Voices in Health and Wellness

Meditation Meets Modern Therapy: How Dan Landgre Blends Eastern Wisdom and Western Psychology

• Dr Andrew Greenland • Season 1 • Episode 25

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The intersection of Eastern contemplation and Western psychology creates a powerful framework for healing, as demonstrated in this deep conversation with Swedish psychologist Dan Landgre. With over 35 years of clinical experience and 45 years of meditation practice, Dan shares his remarkable journey from Zen Buddhist meditation halls to establishing his thriving psychotherapy practice in Lund.

Dan's unique approach transcends conventional therapy models. Beginning with his own quest for inner peace in the early 1980s, he has crafted a methodology that addresses both psychological distress and spiritual awakening. Rather than limiting himself to a single therapeutic framework, he draws from psychodynamic theory, cognitive approaches, hypnotherapy, and meditation practices to create genuinely personalized treatment. What truly sets his work apart is his growing focus on "spiritual emergence" - helping clients who experience psychological challenges alongside profound shifts in consciousness.

At the heart of Dan's philosophy lies a deceptively simple insight: most psychological suffering stems from our inability to fully accept and love ourselves. "What my clients have in common is not liking parts of themselves," he explains, noting how this internal conflict creates stress that manifests as various ailments. His therapeutic goal is to guide people toward self-acceptance through heightened awareness and internadialogue. Whether working with university students, long-term clients, or groups at his newly established rural retreat center, Dan demonstrates how coming to peace with oneself represents the ultimate healing journey. How might your relationship with yourself change if you approached your challenging parts with compassion rather than conflict?

📇 Guest Contact & Social Links for Episode Bio 

  • Full Name: Dan Landgré
  • Title: Licensed Psychologist & Psychotherapist
  • Practice: Dan Landgré AB
  • Website: www.landgre.se
  • Email: dan@landgre.se
  • Phone: +46 708-972130
  • Location: Lund, Sweden
  • Specialties: Zen meditation, transpersonal psychology, psychotherapy, spiritual emergence
  • Affiliations: Swedish and international Zen sangha


Dr Andrew Greenland:

Welcome to Voices in Health and Wellness. This is the podcast where we sit down with practitioners and clinic leaders to explore what's working and what's really happening behind the scenes. I'm Andrew Greenland, founder of Greenland Medical, and I'm the host of the show Today. I'm really thrilled to be joined by Dan Lundgren. Dan is a licensed psychologist and psychotherapist based in Lund, sweden, leading his own practice, dan Lundgren AB. With a strong clinical background and a deep commitment to patient-centered care, dan brings a thoughtful, grounded perspective to today's conversation. Dan, a very warm welcome and thank you very much for joining us on the show this afternoon.

Dan Landgre:

Thank you very much, Andrew. I'm happy to be here.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

Thank you. So maybe we could start at the the top. Could you tell us a little bit about your journey into psychotherapy and what inspired you to leave behind the purely clinical path to build your own practice in lund?

Dan Landgre:

yeah, actually it's. It's really going back to being a seeker and starting meditation practice, mainly Zen, zen, buddhist meditation in the early 80s and also, of course, my own working with my own problems in my life and finding a cure for that. So it made me interested in psychology. So I went to Lund University and got my psychology and became licensed psychologist and mainly interested in psychotherapy and in 90, no, actually in the beginning of 2000, I found something that's really. This is something very special, I think, and it's the combination with the Zen teacher and with his big mind process that really combines these two strands. Actually, you could say.

Dan Landgre:

And interestingly enough, from working mostly clinically with all kinds of problems you know depression, relational problems, anxiety and all the usual as all kinds of problems, you know depression, relational problems, anxiety and all the usual as a psychotherapist, it's been growing over to working with people that's also really into this, what we call spiritual emergence right, where they have kind of awakenings but connected with, with, with the problematic uh symptoms. So it's it's like a combination of, like you could say, pathological stuff and awakenings, insight into the broader spectrum of consciousness and uh may. There's been more and more of those kinds of patients and some who are very deep into meditation, is really working on their awakening process, and that's also really where I'm heading, more and more. So, of course, my frame of reference for psychology has been transpersonal psychology since, since, since, early on, since the 80s really. I I guess you might be familiar with Ken Wilber, the philosopher who big this, built this theory. Now there's. I'm missing you. I don't know if you hear me.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

I can hear you okay, have you got me?

Dan Landgre:

Yeah, yeah, I can't see you, though, oh okay, there you are again Okay, yeah, yeah, okay. So where were we?

Dr Andrew Greenland:

You were just talking about Ken Wilber.

Dan Landgre:

Yeah, yeah, and he was really, in the 80s, my theoretical guru, I mean, because he was really combining the psychological developmental theories with the spiritual journeys and the transcendental wisdom, the perennial philosophy, you know. So that's been very important for me since then amazing.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

So what was? I don't know how long you've been doing this work or how long ago you established um yourself, but what was your vision for this when you, when you first launched, and how has that changed?

