Cunsi visualisation of inner deities (Shangqing)

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Shangqing 上清 ("Highest Clarity", also Maoshan 茅山) scriptural corpus as historians of Daoism describe it, chiefly the Shangqing dadong zhenjing 上清大洞真經 (Perfect Scripture of the Great Grotto), the Huangting neijing jing 黃庭內景經 (Inner Scripture of the Yellow Court) and Tao Hongjing's 陶弘景 Dengzhen yinjue 登真隱訣, as analysed by Chan Wai Keung (2011), Miller (2008) and Li Nailong (1999); Robinet (1993) is the standard scholarly monograph [source: Chan 2011; Miller 2008; Li 1999; SUNY Press description of Robinet 1993]. Where a current temple or teacher transmits the method, that teacher's version takes precedence for the client.

What it is. Cunsi 存思 (also cunxiang 存想, cunjian 存見, or simply cun 存; often glossed "visualisation" or "actualisation") is the defining contemplative method of the Shangqing school, which arose from revelations in the mid-Eastern Jin (4th century CE) and was collected and systematised in the Southern Dynasties by Tao Hongjing on Mount Mao [source: Li 1999; Pluralism Project]. Lady Wei 魏夫人 and the Three Mao Lords 三茅君 are revered as patriarchs, and the Xu 許 family as early recipients [source: Li 1999]; the visionary Yang Xi 楊羲 is usually named as the medium of the revelations [uncertain: not verified]. In the practice, the adept, prepared by purification and stillness, recites scripture while imagining the deities said to inhabit the body (shenshen 身神, "body spirits") in their "palaces" and drawing celestial spirits into the body; a second family of methods imagines ascent to heaven for audience with the high gods [source: Chan 2011; Miller 2008; Li 1999]. Kim (2015) stresses that cunsi engages all five sense modalities, not sight alone, and glosses it as imagining something so as to make it real or present [source: Kim 2015, p. 65 n. 4].

How change happens, as the tradition states it. In the tradition's own account, visualising and naming the gods causes them to settle in and guard the body, keeps the viscera in harmony, wards off demonic and "death" influences, and leads toward transcendence (xian 仙), ascent to the heavens and, in some texts, the release of ancestors from guilt [source: Chan 2011, pp. 217, 225, 241; Miller 2008, pp. 2–4, 211]. These are religious claims, attributed to the tradition and neither affirmed nor dismissed here. Health and longevity claims belong to the tradition; no clinical trial of cunsi itself is cited here [uncertain: not verified], and it should not be presented as a treatment for any physical or mental illness.

Status today, and what this guide covers. Miller describes Highest Clarity as, organisationally, "a dead esoteric tradition": its methods were absorbed into the Zhengyi 正一 (Orthodox Unity) order and their vocabulary lives on in Quanzhen 全真 inner alchemy [source: Miller 2008, p. 3]. Mount Mao today has functioning temples (for example 茅山道院 and 九霄萬福宮) with a living liturgy, much of it reconstructed after the 1980s [source: Tao Jin 2025]; whether and how they teach cunsi to lay people is [uncertain: not verified]. Visualisation methods of Shangqing origin remain important in Daoist practice [source: Pluralism Project]. Because the method involves deity worship, invocation of esoteric names, talismans and master-to-disciple transmission, this guide gives a public outline only of the tradition's practice and no step-by-step instructions, sequences, counts or durations. The bulk of the guide is the psychotherapist's own work with a client who practises, or wants to practise, cunsi: client-led integration, adaptation, referral, trauma sensitivity and adverse effects. Cross-refer to Domain II (MBSR, MBCT, MSC, CFT imagery), Domain VII (contemplative and spiritually integrated psychotherapy), Domain IV (trauma-sensitive yoga) and guides 119 (qigong) and 120 (tai chi) in this domain.

2. Framework

This is not a psychotherapy with phases; it is a religious discipline the client brings. Two frameworks run side by side.

