Turning suffering inside out : a Zen approach to living with physical and emotional pain

by Darlene Cohen

Paperback, 2002

Publication

Imprint: Boston, Massachusetts. : Shambhala, 2002.. Context: Originally published in hardcover under the title Finding a Joyful Life in the Heart of Pain, 2000. Edition: First paperback edition. Responsibility: Darlene Cohen. OCLC Number: 50023476. Physical: Text : 1 volume : xii, 250 pages ; 23 cm. Features: Includes bibliography.

Call number

GT-B-Z / Cohen

Barcode

BK-08181

ISBN

9781570628177

Original publication date

2000

Collections

Your library, Adult Materials, Online Resource, The Great Traditions

CSS Library Notes

Description: Darlene Cohen discovered the secret to finding happiness in the midst of debilitating pain. She shares her knowledge in her popular workshops and now in this book. Cohen, who has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for eighteen years, was hobbling painfully to her local Zen center one day, when she made a discovery that changed her life: if she focused on the foot that was in the air rather than the one that was hitting the pavement, her stamina increased enormously. It was the beginning of a completely different approach to the crippling pain that had beset her for so long. As she demonstrates here, this approach can be expanded to all types of pain: physical, psychological, and spiritual.

Cohen—a certified massage and movement therapist and Zen teacher—proposes a radically liberating alternative to the usual desperate search for pain relief: paradoxically, she says, release from suffering lies in paying closer attention to it. When we keep pain at bay, we keep pleasure at bay, too. The two are interdependent, and our ability to experience each is totally dependent on our understanding of the other.

"Enrich your life exponentially," Cohen advises. If your pain is one of the ten things you are aware of, then it constitutes a tenth of your total awareness. Expand your awareness to a hundred things, however, and your pain is only a hundredth of your awareness. With stories, strategies, exercises, and an awareness born of long Zen practice, Cohen shows us how to tap into that enrichment—and how we can lead a satisfying and even joyful life in the very midst of pain. -- from publisher

Table of Contents: Suffering
Delight
How to be alive for everything
Returning to the present moment

Available Online: In addition to the print volume in our library some lectures given by Darlene that compliment the book's topics are available online through the Russian River Zendo : https://www.russianriverzendo.org/Audio_Dharma_Talks.html

FY2019 /

Physical description

xii, 250 p.; 23 cm

Description

"Darlene Cohen discovered the secret to finding happiness in the midst of debilitating pain. She shares her knowledge in her popular workshops and now in this book. Cohen, who has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for eighteen years, was hobbling painfully to her local Zen center one day, when she made a discovery that changed her life- if she focused on the foot that was in the air rather than the one that was hitting the pavement, her stamina increased enormously. It was the beginning of a completely different approach to the crippling pain that had beset her for so long. As she demonstrates here, this approach can be expanded to all types of pain- physical, psychological, and spiritual. Cohen-a certified massage and movement therapist and Zen teacher-proposes a radically liberating alternative to the usual desperate search for pain relief- paradoxically, she says, release from suffering lies in paying closer attention to it. When we keep pain at bay, we keep pleasure at bay, too. The two are interdependent, and our ability to experience each is totally dependent on our understanding of the other. ""Enrich your life exponentially,"" Cohen advises. If yo… (more)