Mindfulness An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World

MINDFULNESS reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that can be incorporated into daily life to help break the cycle of anxiety, stress, unhappiness, and exhaustion. It promotes the kind of happiness and peace that gets into your bones. It seeps into everything you do and helps you meet the worst that life throws at you with new courage. 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 is widely recommended by US physicians and the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - in other words, it works. More importantly it also works for people who are not depressed but who are struggling to keep up with the constant demands of the modern world. MBCT was developed by the book's author, Oxford professor Mark Williams, and his colleagues at the Universities of Cambridge and Toronto. By investing just 10 to 20 minutes each day, you can learn the simple mindfulness meditations at the heart of MBCT and fully reap their benefits. The book includes links to audio mediations to help guide you through the process. You'll be surprised by how quickly these techniques will have you enjoying life again.

Mark Williams is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and a Research Fellow at Oxford and a founding fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. He is the author of The Mindful Way Through Depression. He lives in England.

Danny Penman, Ph.D., is a feature and comment writer for the UK’s Daily Mail. After gaining a PhD in biochemistry, he worked for The Independent and the BBC. He lives in England.

“Want a happier, more content life? I highly recommend the down-to-earth methods you’ll find in this book. Professor Mark Williams and Dr. Danny Penman have teamed up to give us scientifically grounded techniques we can apply in the midst of our everyday challenges and catastrophes.”
—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence “Peace can’t be achieved in the outside world unless we have peace on the inside. Mark Williams and Danny Penman’s book gives us this peace.”
—Goldie Hawn
 "This is an inspiring program for anyone caring about his or her own health and sanity."—Jon Kabat-Zinn