Mindfulness Made Simple: An Introduction to Finding Calm Through Mindfulness & Meditation
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About this ebook
Ease Your Anxiety and Find Calm with the Ancient and Popular Practice of Mindfulness
A modern practice with ancient roots, mindfulness is widely recognized for its calming, healing, and restorative effects. Mindfulness and meditation can help you relieve stress, regulate your emotions, achieve focus and clarity, strengthen your communication skills, and cultivate an appreciation for what is most important to you. Based on centuries of experience and new techniques in the field of psychology, Mindfulness Made Simple shows how to bring mindfulness and meditation into your daily life.
Mindfulness Made Simple offers inspiring and practical guidance, with:
• Foreword by noted psychologist Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.
• Brief history of mindfulness and its growing impact in the present day
• Step-by-step introduction to your first meditation
• 5 further meditations and 8 advanced meditations to deepen your practice
• Simple exercises and journal prompts to support your mindfulness journey
• Inspirational quotes and tips to help you stay focused and motivated
With Mindfulness Made Simple, the full benefits of a soothing and healthy mindfulness practice are only a few simple exercises away.
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Reviews for Mindfulness Made Simple
16 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Sadly I could not focus on what the author had to say. I was annoyed by the word "Mindfulness" in nearly every sentence. Now I understand why we were taught, in elementary school English, to be creative with the use of words rather than repeat the same word or phrase over and over.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I received this as an e-book through Early Library Reviewers.It came as a mobi file which I downloaded and read on the computer. I liked the book so much I purchased it to download on my Kindle.This book is great from the beautiful cover to the last pages which are resources that include organizations and centers, books, publications and CDs and websites. The author begins by defining mindfulness ("Paying attention on purpose", and tells how it works.The book describes how to create an environment for meditation and gives simple but detailed instructions on how to do your first meditation.There is a chapter devoted to simple meditations for common concerns, including stress,anxiety, negative thought patterns and more.The author uses brief chapters and bullets for discussion and explanations that make the book reader-friendly.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is a good beginners book to allow the reader to understand what mindfulness is. He gives a good overview of the practice and then also into the teaching of meditation. I personally find that reading about meditation while you are trying to do it is very difficult, an audiobook or CD works much better. The reference section in the back of the book is most helpful though. I received this book as an early review copy from LibraryThing in exchange for my honest review.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I'll start my review with a quote from the book: "The word mindfulness is a common translation of the term sati from the Indo-Arya language of Pali and is a part of many discussions by the historical Buddha". And, the key quote: "Mindfulness is at the Core Of Buddhist PRACTICE" (my emphasis).Make no mistake folks, Mindfulness Made Simple.. is a book of INSTRUCTION. I have read many reviews of this book on amazon.com and not one single reviewer said they have, or intend to, take up this discipline. Many reviewers say something like 'it walks you through mindfulness' then give the book 5 stars. This is incredible.There are some very misleading statements in the book such as "you can meditate anywhere you feel like--in a garden, at work, or even at the airport...". They are misleading because the book itself contradicts that idea by saying place and length of time of meditation (quieter, longer) are very important in the successful practice of mindfulness. At one place it says "you should meditate at least an hour before you plan to go to sleep...". This is not catching a few moments to yourself at the airport.It makes a major error in equating the anxiety panic reaction to the everyday stresses of life. "The stress response results when a perceived threat triggers a primitive fight-or-flight reaction". Not true. Stress is what keeps us living breathing humans. From the moment you get up in the morning there's constant stress for example the sound of your alarm ringing, getting the kids ready for school, getting to work on time, etc. Even the build-up of CO2 in one's system that causes one to breathe is a stressor. If these everyday stresses of life cause you to panic then you need more than Mindfulness to get you through the day.Another error is the many pages of printed instructions to follow WHILE you meditate, something you can't do unless you pre-record the instructions on tape to listen to while meditating.I'll extract a few more quotes from the book then give an example of how mindfulness is not possible for the western mind without years of practice: "Acceptance means being able to perceive one's own experience clearly without judging...