A. The practice as the tradition frames it (public outline) [source: Chan 2011; Miller 2008; Li 1999]

Transmission and eligibility. Shangqing texts were transmitted from master to disciple; the scriptures speak of adepts "destined" for the path being granted perfected status, and one hagiography shows a seeker receiving scriptures from immortals after long searching [source: Miller 2008, pp. 95–98; Li 1999]. Goal: legitimate reception of the method. Today: a Daoist priest (daoshi 道士) or temple decides who receives what [synthesis].
Preparation. Purification retreat (zhai 齋, which Li glosses as "guarding stillness", shoujing 守靜), a quiet chamber (jingshi 靜室), clearing away distracting thoughts, incense and attention to auspicious days [source: Li 1999; Miller 2008, pp. 92, 95]. Goal: a settled, purified mind.
Recitation with visualisation. Chanting the Dadong zhenjing or Huangting jing while holding in mind the deities of the body's three regions: the brain with the Niwan palace 泥丸宮 (upper elixir field), the heart's Crimson Palace 絳宮 (middle field), and the lower field below the navel [source: Li 1999; Chan 2011]. In the Dadong zhenjing each stanza names a deity who seals one of the "thirty-nine gates of death qi", whose "perfect qi" is imagined entering through the Niwan; ritual gestures, invocation of names and a talisman accompany each stanza [source: Miller 2008, p. 211; Chan 2011, pp. 229–230, 240]. Goal (as stated): fixing the gods in the body and protecting it.
Calendrical and celestial methods. Some texts lay out a year-long cycle in which gods are visualised descending into the organs at set times, and methods of ascent and audience with the highest gods [source: Miller 2008, p. 4].
Later development. Chan traces a movement from reliance on painted images and oral formulas toward purely mental construction, and a principle of a "method without images" (無形象之法) once the deity has appeared [source: Chan 2011, p. 225]. Later Ming–Qing commentaries reread the practice in inner-alchemy terms of cultivating nature and life (xing 性 and ming 命) [source: Kim 2015, p. 96].
Session format and counts. Timings, cycles and counts belong to the texts and the teacher and are not given here. No source gives a number of psychotherapy sessions for this work.

B. The psychotherapist's framework [synthesis]

Assessment: understand what the client actually does, with whom, from which text or teacher, why, and with what experiences (see 4.1). Move on when you have a shared description in the client's own terms and a risk picture.
Consent and contract: agree whether and how the practice will be talked about in therapy (4.2). Move on only with explicit consent.
Client-led integration: explore the practice's meaning and its place in the client's goals; draw on resources the client already reports (4.3–4.5).
Safety layer, running throughout: screening before intensive retreats, monitoring adverse experiences, trauma-sensitive adjustment, differential assessment (4.6–4.9).
Collaboration and referral: to a qualified Daoist teacher or temple for anything about how to practise; to medical services for health issues (4.10).
Review: revisit regularly whether the practice is helping, neutral or harming by the client's own criteria and by clinical indicators.

3. Guiding principles

[source for principles: synthesis grounded in Lukoff et al. 1992, Farias et al. 2020, Treleaven 2018 as reviewed by Salur, and the scholarly sources above]

Attribute, do not assert or dismiss. Inner deities, qi, the elixir fields and transcendence are described as the Shangqing tradition holds them. Practically: say "in your tradition…" or "as the scripture describes it…", never "the gods in your body are/aren't real".
The therapist is not the teacher. You do not transmit, correct or teach cunsi. Practically: questions of technique go to the client's teacher or temple.
Respect restricted transmission. Names, talismans, incantations and sequences were transmitted under master–disciple conditions. Practically: do not ask the client to disclose them, and do not supply them from books.
Client-led and consented. Spiritual material enters therapy only when the client wants it. Practically: ask before exploring, and let the client set the depth.
The client's language and frame. Use the client's terms (shen, qi, Niwan, Huangting), in Chinese if that is their language. Practically: ask how they would like these named in session.
Imagery is powerful in both directions. Vivid, multisensory imagery can steady or destabilise. Practically: track arousal and dissociation whenever imagery is discussed or practised.
Dose matters. Intensive retreats and long sessions are linked to more difficulties in the meditation literature [source: Farias et al. 2020 for observational vs experimental prevalence; dose link is synthesis]. Practically: ask about intensity, retreats and recent changes.
Do not pathologise, do not miss illness. Visionary experience is expected in this tradition; psychosis, mania and dissociation also occur. Practically: assess function, distress and fit with the tradition's norms (4.9).
No health claims. The tradition links the practice with health and longevity; you do not. Practically: route physical symptoms to the client's doctor.
Cultural humility and even-handedness. Daoist practice is often mixed with family, temple and popular religion, and with other traditions. Practically: do not assume orthodoxy, and do not rank traditions.
Watch power. The teacher relationship carries authority and can be misused. Practically: notice secrecy, fees, isolation or fear-based compliance (5.8).

