Halfway Up the Mountain boldly reveals the grave distortions and fraudulent claims to power that characterize the spiritual scene in our times. A synthesis of dozens of first hand interviews with renowned scholars, teachers and experts in the field combined with broad research and personal experience, Halfway Up the Mountain is a unique and necessary text in the field of spirituality. Original contributions from: Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Robert Svoboda, Chrisitina Grof, Joan Halifax, George Feurstein, Charles Tart, Joshu Kwong Roshi,…and many others.

This book is a thoughtful and insightful examination of the modern spiritual scene that helps readers avoid the pitfalls of such a precarious path.

Mariana Caplan addresses:
– Mistaking mystical experience for enlightenment
– Ego inflation, power, and corruption among spiritual leaders
– Questioning the need for a teacher
– “Real” teachers vs. “false” teachers
– The need to rest “enlightenment”
– Disillusionment on the path

Mariana Caplan, PhD, MFT, is a licensed psychotherapist, professor of yogic and transpersonal psychologies, and the author of seven books in the fields of psychology and spirituality, including, The Guru Question: The Perils and Awards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher (Sounds True, 2011), Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path (Sounds True, 2010), which won five national awards for best spiritual book of 2010, and the seminal Halfway Up the Mountain: the Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment.

She has spent 20 years researching cutting edge and controversial topics in Western Spirituality, and dialoguing with the great spiritual teachers, scholars, and luminaries of our time. She is a leading spiritual psychologist, using somatic approaches to psychotherapy to support spiritual practitioners and teachers with the process of healing trauma and moving towards psycho-spiritual integration, and working with the complex discernment that arise in the context of spiritual practice and in spiritual communities.

She is an adjunct professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies where she creates and teaches innovative public and academic programs. She has degrees cultural anthropology, counseling psychology, and contemporary spirituality, and is a teacher, lifelong practitioner, and lover of yoga philosophy and asana.

Mariana resides in the San Francisco Bay Area where she has a private psychotherapy practice, and ecstatically enjoys her life as a new mom.

For her articles and other Book Reviews View Here and
Here and Here

Mariana Caplan – Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview