Eastern spirituality has exerted considerable influence on the fields of counseling and psychology through the use of mindfulness-based practices. This book serves as a practical introduction to integrating mindfulness-based practices in therapy, with a focus on assessing whether it is appropriate to use or adapt mindfulness activities to the specific cultural identity or identities of clients. Interventions can be adapted to account for clients' religious/spiritual identity, gender norms, racial/ethnic background, community values and pressures, personality traits, unfamiliarity with mindfulness-based practices, cognitive flexibility, and individual life experiences. The authors present an approach to integrating mindfulness in therapy that emphasizes cultural humility, which combines an accurate view of oneself (including limits in one's awareness, knowledge, and skills for working with individuals from diverse groups) with the ability to cultivate an "other-oriented" stance, thus enhancing one's ability to work with clients from a variety of cultural backgrounds. By incorporating this client-centered approach, therapists will be better able to align the therapy process with clients' values, narratives about change, and therapy goals.

This book describes how therapists can combine multicultural theory with their own lived experience to meaningfully engage clients in issues of culture. Many mental health practitioners (MHPs) today recognize and affirm the importance of cultural background - race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality - in their clients' lives. But many MHPs struggle to address cultural issues in practice, whether because of unfamiliarity, or fear of giving offense, or because the presence of cultural differences or similarities between client and therapist that can make it difficult to view the client objectively. The authors of this book recommend that MHPs focus not on what they have learned in previous clinical or educational settings, but on what they don't know about the client who sits across from them. They discuss practical strategies for engaging with clients and their cultural identities, including repairing mistakes that threaten the therapeutic relationship. Through a wide range of case examples and hands-on exercises, the authors demonstrate how therapists can learn to acknowledge their limitations, and view them as opportunities to connect with clients at a deeper level.