Customer Reviews

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

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A family member bought this book. I found it sitting on a shelf, glanced at the cover and involuntarily thought to myself "uh oh, granola time," and came within a heartbeat of dismissing the book out of hand. Luckily, I did not. Instead, I read the introduction, and then found myself -- almost in a state of disbelief -- reading on and on. I was amazed to find that the book is not just one more new age book muttering away about a world none of us really lives in. To the contrary, the book is written by someone with a profound understanding of everyday reality, who is astonishingly good at sharing that understanding. This is simply a beautiful little book, beautifully written. I would be curious to know if others are reacting to this book the way I am: I feel compelled to rave about it. I read the book for the first time weeks ago, yet tonight in the grocery store I found myself slowing down, marvelling at the sight of my daughter gaily picking out tomatoes, and consciously basking in the moment. And I'm a middle-aged Republican, not particularly predisposed to spiritual impulses! The author of this book has something timeless and important to impart, and he does so with unusual intelligence and grace. I really like this book -- indeed, I hope I'm forgiven for suspecting that it is a work of genius. I also hope that the author happens to read this review, because he should know how much his work is appreciated!

I have revisited this meditation guide many times since first reading it nearly five years ago. Kabat-Zinn is not a yogi, sage or Zen master. Rather, he is a meditation teacher and the director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He also teaches Massachusetts prison inmates how to meditate. He approaches meditation in a non-spiritual way. "Meditation can be a profound path for developing oneself, for refining one's perceptions, one's views, one's consciousness," he writes. "But, to my mind, the vocabulary of spirituality creates more practical problems than it solves" (p. 264). In this easy-to-read book, Kabat-Zinn shows us how to cultivate mindfulness in our lives.

The "practice, practice, practice" of meditation enables us to find our "soul path, a path with heart" (p. xvi), and to "chart a course toward greater sanity and wisdom in our lives" (p. xx). Through meditation, Walden Pond can be found in our breath (p. 24). Meditation, Kabat-Zinn tells us, "is a Way of being, a Way of living, a Way of listening, a Way of walking along the path of life and being in harmony with things as they are" (p. 88). "Dwelling inwardly for extended periods, we come to know something of the poverty of always looking outside ourselves for happiness, understanding, and wisdom" (p. 96).

Besides learning how to surf the waves of life through mindfulness training, in this book you will also find words to live by on non-doing, patience, letting go, non-judging, voluntary simplicity, the delusion of positive thinking, ahimsa (non-harming), anger and parenting. Whether you are new to the meditation cushion or a longtime practitioner, if you are looking for a simple, how-to book on meditation, "this is it."

G. Merritt

a way to slow the pace of your busy world, Jon Kabat-Zinn can express the "out of body" concepts of meditation in a way that no one else can.

You get to choose: "Wherever you go...." is a book that can be explored over and over, that can start you on a path to a new habit to find within yourself what you need to survive today's busy world; that can help you find a new habit to renew the life you lead. Or, utilize its message just as a brief "chapter read" to jump start the positive if you are not looking for a lifelong habit.

It is very difficult to express, in words, the inner activities that result in becoming comfortable in your own skin. Kabat-Zinn writes thoughtfully and honestly about how he has accomplished this, and what things might work for you. There are many treasures in this book. For me, his ability to describe the rewards one gets from practiced patience, and to impress upon the reader the simplicity of the "body scan" and how it can lead to the habit of lying down meditation are two examples of things that readers can take away at any given time from his book.

Many self-help readers today are looking for the "quick fix" or some small coping practice they can employ to keep their days positive. In some ways, in addition to helping you understand why meditation works and why it can change your life, Kabat-Zinn writes a poetic and illuminating version of the "one minute help" chapters that the "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" series provided to these readers in the busy working world.

When you couple his vision and ideas with the lovely verse that liberally sprinkles his book (Kabir, Thoreau and Whitman are favorites) you have a quiet and inspirational message that can do more to help you understand and eliminate your stress than can all the meditation, control and organizational techniques advocated in today's America could ever do.

Read "Wherever you go, there you are" and learn how mindfulness can change the course of your daily life for the better. It works.

These techniques proved of much more value to me after reading Conversations with God and An Encounter With A Prophet. Having removed all of my unconscious fears of the spiritual world I could go into a much deeper, peaceful and meaningul meditative state.

My best friend tends to take life slowly and accept it on its own terms...and that facet of his personality has always driven me crazy! :-) The words "slow" and "languid" could never be applied to my lifestyle. I have always hurried through life at such a frantic pace...regretting yesterday and dreaming of tomorrow, yet never truly living in the moment. A year ago I happened upon this book, and it has made an enormous impact on my life. This literary jewel took me to a place I'd never visited before: the realm of 'moment mindfulness.' As the author so eloquently writes,

The lack of mindfulness "...scavenges to fill time, conspires with my mind to keep me unconscious, lulled in a fog of numbness to a certain extent. It has me unavailable to others, missing the play of the light on the table, the smells in the room, the energies of the moment. Stillness, insight, and wisdom arise only when we can settle into being complete in this moment, without having to seek or hold on to or reject anything."