4. Intervention inventory

The tradition's own method is summarised in 4.0 as a public outline for the therapist's understanding; it is not something the therapist teaches. Items 4.1–4.12 are the psychotherapist's interventions. Unless a source is tagged, the clinical procedures are [synthesis].

4.0 The tradition's practice: public outline (for orientation, not for teaching)

Purpose: to know what a Shangqing-influenced practitioner may be doing, so you can ask informed questions and recognise normal versus troubling experiences.
Outline, as scholars describe it: the adept purifies and withdraws to a quiet chamber, stills the mind, and at chosen times recites scripture while holding in mind the deities of the body's palaces and drawing celestial light or qi into the body, especially through the Niwan at the crown; ritual gestures (such as knocking the teeth and swallowing saliva), invocation of esoteric names, and talismans written in vermilion and worn on the body accompany some methods; other methods imagine ascent to the heavens for audience with the gods [source: Chan 2011, pp. 229–230, 240; Miller 2008, pp. 4, 211; Li 1999; Pluralism Project]. Older sources describe painted images of the inner spirits hung in the room as supports [source: Chan 2011, pp. 224–225, on the Taiping jing]. Step-by-step procedures, names, talismans, timings and counts are transmitted by teachers and are not given here.
Example language (illustrative): "I know a little about Shangqing practice from books, but you are the expert on how you were taught. Could you tell me in your own words what your practice involves, only as much as you are comfortable sharing?"
Watch for: your own urge to fill gaps from reading; a client presenting self-taught methods from books or online material without a teacher (see 4.10); any practice that includes breath-holding or austerities, which belongs with a teacher and, for health effects, a doctor.

4.1 Spiritual and practice assessment

Purpose and when: at intake, whenever the client mentions Daoist practice, and before intensive practice or retreat. Establishes what the practice is, its meaning, and its risk profile.
Steps:
1. Ask whether religion or spirituality matters to the client and whether they want it included in therapy.
2. Map the practice in the client's terms: tradition and lineage (Shangqing texts, Zhengyi or Quanzhen temple, a lay teacher, self-taught from books or apps), how long, how often (qualitatively), alone or in a group, and recent changes in intensity.
3. Ask about purpose: devotion, protection, health and longevity, transcendence, ancestors, curiosity.
4. Ask about experiences during and after practice: imagery, lights, sounds, bodily sensations of movement or heat, presences, fear, bliss, changes in sense of self, sleep.
5. Ask about the teacher relationship and community: who authorises the practice, what is asked of the client (money, secrecy, time, obedience).
6. Screen for current or past psychosis, bipolar disorder, dissociative disorders, PTSD, suicidality, substance use and recent major stressors; ask about sleep and any fasting or austerity linked to the practice.
7. If you use the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview, its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions fits here [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "When you sit and recite, what do you notice: images, sounds, sensations in the body, a sense of presence? Are those experiences mostly settling, mostly unsettling, or a mix?"
Watch for / working: a shared, non-judgemental description; the client correcting your understanding (a good sign); any mismatch between how the client describes the practice and how distressed they appear.

4.2 Consent and contracting for including the practice

Purpose and when: before any exploration of the practice's content or any use of it in therapy.
Steps:
1. State plainly that you are not a Daoist teacher and will not teach or alter the method.
2. Offer options: not discussing the practice; discussing its meaning and effects; or, if the client wishes, drawing on parts of it that they already find helpful (4.4).
3. Agree limits: no disclosure of transmitted names or talismans is needed; the client can stop at any time.
4. Record the consent and revisit it when the focus changes.
Example language (illustrative): "We can leave your practice outside our sessions, talk about what it means to you, or look at how it fits with what you want from therapy. What would feel right?"
Watch for / working: the client feeling able to say no; signs of deference to you as an authority on religion (gently decline that role).

4.3 Exploring meaning in the client's own frame

Purpose and when: when the practice is central to identity, coping or distress; to understand what the inner deities, palaces and ascent mean to this client.
Steps:
1. Invite the client to describe what the practice does for them, in their words.
2. Reflect using their terms, attributing beliefs to them and the tradition.
3. Explore links between the practice and presenting problems (for example, protection imagery and anxiety; ancestor-related aims and grief or family duty).
4. Ask what their tradition says about difficulties they are facing, and how they understand that.
Example language (illustrative): "You said the gods of the body feel like guardians. When you are anxious at work, does that sense of being guarded stay with you, or does it fade?"
Watch for / working: the client feeling understood rather than studied; avoid turning deities into "just parts of the self" unless the client frames them that way.

