Search Results for: Mindfulness for Health

WINNER OF BEST BOOK (POPULAR MEDICINE) AT THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION’S BOOK AWARDS 2014

Pain, suffering and stress can be intolerable – but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Mindfulness for Health reveals a series of simple practices that you can incorporate into your daily life to relieve chronic pain and the suffering and stress of illness. Clinical trials show that mindfulness meditation can be as effective as prescription painkillers and also enhances the body’s natural healing systems. Mindfulness can also reduce the anxiety, depression, irritability, exhaustion and insomnia that can arise from chronic pain and illness.
Mindfulness for Health is based on a unique meditation programme developed by Vidyamala Burch to help her cope with the severe pain of spinal injury. Taught at Breathworks in the UK – and its affiliates around the world – this programme has helped tens of thousands of people cope with pain, illness and stress. Breathworks’ pioneering approach is praised by Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Professor Lance McCracken of King’s College London.
The eight-week programme at the heart of this book takes just 10-20 minutes per day. It is particularly effective for the biggest causes of pain – back problems, arthritis, migraine and diabetes but works equally well for cancer (and its associated chemotherapy), heart disease, fibromyalgia, celiac disease, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, labour pain and even tinnitus. You will be surprised by how quickly your suffering melts away, leaving you able to live life to the full again.

WINNER OF BEST BOOK (POPULAR MEDICINE) AT THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION’S BOOK AWARDS 2014

Pain, suffering and stress can be intolerable – but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Mindfulness for Health reveals a series of simple practices that you can incorporate into your daily life to relieve chronic pain and the suffering and stress of illness. Clinical trials show that mindfulness meditation can be as effective as prescription painkillers and also enhances the body’s natural healing systems. Mindfulness can also reduce the anxiety, depression, irritability, exhaustion and insomnia that can arise from chronic pain and illness.
Mindfulness for Health is based on a unique meditation programme developed by Vidyamala Burch to help her cope with the severe pain of spinal injury. Taught at Breathworks in the UK – and its affiliates around the world – this programme has helped tens of thousands of people cope with pain, illness and stress. Breathworks’ pioneering approach is praised by Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Professor Lance McCracken of King’s College London.
The eight-week programme at the heart of this book takes just 10-20 minutes per day. It is particularly effective for the biggest causes of pain – back problems, arthritis, migraine and diabetes but works equally well for cancer (and its associated chemotherapy), heart disease, fibromyalgia, celiac disease, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, labour pain and even tinnitus. You will be surprised by how quickly your suffering melts away, leaving you able to live life to the full again.

THE LIFE-CHANGING BESTSELLER – OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD

Authoritative, beautifully written and much-loved by its readers, Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world has become a word-of-mouth bestseller and global phenomenon. By investing just a few minutes each day, this classic guide to mindfulness will put you back in control of your life once again.

‘Simple and profound’ Sir Kenneth Brannagh

‘If you want to free yourself from anxiety and stress, read this book’ Ruby Wax

Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world is based on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Co-developed by Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, MBCT is recommended by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and is as effective as drugs for preventing depression. But, equally, it works for the rest of us who aren’t depressed but who are struggling to keep up with the relentless demands of the modern world.

The book reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that you can incorporate into daily life to break the cycle of anxiety, stress unhappiness and exhaustion. It promotes the kind of happiness that gets into your bones and allows you to meet the worst that life throws at you with new courage.

Based on Dr. Borysenko’s ground-breaking work nearly twenty years ago at the Mind/Body Clinic in Boston, Minding the Body, Mending the Mind continues to be a classic in the field, with time-tested tips on how to take control of your own physical and emotional wellbeing. The clinic’s dramatic success with thousands of patients-with conditions ranging from allergies to cancer-offers vivid proof of the effectiveness of the mind/body approach to health and its power to transform your life. Here are tips on how to elicit the mind’s powerful relaxation response to boost your immune system, cope with chronic pain, and alleviate symptoms of a host of stress-related illnesses. Updated with the recent developments in the field, the new edition is a must-have for anyone interested in taking an active role in healing himself or herself.

