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Our Guest

Dr. Miles Neale
Contemplative Psychotherapist
Dr. Miles Neale is among the leading voices of the current generation of Buddhist teachers and a forerunner in the emerging field of contemplative psychotherapy. He is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice, international speaker, and faculty member of Tibet House US and Weill Cornell Medical College.
Miles is author of Gradual Awakening: The Tibetan Buddhist Path of Becoming Fully Human along with it’s audio companion of guided meditations The Gradual Path (Sounds True, 2018) and coeditor of the groundbreaking volume Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2017). He is founder of the Contemplative Studies Program, a two-year online journey into Tibetan Buddhist mind science and mediation practice integrated with contemporary perspectives from neuroscience and psychotherapy. Miles is based in New York City.
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The Talk
Dr. Miles Neale is a contemplative psychotherapist based in New York and one of the leading voices of the current generation of Buddhist teachers.
Miles coined the term “McMindfulness,” to address the problem we have in society of “cherry-picked teachings from ancient, mostly threatened, wisdom cultures and mass-marketed them as consumerist goods.” While there are certainly benefits to providing soft-entry points, we’re ultimately diluting teachings and robbing ourselves of a deeper spiritual experience.
His book, Gradual Awakening, provides a practical training manual of 30 ancient contemplative insights and meditative practices drawn from the Tibetan Buddhist Path. He makes it accessible for the Western mind, while at the same time, staying true to the ancient teachings and practices.
In this week’s conversation we went explored:
- The problem of McMindfulness
- Why practicing certain things doesn’t make sense until you prepare yourself before
- How to organise your spiritual practice effectively
- Core principles to orient your life around
- Transcendence vs Embodiment – why both are needed
- A map that guarantees progress
Favourite Quote:
“In other words, transcendence isn’t the destination but a necessary stop to unburden fixation, so we can return to ordinary life with open minds and warmer hearts. Or, as Godwin put it, “Breaking out is only as important as how we break back in.”
Relevant Links:
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