Suggested Reading

The literature on satitherapy available in English is not too voluminous yet. Three relevant articles and one presentation You can download here. For extensive bibliography of Czech, German and English sources click here.

 

Bookshop

Introduction to Satitherapy – Mindfulness and Abhidhamma Principles in Person-Centered Integrative Psychotherapy

by Marcela Nemcova and Karel Hajek

About this title: In this readable pocket-sized booklet Marcela Nemcova and Karel Hajek offer English-speaking readers for the first time a compact outline of the theoretical principles of satitherapy – an integrative psychotherapy, which uses mindfulness (sati in Pali language) as the key tool within a person-centered approach. Practical use and application of basic principles of satitherapy is illustrated in the second part of the booklet by the particular satitherapeutic technique called Taming the Demons which was inspired by indigenous healing ritual used for mentally ill people in Sri Lanka.

Most of the practical skills and techniques in satitherapy are derived from the systematized ethical-psychological teaching of the theravada buddhist tradition, called Abhidhamma. Satitherapy uses abhidhammic matrices of knowledge (matika in Pali) as means for diagnosis and therapeutic strategy planning and uses ethics as the explanatory principle of suffering and as the basic paradigm of skilful coping with life. Considering that this satitherapeutic know-how is unique and can not be found in any other psychotherapy, which was developed within our Western culture, this brief Introduction to Satitherapy will be surely welcomed and appreciated by all readers interested in buddhism and psychotherapy.

• The book is available [ here ]

Art of Happiness: Teachings of Buddhist Psychology

by Mirko Fryba

About this title: Here is an extraordinarily lucid and intelligent self-help book, inspired by the Abhidamma, an ethical-psychological teaching presented in the body of ancient Buddhist scriptures of the same name. Based on various techniques of Buddhist mind training, the Abhidamma represents the systematic knowledge of the Dhamma, or "good teaching" - that is, the liberating, happiness-promoting way of life. Dr. Fryba has designed a complete workbook of Dhamma strategies for self-transformation, including some thirty detailed exercises that help readers feel at home in their bodies, protect well-being through mindfulness, and perceive reality with clarity and wisdom. These exercises show how to deal skillfully with painful events and negative emotions, and also offer direct ways of promoting positive emotions such as cheerfulness, sympathetic joy, and compassion. By relating these experiences to specific situations encountered in his work with friends, students, patients, and workshop participants, the author makes these ancient techniques genuinely applicable to familiar contemporary settings whether in everyday life, in meditation practice, or in the context of psychotherapy. At the same time, his faithfulness to his Buddhist sources will be appreciated by traditional-minded spiritual practitioners.

• The book is available [ here ]

The Practice of Happiness - Exercises & Techniques for Developing Mindfulness, Wisdom, and Joy

by Mirko Fryba

About this title: Inspired by the Abhidamma, an ethical-psychological teaching presented in the ancient Buddhist scriptures, Fryba has designed a complete workbook with detailed exercises that help readers feel at home in their bodies, protect well-being, perceive reality with clarity and wisdom, and promote compassion.

• The book is available [ here ]

Skill and Trust – The Tovil Healing Ritual of Sri Lanka as Culture-Specific Psychotherapy

by Beatrice Vogt

About this title: In this book for the first time an attempt has been made by Beatrice Vogt to recognise similarities between Tovil, an indigenous healing ritual that is traditionally performed in Sri Lanka as a treatment for mental illness, and psychodrama. The autor, a psychotherapist by training, spent three years in Kandy, where she was able to become a pupil of a Tovil healer, Upasena Gurunnanse of Amunugama, who imparted to her his skills. Three detailed cases of Tovil healing are used to demonstrate how the therapeutic practice of the healer fits in the Sinhala Buddhist view of the world and how the Tovil can be compared to psychotherapy. Beatrice Vogt's pioneering work opens up for further research a field of knowledge, which has hitherto been confined to a limited group of healers. This book has become an essential manual for the study and training of satitherapy.

• The book is available [ here ]

 

Downloads

• Benda, J.; Horak, M. (2008): Presentation: Utilizing Abhidhamma principles in psychotherapy. World Congress on Psychology and Spirituality - Furthering Their Integration. New Delhi, India, January 5-8, 2008 Abstract.
• Fryba, M. (1988): Sunnata - Experience of Void in Buddhist Mind Training, Sri Lanka Journal of Buddhist Studies, 2, 1-19.
• Fryba, M. (1992): Principles of Satitherapy. Sharpham, Contributions to Sharpham Colloquium. (first part only)
• Fryba, M. & Vogt, B. (1991): Sílabbata - Virtuous Performance. The Empirical Basis for the Science of Buddhist Psychology, Sri Lanka Journal of Buddhist Studies, 3, 71-104.

For extensive bibliography of Czech, German and English sources click here.