The Feminine in Buddhism & Psychoanalysis: Our Portal to Aliveness

In this talk, Dr. Pilar Jennings will explore her decades long relationship to Tibetan Buddhism and its influence on her psychoanalytic practice. With an emphasis on the tradition’s shared efforts to restore our contact with feminine aspects of the psyche – intuitive knowing, empathy, and receptivity – she will consider how the Buddhist and psychoanalytic traditions benefit from active engagement. She will also consider recent collective struggles influencing analytic work, and the analyst’s increased need for feminine resources nurtured in the Buddhist model of mind.

Pilar Jennings is a psychoanalyst based in New York City with a focus on the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation practice. She received her Ph.D. in Psychiatry and Religion from Union Theological Seminary, and has been working with patients and their families through the Harlem Family Institute since 2000. Dr. Jennings is a long-term practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. She is a Visiting Lecturer at Union Theological Seminary; Columbia University; a faculty member of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science; and teaches internationally on the intersection of Buddhist psychology and psychoanalysis. Her publications have included “East of Ego: The Intersection of Narcissism and Buddhist Meditation Practice,” “Imagery and Trauma: The Psyche’s Push for Healing,” Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism (Wisdom Publications; 2010), and a memoir about her entry into clinical work: To Heal a Wounded Heart: On the Transformative Power of Buddhism & Psychotherapy in Action (Shambhala; 2017).