Dr Jonathan Kaplan on urban mindfulness, psychological flexibility and living from our values
In this episode, Anne Muhlethaler interviews Dr Jonathan Kaplan, Ph.D.
Dr Kaplan is a licensed clinical psychologist, author and teacher, an expert in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), an ACT therapist (for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and also works with the application of mindfulness and meditation in psychotherapy.
Dr Kaplan runs the SoHo CBT + Mindfulness Center, he also teaches courses to undergraduates at The New School in "Mindfulness and Meditation in Psychology" and "Culture, Ethnicity, and Mental Health." Prior to that, he taught graduate courses in "Evidence-Based Practice" and "Mindfulness and Meditation in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy."
He is a visiting faculty member at the Nalanda Institute (which is how Anne came across him), and has held numerous other teaching positions in the past. Dr Kaplan has also written several books, with subjects including the application of mindfulness to city experiences and viewing love and relationships from a modern behavioural perspective. In fall 2020, he also contributed to a playful gift box that incorporated mindfulness with the care of houseplants (i.e., Plantfulness).
Over the course of this interview, Anne invites Dr Kaplan to talk about his path, which led him from California to Japan and back, and how he left an early career in law to get into psychology, first working on a suicide hotline. He tells Anne about how he began to meditate while serving as a psychology intern, having to lead patients with psychiatric disability in meditation, and the effects he observed on them. The two of them also talk about Urban Mindfulness, the title of the online column and subsequent book Dr Kaplan wrote, and how those of us living in noisy big cities can find calm and navigate through it all. They discuss some of the practices outlined in the book, including how to deal with sensory overload and what Dr Kaplan calls the mindfulness of diversity, to help us explore our biases and blind spots.
To conclude, the two of them discuss the powerful possibilities and psychological flexibility offered by ACT, how it can help us work with limiting stories, away from cognitive diffusion or experiential avoidance, and how this method (which leans on mindfulness) encourages us to act in the world according to our values.
A deeply engaging and fascinating interview, full of insights. Happy listening!
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You can find Dr Jonathan Kaplan at Soho CBT - https://www.sohocbt.com/team/dr-kaplan
or on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanskaplan/
His book, Urban Mindfulness https://www.amazon.com/Urban-Mindfulness-Cultivating-Presence-Purpose/dp/1572247495
and his other book ACT and RFT in Relationships https://www.amazon.com/ACT-RFT-Relationships-Commitments-Acceptance/dp/1608823342/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1655999778&refinements=p_27%3AJonathan+S+Kaplan+PhD&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Jonathan+S+Kaplan+PhD
The blog post Anne wrote after her a-ha moment, thanks to Dr Kaplan and his lecture on ACT is here https://avm.consulting/looking-forward/why-i-want-a-flexible-brain
ACT (to sound as the word 'act) or Acceptance & commitment therapy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_and_commitment_therapy
Steven C Hayes, founder of ACT - https://stevenchayes.com/about/
Dr Herbert Benson and the relaxation response - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Relaxation_Response
Transcendental meditation or TM - https://www.tm.org/
Wu wei - or the concept of non-doing in Taoism - https://www.theschooloflife.com/article/wu-wei-doing-nothing/
Walden, the book by Henry David Thoreau - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden
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If you enjoyed this episode, click subscribe for more, and consider writing a review of the show on Apple Podcasts, we really appreciate your support and feedback. And thank you so much for listening!
For all notes and transcripts, please visit Out Of The Clouds on Simplecast - https://out-of-the-clouds.simplecast.com/
Sign up for Anne's email newsletter for more from Out of the Clouds at https://annevmuhlethaler.com.
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For more, you can read and subscribe to Anne's Substack, the Mettā View, her weekly dose of insights on coaching, brand development, the future of work, and storytelling, with a hint of mindfulness.
