Naikan - Gratitude, Grace, and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection

The 20th anniversary edition of the best-selling guide to self-reflection.
A unique blend of the spiritual and psychological to help you examine your life, renew your relationships, and reshape your future.

Drawing on Eastern spiritual and psychological traditions, Naikan is an effective method of self-reflection for cultivating self-awareness, gratitude, empathy, and a path for moving forward in our lives. Naikan began as a spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition and is now recognized by psychologists as an effective tool for helping people navigate the path of personal relationships, addictions, and other mental health challenges.

This edition commemorates the 20th anniversary of this influential work’s first publication. Author Gregg Krech, now after 30+ years of teaching Naikan, shares the depth of his experience with essays, parables, poems, quotations, and recommended reflection exercises, and includes new material on relationships, a 7-day practice program, and an updated appendix for counseling professionals.

The unique structure of Naikan illuminates truths that we may otherwise overlook and that can have a dramatic impact on our understanding of life, our relationships, and our daily experience of being alive. More than a philosophy, Naikan is a deep and transformative practice that can open us up to a different understanding of how we have lived and where to go from here.

List of contents

Naikan Contents

Preface to the Anniversary Edition

Preface

Introduction

What Is Naikan?

Gratitude and the Practice of Attention and Reflection in Everyday Life0

Giving to Others

Mysteries and Myths of Separation

Intimate Attention

The Practice of Naikan

Self-Reflection and Service

A One-Week Naikan Self-Reflection Practice Program

A Note to Mental Health Professionals: Naikan and
Psychotherapy

Notes and Bibliography

Index

About the author

Gregg Krech is the author of five books on Japanese Psychology, including The Art of Taking Action (2015), which has been an Amazon bestseller for five years. His books have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, and Romanian. Gregg has spoken in international venues to audiences that include mental health professionals, Zen students, hospice volunteers, staff of domestic violence centers, employees of Fortune 500 companies, crisis center staff, Yoga students, Buddhist monks in Thailand, and university students. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio and in numerous magazines including Tricycle, SELF, Counseling Today, and The SUN, where his interview on Naikan was that issue’s feature story. Gregg was selected to do an on-demand video retreat by Tricycle, a prominent Buddhist magazine. He is a member of the North American Naikan Society and editor of the journal Thirty Thousand Days: A Journal for Purposeful Living. He has been conducting retreats and online courses on Japanese methods of psychology for 33 years at the ToDo Institute in Vermont, where he currently lives, writes, and teaches.

Summary

Naikan is a Japanese word that means "inside looking" or "introspection." A more poetic translation is "seeing oneself with the mind’s eye."

Drawing on Eastern spiritual and psychological traditions, Naikan is an effective method of self-reflection for cultivating self-awareness, gratitude, empathy, and a path for moving forward in our lives. Naikan began as a spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition and is now recognized by psychologists as an effective tool for helping people navigate the path of personal relationships, addictions, and other mental health challenges.

This edition commemorates the 20th anniversary of this influential work’s first publication. Author Gregg Krech, now after 30+ years of teaching Naikan, shares the depth of his experience with essays, parables, poems, quotations, and recommended reflection exercises, and includes new material on relationships, a 7-day practice program, and an updated appendix for counseling professionals.

The unique structure of Naikan illuminates truths that we may otherwise overlook and that can have a dramatic impact on our understanding of life, our relationships, and our daily experience of being alive. More than a philosophy, Naikan is a deep and transformative practice that can open us up to a different understanding of how we have lived and where to go from here.

Foreword

Co-op available

Galleys available

Association of Asian Studies

National print campaign

The New York Times, Japan Times, Kyoto Journal, Nippon,
Nikkei Asian Review, Booklist, BookPage, Foreword, Kirkus, Library Journal,
NPR, Portland Book Review, City Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Rain Taxi, Shelf
Awareness, Asian Review of Books, Books on Asia, Lion’s Roar, Shambala Sun,
Tricycle.

General eBook marketing plans

eBook will be available at the same time as print
publication to maximize sales

eBook ISBN will be included on all press materials, author
and publisher websites, and whenever print ISBN is listed

publisher and author will be promoting both e and p through
social media

Excerpts in

Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, Shambala Sun

Promotion through the [author’s/book’s] website:

http://www.todoinstitute.com/staff.html

Bookseller/Library promotions

Association of Asian Studies

Edelweiss and Netgalley digital review copies to the trade
and blogs.

Podcast interviews with book related podcasts such as Books
on Asia, Asian Review of Books.

Product details

• Authors: Gregg Krech
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 15.11.2022, delayed
• EAN: 9781611720792
• ISBN: 978-1-61172-079-2
• No. of pages: 224
• Subjects: Guides > Self-help, everyday life > Lifestyle, personal development; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Other world religions; PHILOSOPHY / Eastern, PHILOSOPHY / Buddhist, PSYCHOLOGY / Psychotherapy / Counseling, Psychological theory, systems, schools & viewpoints, Self-help, personal development & practical advice