Recovering Spirituality: Achieving Emotional Sobriety in Your Spiritual Practice [Paperback]

Ingrid Mathieu (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 1, 2011

Spirituality is a critical aspect of the Twelve Steps and other recovery programs. Yet, for those of us disposed to addiction, it can be easy to get so caught up in the idea of our Higher Power and the abundant joys of a spiritual life that we experience 'spiritual bypass'—the use of spirituality to avoid dealing with ourselves, our emotions, and our unfinished business.

In Recovering Spirituality, researcher and clinical psychologist Ingrid Mathieu uses personal stories and practical advice to teach us how to grow up emotionally and take responsibility for ourselves. Without turning away from the true benefits of an active spiritual program, she shows us how to work through life's challenges and periods of pain while evolving and maintaining an authentic relationship with our Higher Power.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"This much-needed and deeply important book offers profound insight into the human mind and heart. It looks deeply into the practice of spiritual bypassing--the use of spiritual ideas and practices to attempt to sidestep one's own unfinished emotional business. In unraveling some of the mysteries of relapse and stalled recovery, it also offers an entirely unexpected twist on spiritual bypassing itself. A very valuable book for anyone in recovery--and anyone with a spiritual practice."
--Scott Edelstein, author of Sex and the Spiritual Teacher
 
"Recovering Spirituality is a rich and provocative read for anyone in recovery who (knowingly or unknowingly) has wished for a spiritual escape from the difficulties of life. Instead, Ingrid Mathieu offers an authentic, spiritual path of living in the here-and-now and being present to this wonderful, precious life. Don't miss this book."
--Térèse Jacobs-Stewart, author of Mindfulness and the 12 Steps
 
"With great compassion and wisdom, Dr. Mathieu points out how walking the spiritual path in general, and specifically as a tool of recovery from addiction in any form, is a very subtle process with sidetracks, bypasses, and self-deceptions into which aspirants may fall, challenges which are common within all spiritual practices. Recovering Spirituality is a powerful, loving guide to spiritual maturity, psychological self-reliance, and emotional clarity.  I highly recommend it."
--Michael Bernard Beckwith, author of Spiritual Liberation: Fulfilling Your Soul's Potential
 
"A very important, lucid contribution to recovery literature, clearly exposing the very real problems that spiritual bypassing (the use of spiritual beliefs/practices to avoid dealing with pain and unresolved issues) pose in organizations like AA. For anyone involved in any way with AA, this is a book that should be carefully read and taken to heart."
--Robert Augustus Masters, Ph.D, author of Spiritual Bypassing: When Spirituality Disconnects Us From What Really Matters and Meeting the Dragon: Ending Our Suffering By Entering Our Pain
 
"Recovering Spirituality is a remarkable book. Ingrid Mathieu uncovers aspects of spirituality and recovery that clarify many of the struggles addicts--both clean and not so clean--deal with. Her insights into "spiritual bypass," its dangers and potential, will inform my own teaching and recovery. If you are in recovery and wondering why you feel stalled, or if you are working with someone who is struggling with their program, read this book. It will open doors you didn't even know were there."
--Kevin Griffith, author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the 12 Steps, and A Buring Desire: Dharma God & The Path of Recovery

About the Author

Ingrid Mathieu, PhD has extensive experience counseling substance dependent clients and is a researcher and psychotherapist. She writes a blog called Emotional Sobriety for Psychology Today and this is her first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Hazelden (August 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616490896
• ISBN-13: 978-1616490898
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 5.5 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #484,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "...healthy spiritual practice involves working with the human condition, not overriding it." November 6, 2011

By John C Taylor

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is not uncommon for people on a spiritual path, especially those in recovery, to experience their daily problems and ongoing struggles as failures of transcendence. We think that if we could just pray more, meditate better, turn it over more thoroughly, or overcome our self-centeredness once and for all, then our lives would be magically free from pain and struggle. This is obviously not the case, but the delusion persists in many of us, hampering our ability to accept, enjoy, and work effectively with our lives as they are.

Ingrid Mathieu's book is a potent curative for the many ways this type of thinking can stall us out on our spiritual journey. She lucidly addresses the concept of spiritual bypass and clearly shows just how many subtle forms it can take, and she does so with great compassion and good humor. One of the most powerful aspects of the book for me is the idea that sometimes the pain and despair we feel in our spiritual lives is just what we need to push us to the next stage of surrender, acceptance and humility. Just as "it takes what it takes" to get us into recovery, the same can be true as we grow into the people our Higher Power would have us be.

In addition to being conceptually helpful on many levels, the book is well-written and interesting to read. It is a nice mix of academic research, case studies and personal insight. I recommend it highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Room for me while discovering a more authentic me... November 9, 2011

By HBM

Format:Paperback

Dr. Mathieu's book is an informative, enlightening and comforting read. In the past I have shied away from psychology in favor of spirituality. This book is bringing the two disciplines into balance and is shining a light on my own 'escape hatches' while beautifully describing what it is to be human. The biggest gifts I have received from this book are the opportunities to explore both my blind spots and my talents and look at my spiritual journey (and the journeys of others) with more compassion and flexibility. Dr. Mathieu's book boosted my faith and enthusiasm for my sober life!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars life beyond abstinence November 5, 2011

By eanda

Format:Paperback

If you or someone in your life has struggled with addiction, this book is definitely worth looking into! I thought this book was very insightful regarding the addicts journey towards sobriety, the experience beyond abstinence. Though academic at times, Dr. Mathieu's book does shed light on the emotional aspect of recovery that is often overlooked in (the generalized term) recovery programs. The idea of spiritual bypass is well portrayed throughout the book in a very accessible way, and adds a depth to the recovery process that I hadn't heard about before.