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 third of these books, The Healing Power of Mindfulness (which was originally published as Part V and Part VI of Coming to Our Senses), Kabat-Zinn focuses on the ways mindfulness can change the body and rewire the mind--explaining what we're learning about neuroplasticity and the brain, how meditation can affect the immune system, and what mindfulness can teach us about facing impermanence and, eventually, the end of our own lives. 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.

Discover how mindfulness can help you with healing. More than twenty years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn showed us the value of cultivating greater awareness in everyday life with his now-classic introduction to mindfulness, Wherever You Go, There You Are. Now, in TheHealing Power of Mindfulness, he shares a cornucopia of specificexamples as to how the cultivation of mindfulness can reshape your relationship with your own body and mind--explaining what we're learning about neuroplasticity and the brain, how meditation can affect our biology and our health, and what mindfulness can teach us about coming to terms with all sorts of life challenges, including our own mortality, so we can make the most of the moments that we have. Originally published in 2005 as part of a larger book titled Coming to Our Senses, The Healing Power of Mindfulness features a new foreword by the author and timely updates throughout the text. If you are interested in learning more about how mindfulness as a way of being can help us to heal, physically and emotionally, look no further than this deeply personal and also "deeply optimistic book, grounded in good science and filled with practical recommendations for moving in the right direction" (Andrew Weil, MD), from one of the pioneers of the worldwide mindfulness movement.

Regular meditation practice has a powerful impact on the mind and body, rewiring the brain and bringing us all kinds of benefits: contentment and well-being, resilience and focus, better mental and physical health, and greater empathy and compassion. This wide-ranging anthology brings together pioneering Tibetan Buddhist teachers, scientific researchers, and health professionals to offer fascinating perspectives on the mind and emotions, new studies, and firsthand accounts of how meditation is being applied to great effect in health and social care today. • Sogyal Rinpoche and Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche on how meditation unlocks the mind’s healing power • Jon Kabat-Zinn on the benefits of mindfulness in mainstream health care • Clifford Saron on the Shamatha Project, the most comprehensive study of the effects of meditation ever conducted • Sara Lazar on what happens to our brain when we meditate • Erika Rosenberg on how meditation helps us relate better to our emotions • Dr. Lucio Bizzini, MD, on how Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy is used to treat depression • Ursula Bates on how mindfulness supports terminally ill patients as they approach the end of their lives Plus chapters from other innovators who apply meditation in health care and social work: Dr. Edel Maex, MD; Dr. Cathy Blanc, MD; Rosamund Oliver; and Dr. Frédéric Rosenfeld, MD.

You have an amazing capacity for self-healing. You can unlock this healing power by practicing meditation for a few minutes a day. Backed by years of experience, solid scientific research, and a clear understanding of neuroscience, Gabriel Weiss, MD, explains how meditation can be used to treat or prevent many common illnesses and maladies, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, asthma, stomach ulcers, insomnia, chronic fatigue, premenstrual syndrome, stress, and chronic pain. In addition to helping you establish a daily meditation practice, the author prescribes specific alternate meditation exercises for specific health problems, as well as Zen concepts like the cultivation of mindfulness, to expand your practice and fully benefit from meditation's healing power. Book jacket.

For those who have reached a level of understanding of the illusory nature of the world and seek to discern the reality that lies behind it, Sufi meditation--muraqabah--is explained in this book. (World Religions)

“This book explains not only the healing power of compassionate human connection, but in the most accessible and practical ways, how to cultivate our capacity to create that connection and thereby empower others to find their best selves.”—John Makransky, author of Awakening through Love All of us have an innate capacity for compassion. We recognize when others are hurting, and we want to help, but we’re not always good at it. There is another way. In The Compassionate Connection, Dr. David Rakel explains how we can strengthen our bonds with others—all the while doing emotional and physical good for ourselves. As founder and director of the University of Wisconsin Integrative Medicine program, Dr. Rakel discovered that we become the most effective helpers when we use the tool of human connection. Drawing on his own research and practice, as well as thirty years of published studies in medicine, sociology, psychology, meditation, and neuroscience, Dr. Rakel "stacks the deck" in favor of healing and introduces the concept of bio-psycho-spiritual authentic awareness. Not only are our bodies and minds connected, but also it has been scientifically proven that our capacity to feel beauty, awe, and compassion enhances our health and wellbeing. In The Compassionate Connection, Dr. Rakel provides an innovative approach to enhancing health in others and strengthening relationships through the art of connecting. These tools guide us to improve our connections—whether between doctor and patient, husband and wife, parent and child, or boss and employee—and live with clarity, wisdom, and good health.

Studies in neuroscience demonstrate that a focus on mindfulness meditation and contemplative spiritual practice has the capacity to increase our non-anxious awareness and significantly lower our stress. Not only is this finding of immediate importance for pastoral counselors and psychotherapists, it will even necessitate a paradigm shift in the way that pastoral and spiritual practitioners approach the general care of souls. The starting point for such a paradigm shift is an acknowledgement of the built-in negativity bias of the brain, and how certain beliefs and theological views may inadvertently reinforce the bias to the detriment of individuals and faith communities. Once necessary for human survival, the ingrained bias can often be excessive for today’s world, resulting in negatively disproportionate assessments of life events and human relationships. To balance the neural predisposition toward negativity and anxious awareness, it is necessary for pastoral and spiritual caregivers, and those in their care, to cultivate a regular contemplative-meditational practice. The Power of Neuroplasticity for Pastoral and Spiritual Care focuses on the groundbreaking finding of contemporary neuroscience—that the brain is built for change across the entire lifespan. It is designed to make the research accessible to and relevant for those engaged in the work of pastoral and spiritual care in order to help clients and congregants effect lasting and transformative changes in the mind and brain. Through the regular practice of contemplative prayer and meditation, we can literally calm the stress region of the brain in order to live less anxiously and experience more fully the peace and joy of the present moment. The introduction of mindfulness- and acceptance-based counseling approaches will provide pastoral and spiritual practitioners with an important therapeutic framework to situate their work, from which they can make more informed and effective interventions geared toward using the mind to change the brain.

By working on self-esteem with the tools of mindfulness, this book offers readers the freedom to break out of unconscious thought habits which dictate unsatisfactory lives and to achieve real freedom and fulfilment. Perhaps no other self-help topic has spawned so much advice and so many conflicting theories as self-esteem. It’s like salt – a little gives flavour, strength and coherence to our personalities, while lack of it leads to an anodyne life of putting up with abusive situations or relationships, leading to depression and lack of fulfilment. On the other hand, too much self-esteem can create an unappealing sense of entitlement, pointing to the twisted paths and dark woods of narcissism. Using the concept of mindfulness, which has been defined as paying attention in a particular way, this book looks at the ongoing meditative practice required to gain the right balance of self-esteem in a flexible and effective way.