Customer Reviews

Mindfulness for Beginners

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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I've really enjoyed this 2-disc CD set. With-in the first CD Jon defines mindfulness and its benefits (living moment to moment, awareness as a sixth sense, non-judging, non-striving, letting go, etc), while the second CD consists of six fairly short (10-18min) guided meditations.

There's a certain style of how Jon speaks (and writes, as I'm currently reading his book called Everyday Blessings)...he has these run-on sentences that work for him, as each sentence has such wonderful prose and clarity. And he's personable, and humorous, and thought-provoking. There's a lot of talk during the guided meditations, which can slightly distract the mediator, but for beginners I think this "chatting" may be beneficial to help focus the mind to stay present.

I didn't know what to expect from this because nobody really reviewed the content... I think the first CD is good but he packs a great deal of information into each piece and he speaks quite quickly so it is difficult for me to process much... I always feel I'm behind and trying to understand the first piece but he's already many steps ahead... Since I didn't really understand the background, I feel like the meditations are lost on me... I like the item but I think I would have been better off buying a book and, once I had become comfortable with the material, moving to the meditations.

I found this to be very disappointing. I had purchased this CD, because it had been recommended in a German magazine I was reading. I have had a lot of stress in my life lately and thought it would help me reduce stress and teach me about mindfulness. I found Jon Kabat Zinn's voice very irritating and this CD, unfortunately, did nothing for me to reduce my stress. I can't get into this at all.