What’s Contemplative Psychotherapy? (You’re Basically Good)
At its heart, Contemplative Psychotherapy starts with a simple (yet radical) assumption: human beings are not fundamentally broken.
We suffer. We get overwhelmed, disconnected, ashamed, anxious, angry, numb, and lost. We develop ways of avoiding pain and protecting ourselves from uncertainty. Sometimes those ways of coping become patterns that keep us stuck long after they stopped being helpful.
And yet, something in us remains intact.
Contemplative Psychotherapy calls this brilliant sanity or basic goodness: the innate awareness, wisdom, compassion, and connection that persists underneath all of our habits, defenses, fears, and struggles.
This doesn't mean we're always kind or healthy or making good and “right” choices. It doesn't mean suffering isn't real. It means that suffering is not the whole story of who we are (not even close!)
Therapy, then, isn't about turning you into a different person. It's about becoming more able to meet yourself as you are—and reconnecting with capacities that may have gotten buried beneath everything you've been carrying.
Origins
Contemplative Psychotherapy grew out of a conversation between Buddhist contemplative traditions and Western psychotherapy in the 1970s.
The approach was strongly influenced by the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and developed through the work of clinicians, meditation practitioners, and scholars who were interested in bringing contemplative awareness into psychotherapy.
Psychiatrist Edward Podvoll later established the first formal Contemplative Psychotherapy training program at Naropa Institute, helping shape the approach as it exists today as Naropa University.
At its core, Contemplative Psychotherapy asks us to pay attention—not only to what is happening in a person's life, but to how they are experiencing it moment by moment. The therapist's own awareness matters, too. How we show up, what we notice, and what happens in the relationship between therapist and client are all part of the work.
“Contemplative psychotherapy may be said to have two parents: the 2,500-year-old wisdom tradition of Buddhism and the clinical traditions of Western Psychology, especially the Humanistic school. Like all offspring it has much in common with both of its parents and yet is uniquely itself at the same time.”
Brilliant Sanity
Brilliant Sanity
Contemplative Psychotherapy holds that there is an underlying wholeness in every person that remains present even when someone is suffering deeply.
That can be a difficult to believe for someone dealing with shame, rage, despair, fear, numbness, or confusion. It doesn't mean we ignore those experiences or try to look for the positive in them. It means we don't have to treat them as proof that something is fundamentally wrong with the person experiencing them.
Suffering can pull us away from ourselves. We may learn to avoid what hurts, disconnect from parts of our experience, become harsh with ourselves, or try to control things that can't ultimately be controlled. Over time, those ways of coping can make it harder to recognize our own clarity and capacity for choice.
Contemplative Psychotherapy sees therapy as an opportunity to notice what is happening with more honesty and less judgment—and, over time, to reconnect with the parts of ourselves that suffering may have made harder to access.
This is part of what is meant by brilliant sanity or basic goodness. There is something fundamentally workable about being human, even when being human feels incredibly difficult.
Maitrī
Maitrī (pronounced my-tree) is Maytree's namesake — slightly adjusted. It's a Sanskrit word often translated as loving-kindness, and it points to the practice of meeting ourselves and others with unconditional friendliness.
That doesn't mean approving of everything we think, feel, or do. It doesn't mean forcing ourselves to feel positive or trying to convince ourselves that everything is okay.
Maitrī asks something a little different: Can we stay curious about ourselves, even when we find something we don't like? Can we be honest about the ways we've hurt ourselves or other people without turning that honesty into self-punishment?
Across therapeutic approaches like CBT, ACT, DBT, IFS, and other compassion-focused therapies, you'll find versions of this same idea: being at war with ourselves tends to create more suffering.
At some point, it is worth asking whether self-contempt is actually getting us where we want to go. Maitrī offers an opportunity to experiment with another way of relating to ourselves—and, from there, to other people.
Mindfulness & Presence
Mindfulness is an important part of Contemplative Psychotherapy, but it is often misunderstood.
No matter what pop-culture tries to tell you, it isn't about getting rid of thoughts, staying calm, or becoming good at sitting quietly with your eyes closed. And it definitely isn't about making uncomfortable feelings go away.
At its simplest, mindfulness means paying attention to what is happening right now and noticing our experience with openness and curiosity.
In traditional practice, this may take the form of shamatha-vipashyana meditation: resting attention on the breath, noticing when the mind wanders, and returning again and again.
While the core concept is simple, the practice often feels anything but—especially in the beginning. Over time, mindfulness can help us notice the difference between what is happening in the present moment and the stories our minds quickly build around it. We may begin to catch ourselves when we're lost in a prediction, replaying something that happened, judging ourselves, or trying to figure out what something means.
That little bit of noticing can create more room to choose what we do next.
Formal meditation can be part of therapy when it is useful. It doesn't have to be. What matters is whether a particular practice helps you become more present with your actual life.
Integrating Western Psychology
Contemplative Psychotherapy isn't a replacement for other forms of psychotherapy. Instead, it offers a particular way of understanding people and the therapeutic relationship, while leaving room for a range of clinical approaches.
The relationship between therapist and client is central. Trust, warmth, honesty, respect, and genuine human connection matter—not as techniques to apply, but as part of what makes therapy possible in the first place.
From there, a therapist might draw from approaches such as:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Somatic and body-based approaches
These approaches give us different tools for different kinds of problems. Contemplative Psychotherapy influences how those tools are used: with attention to the whole person, the present moment, and what is happening right now.
What Sessions May Look Like
At the root of it: two human beings being alive together.
From there, sessions are experiential and relational. We pay attention not only to what you're telling me, but to what is happening as you're telling me—emotionally, physically, and in the relationship between us.
Depending on what you're working on, that might mean:
Noticing what happens in your body when something difficult comes up
Paying attention to patterns of avoidance, self-judgment, or control as they happen
Staying with an experience long enough to understand it, rather than immediately trying to explain it away
Talking about what is happening between us when that becomes relevant to the work
Mindfulness or other experiential practices may be part of a session when they're useful. They aren't there to help you suppress emotions or force yourself to feel calm. (Surly, you’ve already tried that and found it does not work.)
The goal is to become more present with what is actually happening, so that you have more room to respond to your life rather than automatically reacting to it.
Who This Approach Often Resonates With
Contemplative Psychotherapy may resonate with people who:
Have a lot of insight but still feel stuck in the same patterns
Spend a lot of time criticizing, analyzing, or trying to control themselves or their internal experiences
Feel overwhelmed by anxiety, shame, uncertainty, or difficult emotions
Want therapy that makes room for both practical tools and deeper exploration
Are curious about mindfulness but don't want therapy to become spiritual or religious
You don't need meditation experience. You don't need particular spiritual beliefs. You don't have to already know how to be mindful.
You just need some willingness to get curious about your own experience—and maybe to practice relating to yourself with a little more friendliness along the way.
Chelsea O'Day-Navis is a Licensed Professional Counselor, LLPC Clinical Supervisor, and the founder of Maytree Therapy.