Dan Landgre:

I guess when I first launched it was rather early on, I wasn't even finished with the university, really, I had the end thesis still working on that one, but it was, you know, contacts, colleagues, psychologists, like myself. He really wanted to get me into their business. They had a business with clients, so I established rather early this, but then it was mainly, of course, finding the ways to help people heal. And then it's been changing and working. Back then I was merely psychodynamic, my frame of reference was mainly psychodynamic and, and after that I've been, you know, incorporating cognitive stuff and then also meditation and and and also hypnotherapy.

Dan Landgre:

Hypnotherapy and different modes, different technologies, psychotechnologies really, and and moving over to what does my client really need Today? I think it's really. It's been synthesized in a way. It's got to do with your relation to your heart and really loving yourself and coming to peace with yourself. So it's merging, you know, like in the, the awakening. You say you come to your true nature when you wake up, uh, in in enlightenment and all all the fancy words you we have for that. It's. It's got to do with with um, getting to your true nature, right, becoming one with yourself.

Dan Landgre:

But what, what is that?

Dan Landgre:

What is that that's really, I mean, that's really loving yourself, that's becoming one with love, and then, then, and that is really the synthesis of that, is all getting peace, getting to peace with yourself, right, the conflicts in your mind, that that really is the basis for all kind of ills. I mean psychological and somatic also, because it's stress in the system with all these conflicts. So we have to alleviate the stress in the system and then we have to reach peace with ourselves. These conflicts need to get settled in ourselves. So it's having a dialogue with all the parts of yourself, right. I mean mainly what my clients, what most all of them, have in common is not liking all of themselves, right, they can be all different, really, spite, really contempt for themselves, to different levels of that, of course, of not liking that part and not liking that part, and so on. And, as we know, I mean, when you have that, you also project it, of course, out into the world and put it on other people, and you know which would create a mess for yourself and for others.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

So when a client rings up and says oh, I'm just finding out whether I'd like to work with you, how do you encapsulate what your approach is, because everybody has a different sort of a way of tackling things. You've got a sort of eclectic mix of things that you use to help patients, but how do you tell people in a nutshell what it is that you do and what your approach is for somebody who doesn't know very much, just so that our listeners get an understanding of what your kind of offering is?

Dan Landgre:

Yeah, in a nutshell, I think, Coming to peace with yourself, you know, mainly through finding out how you get into conflict with yourself and through meditation, which helps you become more aware. That's the basic really Got it.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

It, um, where do you get? Where did you find most of the early traction in terms of the people that sort of tended to come to you or reached out to you or you found you could really help as you started out? What's the sort of? I know you probably see a whole raft of different complaints and different problems, but is there a kind of a real focus of where things go wrong for people where your approach really helps?

Dan Landgre:

relational problems for a start, but also I mean also for anxiety and depression. I wouldn't. It's really broad, it's a broad spectrum. It's not just this clinical group, so to speak. It works for many kinds of ailments, I would say, would you?

Dr Andrew Greenland:

regard your approach as quite unique. It works for many kinds of ailments, I would say. Would you regard your approach as quite unique in the sort of psychotherapeutic realm Because I have no idea. No, I just wondered in terms of the industry of psychotherapy, because I just wondered are you doing something very different to what other people are doing?

Dan Landgre:

I guess, I'm trying to ask. It seems like most of my colleagues work in a different way, but I don't know. I don't know really. I also know there are several, but maybe more, in my international sangha. There are several psychotherapists and I guess they work more similarly to me. I'm part of a Swedish sangha A sangha is a Zen Buddhist community, right, and I'm also part of an international Sangha. It's mainly based in the US, but also in Europe. So we're kind of a virtual Sangha and there are many therapists there and I guess many of them work like me. But in Sweden maybe not so much. A few, I know a few that do that. But if you generalize, probably, um, most of my colleagues I mean the swedish psycho psychologists, right, they, they probably don't work like I do, I guess okay, and how do you attract your clients?

Dr Andrew Greenland:

I mean, are you obviously you've probably established you've been working for a while? I guess word of mouth is a big thing, but do you do anything specifically to attract new clients, or do they just find you?

Dan Landgre:

they find me nowadays. I don't do any marketing. Uh, I'm, I'm on. There are certain sites which are actually for free where people can find psychotherapists, and I am on them. They can find me there. I was for a while chairman of the board in the Swedish. How would you translate that? The main clinical body for hypnotherapists, if I put it that way, as we know. So of course I'm on there too, so people find me that way too. But I mean, I've been working as a therapist for, I mean, more than 35 years, so it's mainly word of mouth and it's a really big chunk of students which I love to work with at the university in Lund, where I'm partly situated. My practice is there, it's virtual and it's there and that's the lund university, and they have a program for for becoming a psychologist and uh, so, and they are are supposed to do some therapy for themselves. So I have a bunch of them, uh, the students, and that's it's lovely to work with them really I mean, I haven't seen you know, I guess you you feel the same.