Based on the latest work from Professor Paul Gilbert OBE, bestselling author of The Compassionate Mind, and Buddhist expert Choden.

Professor Gilbert has spent the past twenty years developing a new therapy called Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) which has an gained international following. In recent years, mindfulness is being used increasingly to treat common mental health problems such as depression, stress and stress-related insomnia.

In this ground-breaking new book, Professor Gilbert, along with his co-author Choden, combines the best of Compassion-Focused Therapy with the most effective mindfulness techniques. The result is an extremely effective approach to overcoming everyday emotional and psychological problems and improving one’s sense of wellbeing.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? If you’ve ever doubted yourself, allowed other people’s negativity to stop you from doing what you want, or assumed that any success you’ve had in the past was just a case of ‘pure luck’, then you need The Mind Makeover.

For many years Sharron Lowe has been the go-to coach for global luxury brands. She has coached thousands of people, helping them to make positive changes in how they think, feel and what they believe is possible. In doing so she has transformed the brands and people she works with.

In The Mind Makeover, Sharron Lowe shares her success strategies. She will show you how to: create a positive inner voice, stop negative influences ruling your life, and build your confidence and self-belief. So what are you waiting for? A mind lift is much better than a face lift, and your mind is the key to living your best life yet. The Mind Makeover is essential reading for anyone who wants to take control of their life.

Throughout history people have sought to cope with a life that is often stressful and hard. We have actually known for some time that developing compassion for oneself and others can help us face up to and win through the hardship and find a sense of inner peace. However in modern societies we rarely focus on this key process that underpins successful coping and happiness and can be quick to dismiss the impact of modern living on our minds and well-being. Instead we concentrate on ‘doing, achieving’ and having’. Now, bestselling author and leading authority on depression, Professor Paul Gilbert explains how new research shows how we can all learn to develop compassion for ourselves and others and derive the benefits of this age-old wisdom.

In this ground-breaking new book he explores how our minds have developed to be highly sensitive and quick to react to perceived threats and how this fast-acting threat-response system can be a source of anxiety, depression and aggression. He describes how studies have also shown that developing kindness and compassion for self and others can hep in calming down the threat system: as a mother’s care and love can soothe a baby’s distress, so we can learn how to soothe ourselves.

Not only does compassion help to soothe distressing emotions, it actually increases feelings of contentment and well-being. Here, Professor Gilbert outlines the latest findings about the value of compassion and how it works, and takes readers through basic mind training exercises to enhance the capacity for, and use of, compassion.

More than twenty years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn changed the way we thought about awareness in everyday life with his now-classic introduction to mindfulness, Wherever You Go, There You Are. He followed that up with 2005’s Coming to Our Senses, the definitive book for our time on the connection between mindfulness and our well-being on every level, physical, cognitive, emotional, social, planetary, and spiritual.

Now, Coming to Our Senses is being repackaged into 4 smaller books, each focusing on a different aspect of mindfulness, and each with a new foreword written by the author. In the fourth of these books, Mindfulness for All (which was originally published as Part VII and Part VIII of Coming to Our Senses), Kabat-Zinn focuses on how mindfulness really can be a tool to transform the world–explaining how democracy thrives in a mindful context, and why mindfulness is a vital tool for both personal and global understanding and action in these tumultuous times. By “coming to our senses”–both literally and metaphorically–we can become more compassionate, more embodied, more aware human beings, and in the process, contribute to the healing of the body politic as well as our own lives in ways both little and big.

Use the hidden foundations of mindfulness to rediscover calm and reclaim your life in our chaotic world

There are moments in life that decide your fate. They ripple into the future and dictate how you experience the world in the moments that follow; either positive and uplifting, dark and chaotic, or flat and dull.

What if you could recognise these moments before they seized control of your life? What if you could use them to set sail for a better future? What if all moments, big and small, could be harnessed this way?

