Reclaiming the Present Moment and Your Life(Book & CD))

Mindfulness for beginners is a wonderful introduction to paying attention on purpose, non-judgmentally, as Jon Kabat-Zinn would say. The first CD is a "conversation" about what mindfulness is and is not. The second CD leads you through a number of meditation practices. What I really liked here was the fact that there were built in periods of silence into each practice and when the meditation was over, it was over. This has not been my experience with some other CDs where the meditation ends with the direction to continue for five or ten minutes, but the next track starts before you can turn it off. I highly recommend this CD set.

Practice, practice - I keep this cd in my car because I struggle with the other drivers on the road. This helps me work on me instead of expending energy and time stewing over the things I cannot control.

I really like the authors writing style. From the content you can tell he has been involved with this for many years and has found practical application in the health care profession.

He explains the "beginners mind" concept clearly and I better understandi why it is a positive for all levels of experience.

This CD is an introduction to mindfulness that is aimed at an audience of Westerners who are not familiar with Eastern philosophy. This audio provides the foundational concepts necessary to have a meditation practice and gives a taste of several different types of practice.

The first CD covers concepts such as the present moment, the definition of mindfulness at attending to what is arising in the moment, awareness, the relationship between mind and heart, etc. It also covers the importance of openness and curiosity vs. judgment and identification with what is going on. That is to say, it distinguishes between a witness of what is arising and the phenomena in question. In other words, it makes the point that there is something standing behind the mind, emotions, sensations, etc. and that this something is a type of consciousness called witness consciousness. This CD also goes into the important of allowing (non-striving) vs. a desire that pushes toward acheiving something. In the last section of CD Zinn contrasts awareness which is passive and accepting with thinking which arises out of desire.

The second CD provides an introduction to some minfulness practices such as mindful eating, breath meditation, mindfulness of the body as a whole, mindfulness of objects such as sounds, thoughts and emotions. It also introduces the notion of meditation as pure awareness without judgment. One might compare this to pure experience without desire or aversion. Although one is given a taste of each of these practices, none of them are comprehensively covered and the guided meditations are not long enough for practice purposes except for a complete beginner.

In general, meditative practices are divided into concentration practices (narrowing the attention) and mindfulness practices (awareness is expanded in a detached way). On the this CD, all of the practices are termed mindfulness practices, but the CD actually contains both types which in essence are about attending to different aspects of reality in different ways.

As someone who teaches meditation to Westerners myself, I find this an excellent, gentle and easily accessible introduction. It achieves what it sets out to do, which is to provide a philosophical framework for a meditation practice and the very basics of starting one.

If you enjoy this tape and you want to take things deeper, then Guided Mindfulness Meditation (Guided Mindfulness) by the same author would be a logical continuation. The book Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation would also be a great next step. Something complimentary that build on it, but is a bit more heart-centered would be Meditation for Beginners. There is also a listmania list on my profile for meditation that has other recommendations.

This is an excellent starter book for those interested in mindfulness. It is written in clear direct language and provides plenty of simple examples of how to incorporate mindfulness into your every day life.

So profoundly well written. A gentle approach to learning the journey of becoming "mindful", and it's benefits mentally and physically. Meaningful daily tutorial for me personally. Would eagerly share this book with my friends.

I liked the simplicity of the message. I liked how he time and again reminded the reader that it is about awareness and that our mind will wander, and to simply notice and come back. I recommend the book to anyone who wants a good foundation of mindfulness.

the CD is a bonus for perfect relaxation & focusing my mind. Have begun reading the book & there is good info. for mindfulness and thoughtfulness. This election season is a perfect time to begin this journey

Mindfulness is all the rage today, especially in psychotherapy. The author of this book was the pioneer in mindful based stress relief (MBSR) at the University of Michigan in 1979. If everyone bought and read this book and lived by its precepts, the world would be a happier place for all. I have given copies of this book to friends, who unanimously loved it, and even donated some of these books to the Prison Mindfulness Institute. If you're feeling down, hopeless, helpless., etc. this book will help you immensely. Hell, even if you think you're functioning at a pretty good level, this book will elevate you.