Dancing with Fire: A Mindful Way to Loving Relationships

"John Amodeo combines a lifetime of professional psychotherapist work, a love of mindful meditation, and a wry sense of humor ("vertical spirituality!") in his latest book, Dancing with Fire. Amodeo skillfully boils down the conflicting messages of Buddhism ("attachment" causes suffering) and modern psychology/spiritual self-help (love/partnerships equals depth of human experience) to give readers his view of what it means to live in this world: How to end or, at least, become more aware of the need to cling to "suffering." He applies this message to relationships, addressing issues of love, attachment, longing, intimacy, connection, and romance. Dancing with Fire is well written, down to earth, and very informative. It's an excellent guide for couples especially, but also for anyone searching to merge the detached mindfulness of Buddhism with loving spirituality into their modern, practical lives without compromising their feelings." --Allyson Gracie, Retailing Insight, June 2013--Reviews

"Dancing with Fire by John Amodeo offers fresh takes on attachment, desire, longing, love, intimacy and spiritual meaning in relationships." --Frederic Brussat, Spirituality & Practice--Reviews

"DANCING WITH FIRE was an interesting read. It was about looking at past behaviors, explaining why we react to certain situations the way we do, and how to move forward. Recognizing the why was really important to me. I found myself reading certain sections and saying "hey that is me." It also explains the difference between "religion" and "spirituality," "flight and fight response," etc. A lot of the information was based on Buddism and for me, this was distracting at times because I am not familiar with Buddism. Because of this, I found myself putting the book down frequently. Having said that, I did find it informative and I did learn how to recognize my behaviors." --MyBookAddictionReviews--Reviews

"Dancing With Fire is wise, integrated, life affirming, and practical. John invites us and accompanies us to discover a fully human, loving, spiritual maturity." --Jack Kornfield, PhD, best-selling author of A Path With Heart--Reviews

"A fresh and lucid voice in our emerging Western spirituality, John Amodeo offers a powerful synthesis of Buddhist teachings with attachment theory and the best of Western psychological understanding. Particularly compelling and promising is the weaving of Focusing--a body-oriented psychotherapy developed by Eugene Gendlin--with mindfulness meditation. Through this, and deep insights into the nature of relationships, Dancing with Fire gives us invaluable guidance in cultivating true intimacy with our lives." --Tara Brach, PhD, best-selling author of Radical Acceptance--Reviews