4.4 Drawing on the client's existing practice as a resource (client-led)

Purpose and when: when the client reports that part of their practice (for example, quiet sitting, recitation, or an image of protection or light) steadies them, and asks to use it between sessions.
Steps:
1. Ask which parts help and in what circumstances.
2. Ask the client to check with their teacher whether using that part outside the formal practice is acceptable in their lineage.
3. Agree on a brief, low-intensity use the client already knows (for example, a short period of recitation or quiet sitting), without adding new imagery, breathing methods or durations.
4. Review effects next session.
Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned that reciting a few lines settles you before sleep. If your teacher is comfortable with it, would you like to try that on difficult nights and tell me what you notice?"
Watch for / working: calmer arousal and better coping by the client's report; stop if the practice becomes avoidance or ritualised reassurance (see 4.11).

4.5 Secular and clinical adaptations: cross-referral

Purpose and when: when the client wants imagery-based help but not religious practice, or is not a Daoist and is curious about cunsi.
Steps:
1. Say clearly that cunsi is a religious discipline and that you will not offer a secularised version of it. No published clinical adaptation of cunsi itself is cited here [uncertain: not verified].
2. Offer evidence-based imagery and contemplative methods from other guides: compassionate-imagery work in CFT and MSC, MBSR or MBCT (Domain II); spiritually integrated and contemplative psychotherapy (Domain VII); trauma-sensitive yoga (Domain IV); qigong (119) and tai chi (120) for body-based practice.
3. If the client wants Daoist practice, refer to a temple or teacher (4.10).
Example language (illustrative): "What you read about is a temple practice with its own teachers. If what you want is a calming imagery exercise, I can offer one from psychotherapy, and if you want the Daoist practice itself, I can help you think about finding a teacher."
Watch for / working: the client's choice is informed; avoid blending religious content into secular exercises without consent.

4.6 Screening before intensive practice or retreat

Purpose and when: when the client plans a purification retreat (zhai), extended solitary practice, or a marked increase in intensity.
Steps:
1. Review mental-health history, especially psychosis, bipolar disorder, dissociation, PTSD and recent suicidality.
2. Review current stressors, sleep, and any fasting or austerity planned; ask the client to discuss health aspects with their doctor.
3. Explain that difficult experiences can occur even in people with no previous mental-health history [source: Farias et al. 2020].
4. Agree a plan: early warning signs, who the client will contact (teacher, retreat staff, you, crisis services), and permission to stop.
5. Where risk is significant, discuss with the client whether to postpone, reduce intensity or practise with closer support.
Example language (illustrative): "Before your retreat, can we write down what would tell you that things are getting too intense, and who you would call?"
Watch for / working: a concrete plan the client owns; avoid forbidding practice, which is the client's and the teacher's decision.

4.7 Monitoring and responding to adverse experiences

Purpose and when: throughout; urgently when the client reports frightening imagery, sensations of energy, loss of sense of self, insomnia or functional decline linked to practice.
Background: a systematic review of 83 studies found adverse events reported in 65% of studies, a pooled prevalence of about 8%, higher in observational than experimental studies; anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies were most common [source: Farias et al. 2020]. The Varieties of Contemplative Experience study documented a wide range of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhist practitioners and their influencing factors and remedies [source: Lindahl et al. 2017, via Cheetah House VCE page]; its detailed domains are not reproduced here [uncertain: not verified]. Cheetah House offers consultation for meditators and professionals [source: Cheetah House VCE page].
Steps:
1. Normalise asking: check in about practice effects regularly.
2. Describe the experience in detail: onset, link to practice, intensity, sleep, function, safety.
3. Dose-reduction: invite the client to discuss with their teacher reducing length or intensity, pausing visualisation, or shifting to simpler, outward-oriented activity.
4. Grounding: orient to the room, the feet on the floor, eyes open, ordinary sensory contact, walking, normal meals and sleep routine.
5. Coordinate with the teacher if the client wishes, and with medical or crisis services if risk rises.
Example language (illustrative): "Let's bring your attention to the room for a moment: what can you see and hear right now? … Would it be possible to ask your teacher whether to pause the visualisation part while things settle?"
Watch for / working: reduced distress and restored sleep and function; persisting or escalating symptoms call for psychiatric assessment.

