The Mindfulness Revolution

A growing body of scientific research indicates that mindfulness can reduce stress and improve mental and physical health. Countless people who have tried it say it's improved their quality of life. Simply put, mindfulness is the practice of paying steady and full attention, without judgment or criticism, to our moment-to-moment experience. Here is a collection of the best writing on what mindfulness is, why we should practice it, and how to apply it in daily life, from leading figures in the field. Selections include: · Leading thinker Jon Kabat-Zinn on the essence of mindfulness, stress reduction, and positive change · Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on the transformative power of mindful breathing · Professor of psychiatry Daniel Siegel, MD, on how mindfulness benefits the brain · Physician and meditation teacher Jan Chozen Bays, MD, on how and why to practice mindful eating · Pioneering psychologist Ellen Langer on how mindfulness can change the understanding and treatment of disease · Leadership coach Michael Carroll on practicing mindfulness at work · Psychologist Daniel Goleman on a mindful approach to shopping and consuming · Pianist Madeline Bruser on how mindfulness can help us overcome performance anxiety · and much more The Mindfulness Revolution also includes an in-depth discussion by writer-editor Barry Boyce about how mindfulness is being applied in a variety of professional fields—from health care to education, from performing arts to business—to improve effectiveness and enhance well-being. Learn more at www.mindful.org.

Mindfulness is now all the rage. From endorsements by celebrities, to monks, neuroscientists, and meditation coaches rubbing shoulders with CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it is clear that mindfulness has gone mainstream. Some have called it a revolution. The evangelical promotion of mindfulness as a panacea for all that ails us has begun to give way to a backlash, with questions arising whether its claims for achieving happiness, wellbeing and career success have been over-sold. Expanding on his influential essay Beyond McMindfulness, Ronald Purser debunks the so-called ñmindfulness revolutionî, arguing its proponents have reduced mindfulness to a self-help technique that fits snugly into a consumerist culture complicit with Western materialistic values. In a lively and razor-sharp critique of mindfulness as it has been enthusiastically co-opted by corporations, public schools, and the U.S. military, Purser explains why such programs inevitably fall short of their revolutionary potential. Simply paying attention to the present moment while resting snugly in our private bubbles is no mindfulness revolution. Mindfulness has become the new capitalist spirituality, a disciplined myopia, that mindlessly ignores the need for social and political change.

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA

Shamatha meditation is a method for achieving previously inconceivable levels of concentration. Author B. Alan Wallace, an active participant in the much-publicized dialogues between Buddhists and scholars, has more than 20 years' practice in the discipline, some of it under the guidance of the Dalai Lama. This book is a definitive presentation of his knowledge of shamatha. It is aimed at the contemporary seeker who is distracted and defocused by the dizzying pace of modern life, as well as those suffering from depression and other mental maladies. Beginning by addressing the inherent problems.

Mindfulness is increasingly being used in educational environments as a proven way to help students: • learn more effectively • develop personally • enhance their physical and emotional health, and • deal with study and exam-related demands. Written by two leading experts with many years of personal and clinical experience, Mindful Learning provides practical insights and exercises on how to apply mindfulness in any educational setting. The result is a book that clearly sets out how you can: • manage stress • improve performance • enhance communication • develop more meaningful relationships • unlock creativity • improve mental flexibility and problem-solving ability, and • use technology wisely. Whatever your age, whatever your learning environment, mindfulness can make a positive difference, and Mindful Learning shows you how.

"Endorsed by The Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Wales, UK."

Drawing on the ancient tradition of the bodhisattva warrior, a Buddhist model for enlightened leadership, Carroll explains what mindfulness is and how to develop it in the hectic and often stressful environment of the 21st-century workplace.