In Deeper Mindfulness, Oxford Professor Mark Williams and Dr Danny Penman reunite to present a new eight-week guided meditation programme that takes mindfulness to the next level. Deeper Mindfulness reveals how the latest advances in neuroscience, combined with millennia old wisdom, can be used to transform your life. These discoveries open the doors to a deeper layer of mindfulness known as the ‘feeling tone’. This sets the ‘background colour’ that tinges your entire experience of life. It is also the tipping point from which you can reclaim your life in an increasingly stressful and chaotic world.

Proven effective at treating anxiety, stress and depression, the practices in Deeper Mindfulness offer a new and more fruitful direction for both novice and experienced meditators. It also allows the rest of us to approach life with renewed strength, vigour and equanimity.

In a world where finding even ten minutes to ‘do nothing’ can be difficult, the benefits of meditation can be profound. Meditation is simply a way of giving our brains a well-deserved break and can actually help our brains to function healthily and happily.

This beautifully illustrated guide is an inspiring and practical book which shows you how to meditate without the need for uncomfortable lotus positions or prayer beads! With his typical gentle and insightful humour, Matthew’s guide to meditation will enable to you to feel more present, more youthful, have more energy and greater concentration, improve your mood and sleep more soundly.

Simple, effective exercises to reduce stress and renew your sense of contentment and joy

No matter who we are, or what stage of life we are at, we all long for similar things; to be happy, connected with others, in touch with a sense of calm and peace, vital, alive and joyful. And we long to be able to ride out the tough patches that hit all of us from time to time with some degree of grace and dignity.

The good news is that we can fulfil these longings at any time, in any place. They are only a moment away, a breath away. We can learn how to be comfortable with our body, know and understand our mind, and love our heart. It isn’t difficult, long-winded or time-consuming. In doing so you’ll feel happier in your own skin, less stressed, more confident, more capable and more at ease with yourself and life.

This is what Mindfulness for Women is about. It is a practical guide for busy women to coming home to yourself in each present moment. To finding the ledge behind the waterfall. To resting in the depths of the ocean rather than being tossed about by surface waves.

Mindfulness is a potent antidote to anxiety, stress, depression, exhaustion and irritability. It leads to a greater sense of contentment and can also reduce addictive and self-destructive behavioural patterns. This book will enable you to experience the benefits for yourself. It’s not designed as a lengthy course but is solutions-based. It’s fast – evidence shows that a little bit of mindfulness goes a long way. It’s also bespoke – you can read all of it cover to cover, or simply dip in and out, depending on what you want to focus on. You can listen to whichever meditation track suits you at any given time and you can run tracks together if you want to meditate for longer periods. It’s designed to suit your life and priorities now and well into the future.

Work deadlines, to-do lists, family commitments, pressure to perform… Our frantic lives demand so much from us that we can often feel locked into a cycle of frustration, anxiety and stress, unable to tackle the tasks before us or see a way out of our habitual ways of thinking and doing things. Yet there is a way out. The simple mindfulness techniques at the heart of this book have been proven to enhance creativity, problem solving and decision making. They also dissolve anxiety, stress and depression while enhancing mental resilience. The four week programme takes just 10-20 minutes per day.

The easy-to-follow programme works by soothing and clearing your mind, allowing innovative ideas to take form and crystallise. This helps you to spontaneously ‘see’ the solution to a problem, to conjure up new ideas, or to create works with true insight and flair. The programme also helps build the courage necessary for you to follow your ideas wherever they should lead – and the resilience to cope with any setbacks. It will help your mind work more effectively so that you can solve problems faster, more intuitively and have the inner confidence to drive your ideas forward.

The accompanying CD contains 6 meditations that you can use to build an ongoing practice, mixing and matching meditations to suit your circumstances.