4.8 Trauma-sensitive adaptation

Purpose and when: for clients with trauma histories, where inward-focused imagery, body sensations or enclosed spaces may trigger intrusions or dissociation.
Steps:
1. Use the window of tolerance as the frame: practice should keep arousal within it [source: Treleaven 2018, as reviewed by Salur].
2. Encourage flexibility in posture to whatever supports staying within the window [source: Treleaven 2018, as reviewed by Salur].
3. Discuss with the client (and, if they wish, their teacher) options such as eyes open, shorter periods, practising with others nearby, choosing which images to hold, and stopping freely [synthesis].
4. Watch for imagery of entry into the body (for example, light or qi entering through the crown) becoming linked with trauma memories of intrusion; offer choice and pause [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "You get to decide how far into the practice you go today. If any image feels like too much, it is fine to open your eyes and come back to the room."
Watch for / working: the client can notice early signs of overwhelm and choose to stop; fewer post-practice intrusions.

4.9 Differentiating spiritual experience from psychiatric disorder

Purpose and when: when visions, presences, voices or messages from deities are reported, especially with distress or functional change.
Background: Lukoff, Lu and Turner proposed, and DSM-IV adopted, the category "Religious or Spiritual Problem" (V62.89) for distressing religious or spiritual experiences not attributable to a mental disorder [source: Lukoff et al. 1992, via Spiritual Competency Resource Center]. The DSM-5-TR carries this as a condition that may be a focus of clinical attention (Z65.8). Criteria from work with religious patients suggest psychopathology when experiences are more intense than normative experience in the person's community, terrifying or preoccupying, accompanied by decline in social functioning or self-care, or involve special messages from religious figures [source: Greenberg and Witztum, as summarised by Spiritual Competency Resource Center]. Visual phenomena are more typical of mystical states than auditory ones [source: same].
Steps:
1. Ask what the client's tradition and teacher would consider expected (visionary imagery of deities is expected in cunsi).
2. Assess function, sleep, self-care, insight, mood elevation, thought disorder, risk and the client's own appraisal.
3. Consider dissociation, mania, depression with psychotic features and substance effects.
4. With consent, consult the teacher about whether the experience fits the tradition's expectations.
5. If psychosis or mania is likely, arrange psychiatric assessment while respecting the religious meaning.
Example language (illustrative): "In your practice, seeing the gods is part of what you hope for. What feels different about what has been happening this week?"
Watch for / working: a formulation that holds both the spiritual meaning and clinical risk.

4.10 Referral to and collaboration with Daoist teachers or temples

Purpose and when: whenever the client wants instruction, has questions about method, or is practising from books without guidance.
Steps:
1. Help the client identify an ordained Daoist priest or recognised temple or association in their tradition (Zhengyi or Quanzhen, or a Mount Mao temple) [synthesis].
2. With written consent, offer to liaise; share only what the client agrees.
3. Keep roles distinct: the teacher holds the method; you hold the therapy.
Example language (illustrative): "Questions about how to do the practice belong with someone trained in it. Would it help to think together about who you could ask?"
Watch for / working: clearer guidance for the client; be cautious about teachers who sell "secret" methods, demand secrecy about harm, or discourage medical care (5.8).

4.11 Scrupulosity and ritual precision

Purpose and when: when concern about correct recitation, purity, auspicious days or talismans becomes anxious, repetitive or doubt-driven.
Steps:
1. Distinguish devotion from compulsion: distress, time taken, reassurance-seeking, fear of catastrophe (for example, punishment or loss of protection) if a detail is wrong.
2. If OCD is present, offer ERP adapted with the client's religious authority: agree with the teacher what the tradition actually requires, and target only the excess [synthesis; IOCDF guidance on scrupulosity not verified, uncertain].
3. Avoid using recitation or protective imagery as a neutralising ritual within ERP.
Example language (illustrative): "If your teacher says one recitation is enough, what happens inside you when you stop there?"
Watch for / working: less time spent, less reassurance-seeking, practice experienced as devotion again.

4.12 Role boundaries, dual relationships and self-disclosure

Purpose and when: throughout, especially if you practise Daoism or another contemplative path yourself.
Steps:
1. Do not act as the client's teacher, priest or co-practitioner; avoid shared practice groups.
2. Disclose your own commitments only when it serves the client, and briefly.
3. Seek consultation when your own beliefs (for or against) are stirred.
4. Follow your profession's ethics code on competence, multiple relationships and respect for religion [synthesis]; build spiritual and religious competence through training and supervision [synthesis; published competency sets such as Vieten et al. 2013 not verified, uncertain].
Example language (illustrative): "My own beliefs aren't the point here. What matters is how your practice sits with you."
Watch for / working: the client does not defer to you on religious questions.

