"Buddhism asserts that a good, happy life is determined not by anything external but rather by the quality of our minds and hearts in each moment of life. Regardless of what we do or don't do externally, a life spent cultivating wisdom and compassion is a good life." — Dr. Lorne Ladner, Ph.D., The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering The Practice Of Happiness In The Meeting Of Buddhism And Psychology
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. • Dr. Lorne Ladner, Ph.D., has served as director of The Guhyasamaja Center for over 12 years. Dr. Ladner is also a clinical psychologist in private practice Centreville, VA (www.lorneladner.com). He provides individual psychotherapy, family therapy, and assessments. Dr. Ladner also provides workshops and trainings on the psychology of positive emotions, the integration of meditation and psychotherapy, and on Buddhist psychology.
He is the author of a number of books and articles including The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering The Practice Of Happiness In The Meeting Of Buddhism And Psychology (HarperCollins, 2004). He also edited Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa's book The Easy Path: Illuminating The First Panchen Lama's Secret Instructions (Wisdom Publications, 2013).
Dr. Ladner began studying Buddhist meditation over 25 years ago. Over the years, he has studied Tibetan Buddhism closely with some of the greatest living Tibetan masters and with numerous leading Western scholars. He has been a student of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche for many years, and was also a close student of the late Kyabje Ribur Rinpoche. In recent years, he's been studying closely with Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa.
Dr. Ladner has also taught Buddhist meditation for a number of years at various meditation centers around the East Coast. He has taught workshops on using meditation in integration with psychotherapy — especially for evoking positive emotions such as compassion — at venues including Omega Institute, Tibet House, The New York Open Center, and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. He also teaches workshops on these subjects for clinicians.
In addition to his Ph.D. in psychology (from Pacifica Graduate Institute), Dr. Ladner has also earned a B.A. with high honors in Religious Studies (from Wesleyan University) and an M.A. in non-fiction writing (from the University of New Hampshire). Other books by him include Bridges of Compassion: Insights And Interventions In Developmental Disabilities, co-authored with Alex Campbell and published in 1999 by Jason Aronson, Inc., and The Wheel Of Great Compassion: The Practice Of The Prayer Wheel In Tibetan Buddhism, published by Wisdom Publications in 2000. He also produced a video on integrating mindfulness meditation with psychotherapy published in 2006 by the American Psychological Association Press, entitled Mindful Therapy.
