Not One, Not Two with Andrew Tootell

WHAT: In this presentation, Dr. Andrew Sono Tootell draws on personal reflections from his work as a Zen teacher and psychotherapist, alongside Lou Nordstrom’s Memoirs of an American Zen Pioneer (2023), to explore the mutual benefits of integrating Zen Buddhism with relational psychotherapy. Nordstrom’s story serves as a cautionary tale, showing that even profound experiences of “kensho” within the Rinzai tradition may not address unresolved relational trauma. In contrast, Andrew highlights how the Soto Zen practice of ‘just sitting,’ when held within a therapeutic relationship that offers empathic recognition of disowned parts of the self, can be deeply transformative for both therapist and client.