5. Handling problems

The sources do not address psychotherapy with cunsi practitioners directly; all guidance below is [synthesis] except where tagged.

5.1 Client asks you to teach or check their technique. Decline warmly, explain the role boundary, and help them find a teacher (4.10). (illustrative) "I can help with how the practice affects you, but not with how to do it."
5.2 Self-taught practice from books, apps or online sellers. Explore what drew them and what they are doing; name that Shangqing methods were traditionally transmitted by teachers [source: Li 1999; Miller 2008]; encourage guidance; monitor closely for adverse effects (4.7).
5.3 Frightening imagery, presences or "demonic" content. The scriptures themselves frame the practice as protection against demonic influences [source: Chan 2011, p. 217]; ask how the client's tradition reads this; ground (4.7), reduce dose with the teacher, and assess for psychosis, trauma intrusions or dissociation (4.9).
5.4 Overwhelm, insomnia, energy-like sensations. Pause intensive practice by agreement with the teacher; restore sleep, routine, physical activity and social contact; seek medical review for physical symptoms; consider Cheetah House consultation [source: Cheetah House VCE page].
5.5 Depersonalisation or loss of sense of self after practice. Treat as a recognised meditation-related difficulty, not a failure; ground, reduce intensity, and assess for a dissociative disorder [source: Farias et al. 2020 on cognitive anomalies; rest synthesis].
5.6 Stuck or ambivalent client (wants to keep practising but it is causing harm, or feels guilty for stopping). Explore values and the tradition's own teaching on rest, timing and suitability; consult the teacher with consent; avoid taking sides.
5.7 Resistance to discussing spirituality, or fear of being judged. Respect it; leave the practice outside therapy unless invited back (4.2); repair if you overstepped.
5.8 Teacher or group concerns. Signs of coercive control include demands for secrecy about harm, escalating payments for "secret" methods, isolation from family, threats of supernatural punishment for leaving, and discouraging medical care. Independent findings of misconduct specific to current Shangqing teachers: none found in the sources consulted. Support the client's own judgement; help with leaving and religious trauma if they choose; never name individuals without independent reporting.
5.9 Health claims and medical decisions. The tradition links the practice to health and longevity [source: Chan 2011, p. 225; Li 1999]. Do not endorse or dispute it; insist that physical illness stays under medical care and that medicines are discussed only with the prescriber.
5.10 Austerities, fasting or breath-holding methods attached to the practice. Do not give or adjust them. Ask the client to involve their doctor; if eating, sleep or weight are affected, assess for eating disorders or mood disorders.
5.11 Scrupulosity about errors in ritual. See 4.11; consult the client's religious authority with consent.
5.12 Rupture over religious difference. Acknowledge it, clarify your role, invite feedback, and seek supervision; consider referral to a therapist with relevant cultural or religious competence if the client prefers.
5.13 Risk. Any suicidal thinking, mania, psychosis or severe dissociation overrides the practice plan: follow standard risk assessment and crisis procedures, involving the teacher only with consent.
5.14 Children and young people. If a minor is involved in intensive practice, retreats or austerities, assess consent and assent, involve parents or carers, and follow local safeguarding procedures.

Sources

Online sources:

Books and articles cited:

Robinet, Isabelle (1993). Taoist Meditation: The Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity. Trans. Julian F. Pas and Norman J. Girardot. State University of New York Press. [contents known from publisher description only]
Miller, James (2008). The Way of Highest Clarity: Nature, Vision and Revelation in Medieval China. Three Pines Press.
Lindahl, J., et al. (2017). "The Varieties of Contemplative Experience: A Mixed-Methods Study of Meditation-Related Challenges in Western Buddhists." PLOS ONE 12(5): e0176239.
Farias, M., et al. (2020). "Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review." Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 142(5): 374–393.
Treleaven, David A. (2018). Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing. W. W. Norton.
Lukoff, D., Lu, F., and Turner, R. (1992). "Toward a more culturally sensitive DSM-IV: Psychoreligious and psychospiritual problems." [details via Spiritual Competency Resource Center]
ICD-10-CM Z65.8, Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances (includes 'Religious or spiritual problem')

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