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

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Mindfulness is a powerful painkiller that can dramatically enhance quality of life in chronic pain sufferers – latest research Having sold more than 250,000 copies globally, it is estimated that 1 in every 8 UK households now owns a copy of 'Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World'.The co-author, Professor Mark Williams, is one of the world’s leading researchers in mindfulness and co-founder of MBCT (clinically proven to help prevent relapse into depression). He is also the founder of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre at Oxford University and the Centre for Mindfulness Research Practice at Bangor University, two of the world’s top mindfulness research and teaching institutes. Mindfulness Meditation Can Reduce Physical Pain by 90 Percent, Week Two of Our Course Shows You How The Relentless Pace of Life can Stifle Creativity and Undermine Happiness and Wellbeing – But it Doesn’t Have To Be this Way…

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.This leads to the central guiding principle of mindfulness: you cannot fail. Realising that your mind has wandered away from the breath IS the meditation. 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. The first step to regaining control over your life is learning to notice when your mind has begun to subvert itself and slip into unconsciousness. This is done by first training it to focus on one single thing at a time and then gradually learning how to move this ‘spotlight of attention’ around as you wish. If you have practised mindfulness in the past, particularly if you have read our previous book, Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World, or taken a course based on it, you will have learnt to do this with a simple breathing meditation. The following meditation may therefore seem familiar but there are many subtle but crucial differences. These will deepen your experience and understanding. This is the kernel of what we want to share with you through our new book Deeper Mindfulness: it has, for us, become a treasure trove of new insights from the most ancient of Eastern traditions, as well as modern psychology and neuroscience. They have transformed our understanding of meditation and we hope that they will do the same for you, too. Learning with and from other people – One thing that surprises most people who attend a course is how powerful it is to learn mindfulness alongside other people. Hearing others speak of the stress arising from common problems (busy and uncontrolled thoughts, the strain of personal or professional commitments, the demands of a world requiring us to be constantly switched-on) helps us recognise the common burdens of human existence and pressures we all share. This can lighten the sense of being alone and alienated in the problems we face and help us shift toward a healthier perspective in which we can learn, even laugh, and let go of certain things. The mutual support of a group environment can be more inspiring and influential to your learning than ‘going it alone’.

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. My latest book provides a concise guide to letting go and finding peace in a messy world, simply by taking the time to breathe. Known side effects: You will start to smile more. You will worry less. Life won’t bother you so much. Keep calm… and carry on breathing: The simple exercises that can alleviate pain and help sufferers cope with anxiety, stress and depressionKnown side effects: You will start to smile more. You will worry less. Life won’t bother you so much. It is being fully aware of whatever is happening in the present moment without being trapped in the past or worrying about the future. Proven effective at treating anxiety, stress and depression, the practices in Deeper Mindfulness offer a new and more fruitful direction for both novice and experienced meditators. It also allows the rest of us to approach life with renewed strength, vigour and equanimity. 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.

It teaches you to observe how your thoughts, feelings and emotions rise and fall like waves on the sea. Many people interested in learning mindfulness find the Frantic World option a more realistic prospect. One of the great ironies of mindful awareness is that it often seems to evaporate just when you need it the most. When you’re becoming increasingly burned out, you tend to forget just how useful it can be for dealing with the feelings of being overwhelmed by the world’s seemingly relentless demands. When you’re becoming angry, it’s difficult to remember why you should remain calm. And when you’re anxious or stressed, you feel far too rushed to squeeze in a twenty-minute meditation. When you’re under pressure, the last thing your mind wishes to be is mindful – tired, old thinking habits are infinitely more seductive. Mindfulness is based on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Co-developed by Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, MBCT is recommended by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and is as effective as drugs for preventing depression. But, equally, it works for the rest of us who aren't depressed but who are struggling to keep up with the relentless demands of the modern world.

Newly developed by the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, it has become an extremely popular programme for Oxford University students wanting to equip themselves with the tools to cope with stress, perform at their best and enjoy student life fully. There are moments in life that decide your fate. They ripple into the future and dictate how you experience the world in the moments that follow; either positive and uplifting, dark and chaotic, or flat and dull. To see how it unwittingly ties itself in knots to create anxiety, stress, unhappiness and exhaustion. Relieve Pain, Reduce Stress and Restore Wellbeing With Week Three of Our Mindfulness Meditation Course Others may find that they develop a much richer and practical understanding of mindfulness by committing themselves to a structured process of learning that supports them from the beginning of the course to the end – and beyond.

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). Mindfulness improves attention span, working memory and
reaction speed. It also enhances mental stamina and resilience. 2 If you want to free yourself from anxiety and stress, and feel truly at ease with yourself, then read this book' Ruby Wax 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 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?The programme itself originates from MBCT ( Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy). MBCT has been clinically proven to be at least as effective as drugs for depression and it is recommended by the UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence - in other words, it works. A soothing companion to guide you through stressful times. Thoroughly researched and a joy to read. If you are looking for the practical steps that will help you feel calm, that work even when the world continues to storm around you . . . buy this book MINDFULNESS reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that you can incorporate into daily life to help you break the cycle of anxiety, stress, unhappiness and exhaustion. It promotes genuine joie de vivre; the kind of happiness that gets into your bones and seeps into everything you do. The book is based on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). MBCT revolves around a straightforward form of mindfulness meditation which takes just a few minutes a day for the full benefits to be revealed. MBCT has been clinically proven to be at least as effective as drugs for depression and it is recommended by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence – in other words, it works. But more importantly, it also works for the rest of us who aren’t depressed but who are struggling to keep up with the relentless demands of the modern world. In short, Mindfulness helps you meet the worst that life throws at you with renewed courage. The third step of the Breathing Space is like the broadening base of an hourglass. In this, you open your awareness. In this opening, you are opening to life as it is, preparing yourself for the next moments of your day. Here you are, gently but firmly, reaffirming a sense that you have a place in the world – your whole mind–body, just as it is, in all its peace, dignity and completeness. You are the observer of your thoughts. It’s a subtle distinction that’s only perceived with practice.