Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner Discover a path of post-traumatic growth, spiritual insight, and deep compassion for the most challenging parts of yourself. Ralph De La Rosa integrates Richard Schwartz’s revolutionary Internal Family Systems (IFS) model with Buddhist meditation practice to offer a radically different healing paradigm.If you’re among those who’ve tried therapy and meditation but wonder why you still suffer repetitive patterns and emotions, Outshining Trauma is for you. De La Rosa places the innovative, evidence-based model of IFS in the context of Buddhist meditation to show that the process of healing trauma can lead you to your deepest spiritual nature.  This book offers clear conceptual frameworks to understand trauma, post-traumatic growth, and the close relationship between healing trauma and spirituality. The many journal prompts, experiential practices, and guided meditations will teach you how to:See that your mind is made up of disparate “parts” that carry their own views and intentions which can become stuck in traumatic experiencesRecognize common types of inner parts in the IFS model, such as “Managers,” “Firefighters,” and “Exiles”Separate from a part inside of you that’s holding grief, pain, or other difficult feelings and then elicit its concerns and wisdomUtilize meditation as a method for opening to transformative self-compassion and self-loveA survivor himself of depression, PTSD, and addiction, De La Rosa shares gripping, inspirational life stories to demonstrate the path of outshining trauma.

Hope for all those who want to meditate but feel they can''t because they think too much.“My mind is so busy, I really need to meditate.” “My mind is so busy, there’s no way I can meditate.” Familiar dilemma? These days just about all of us know we should be meditating, but that doesn’t make it any easier to sit down and face the repetitive thoughts careening around our brains—seemingly pointless, sometimes hurtful, nearly always hard to control. Rather than quitting meditation or trying to wall off the monkey mind, Ralph De La Rosa suggests asking yourself a question: If you were to stop demonizing your monkey mind, would it have anything to teach you? In a roundabout way, could repetitive thoughts be pointing us in the direction of personal—and even societal—transformation? Poignant and entertaining, The Monkey Is the Messenger offers a range of evidence-based, somatic, and trauma-informed insights and practices drawn from De La Rosa’s study of neuroscience and psychology and his long practice of meditation and yoga. Here at last—a remedy for all those who want to meditate but suppose they can’t because they think too much.

Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner Discover a path of post-traumatic growth, spiritual insight, and deep compassion for the most challenging parts of yourself. Ralph De La Rosa integrates Richard Schwartz’s revolutionary Internal Family Systems (IFS) model with Buddhist meditation practice to offer a radically different healing paradigm.If you’re among those who’ve tried therapy and meditation but wonder why you still suffer repetitive patterns and emotions, Outshining Trauma is for you. De La Rosa places the innovative, evidence-based model of IFS in the context of Buddhist meditation to show that the process of healing trauma can lead you to your deepest spiritual nature.  This book offers clear conceptual frameworks to understand trauma, post-traumatic growth, and the close relationship between healing trauma and spirituality. The many journal prompts, experiential practices, and guided meditations will teach you how to:See that your mind is made up of disparate “parts” that carry their own views and intentions which can become stuck in traumatic experiencesRecognize common types of inner parts in the IFS model, such as “Managers,” “Firefighters,” and “Exiles”Separate from a part inside of you that’s holding grief, pain, or other difficult feelings and then elicit its concerns and wisdomUtilize meditation as a method for opening to transformative self-compassion and self-loveA survivor himself of depression, PTSD, and addiction, De La Rosa shares gripping, inspirational life stories to demonstrate the path of outshining trauma.

Hope for all those who want to meditate but feel they can''t because they think too much.“My mind is so busy, I really need to meditate.” “My mind is so busy, there’s no way I can meditate.” Familiar dilemma? These days just about all of us know we should be meditating, but that doesn’t make it any easier to sit down and face the repetitive thoughts careening around our brains—seemingly pointless, sometimes hurtful, nearly always hard to control. Rather than quitting meditation or trying to wall off the monkey mind, Ralph De La Rosa suggests asking yourself a question: If you were to stop demonizing your monkey mind, would it have anything to teach you? In a roundabout way, could repetitive thoughts be pointing us in the direction of personal—and even societal—transformation? Poignant and entertaining, The Monkey Is the Messenger offers a range of evidence-based, somatic, and trauma-informed insights and practices drawn from De La Rosa’s study of neuroscience and psychology and his long practice of meditation and yoga. Here at last—a remedy for all those who want to meditate but suppose they can’t because they think too much.