The Proactive Twelve Steps: A Mindful Program For Lasting Change

by Serge Prengel

The Proactive Twelve Steps outline how you can take a proactive approach to life, gradually stepping up from feeling stuck and powerless to enjoying a balanced and happy life. They are a new take on the original Twelve Steps. They describe the steps as a mindful program instead of a mystical experience in which change somehow happens to you.
This book reflects a deep understanding of behavior change, codependency, stress, and trauma. It presents a clear roadmap for self-compassion and mindful self-discovery. It provides specific step-by-step instructions and a broader context that helps readers make sense of the healing process.

203 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2010

About the author

Serge Prengel, LMHC is in private practice in New York City. He works with people in person or by phone, and has been leading experiential workshops in a variety of venues. He is the editor of Somatic Perspectives on Psychotherapy and the author of several books.

Reviews

[Jim McGurn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book offers an alternative, modern method of dealing with alcoholism/addiction using a different view and a different approach to traditional twelve steps. It is appealing and successful for many. I'm most impressed by the last part of the book, where the author gets into a "Polyvagal Theory" of living in the world and dealing with its threats (suffering). My little summary here does not begin to do it justice. Briefly, we can respond to life's negative stimuli by mindfully engaging, or fight/flight, or shutting down altogether. The engagement on some level is inevitable. I smiled to read his metaphor of a sunflower. Attracted to the sunlight, the hypothetical flower could be pulled the other way by a huge magnetic force. Then comes the dance of dealing with the two powerful attractions. Look at life as a dance! Of course, there's a lot more in the book. Check it out.

[Dee Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting. Didn’t connect recovery 12 Steps very well

The discussions seemed to dance around the discussions found in the Big Book and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Tradition” which made it difficult to link the author’s revisions to how a person working the step program in recovery could apply the information. There were bits and pieces of useful information linked to mindfulness.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired + logical

For those of us who take issue with the language of the 12 Steps, this book is a path into sanity and really, happiness. Straightforward, intelligent approach to long term change for anyone who is frustrated or unhappy.