Learning how to immerse myself in this moment, and this moment alone, has been incredibly difficult. Yet the serenity, peace and soul satisfaction experienced therein are priceless. The "Non-Judging" chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Realizing my propensity to constantly evaluate my experiences and hold them up against expectations and standards that I create, often out of fear, has been tremendously liberating. I largely thank this book, and my best friend, for that lesson learned. :-)

I enthusiastically recommend this book to everyone. I find it especially useful to my clients who struggle with childhood abuse issues. Therapy clients who suffer from bi-polar, COPD or Borderline Personality disorders could also be helped significantly from learning the meditation techniques in this book.

We exist as we are, on this plane, in this realm, at this moment in the timeless here and now. And that is enough....more than enough.

This is a book you have to be ready to read in order to get the benefit out of it. You will either think it is just scribbles of others' notes. Or you will think that it is a masterpiece. I bought this book sitting on my shelf a year ago. Why? Because at that point of my life I could not stop my racing thoughts (the need to do something all the time) enough to experience what the author - Jon Kabat-Zinn, tries to communicate. Some how, life turned around a little (probably when I started reading Eckart Tolle's books). My thought pattern starts slowing down and I start living in the present moment with consciousness of thoughts. A year later, I pick up this book again and start reading. Suddenly, it is truly a bundle of joy. It is a book I would like to read when I am at the coffee shop or even just to enjoy a great Saturday afternoon. I feel that this book is truly a rare jewel you find on Earth. The author picks up the most delicate moment where human beings can meditate. He gives me great inspiration/ways to slow down thoughts/thinking.

But again, meditations, staying in the present moment isn't something we need to read a lot about. We can read on the world's greatest books and still not able to find peace and joy in life. Just like what the author had said in one chapter. One can jump from one teacher to another looking for salvation from the outside. However, it is working on the inner self, focusing on the inner thoughts and patterns that rise one's mindful/peaceful thinking to the next level (yet rising just means further centering and grounding).

From experience, it is about letting the human ego die every day and letting go of fear and judgement. Letting go of the seemingly unbearable pain and attachment. It is truly about having full awareness of thoughts and beliefs and process those things on a piece of paper/therapist. Then, sooner or later, one will find a taste of what mindfulness truly mean. You might still endure physical pain because of illness. But the pain gets easier every day when we are aware of our mind and body.

This is a book to experience. Speed-reading will not help you to taste what the author is trying to offer.

I brought this book after hearing Jon on an Australian radio program and really liked hearing what he had to say. I've been meditating for about 20 years and usually practice most morning. I've read a lot of books on the subject and have visited Ashrams and studied Yoga in India on my travels. If you are new to the subject them I would recommend this book as Jon has a lot of useful and interesting things to say. If you have been doing meditation for a number of years then you will not really learn anything new. I don't want to sound arrogant but I've read most of what he has to say in other books. Meditation is basically just being in the moment. Just focusing on one thing, either an object, breath or mantra. If you are new to meditation it may be worth trying a few different styles of meditation to see what is best suited to you as we are all unique. What maybe good for one person will not necessary be good for someone else. I would also recommend reading other books on the topic. After you have read a few books they all basically say the same thing, "Just focus on the moment"

While reading the book I felt that Jon Kabat-Zinn knew me personally and that he was speaking of me and to me. I practice this and Yoga now, and to speak frankly this has saved my life. My life is much calmer as am I. I still deal with things in my mind...BUT, I am dealing with things now that have haunted me for over 40 years. This book explains life and what is important. I wish I could give everyone this book and that they could read and understand themselves. This is better education than the masters I hold. I wish that this was taught in school. It has truely changed my life.

This has long been a best seller and justifiably so. Kabat-Zinn works clinically with people who are stressed and his earlier book, Full Catastrophe Living, was written for people who are almost pathologically stressed, to bring them the beneficial effects of meditation. The present book is written for average people on the street, who may not need so urgently the therapeutic effects of meditation, but in the belief that we can all of us use a healthy dose of it. It is written with no religious strings attached, and even avoiding the word "spiritual," and yet it has the ability to open up the spiritual realm for us, no matter what we wish to call it. It is an introduction for the beginner and a source of good advice for the practitioner of meditation. It's written in bite-sized chapters, in clear, easy and very readable prose. It is a delight to read. The book's three parts explore the why and how of meditation and its many applications in daily life. Many chapters conclude with suggestions for reflection or meditation. It is concentrated wisdom that deserves much rereading and a permanent place on your library shelf.

In Jon Kabat-Zinn's first book, Full Catastrophe Living, he details the relationship between stress and health and outlines his program for reclaiming your life. True to his style of revealing the extraordinary aspects of the otherwise ordinary, this book shows the reader how to enrich many day-to-day activities through mindful living.

I particularly enjoyed the format. The book first introduces the reader to the concept of mindfulness and then it provides short chapters about how mindfulness can be applied to various aspects of life. Making the chapters short and focused on a particular facet allows the reader to quickly read and apply the techniques in a step-wise fashion, incrementally applying mindfulness to different aspects of life.