Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World

Product Information

This book walks you gently through the beautiful, messy process of being human, and teaches you how and why all can be well This book walks you gently through the beautiful, messy process of being human, and teaches you how and why all can be well’ Sir Kenneth Branagh. What if you could recognise these moments before they seized control of your life? What if you could use them to set sail for a better future? What if allmoments, big and small, could be harnessed this way?

And perhaps surprising of all, the benefits of meditation begin to take root in the brain after just a few minutes of practice. Your thoughts are a running commentary on the world; a ‘best guess’ of what’s truly happening. Often, your thoughts will reflect the powerful emotional currents swirling through your mind, body and breath. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they are a frantic work in progress, sometimes they are wrong. You’ll find written instructions here (they’re worth reading to familiarise yourself with the technique). A person whose mind isn’t wandering, isn’t meditating…..A typical mindfulness exercise "consists of focusing your full attention on your breath as it flows in and out of your body. Focusing on each breath in this way allows you to observe your thoughts as they arise in your mind and little by little let go of struggling with them. Ivanowski, B. and Malhi, G. S. (2007), ‘The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of medita- tion’, Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 19, pp. 76–91; Shapiro, S. L., Oman, D., Thoresen, C. E., Plante, T. G. and Flinders, T. (2008), ‘Cultivating mindfulness: effects on well-being’, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(7), pp. 840–62; Shapiro, S. L., Schwartz, G. E. and Bonner, G. (1998), ‘Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on medical and pre-medical students’, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 21, pp. 581–99. This is not one of those books where it has a beginning & end, then you think, "O.K., onto the next book, this a book where it drips into your psychi', a bit at a time. In time, you may also find it helpful to revisit the meditations you have found supportive in the past: for example, the body scan, sitting with sounds, thoughts and feelings, or the befriending meditation. And if you return to practicing any of your usual meditations, feel free to use your feet, seat or hands as alternatives to the breath. Williams and Penman nail it when they describe how we can run from life (and ourselves) but we'll never escape. DEEPER MINDFULNESS holds true to its name: the authors expertly point out how to identify those critical driving forces in our lives - feelings, and how feelings feel - but importantly have provided a pragmatic path and clear steps that we can take to leverage our minds to live better lives. Based in deep wisdom and written with compassion

The Relentless Pace of Life can Stifle Creativity and Undermine Happiness and Wellbeing – But it Doesn’t Have To Be this Way… The Peace in a Frantic World Course contains shorter weekly sessions (90 mins) than MBCT/MBSR (2-2.5 hours) and shorter daily home practices (about 20 mins per day, 6 days a week - compared to 45 mins per day, 6 days a week). You are the observer of your thoughts. It’s a subtle distinction that’s only perceived with practice. Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S. F., Urbanowski, F., Harrington, A., Bonus, K. and Sheridan, J. F. (2003), ‘Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation’, Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, pp. 564–70; Tang, Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Fan, Y., Feng, S., Lu, Q., Yu, Q., Sui, D., Rothbart, M., Fan, M. and Posner, M. (2007), ‘Short-term meditation training improves atten- tion and self-regulation’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, pp. 17152–6.
11 Walsh, R. and Shapiro, S. L. (2006), ‘The meeting of meditative disciplines and Western psychology: a mutually enriching dia- logue’, American Psychologist, 61, pp. 227–39.Colzato, L. S., Ozturk, A. and Hommel, B. (2012), ‘Meditate to create: the impact of focused-attention and open-monitoring train- ing on convergent and divergent thinking’, Frontiers in Psychology, 3:116, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00116; Greenberg, J., Reiner, K. and Meiran, N. (2012), ‘“Mind the trap”: mindfulness practice reduces cognitive rigidity’, PLoS One, 7(5): e36206, doi: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0036206; Capurso, V., Fabbro, F. and Crescentini, C. (2014), ‘Mindful creativity: the influence of mindfulness meditation on creative thinking’, Frontiers in Psychology, 4:1020, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01020. If you want to free yourself from anxiety and stress, and feel truly at ease with yourself, then read this book' Ruby Wax

Meditation improves the immune system. Regular meditators are admitted to hospital less often for cancer, heart disease and numerous infectious diseases. 10Mindfulness is very beneficial for chronic pain. Studies show that pain ‘unpleasantness’ can be reduced by 57 per cent. Experienced meditators can reduce it by 93 per cent. 12 Mindfulness improves attention span, working memory and
reaction speed. It also enhances mental stamina and resilience. 2 The science of mindfulness has come of age ... Mark Williams and Danny Penman write with a voice that is authoritative, imbued with warmth and whispers inspiration. It is accessible and engaging, while drawing extensively on the foundations of Buddhist and contemporary psychology and the very best mindfulness research and practice. It is easy to understand why their first book, MINDFULNESS: FINDING PEACE IN A FRANTIC WORLD, is the bestselling book on mindfulness. This is a much-needed extension for all those who wish to go deeper Meditation improves heart and circulatory health by reducing blood pressure and lowering the risk of hypertension. It also reduces the risks of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease and lowers its severity should it arise. 11 To see how it unwittingly ties itself in knots to create anxiety, stress, unhappiness and exhaustion.