Rating: 
Summary: gret book
Review: this book is very insightful in many ways. It makes the philosphy of Bhuddism easier to understand for the westerner. The schemas she discusses are excellent. I bought the audio version also.
Rating: 
Summary: A Helpful Book
Review: This book was recommended to be at a time when I was going through some personal difficulties and it it was able to teach me to be mindful of all the powerful emotions I was going through, and to hold on to them long enough to turn strong emotions into insights, and insights into solutions. What the book needs though is a re-edit. I always appreciate material written with an economy of words better. Nonetheless, this one's worth buying, and keeping.
Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Attempt!!! And a New Beginning!! Buy it.
Review: This is a beautiful book. And by a beautiful human being. But we have to see where we are going. The author has, intentionally or unintentionally, created a new therapy. It is called Emotional Alchemy. Emotional Alchemy begins with Insight Meditation. Vipassana. The author then combines Insight Meditation beautifully with Schematic Therapy. She lists ten "schemas" for people with deep emotional problems. This book can be a Godsend. But the author is creating a new therapy. Does it work? I went to the website listed by her in the back of the book. They have 16 "schemas" listed there. As opposed to her 10. I took the long test there and scored 55% on "Entitlement". Tara Bennett-Goleman suggests that one concentrates on the largest "shema" at once. Like Jack Kornfield, she believes that meditation can not cure mental illness. We have certain parts of our brains which will simply deny access no matter what. Even until we die. The wonderful revalations that come through this book is that she simply tells you where she is going to and where she has come from. This is entirely ignored by well-meaning new-age gurus such as Kornfield and Levine. They give out meditations in their books which more or less proclaim themselves as Buddhas! Tara Bennett-Goleman does no such thing. Her works are based on cognitive therapy, neuroscience, and insight meditation. With a foreward by the Dalai Lama, this is a pivotal work toward helping those with emotional problems. After seven years of homelessness, I still fall into the "schema" of Entitlement. You will also spot the schemas of Deprivation (emotional), Subjagation, Unloveability, ans so on. She is really postulating a theory in this book. Certain parts of the brain can not be accessed without something deeper than meditation. I appauld her efforts. Especially since she is not trying to merge Western Psychology with Buddhism as the authors that I mentioned are trying to do. But Insight Meditaion co-joined with Schematic Therapy will simply need more work. I think she may do it. But not in this book. I shall wait. Both the book and the author are real gems. Buy the book and get ready for a "seperate" Buddhist Therapy. God bless you.
Rating:
Summary: Insight and understanding
Review: This is a book holding a very strong transforming ability if you take it's lessons to heart. Tara Bennett-Goleman melds eastern and western ideas into a theroy of self revelaion that is at once simple in it's statements yet deep and meaningful the more you probe the questions and ideas posed. She writes in a very approchable manner and I never once felt talked down to. She first offers an in-depth explanation of her ideas of inner peace and how to achive it, then shows you how to apply it to every day issues like breaking bad habits, relationships, findig out where some of your emotions come from, death and spirituality. There is a wonderful introduction by the Dalai Lama included that sets the stage for the ideas to come. On a superficial (yet telling) note, the book has a very subdued dust cover, but underneath it comes to life in color and grandeuer. A marvel to look at! I've gained much insight from this book and am sure to be referring to it again and again. This is a book everyone should read, but especially if you're interested in growing as a human being and learning just what makes YOU tick. Are you up to the challenge?
Rating:
Summary: Interest mix of ideas, writting style a little grating
Review: This is a very good book in terms of ideas, even though the ideas are not new this is the first time I've seen this particular approach to them. With all do respect to a previous reviewer, who cares if these ideas are not new? To some people these ideas are new and useful and to be honest I've not seen a book that combines them in this way before. Her writting style can be a little warm and fuzzy at times, but I've found this to be a very helpful book in my life. Read it and judge for your self.
Rating:
Summary: Tools you can use
Review: This is really two books. The first is an elongated treatise on Tibetin Buddhism and mindfulness, surrounding a wonderful section on Schema Therapy. It's a nifty Ying/Yang approach to the subject. I've always found mindfulness difficult to merely read about(much better to practice with a guide). Putting it in the context of 10 vivid descriptions of common emotional schemas is most useful. Stick with it to the end. You will be recommending it to your friends.
Rating:
Summary: A true healer!
Review: This is the single best book that I have ever bought. It is truly inspiring and gives you the ability to get in touch with emotional pains by healing them at the root. I would reccomend this book to anyone who feels they have any problems now but they cannot understand the reasons for repeating the same patterns in their life. It is easy to comprehened, and very nicely laid out. Very great book.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: This may be the key I have been looking for in my ministry in a small rural church. Yes, I know I am on the liberal side of Christianity, but if it works with a few of my people who are stuck, then I'm ready to give it a try. I believe in a God who wants us to use medicine, research and science; as-well-as, our traditional meditation and prayer. My goal is to assist people into wholeness, so they can be all God created them to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative but dull and uninspiring
Review: This type of a book is not read for its entertainment value, that it obvious. The depth of the content is a primary consideration, and in the case of this book, the material is not lacking in depth, borrowing from a subject as rich and profound as the human mind itself - Buddhist phychology. However, the message of healing through mindfulness gets lost in the hopeless wandering aroung in circles, without ever really getting anywhere. Where is this book going? By page 130 it was still not very clear. This seems more like a dry psychology textbook, filled with chapter after chapter of research results, case histories and impressive technical "buzzwords", than an inspiring and sympathetic Buddhist teaching on how to heal the emotions. I peronally have found Tich Nhat Hanh's wrtitings much more "Buddhist", in a sense, because they are warm, non-technical, practical and consise. The Dalai Lama himself has written a number of excellent books on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: food for thought for professionals
Review: Very valuable information but not usersfriendly as a self help.The simple wisdom of mindfulness is not presented in an easy way.As a self help you need a lot of persistance to go through the whole book.Therefore it deserves only 3 stars.
If yo read it as a professional it deserves 5 stars. A lot of scientific findings are presented . Also some interesting new ideas s on combining cognitive therapy and mindfulness are presented. A word of caution however...the essence of mindfulness is to find peace with whatever is...this means you re OK, with your thoughts and no thoughts need to be transformed; it s about finding peace with negative thoughts and at the same time being open to the reality of positive thoughts...allowing both to be there at the same time and acknowledging this reality of duality ( same for emotions).This fundamental mindfulness idea is not always being respected in the proposed exercices.
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