Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment--and Your Life [Hardcover]

Jon Kabat-Zinn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2011

An Invitation to the Practice of Mindfulness
We may long for wholeness, suggests Jon Kabat-Zinn, but the truth is that it is already here and already ours. The practice of mindfulness holds the possibility of not just a fleeting sense of contentment, but a true embracing of a deeper unity that envelops and permeates our lives. With Mindfulness for Beginners you are invited to learn how to transform your relationship to the way you think, feel, love, work, and play and thereby awaken to and embody more completely who you really are.
Here, the teacher, scientist, and clinician who first demonstrated the benefits of mindfulness within mainstream Western medicine offers a book that you can use in three unique ways: as a collection of reflections and practices to be opened and explored at random; as an illuminating and engaging start-to-finish read; or as an unfolding lesson- a-day primer on mindfulness practice.
Beginning and advanced meditators alike will discover in these pages a valuable distillation of the key attitudes and essential practices that Jon Kabat-Zinn has found most useful with his students, including:
Why heartfulness is synonymous with true mindfulness
The value of coming back to our bodies and to our senses over and over again
How our thoughts self-liberate when touched by awareness
Moving beyond our story into direct experience
Stabilizing our attention and presence amidst daily activities
The three poisons that cause suffering and their antidotes
How mindfulness heals, even after the fact
Reclaiming our wholeness, and more.
The prescription for living a more mindful life seems simple enough: return your awareness again and again to whatever is going on. But if you ve tried it, you know that here is where all the questions and challenges really begin. Mindfulness for Beginners provides welcome answers, insights, and instruction to help us make that shift, moment by moment, into a more spacious, clear, reliable, and loving connection with ourselves and the world.
Includes a complete CD with five guided mindfulness meditations by Jon Kabat-Zinn, selected from the audio program that inspired this book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Jon Kabat-Zinn is one of the finest teachers
of mindfulness you will ever encounter.”

—JACK KORNFIELD
Author of A Path with Heart


“Jon Kabat-Zinn provides access to the
essence of meditation and its applications
for both the beginner and those who
wish to deepen and expand their practice.
He embodies what he describes.”

—DEAN ORNISH, MD

About the Author

Featured in Bill Moyer's PBS Special Healing and the Mind, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. is executive director at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He is the founder and former director of the UMMC Stress Reduction Clinic and an associate professor of medicine in the division of preventive and behavioral medicine. Using mindfulness meditation, Kabat-Zinn works to help people reduce stress and deal with chronic pain, and a variety of illnesses, particularly breast cancer. He was a trainer for the 1984 U.S. Men's Olympic Rowing Team and is especially interested in reducing the stress-related problems in the inner city and in prison populations. Kabat-Zinn's books include: Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness (1991); Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (1994) and Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting (1997), which was co-authored with his wife, Myla.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: SOUNDS TRUE.; Har/Com edition (December 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604076585
• ISBN-13: 978-1604076585
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Alternative Medicine > Meditation
  • #12 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Eastern > Buddhism
  • #13 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Mental & Spiritual Healing

More About the Author

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, as well as professor of medicine emeritus. He lives in the Boston area. Hor Tuck Loon has been guiding meditation for the past twenty years, drawing parallels from many ancient wisdom teachings and also from his years of experience in the journey of mindfulness. He lives in Malaysia.

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#26 in Books > Self-Help

#37 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#79 in Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#81 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#26 in Books > Self-Help

#37 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#79 in Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#81 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

317 of 325 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Foundation and Practice - the basics for Westerners April 22, 2007

By Patrick D. Goonan

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This CD is an introduction to mindfulness that is aimed at an audience of Westerners who are not familiar with Eastern philosophy. This audio provides the foundational concepts necessary to have a meditation practice and gives a taste of several different types of practice.

The first CD covers concepts such as the present moment, the definition of mindfulness at attending to what is arising in the moment, awareness, the relationship between mind and heart, etc. It also covers the importance of openness and curiosity vs. judgment and identification with what is going on. That is to say, it distinguishes between a witness of what is arising and the phenomena in question. In other words, it makes the point that there is something standing behind the mind, emotions, sensations, etc. and that this something is a type of consciousness called witness consciousness. This CD also goes into the important of allowing (non-striving) vs. a desire that pushes toward acheiving something. In the last section of CD Zinn contrasts awareness which is passive and accepting with thinking which arises out of desire.

The second CD provides an introduction to some minfulness practices such as mindful eating, breath meditation, mindfulness of the body as a whole, mindfulness of objects such as sounds, thoughts and emotions. It also introduces the notion of meditation as pure awareness without judgment. One might compare this to pure experience without desire or aversion. Although one is given a taste of each of these practices, none of them are comprehensively covered and the guided meditations are not long enough for practice purposes except for a complete beginner.

In general, meditative practices are divided into concentration practices (narrowing the attention) and mindfulness practices (awareness is expanded in a detached way). On the this CD, all of the practices are termed mindfulness practices, but the CD actually contains both types which in essence are about attending to different aspects of reality in different ways.

As someone who teaches meditation to Westerners myself, I find this an excellent, gentle and easily accessible introduction. It achieves what it sets out to do, which is to provide a philosophical framework for a meditation practice and the very basics of starting one.

If you enjoy this tape and you want to take things deeper, then Guided Mindfulness Meditation (Guided Mindfulness) by the same author would be a logical continuation. The book Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation would also be a great next step. Something complimentary that build on it, but is a bit more heart-centered would be Meditation for Beginners. There is also a listmania list on my profile for meditation that has other recommendations.

214 of 221 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Philosophy & Practice for Improved Health August 17, 2006

By Rebecca of Amazon HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a program used in hospitals and medical clinics around the world. Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches a foundation for mindfulness that encourages healing. He is the founding director for the Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

The first CD explores the philosophy and practice of mindfulness. It is entertaining and I love Jon Kabat-Zinn's sense of humor. This is the section where you learn about positive qualities you can cultivate to enhance your life and negative aspects that can be poision to the body and heart.

The second CD then explores an actual practice session where you experience keeping your attention on the moment. Paying attention on purpose can be enlightening all on its own as you awaken to a more compassionate moment and unveil inner wisdom.

Meditation is a universal practice and you don't need to belong to any specific religion to experience the benefits of exploring moments of relaxing peace.

Jon Kabat-Zinn's calming voice is wonderful to listen to and his guided meditation sections explore a variety of essential principles needed to enjoy a meditation session. Eventually you start to breathe more deeply, relax into not thinking and happiness rises from within. It is truly a beautiful way to reconnect with who you truly are and while you may assume sitting quietly is hardly doing anything at all, it is amazing what can be accomplished in silence.

Meditation strengthens you so you walk through the earth with a different focus, more awareness and even more confidence. This CD does focus on the basics of meditation and therefore is perfect for anyone who wants to heal the mind, body and spirit.

~The Rebecca Review

90 of 91 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Life changing August 11, 2007

By Jill Tunstall

Format:Audio CD

I have been lucky enough to take two Mindfulness courses and they have changed my life. Both were run by excellent course leaders but nothing compares with hearing Mindfulness founder Jon Kabat Zinn discuss the philosophy and methodology behind it. His wit, compassion and way with words themselves make CD1 compulsive listening as well as explaining the reasons for CD2 which are the practices themselves. I cannot recommend this highly enough to anybody who wants to learn about themselves and especially those seeking release from troubled mind states such as anxiety and depression. Buy it- Mindfulness practitioners will tell you honestly that they make no promises to 'fix things' but it might change your life too...