[it is] based on absence of judgement, neither critical nor approving". Most humans are acculturated to REACT to stress while mindfulness says perceive, don't react."When we are able to see experiences clearly unclouded by judgement [we] can make better decisions. And, when we encounter a stressful thought or sensation "with mindfulness you do not escape the unpleasantness, just attempt to perceive it an accept it as it is". With that quote here is my scenario: Suppose you and your best friend went out for pizza for lunch. Both of you have returned are sitting at your desks when you both simultaneously have an explosion of heartburn as the gastric juices fly up into you esophagus, a stressor if there was one. Now, your friend who practices mindfulness has a little voice that says to her "stop, meditate". So she goes into deep meditation where she is now just "observing" her discomfort without judgement. For you, our culture says 'deal with it' so you grab a couple of tabs of Alka-Seltzer, within seconds your heartburn is soothed away and you feel relieved. Alas, your mindfulness friend's face next to you turns red, she starts to squirm in her seat, she's trying to non-judgmentally perceive her pain. Dang it! Thoughts of Alka Seltzer enter her head, she's failed again. Just attempt to perceive it and accept it as it is? C'mon. Almost all cultures say about pain, "deal with it if you can"; most certainly they do not say "think about it".Mindfulness is a discipline that is literally and figuratively foreign to the vast majority of humans on this Earth. "Within classical Buddhist thought, the perceived need for things to be different than what they actually are is considered to be the cause of much suffering". Perhaps, but to actually bring about this way of living would take a lifetime of effort. Who is prepared to do this? Answer: Buddhist monks. They have purposely placed themselves in a lifestyle largely absent of the everyday stress of modern life which means that mindfulness is just that much easier to accomplish. Dare I say that complete sati (mindfulness) cannot be accomplished by modern humans leading a western lifestyle?Dr Andrew Weil, my health guru, says mindfulness can be useful in dealing with aches, pains, and health problems not well understood such as irritable bowel syndrome. I can see where mindfulness meditation could play a role in relieving chronic (but not acute) pain. But I also see that a couple of minutes of meditation a day would never be of any help.All in all, this book simply repeats in different terms the many ways of achieving inner peace such as journaling and progressive relaxation. If you are not familiar with some of these tried and true methods give Mindfulness Made Simple a read and practice the steps as you move through the book. It can't hurt.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The concept of mindfulness was first introduced to me as part of a group therapy program several years ago but it wasn't something that stayed with me. In fact, those of us in the therapy session would always groan when it was time for a mindfulness exercise. Now, after reading Mindfulness Made Simple, I'm actually excited to integrate it into my life. The book gave me a better understanding of what mindfulness is and why is should be practiced in everday life. I enjoyed reading about the history of mindfulness and was pleased to learn the many ways in which it can lead to a better quality of life. As stated in the book, "the practice of mindfulness has been associated with better stress management, decreased anxiety and depression, a greater sense of well-being, a reduction in sleeplessness, and an increased capacity to deal with pain." Also, it can keep you focused on the present, helping prevent getting lost in your thoughts about past negative experiences or worrying thoughts of what may happen in the future. One of the great things about mindfulness is that you can practice it at any time and for any lenth of time. I have a tendency towards wandering thoughts that usually go to something negative in my past. I've already started using mindfulness to bring myself out of those thoughts and back to the present, saving myself from unnecessary anxiety and stress. The book contains several basic mindfulness meditations, advanced meditations, and a great list of resources. Mindfulness Made Simple makes mindfulness accessible to everyone and I highly recommend it.*Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This is a short read and has some rather good advice. The author lists a number of resources at the end of the book so it is evident that Elisha has put some effort into this manuscript. Although that is the case, I do not consider that there is anything really novel in the concepts that espoused in the book. I suggest that there may be better books for those interested in this area but this is fairly short and may be worth your read if you are not familiar with the concepts.