l form. He or she reports the person and time period of his or her recollections (Reynolds, 1982, p.47).Approximately 20 percent of the time the client spends meditating are spent on what significant people in their lives have given them and what they have returned. 60 percent is spent on the trouble or inconveniences that they have caused to their significant others. The most common theme that occurs during meditation is the relationship between the client and his or her parents. Since a person’s relationship base is strongly influenced by parents, this theme is often discusses early in therapy. One assumption of Naikan therapy is that people, as they grow up, often develop distorted personae and/or destructive patterns. Traumas and past failures cannot be forgotten or undone but it is possible to change a client’s attitude. Naikan therapy tries to restructure the thinking patterns of clients. Naikan therapy also tries to give clients a moral structure for living based on the Buddhist principle of ‘giving. Clients work from past to present, sharing their ideas about past events. During the first week of therapy, the client shares their past experiences with the therapist while the therapist listens without commenting.This process, besides meditation, includes, rephrasing, recasting, and reflecting any statements the client makes. Only when the therapist has a thorough understanding of the client’s issues, will he or she begin to interpret and guide their client.P.4According to Reynold’s (1982) the therapist “…directs the client away from abstract or vague descriptions of past events and personal suffering. The goal is [for clients to use]Concrete statements about specific personal experiences” (p.48).The second part of Naikan therapy, counseling, consists of weekly or monthly visits to therapists to report the activities they have participated in and the results of their medit...
