Religion Psychology

Sports is a religion. No, really. From pilgrimages and cathedrals, gods and fallen angels, holy wars and holy ghosts, organized sports has every aspect of an organized faith. In fact, it might be even better: all it takes to believe is to stand and cheer. Nobody knows this better than the preeminent sports documentarian Gotham Chopra, who just so happens to be the son of world-renowned spiritualist Deepak Chopra. While his father taught him to find faith through prayer, Gotham felt pulled towards the Boston Garden and Larry Bird instead.

What does a three-pound brain have to do with one’s sex life? A lot, actually. Hooked is about what’s happening to your brain when you’re having sex. Learn about your brain, the positive effects of sex within permanently committed relationships, and how you can protect yourself (especially your brain) from the dangers of casual sex.

Anyone can do a good deed, but some good works can only happen by an act of God. Around the world these acts are called miracles - not that even religious people expect to see one any time soon. But what would happen if millions of ordinary people walked out each morning expecting God to deliver a miracle through them to a person in need? You Were Born for This starts with the dramatic premise that everyone at all times is in need of a miracle.

Do you feel like there is something inside of you waiting to come out? Are you interested in reaching a higher level of consciousness? Are you tired of feeling stuck? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this book is for you. Awakening the kundalini energy that lives inside of you will raise your consciousness and open you up to a new experience that you never knew existed. Having an awakened kundalini is a gift, one that can help you reach new levels on your spiritual path, which all leads to enlightenment.

The effects of spiritual practices are now being investigated scientifically as never before, and many studies have shown that religious and spiritual practices generally make people happier and healthier. In this pioneering book, Rupert Sheldrake shows how science helps validate seven practices on which many religions are built, and which are part of our common human heritage: meditation, gratitude, connecting with nature, relating to plants, rituals, singing and chanting, and pilgrimage and holy places.

Americans spend $13 billion a year on pornography, the regular viewing of which is linked to higher acceptance of violence against women and adversarial sexual beliefs. Therapists and pastors are not always adequately equipped to address the unique demands of competent care for those struggling with sexually addictive behaviors. Reclaiming Sexual Wholeness, edited by Todd Bowman, presents cutting-edge research from a diverse group of experts in a single, comprehensive resource intended for therapists, clergy, and others in helping professions.

Free yourself from the limitations of the earth plane and the laws of space and time. Astral Voyages presents more than 65 exercises that train you to safely leave your physical body and return unharmed from explorations of the upper astral plane and the causal, mental, or etheric realms. You might even venture to the soul plane and observe the process of selecting your next lifetime!

Using academic, comprehensive, logical, and, at times, mathematical approaches, The Science of Weird Shit convincingly debunks ESP, communicating with the dead, and alien abduction claims, among other phenomena. All the while, however, French maintains that our belief in such phenomena is neither ridiculous nor trivial; if anything, such claims can tell us a great deal about the human mind if we pay them the attention they are due.

Wren Crawford is a social worker who finds herself overwhelmed with the troubles of the world. Her lifelong struggles with anxiety and depression are starting to overcome her. She finds solace in art, spiritual formation, and pastoral care along with traditional therapeutic interventions. But a complicated relationship from her past also threatens to undo her progress.

While many books have tried to integrate theology and psychology, this book takes another step and explores the importance of the spiritual disciplines in psychotherapy, helping counselors to integrate the biblical principles of forgiveness, redemption, restitution, prayer, and worship into their counseling techniques. Since its first publication in 1996, this book has quickly become a contemporary classic—a go-to handbook for integrating what we know is true from the disciplines of theology and psychology and how that impacts your daily walk with God.

Therapeutic counseling in a Christian context can be highly effective when it maintains narrowly focused goals in a time-limited setting. The details of this proven model of pastoral counseling are described in this practical guide. This second edition of Strategic Pastoral Counseling has been thoroughly revised and includes two new chapters. Benner includes helpful case studies, a new appendix on contemporary ethical issues, and updated chapter bibliographies. His study will continue to serve clergy and students well as a valued practical handbook on pastoral care and counseling.

The highest-ranking Soviet bloc intelligence official ever to defect to the West, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa is at it again. A quarter century ago, in his international bestseller Red Horizons, Pacepa exposed the massive crimes and corruption of his former boss, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, giving the dictator a nervous breakdown and inspiring him to send assassination squads to the U.S. to find his former spy chief and kill him. They failed.

Deeply researched and a delight to listen to, The Sacred Chain provides clarity in our uncertain times, revealing a bigger picture of our world and our place within it. It is a panorama consistent with the scientific findings about who we are and where we come from that can actually bolster our faith as it engages our curiosity about ourselves, our universe, and the nature of existence itself.

We are often too busy or preoccupied to attend to our emotions until they hit with the strength of a tornado. When signs of anxiety and panic appear, they ravage our lives, our dreams, and our spirit. It is now possible to stop anxiety from stopping us in our tracks. In her book, Dr. Odessky helps you understand the process of anxiety, and how to arm yourself with strategies that work. Dr. Odessky draws on her 15 years of clinical experience to guide you through the process of not only learning how to overcome anxiety, but also how to enrich your life.

We live in a world that demands relentless perfection. Happy marriages and easy friendships. Bucket list–level adventures and matching family photos. But what if our actual lives don’t feel very #blessed? Might our everyday existence be worthy of a blessing too? Even an average Tuesday?

Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions, wrong reactions, wrong behavior - and unhappiness! Learning to deal with your thoughts is the first step on the road to healthy thinking. How to handle one's thoughts properly is what this book is all about! It explains the life-changing method the authors call misbelief therapy, and it can work for you.

At the heart of being human is the desire to belong. It can make us unspeakably vulnerable to the manipulations of others. Cult leaders prey on this desire, but so do many unscrupulous operators hiding in plain sight. Sarah Steel, the creator of the popular 'Let's Talk About Sects' podcast, has researched the cults you've heard of—and dozens you haven't. What strikes her most are not the differences between bizarre cult behaviour and 'normal' behaviour but the depressing similarities. Her work reveals that we are all susceptible to the power of cult dynamics.

William James was one of the most influential figures in 19th-century American philosophy and psychology. His Pragmatism is a set of lectures that he gave in 1906-07 in answer to the enduring debate between empiricism and rationalism. Shifting between them, he proposed pragmatism as a method, the idea being that the value of any truth is dependent upon its utility–upon its practical and experiential consequences.

Nirvana has become an idealized word associated with the juxtaposition of a cult rock celebrity who died before his time and a vague new age version of Eastern religion. An altered state to be hoped for but likely unattainable, reinforcing that all too familiar uneasiness associated with never being able to have what we truly desire in life.

Tune into your senses, develop your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual awareness, and open yourself up to the power of intuition. Discover the life-changing potential of intuition and use a broad range of practices and techniques designed to reveal your path to innate wisdom. Connect with your subconscious mind through journaling, meditation, adventure, mindful movement, energy healing, moon rituals - explore what works for you.