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

In the introduction to Mindfulness for Beginners (p.4) Jon Kabat-Zinn tells us he has covered material on mindfulness in greater detail in other books such as Full Catastrophe Living. But as anyone who has read FCL knows, that's a big thick book which was published enough years ago that a fair bit of it had to focus on justifying meditation and mindfulness as a worthwhile endeavor. In Mindfulness for Beginners, JKZ assumes you know the value of bringing greater awareness into your life, allowing him to focus on inspiration and instructions.

The book is not presented like a conventional "Intro to Meditation" with a first you do step A and then B. Rather, there are many short entries, that introduce one to mindfulness in a gradual way with the understanding you will use the enclosed guided meditation CD. While initially slightly disoriented by this, when you think about it, this is a more real-life way to learn mindfulness techniques as life doesn't usually work in a Step A-Step B way--especially for something as encompassing as greater awareness (JKZ wisely emphasizes the importance of not restricting increased awareness to the meditation bench or cushion).

The greatest strength of the book is Jon Kabat-Zinn himself. I once had the great pleasure to talk to him one-on-one. Within a very short time he made me feel very comfortable and as though he had all the time in the world for me. Despite his renown as a meditation teacher and author, he was very down-to-earth. There was nothing of the aloof meditation teacher about him. That warm and realness comes through in this book. He never puts ideology ahead of effectiveness. This is why he is such a great teacher. Almost all of us can benefit from what he has to offer.

OK, he had me at "Often our lives become so driven that we are moving through our moments to get to better ones at some later point. We live to check things off our to-do list, then fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day, only to jump up the next morning to get on the treadmill once again." (p.18)

Did you ever feel like a book showed up in your life for a reason? I have read many of Jon Kabat-Zinn's books and enjoyed them immensely. But I have to be honest and say that I have found mindfulness meditation difficult to incorporate in my life. It seemed like a great idea, but in practice I just found myself too distracted, and slowing down to focus on breathing always seemed to make my mind go in a million directions. It didn't seem worth the effort. But this book has changed how I approach mindfulness and helped me understand what was going on (which turned out to be perfectly normal). It is a gentle book, which, through the use of very short (1-2 page) chapters guides you gradually and carefully through the process of understanding mindfulness, explaining why your mind does what it does when you try to meditate, and how to simply become aware. Just reading the book is a meditation in itself. In fact, if you wanted to, I think even just reading one chapter a day and taking time to meditate or think about what you've read would be a great way to go through the book-- and likely change your life, even without ever meditating.

Kabat-Zinn has a gift for explaining deep insights in ways that are logical and easy to grasp. For instance, he has a wonderful analogy for how we substitute "thinking" for calming "awareness" as our default setting. He compares it to watching a sports event on TV. Not only are we watching the event, we are listening to an incessant running commentary on the game. And even if we turn off the sound and just watch the game, our minds will still be watching ourselves watch the game and judging it. This, he explains, is why when we slow ourselves down to meditate, our minds immediately start questioning what we're doing, noting that we're "bored", or this is useless, or whatever. And, being the patient and gentle guide that he is, he helps the reader understand that this is normal, and OK. Just breathe.

This book has so many insights crammed into each page, the review could be as long as the book itself. I learned that the word discipline (which I always considered a negative thing- as in "driven" or "forced") actually comes from "disciple" meaning someone who is in a position to learn. Interesting-- and causes me to rethink how I approach challenging things I'm trying to learn.

I highly recommend this book if you are at all interested in mindfulness meditation. It is a great starting book-- and a great book for returning to mindfulness if you've tried it before and it didn't stick. Even if you don't practice the meditations, which are provided on the companion CD at the back of the book, simply reading the text will calm your mind and help you breathe more easily.

People often ask me to recommend a good simple book on mindfulness meditation for beginners. This new offering from Jon Kabat-Zinn is now on the top of my list. This book includes a guided meditation CD which for some reason the description fails to mention. This book is free of religion, dogma and does not promote any belief system, just shares clear insights on being present. Highly recommended.

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