Throughout history people have sought to cope with a life that is often stressful and hard. We have actually known for some time that developing compassion for oneself and others can help us face up to and win through the hardship and find a sense of inner peace. However in modern societies we rarely focus on this key process that underpins successful coping and happiness and can be quick to dismiss the impact of modern living on our minds and well-being. Instead we concentrate on ‘doing, achieving’ and having’. Now, bestselling author and leading authority on depression, Professor Paul Gilbert explains how new research shows how we can all learn to develop compassion for ourselves and others and derive the benefits of this age-old wisdom.

In this ground-breaking new book he explores how our minds have developed to be highly sensitive and quick to react to perceived threats and how this fast-acting threat-response system can be a source of anxiety, depression and aggression. He describes how studies have also shown that developing kindness and compassion for self and others can hep in calming down the threat system: as a mother’s care and love can soothe a baby’s distress, so we can learn how to soothe ourselves.

Not only does compassion help to soothe distressing emotions, it actually increases feelings of contentment and well-being. Here, Professor Gilbert outlines the latest findings about the value of compassion and how it works, and takes readers through basic mind training exercises to enhance the capacity for, and use of, compassion.

For the past twenty-five years, Belinda Kirk’s professional life has revolved around adventure. She’s seen it change people first hand: turning the timid into the confident, the addicted into the recovering, and the lost into the intentionally wandering. As a force for change, adventure can be powerful like few others.

This book is about this transformational power, and the first to explore why adventure is essential to our wellbeing. From managing anxiety and overcoming fear, to finding self-worth and building interpersonal connections, to being happier, healthier, and more playful, ADVENTURE MIND draws lessons from more than two decades of experience leading groups into the wilderness around the globe. Illuminated with Belinda’s personal narrative, her own research with modern hunter-gatherers, and the latest findings in neuroscience and behaviour, ADVENTURE MIND presents a compelling case for ditching the living room in favour of a longer, happier, and more adventurous life.

The story of a high-stakes career

Claude Littner is best known as the mercilessly tough interviewer on the BBC’s award-winning The Apprentice. His abrupt style and zero-tolerance policy on nonsense have become the highlights of every series. But what is he like in real business?

SINGLE-MINDED reveals the story of Claude’s varied career and the turbulent years that shaped him. From being told at school he would never amount to anything to his current status as a boardroom heavyweight both on-screen and off it, success has never come easy. Claude’s complex, fascinating work has taken him into many different industries and countries, encompassing:

– retail start-ups
– knife-edge company rescue missions
– the bruising rough-and-tumble of Premier League football
– facing down French trade unions
– taking on Texan oil barons in multi-million-dollar deals
– and, in the private sphere, conquering life-threatening illness

As Lord Sugar writes in the foreword to Claude’s story, the book ‘should be recommended reading for anyone who aspires to make their way in business . . . It is instructive and entertaining, providing an interesting insight into the ups and downs of business life and how single-mindedness, openness and determination can yield dividends both financial and personal.’

Plagued by anxiety and depression for much of his twenties and early thirties, Ed Halliwell frantically searched for ways to understand and relieve his distress. Eventually he stumbled on meditation and Buddhism, and discovered a path that was different from the other medical, psychological and spiritual cures he had tried. That path was mindfulness and the deeper he went into the practice the more it transformed his life, easing his depression and helping him see each moment as precious. A one-time editor for FHM magazine, Ed’s life has changed radically – he now teaches mindfulness to others.
In this book, Ed explores how mindfulness can help us see and transform our unhelpful biases and habits, enable us to live more at peace with stress and uncertainty, cultivate cheerfulness and compassion, and help us to find our life’s calling – if we are willing to journey to the heart of the practice. Offering his own experiences as inspiration, Ed emphasises that mindfulness training is a lifelong path and complete way of being rather than just a short course or quick fix. With practical advice and refreshing candour, he explores how working with the realities of our minds, bodies and day-to-day existence – rather than striving for positive results – can, paradoxically, help us rediscover a richly nourishing, deeply-textured life.

