Resources

Websites

Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy: www.meditationandpsychotherapy.org

The Back Sense program for treating chronic back pain: www.backsense.org
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: www.umassmed.edu/cfm

Dialectical Behavior Therapy: www.behavioraltech.com

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: www.acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy.com

Mindfullness and Acceptance Special Interest Group of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy: www.listservekent.edu/archives/mindfulness/html

Books

Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Back Pain, By Siegel, R.D. & Urdang, M & Johnson, J.

Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation, By Rosenberg, J.

Breath Sweeps Mind: A first guide to meditation practice, By Smith J.

Full Catastrophe Living, Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, By Jon Kabat-Zinn, Phd.

Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Meditation, By Santorelli, S.

Insight Meditation: The practice of Freedom, By J. Goldstein

Mindfulness in Plain English, By Guanaratana. B.

Sensational Meditation for Children Child-Friendly Meditation Techniques based on the Five Senses, By Vallely, S.W.

Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, By Goldstein, J. & Kornfield.J.

The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness, By Williams, M. & Teasdale, J, Segal, Z & Kabat-Zinn, J.

The Miracle of Mindfulness, By Hahn, T. N.

Timeshifting, Creating More Time to Enjoy Your Life, By Rechtschaffen, S. M.D.

Wherever You Go, There You Are, By Jon Kabat Zinn

Articles

7 Ways to Enjoy Your Life and Live in the Moment—Ladies' Home Jornal

The Mindful Lawyer—GPSolo Magazine—October/November 2006

Christian Meditation (Word Doc Download)

Time & Speed (Word Doc Download)

How Anger Hurts Your Heart

How Meditation May Change the Brain

Mindfulness Meditation Training Changes Brain Structure in Eight Weeks

On Being with Krista Tippitt. This week is an interview with Jon Kabat Zinn

A New Successful Approach to Help Alleviate Stress
Following extensive research in a hospitable day care recovery room and advice from the Stress Management Society the Calmer by Nature DVD was made using magical nature footage captured over 6 years and from 1000‚s of hours of patiently waiting in the wild to capture Nature‚s special moments. See a 3 minute demo at www.calmerbynature.com

Principles of Mindfulness:
• Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention, non-judgmentally.
• Mindfulness encompasses both internal processes and external environments.
• Mindfulness is being aware of what is present for you mentally, emotionally and physically in each moment.
• With practice, mindfulness cultivates the possibility of freeing yourself of reactive, habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and acting.
• Mindfulness promotes balance, choice, wisdom and acceptance of “what is”.
Mindful Eating is:
• Allowing yourself to become aware of the positive and nurturing
opportunities that are available through food preparation and consumption by respecting your own inner wisdom.
• Choosing to eat food that is both pleasing to you and nourishing to your body by using all your senses to explore, savor and taste.
• Acknowledging responses to food (likes, neutral or dislikes) without judgment.
• Learning to be aware of physical hunger and satiety cues to guide your decision to begin eating and to stop eating.
Someone Who Eats Mindfully:
• Acknowledges that there is no right or wrong way to eat but varying degrees of awareness surrounding the experience of food.
• Accepts that his/her eating experiences are unique.
• Is an individual who by choice, directs his/her awareness to all aspects of food and eating on a moment-by-moment basis.
• Is an individual who looks at the immediate choices and direct experiences associated with food and eating: not to the distant health outcome of that choice.
• Is aware of and reflects on the effects caused by unmindful eating.
• Experiences insight about how he/she can act to achieve specific health goals as he/she becomes more attuned to the direct experience of eating and feelings of health.
• Becomes aware of the interconnection of earth, living beings, and cultural practices and the impact of his/ her food choices has on those systems.

Testimonials
I am writing to express my appreciation for your work. Participating in the SRC was one of the best things I've ever done for myself. It's hard for me to believe, but in the short time of about two months, my blood pressure is amazingly improved and I am able to calm myself and better understand that just as things arise, they also pass away. It's been really great for me. And I am most appreciative. Thanks so much, A.Z.

The Silent Retreat Day was so wonderful. It helped me to see how much change I have experienced in only eight weeks. At the beginning of the classes I had such a difficult time paying attention and staying focused on whatever it was that we were using as a focus point for meditation but by the end…at the retreat…I was able to slip almost immediately into restful meditation. These practices have changed my response to my life. Keep sharing these wonderful tools. B.R.

Thanks again for a wonderful clinic! I really enjoyed it. I'm continuing the pattern of daily formal meditation, which I learned in the classes. I also loaded the SRC CDs on my IPod so I can access them during my lunch break or I'm traveling or whenever needed. I love it! I had my annual exam last week and my doctor commented on the improvement in my blood pressure and skin condition, both clearly anxiety based. I praise your clinic and recommend it to others. M.B.

As the pressure of work increased, I started to experience more symptoms of stress, such as muscle tension aches in neck and shoulders, and insomnia. Before starting the MBSR classes, I was resorting to more frequent massages and use of pain medications for the aches, and sleeping aids for insomnia. After going through the class, I'm happy to report that most of these symptoms have largely subsided and my reliance on pharmaceutical interventions have reduced dramatically through the practices of mindfulness meditation. I know I'm just beginning the practice, and still have a lot to discover but I'm surprised how much effect I have experienced as a beginner. Also, I'm learning that mindfulness is beyond techniques. It is a change in how I perceive myself and the world around me. In the long term, I believe these changes in my basic outlook will have more profound influence on me and my family than simple stress reduction. L.L.

The stress reduction clinic has greatly influenced my life. I recently reviewed my application from last year and I couldn't help but notice is how very different my life is now! Thanks for sharing these tools with me they have been exceedingly helpful in making some very important changes. D.P.

What a wonderful experience for my wife and I!!  We learned very valuable skills that will positively impact our lives together. We learned to apply the practice of Mindfulness in everything we do. I am very glad to have participated in the 8-week clinic and we are very grateful for a life-changing experience!  I strongly recommend this class to couples. C.G.

The class has been very, very valuable.  I see perception shifts, large and small, in many areas. I am experiencing little pockets, like little time bubbles, of serenity and heightened awareness during daily activities.  I am noticing tightened, tensed parts of my body that went unrecognized before and acknowledging those areas. Frequently, I am able to go into an observer mode and see emotions that would have overtaken me before.  Many times I get to make a decision about how to act rather than reacting.  MIRACLE! L.O.

These tools provide a method for me to calm down and better address the stress related to litigation. That doesn't mean I'm not stressed but I am very clear that I'm not as stressed as I was before I started using these tools. I signed up under duress from my partner and I really didn't expect much benefit from the work, so I was surprised when the tools worked more effectively than I had originally expected. If I'm honest, when outcomes are less than I expect them to be, it's because I'm not putting in the same time with my meditation practice now as I did when I was in the class.