Spiritual depths of admiration in
family therapy: Grihasta—family life as a spiritual path
Stuart Sovatsky
Infinity Foundation, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A.
Grihasta, the Hindu or Yogic “Householder Path” is a positive, idealistic outline for family and societal psychology. Ideal forms of intra-familial relationship are described where reverence of parents and elders is central, as is fulfillment of dharma or duty on the part of adults and elders in the family and society. Based upon 28 years clinical experience, this paper shows how a simple family therapy intervention involving admiration can approach “spiritual levels” of potency and duration, that is, levels with extraordinary ameliorative powers.
This paper was presented at the
National Conference on
Yoga and Indian Approaches to Psychology
Pondicherry, India, September 29 - October 1, 2002