Saki Santorelli

'Perhaps our real work, whether offering or seeking care, is to recognize that the healing relationship-the field upon which patient and practitioner meet-is, to use the words of the mythologist Joseph Campbell, a 'self-mirroring mystery'-the embodiment of a singular human activity that raises esssential questions about self, other, and what it means to heal thy self.'-Saki Santorelli

Today we are experiencing extraordinary technological advances in the diagnosis and teatment of illness while at the same time learning to take more responsibility for our own health and well-being.

In this book, Saki Santorelli, director of the nationally acclaimed Stress Reduction Clinic, explores the ancient roots of medicine, and shows us how to introduce mindfulness into the crucible of the healing relationship, so that both patients and caregivers begin to acknoweldge that we are all wounded and we are all whole. His approach revolutionizes the dynamics of the patient/practitioner relationship. In describing the classes at the clinic and the transformation that takes place in this alchemical process, he offers insights and effective methods for cultivating mindfulness in our everyday lives. As he reveals the inner landscape of his own life as a health care professional and we join him and those with whom he works on this journey of human suffering and courage, we become aware of and honor what is darkest and brightest within each one of us.

Saki F. Santorelli, ED.D., is the director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at UMass Memorial Health Care; the director of Clinical and Educational Services in the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society; and an assistant professor in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

He has been active in the emerging fields of mind-body and integrative medicine for twenty years and is engaged in the develppment of a range of experiential, mindfulness-based professional education and development programs and in pioneering initiatives in medical education. During his career he has trained thousands of people, including patients, physicians, nurses, teachers, clergy, business executives, inmates, and correctional staff. For more than a decade he has taught a program for medical students that explores the role of the contemplative mind in medicine and health care.

Jacket design by Mary Schuck.
Author photograph by Fernando De Torrijos.

In praise of Heal Thy ?Self

'In prose, poetry, and poignant case examples, Saki evokes for us the mutuality of the healing relationship and reclaims for medicine and all who work within it the wisdom and power of its lineage. Heal Thy Self is a clear mirror in which we can find that freedom which is at the heart of all authentic healing and through it reconsecrate ourselves to our work and to our lives.'-Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom

'Saki Santorelli's words have the gentle strength of a bird's wings, beating softly as they gradually bear us aloft. Brave, beautiful, and disturbing, his book reminds us of the healing that conventional Western medicine has all but forgotten. I wish it had been available when I was in medical school.'-Mark Epstein, M.D., author of Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart

'Rarely does a book speak so eloquently to those of us who stuggle with illness in our own lives, as well as to those who join with us in the project of healing. In sharing his involvement in the lives of patients and his own personal journey of mindfulness, Saki Santorelli gives us startling insights into what it means to heal and be healed. This book is a gift that will change your life.'-S. Kay Tombs, Ph.D., author of the Meaning of Illness, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Baylor University

'A simply beautiful book. A full body/mind/heart contact hetween that which is heaing within and that, a bit further in, which promotes that healing. A most necessary book for any medical student or healing library.'-Stephen Levine, author of A Year to Live

'Saki Santorelli shows he fruit of his dedicated effort in presenting mindfulness as not just the stuff of meditation retreats and stress reduction seminars. His accounts of everything from counseling a depressed woman to watching his six-year-old daughter encounter a homeless person bring the reader up against basic truths of our lives. It is honest, clear, and very helpful.'-Sharon Salzberg, author of A Heart as Wide as the World

'This is a remarkable, helpful book. Its genuine and warmhearted teaching gives us a real glimpse of the path of healing. Recommended to everyone, new or old, on the path of life.'-Charlotte Joko Beck, author of Everyday Zen

Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Introduction
Part One Convergence
The myth of Chiron
Living myth
The inner healer
The soft body of yur calling
Part Two Don't turn yur head
Week one
Being present
Turning inside
Mirror
Heart
Medicine sangha
Quiet mind, open heart
Namaste
Remembrance
Boundary making
Week two
Friendship
Intrinsic well-bing
Shattered but stil whole
Part Three Keep looking at the bandaged place
The devil's sooty brother
Going down
The stairwell
Week three
Digging deeply into our lives
The woman beside the well
Separaton and longing
Week four
A labor of love
Fear
Groundlessness
Riding the green line
Helplessness
Week five
Self-importance 1: Inflationary forces
Self-importance 2: Inflationary spiral
Boxes of embarrassment
The helper at home 1
Stepping inside the circle
What is shattered?
Part Four That's where the light enters you
Discovering radiance in the ruins
Collegial sangha
Laying down the burden of self-grasping
Week six
The path of healing
Vow and humility
Surrender
Standing in open space
The all-day retreat
The helper at home 2
Letting be
Moving behind personal history
Week seven
Listening
Speech
The helper at home 3
Week eight
Epilogue
Information about the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society
Mindfulness Meditation Practice Tapes… (más)