In this important book, a megachurch pastor acknowledges the mental health crisis happening in our churches today and gives readers practical tools to fight back against depression, anxiety, and insecurity-and help them find victory.

Depression, anxiety, and emotional trauma are on the rise, even more so after the painful few years we’ve all been through. While the church has had an unfortunate track record of glossing over mental health issues, Paul Daugherty, pastor of the megachurch Victory, believes it’s time for the church to break its silence. You can’t just pray trauma away. Depression and anxiety can affect even the most devoted believer.
In this book, Paul Daugherty walks readers through some of the biggest mental and emotional health issues he has seen people in his life and his congregation facing, including depression, anxiety, insecurity, mood swings, and the scars of trauma. Daugherty dives into scripture and lays a framework for understanding the spiritual truths behind each mental battle. He also offers practical tips and strategies to help readers find lasting victory.
The result is an invaluable handbook that will help Christians and non-believers alike.

Shocking. Eye-opening. Grimly fascinating. These true stories from a Forensic Psychiatrist working in prisons, secure hospitals and criminal courts are perfect for true crime fans and readers of The Prison Doctor and The Dark Side of the Mind.

As a forensic psychiatrist, it’s Dr Das’s job to treat and rehabilitate what the tabloids might call the ‘criminally insane’, many of whom assault, rob, rape, and even kill.

From the young woman who smothered her two-year-old nephew in a flash of psychosis, to the teenager who set his house on fire with his mother locked inside, Dr Das must delve into the minds of these violent offenders to understand their actions and prevent future atrocities.

In these honest and unflinching stories, Dr Das details some of the most extreme, heart-breaking and bizarre cases of his career.

‘A fascinating and moving account of life working with people who too often society wants to forget’
Dr Amanda Brown, author of THE PRISON DOCTOR

‘Excellent and enlightening’
Jonathan Levi and Emma French, authors of INSIDE BROADMOOR

‘Thought-provoking’
Gwen Adshead, author of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

There are few better ways to consciously slow down and truly engage with your surroundings than when you are armed with a camera. With Capturing Mindfulness, de-stressing and being in the moment needn’t be limited to simple diary-keeping and fill-in journals; instead you can capture it with your lens.

Bestselling author Matthew Johnstone’s latest book Capturing Mindfulness, is a natural follow on from his last book Quiet the Mind which came out in 2012.

Matthew has been practicing what he terms ‘photopresent’ for the last 15 years and believes that next to meditation, this is one of the most creative and enjoyable ways to attain mindfulness in day-to-day life. The very essence of photography; after all, is all about focus and capturing ‘the moment’.

Matthew is fascinated by light, colour, composition and most importantly how he can see the world differently. For him, having camera in your hands is the reminder to consciously slow everything down from your breath, to your walk, to your thoughts and begin to really observe your surroundings as if seeing them for the first time.

Mindfulness photography is about seeing something that no one else can, capturing something that will never happen again and finding beauty where it doesn’t typically exist. When we become more consciously aware of where we are, what we’re doing and what we’re thinking, life can become calmer, more enjoyable and generally more manageable.

‘This book can catapult you into living fully the life that is yours to live while you have the chance’ Jon Kabat-Zinn

‘A must-read for our distracted times’ Dan Goleman

‘A must-have guide to experiencing every moment of our lives’ Goldie Hawn

‘A treasure trove of insights and exercises to enrich our lives’ Dan Siegel

Stop for a moment. Are you here right now?

Is your focus on the words in front of you? Or is it roaming elsewhere, to the past or future, to a worry, to your to-do list, or to your phone?

The good news: There’s nothing wrong with you – your brain isn’t broken. The human brain was built to be distractible.

The even better news: You can train your brain to pay attention more effectively.

