Mindfulness for Beginners

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 mindfulnessThe value of coming back to our bodies and to our senses over and over againHow our thoughts "self-liberate" when touched by awarenessMoving beyond our "story" into direct experienceStabilizing our attention and presence amidst daily activitiesThe three poisons that cause suffering—and their antidotesHow mindfulness heals, even after the factReclaiming 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 digital access to five guided mindfulness meditations by Jon Kabat-Zinn, selected from the audio program that inspired this book.