Dan Landgre:

I mean, we're uh, you're no youngster anymore. So I mean the feeling of being uh like a mentor, being able to give to to the young the young people is is uh kind of a special treat, I think so this is not necessarily teaching per se, but they have to do this as part of their.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

They have to basically have therapy themselves to understand the process and go through the process themselves yeah yeah, yeah, and are you noticing any patterns in terms of, um, speaking about millennials, because I guess we're talking about that particular age group are? Are there any particular patterns or problems that are particular to millennials, or is everybody having exactly the same problems throughout the different ages?

Dan Landgre:

Interesting question. It's a good question, but I guess I haven't reflected on it. Really, maybe start from another note. You know that many of them now are already doing meditation and are interested in meditation, and but it could be that I see them because they find out on my website that I'm also a Zen Buddhist monk, and so that way they oh yeah, yeah, he's interested in that and that's good for me. That's what I want so maybe I see a certain clientele. Is that the word you use? Clientele?

Dr Andrew Greenland:

Yeah, clientele yeah yeah, yeah so sorry, come on, no no.

Dan Landgre:

Shoot.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

I was just going to ask another thing. I was going to say are you a one-man band in your practice? Yeah, I was just going to ask what sort of operational challenges you have running a one-man practice in today's age, because obviously you've developed a client base over many, many years. I guess you're very, very busy. I just wondered how it all kind of works from a one-man perspective.

Dan Landgre:

It works fine. I don't. I don't know, maybe it's got to do with my, my, my own, my own process over many years. I mean, I started meditating 45 years ago, you know, and it and it's brought me so much happiness and joy and coming to peace with myself, obviously.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

So I don't know if I dare say it but I don't have much challenges.

Dan Landgre:

Really it's a lovely life. I mean, if you don't look at Gaza and Ukraine and all that which makes your heart bleed, of course, and you cry from it. But otherwise I can't say I really have any challenges, other than I'm a bit split because I have my practice in Lund. But I'm talking to you now from a small land that's like 230 kilometers north of Lund in Sweden, out in the rural area, mostly forests and meadows around, and it's beautiful and I love it here, right with the nature. So I want to be here, but many clients want to meet me in person and you know. So I have mixed feelings. That's. That's a little challenging, having mixed feelings about how, where should I work? Should I go on? You know, I guess I'll be moving up here eventually, Nice.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

Do you have any plans to grow, expand? I mean, obviously you're a one-man band, you'll have everything wrapped. I just wondered if you have interest in sort of taking people on and having apprentices and kind of spreading your approach wider, or whether you're just happy doing what you do.

Dan Landgre:

I'm happy doing what I do. I'm happy doing what I do and I very much nowadays take, you know, I take one step at a time. I'm here, right, and then things come up. And things did come up up here because we built a zendo, you know, part of the old barn. We renovated and built a house inside the barn where there's a sendo and two small bedrooms and, you know, a kitchen and bathroom and so on. So hopefully there will be clients coming, groups doing retreats, both, you know know, both working with just meditation and awakening, but also with confronting the shadow sides, all right, and working in that in a group setting. So that's, I would love that to take, you know, speed.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

Maybe we'll see about that. Okay and um, do you have any immediate plans for what you want to do in your clinic and your practice over the next 6-12 months, or is it just more of the same and just kind of rolling on?

Dan Landgre:

well, it's just what I said, that maybe having groups, it's, you know, up here at workshops with groups that might be otherwise carrying on. I love to meet my clients. I like to meet my patients.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

I love my work even more now I'm partly retired, but so I work three days a week, so it's like a perfect life right now Very nice, and I mean, this is an industry where there's an awful lot of burnout, I'm guessing, but I suppose that your approach and the Buddhism that comes into this is your way of self-care. Is that a fair assessment?

Dan Landgre:

Yeah, definitely. I'm much into self-care and that's what I try to teach also, of course, wonderful, it's all got to do with self-care. Really, how are you about that? Do you meditate?

Dr Andrew Greenland:

I do. Probably not to your level, but I certainly do and I practice what I preach. So all the things I get my patients to do, I'm kind of doing myself. I look after myself, I try to get the best possible quality sleep, I try to keep stress to a minimum, I exercise, I eat. Well, all the things that I tell my patients to do, I'm doing to some degree. I'm not perfect by any means, but I do practice what I preach absolutely yeah, yeah, exactly the same the same here.

Dr Andrew Greenland:

Yeah, yeah, very good to hear thank you and, on that note, thank you very much for your time this afternoon. Very interesting conversation, glad to hear about what you do and your approach. I'm sure this will be something that will resonate with other people listening to this call. But yeah, thank you very much for your time.

Dan Landgre:

Really appreciate it thank you so much, andrew. I'm happy you found me.