The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

great book for those wanting to know more about alternatives to medications to help with depression symptoms.

This book is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to improve the quality of their life, anyone who has noticed that the mind does not only solve problems but also creates them because we reject the present moment. We may have noticed also that our thoughts judge and reject our feelings and emotions.

The authors offer basic and easy to implement techniques to help us live in the present moment. The present moment is a difficult and misunderstood concept that the book analyzes in a way that makes sense even to a westerner. It's not some weird metaphysical concept where you reject planning things ahead and sit around in a trance. Not at all. They clearly show how distorted deep rooted thinking and emotionally reactive patterns are constantly at work evaluating the moment, rejecting it and striving for another moment that will be better, and hopefully replace the one we reject now. But making friends with our bodies is the key because many of the signals that color our opinions about our current situations are streaming in from the body and sensory experiences.

Real change, they point out, can only happen if we overcome these habitual automatic responses to the present moment. When we spiral into a depression or simply a very negative mind state, "our habitual efforts to extricate ourselves, far from freeing us, actually keep us locked in the pain we're trying to escape". This is the major theme that resonates in the book which they present from many different angles. It's simple yet has many vicissitudes.

The difficult part is overcoming resistance and doing things on a regular basis. But they have broken down the practice of mindfulness in a such way that even a Wall street executive can make time for. The 3-minute breath-focused meditations are particularly helpful and can be used on the spot in any situation. Three minutes can be spared by anyone and the benefits are tremendous. Moreover, the rationale behind the technique creates a lasting shift in our perspectives about life and why we are creating problems where there may not be any, or simply adding more complexity to problems instead of working with what is really happening around us and internally.

The body scan has also been particularly beneficial. It can help you get out of bed on days when one feels a sense of "what's the point, life sucks" or "I don't have the strength to deal with this today". The techniques, taken together, help a person realize that the point is your body, and healthy body awareness will improve life. The body is how we receive input from the environment, which we then process as emotions and evaluative thoughts. In other words, it is how our minds relate to our bodies to keep us grounded so that we are not reacting habitually to circumstances.

So the body is a key player that we tend to completely ignore. The authors really make this point clear when they explain how our aversion responses, the "get me out of here!" reaction to things happening in our lives stems from an instinct ("avoidance system") of the brain that was designed by nature long ago to cope with immediate threats from our environment, such as a lion chasing us. This system now operates not only to external immediate dangers but to our own internal emotions. So as soon as we have an emotion that we've been conditioned to label 'bad', we try to flee--or fight it. We are in a fight or flight mode almost continually. But rather than running physically we run mentally with old thinking patterns that try to explain away the feelings. The mental immediately affects the physical, reinforcing its negative input. If you suffer from body aches--head aches, stomach pain, shoulder aches--due to anxiety, this is the book for you.

So the authors do a great job of showing how body-emotions-thoughts are linked creating and sustaining various negative feedback loops.
It's a must read for everyone who wants to improve the quality of life.

I read this book based off an amazon recommendation. I was excited to read it since I have heard great things about Jon Kabat-Zinn and there was a CD included, plus I love psychology with a bit of an Eastern influence.

I wanted so badly to love this book. The truth is, it was alright. The reader has to be very dedicated to doing the meditation excersises, while I was more interested in the self-talk and cognitive approaches mentioned.

I think this book would be of great help to some people. I recommend more highly Dr. Daniel Amen's "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life" and Dr. David Burns "Feeling Good."

One of the authors, Jon Zabat-Zinn, had been recommended to me. I found the book and included DVD gave me new perspective and truly helped me to handle things differently. Thank you!

Not only did I like the tape, it was so inspiring. The shipping was within alloted times.