Perhaps no other person has done more to bring mindfulness meditation into the contemporary landscape of America than Jon Kabat-Zinn. Th rough a number of research studies, and through Kabat-Zinn’s pioneering work at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where he is founder of its world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic, mindfulness is finally being recognized as a highly effective tool for dealing with stress, chronic pain, and other illnesses. Today, with a four-part home training course, Jon Kabat-Zinn offers listeners the definitive mindfulness meditation practice on CD. ?We are not trying to actively achieve a state of deep relaxation?or any other state for that matter?while practicing mindfulness, ? he teaches. ?But interestingly, by opening to an awareness of how things actually are in the present moment, we often taste very deep states of relaxation and well-being?of both body and mind.? Join the bestselling author of Coming to Our Senses (Hyperion, 2005) and Wherever You Go, There You Are (Hyperion 1995) to develop and deepen your personal mindfulness practice, and to taste the universal aspects of stillness, clarity, wisdom, compassion, and well-being that Guided Mindfulness Meditation offers.
A good way to approach relaxation and meditation These guided meditations, relaxations and yoga routines were designed for use in Kabat-Zinn’s stress-reduction clinic, and “go along with” his book Full Catastrophe Living. It contains four programs: a guided body scan relaxation (great), a guided sitting meditation (at over 35 minutes, this might be a bit long for beginners), and two gentle guided yoga routines.My only gripe is that the programs are pretty long (especially the sitting meditation), and they might not appeal to beginners. But the programs are excellent. Do understand that this is not only meditation, as the title suggests; it is also relaxation, and the 45-minute full body scan is probably worth the price of the set.
Useful mixture of practices, but not complete in itself… It well known that Jon Kabat-Zinn is one of the biggest names in meditation instruction and has done much to give the field academic credibility and validation. His work is valuable and this CD is no exception. However, it seems to be overly ambitious and incomplete without other information to augment it. At the least, you need his book FULL CATASTROPHE LIVING to go along with it.For context, I am a former research scientist and taught physiology in a university and was a biochemist for Merck. I have a good background in yoga, meditation and have done graduate work in Integral Psychology which studies psychology within the context of the world’s wisdom traditions. I also teach meditation as part of my living including using biofeedback and other western aids to learning these concepts. This context will help you to judge the merit of my interview and the point of view I’m writing it for.One thing I like about this CD is that in a sense it is one stop…
Extremely insighful and effective if used correctly I have purchased this CD set despite some of the really bad reviews it got from some users. I have just started using it, and I list some of the good and some of the not so good impressions about it:Good:- The sessions are adequately long. 45 minutes is really required to achieve optimal state of relaxation and mindfulness. Many of the other meditation CDs I found way too short (eg. 10-15 minutes a session)- Kabat-Zinn is a renowned researcher in his field, he really knows what he’s talking about. You can indeed reach deep levels of relaxation with his CDs.- The set mixes Midfulness Meditation with Mindfulness Yoga. This is great, because it makes the practice more interesting.Not so good:- I really like meditating with some ambient music in the background, to block out disturbing noises. This meditation CD set is recorded with narration only – there’s no music. I have however resolved this easily by digitalizing the CDs and mixing them…