helping Professions.

COURSE: December 8 2012

Based on Dr. Shapiro's book, The Art and Science of Mindfulness: Integrating Mindfulness into Psychotherapy and the Helping Professions, the daylong offers scientific research and meditative practices for therapists interested in awakening the mind and opening the heart. Drawing on current research in psychology, medicine and cognitive neuroscience, we will investigate the effects of mindfulness meditation on decreasing pathology and increasing positive psychological and physiological states.  In addition, we will explore the mechanisms of action through which mindfulness meditation has its transformational effects.  Further, the workshop will delve into the potential ways of integrating mindfulness and meditation into psychotherapy and the helping professions. Through didactic presentation, meditation practices and small group activities we will explore ways of developing mindfulness personally and professionally. The program will emphasize the development of mindfulness/awareness as the fundamental ground for the therapeutic process. From the perspective of Mindfulness, healing does not require changing or fixing our experience, but discovering the capacity to find freedom in the midst of our innate, human, vulnerability.