Acclaimed neuroscientist Dr Amishi Jha has dedicated her life’s work to understanding the science of attention at every level – from brain imaging studies in the lab to field testing soldiers, firefighters and athletes. Her mission has been to scientifically determine how we can harness the full power of our attention to better meet all that life demands. In Peak Mind, Dr Jha expertly guides readers through fascinating research, debunking common assumptions about focus and attention, and offers remarkably easy-to-adapt flexible twelve minute-a-day exercises to lift the mental fog, declutter the mind, and strengthen focus so that you can experience more of your life.

It’s well known that if you want to keep your body fit, you must do some regular exercise. But when it comes to our mental health, few of us take the time to maintain and improve it. For some reason, we expect to be in great mental shape without doing any work. And when we realise we’re struggling, we look for a quick and easy fix instead of developing the skills that will help us in the future.

Enter The Mind Workout – a home exercise programme for improving your mental health and fitness.


Developed as a result of Mark Freeman’s own recovery from mental illness, The Mind Workout combines mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It outlines twenty easy-to-follow steps you can take to free yourself from the ways of thinking and behaving that cause mental health challenges in your life – from cutting out the compulsions that cause uncertainty, anxiety and distress to relieving stress and distraction.

The Mind Workout is the key to making the switch from a frenetic, anxiety-driven life to one that’s based on your core values. It will leave you feeling mentally stronger, fitter and better equipped to navigate the complexities of everyday life.

Many of us in the modern world are unhappier than they need to be, and mindfulness offers a solution that works. Science and clinical practice have only recently ‘discovered’ the profound potential of mindfulness-based practices for increasing our wellbeing. However, mindfulness has been practised for thousands of years as an attention-training technique that can reduce physical and psychological suffering and enhance health and happiness. Derived from ancient contemplative practices in many cultures and wisdom traditions, mindfulness practice simply involves directing our attention to what is (reality), rather than to what isn’t (our ideas of reality).

Mindfulness for Life is written by two experts on mindfulness with many years of personal and clinical experience. The authors have come together to provide both a medical and a psychological perspective on mindfulness and related conditions such as depression and substance abuse. The result is a book that translates the scientific principles underlying mindfulness into a simple, practical and accessible life manual.

Bestselling author, and ‘mother of mindfulness’, Ellen J. Langer makes her long-awaited return sharing her groundbreaking research in The Mindful Body.

Have you ever wondered if you could improve your health by harnessing the power of your mind?

When it comes to our health, too many of us feel trapped by a medical diagnosis, believing that it can only mean a static or worsening condition. Whether it is stiff knees, frayed nerves or failing eyesight, your mind can lead you to believe things will only get worse. But with practical steps and scientific research you can take control of your mindset, by using your thoughts and perspective to help improve your wellbeing.

In The Mindful Body, award-winning social psychologist Ellen J. Langer draws on her lifetime of expertise and trailblazing research by revealing the capacity that mindfulness has to transform our lives. Opening the door to her pioneering Harvard lab, Langer uncovers the secret of how the mind and the body are in fact a single system, and if we embrace the idea of mind-body unity, new possibilities for controlling our health become available to us.

Featuring autobiographical anecdotes, iconoclastic philosophy and cutting-edge research, The Mindful Body will help you navigate a path to improved health and wellbeing and in turn boost your cognitive capabilities so that you can take back control of your body for a brighter future.

Neurological and psychiatric disorders have long been regarded as fundamentally different, depending on whether they appear to affect the brain or the mind. In reality, the brain and the mind are inseparable. Both types of disorder can affect every aspect of brain function: from perception, action, memory and emotion to empathy, social interaction, attention and consciousness.

It is easy to view brain disorders as simply tragic or frightening. However, studying where these functions go wrong provides a window on the workings of the healthy brain, and makes it more likely that scientists and clinicians will be able to develop effective treatments or preventative strategies. As individuals, and as a society, we are also able to better empathise with people with disorders of the mind.

Building on his pioneering research, Eric R. Kandel illustrates how breakthrough studies of brain disruptions can deepen our understanding of thought, feeling, behaviour, memory and creativity, and perhaps in the future will transform medical care and lead to the development of a unified theory of mind.