[.ca] Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation In ... (ISBN 1559276622)

From Amazon.com:
In his follow-up to Full Catastrophe Living--a book in which he presented basic meditation techniques as a way of reducing stress and healing from illness--here Jon Kabat-Zinn goes much more deeply into the practice of meditation for its own sake. To Kabat-Zinn, meditation is important because it brings about a state of "mindfulness," a condition of "being" rather than "doing" during which you pay attention to the moment rather than the past, the future, or the multitudinous distractions of modern life. In brief, rather poetic chapters, he describes different meditative practices and what they can do for the practitioner. The idea that meditation is "spiritual" is often confusing to people, Kabat-Zinn writes; he prefers to think of it as what you might call a workout for your consciousness. This book makes learning meditation remarkably easy (although practicing it is not). But it also makes it seem infinitely appealing. --Ben Kallen

This is the book to start with!:
While some people have difficulty understanding what meditation is and why one might do it, just as many meditators hold on to misconceptions about meditation. Jon Kabat-Zinn leads us gently into insight meditation with a clarity and conciseness of language that anyone can understand. This book leaves one feeling: "How could I not meditate?" This book makes a wonderful addition to any meditator's library or gift for someone new to meditation.

Inspirational:
Mindfulness should be an exercise all beings participate in practicing, not simply exclusive to our Buddhist traditions; a point Kabat-Zinn makes in this wonderful book. What it truly encompasses is a kind of awakening (yes, cliché) where we begin living in accord with not just all people but, also with ourselves. Jon Kabat-Zinn is the director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, a clinic which likely has helped innumerable beings. Mindful meditation is a letting go practice, a practice of non contriving and ultimately - endurance. It is an acknowledgement of who we already are, beneath the layers of attachments and aversion; that is of course that we are loving and generous people. This book offers a plethora of meditative exercises and mindfulness applications to employ in our daily routines. Zinn suggests utilizing sitting, walking, and even "on your feet" meditation. Metaphors of mindful actions are here using topics like parenting or even washing the dishes. This work will hopefully motivate all who read it. Great book.

Highly recommended:
The messages in this book, the significancy of mindfulness, resonated so strongly in me it is as if the author wrote it specifically to me. Kabat-Zinn's writing style, knowledge and common sense attitude were refreshing in a world that often to me seems full of New Age mysticism. His advice that it is "best to meditate without advertising it" made me holler, "Hallelujah!"

THE Book on Mindfulness!:
Jon Kabat-Zinn is an excellent and highly trained scientist and it shows in this book. He definitely has a very wide variety of knowledge not just on meditation itself. I just love how he relates to quotes from buddhism, taoism and other famous classics throughout the book. It impresses me a lot because these quotes are deep but very suitable and are there to help your understanding but NOT to show off his knowledge. It takes very high level of expertise and effort to make things precise and accessible like this. Definitely a 5 star work! PS. A quote from Lao Tzu he chose in this book has impressed me so much that I choose to live a very "taoist" life myself!

Great book:
This book just plain calms me down when I read it. It's great to pick up and just read a few pages, or you can pile through the whole thing. It stays in my gym bag and gets read more than any other book I own!