The Great Heart Way: How To Heal Your Life and Find Self-Fulfillment [Paperback]

Gerry Shishin Wick (Author), Ilia Shinko Perez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2006

By combining the teachings of Zen with the modern science of psychology, the authors have forged a new path to peace and healing. The method is accessible regardless of spiritual background, and requires less than half an hour a day.
Experienced practitioners Gerry Shishin Wick and Ilia Shinko Perez have drawn from a wide array of disciplines to create the Great Heart Method. It transcends the erstwhile limitations of Zen, which sometimes can be used to deny feelings and personal problems, but uses meditation as an effective means of identifying and working through mental blockages. The book focuses on restoring a heart-mind connection, compassionately healing one's wounded inner self, and fully experiencing difficult emotions with nonjudgmental awareness in order to fully transform them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Zen meets self-help: the two authors, both Zen Buddhist teachers, present an adjunct technique to meditation that offers therapeutic benefits. Their "Great Heart Way" combines meditation, introspection and journaling to uncover hidden roots of psychological problems and resolve the issues. The book is structured to be helpful, with how-to appendixes. The result is uneven, telegraphed perhaps by the misleading subtitle that doesn't sound much like Buddhism, although Buddhism is the book's strength. The heart-mind connection the book champions is solid Buddhist teaching, and the meditation approach is convincing because it is rooted in a deep base of Eastern wisdom. The authors offer a fresh and creative application of Zen that can benefit people who are psychologically stuck. The psychology framework they depend on is less persuasive, drawn from a particular school of understanding the mind—bioenergetics—and concomitant therapy. A little more science would have tested the authors' observations and strengthened the final text. Still, the personal stories sprinkled throughout offer some empirical testimony for the method, and any self-help system that cultivates personal discipline and compassion for others is always worth considering. (Jan.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications (December 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861715136
• ISBN-13: 978-0861715138
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and Clear, January 19, 2007

By 

moon river (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Heart Way: How To Heal Your Life and Find Self-Fulfillment (Paperback)

The Great Heart Way is a wonderful and insightful book that was a joy to read. The exercises were clear and to the point and related directly to the examples presented. As a long time practioner of meditation, I was impressed to find a book that approaches the emotional dimension of meditation, while still remaining relevant to my daily life. The Great Heart Way has created a very useful tool for me to implement when I find myself stuck in old negative patterns. Highly recommended!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So..., December 8, 2008

By 

zanadu "z (formerly known as s)" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Heart Way: How To Heal Your Life and Find Self-Fulfillment (Paperback)

So how many books have I read on Buddhism? About a trillion (perhaps a slight exaggeration but...)

What is it about The Great Heart Way: How to Heal Your Life and Find Self - Fulfillment that has captured my attention? Perhaps it's because of the elegant writing, which reveals a deep collaboration between the two authors that is almost impossible to achieve, perhaps it's their linkage with one of the great Buddhist teachers, Taizan Maezumi Roshi of the White Plum Assanga.

What the book reveals to me is the evolution of Zen Buddhism in this peculiar country of ours where the early teachers recognized that there was fertile ground for the teaching of Buddhism in a climate that was particularly suited for Zen and that they shared their insights with a new generation of Zen teachers. Despite the how to aspect of the title, The Great Heart Way rather "points the way" to some of the best aspects of Zen, but as our teachers tell us, "It's nothing special."

Still and all, I heartily recommend The Great Heart Way with five stars and all, and now if you'll excuse me, it's time for meditation.