Yea, interesting read ( )

I first began meeting with Cognitive Behavioral Therapist during my parents divorce. I was struggling to process my to process my grief and depression in a healthy way and it was becoming a burden. I had tried the pharmaceutical route with some success, however the side effects of the drugs were not appealing.

At the beginning of these counseling sessions my mind was like a tornado of thoughts and emotions. I was unable to to work, sleep, or enjoy time with my family. During those sessions my counselor taught me various tools to tame and process my thoughts. I learned to take pause during the day, control my breathing, and assess the state of my thoughts at any moment. I learned to slow down, scan my body, and recognize how my thoughts were effecting my physical body.

As I took notice of my thoughts and then questioned them, I began to be able (and not with any sort of ease) to let those thoughts pass. My body began to hurt less, sleep began to return, my mind seemed less frantic and cluttered. This process helped me to gain perspective and refocus on what actually required my attention at that moment

Someone with knowledge about Buddhism or Eastern Meditation might call what I’ve described “mindfulness”. At that time I was unaware that any such word existed. As my interests in various aspects of Buddhism have grown I’ve become aware that the tool I was given during those months is just that — Mindefulness. While some in my religious circles may balk at such a glowing recommendation, I’ve experienced the universiality of this practice.

Mindfulness Made Simple is a great introduction to benefits and practice of mindfulness. It wonderfully explains the practical ways mindfulness can help with anxiety, insomnia, anger, negativity and more. While the concepts of the book are rooted firmly in eastern traditions, the book doesn’t focus on Buddhist doctrine or other religious aspects. Mindfulness is universal and the book does a good job of presenting that.

The beginner meditations in the book are classic starting points in mindfulness. I appreciated the honest approach it took to failure as well as the difficulties of mindfulness. Many people, including myself, have a images of sitting quietly for 30 minutes in a particular posture. In reality 2 minutes in your office chair is enough to reap the benefits. It’s not easy. Fidgeting, errant thoughts, body pain etc.. are common and often demoralizing. this book makes you aware of those issues up front and normalizes their appearance.

I particularly liked the advanced meditations and put some of them into practice. Focusing on the feeling of the water against my skin during a hot shower or being attentive to the movement and sensations of each step where easy ones to try. The two that I found the most helpful were the Loving Kindness Meditation and the Orange Meditation.

The Loving Kindness Meditation helps calm the mind and focuses in on loving oneself and others. The other person might be a co-worker, a struggling friend, or someone you consider to be irritating. During the meditation you center yourself through basic mindfulness principles and then focus on the following thoughts:

“May I be safe. May I be well. May I be happy. May I be peaceful and at ease.”

Of course during this time you may think of ways that you don’t feel safe or well. You may even feel that you don’t deserve to feel happy, peaceful, or at ease. Recognizing these thoughts, allowing them to rise and pass, and refocusing on the meditation can be powerful. Feeling of anxiety, fear, and self loathing can begin to dissipate.

After this step, the process begins for a person other than yourself. You may begin to think of that person’s face while you focus on the the thoughts:

“May you be safe. May you be well. May you be happy. May you be peaceful and at ease.”

Meditating on loving kindness towards an person who frustrates you will be a stretch of compassion. While thinking of those who irritate me I often felt skeptical or insincere. Over time though my thoughts began to change. I realized that a person’s insecurity may be motivating their actions towards me. During these moments of clarity I would add to the meditation, for example, “May you feel secure”. Occaisionally I have noticed thoughts of negativity and irritation towards an individual and my mind will say to me “Loving Kindness Meditation”.

The Orange Meditation is one that is well known in the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn. Regarding it he said:

“When we are mindful, we recognize what we are picking up. When we put it into our mouth, we know what we are putting into our mouth. When we chew it, we know what we are chewing. It’s very simple. When you are truly here, contemplating the orange, breathing and smiling, the orange becomes a miracle. It is enough to bring you a lot of happiness. You peel the orange, smell it, take a section, and put it in your mouth mindfully, fully aware of the juice on your tongue. This is eating an orange in mindfulness. It makes the miracle of life possible. It makes joy possible.”

I’m a slightly overweight, middle-aged, software developer, so I practiced this meditation with a Burger and Chili-cheese fries from the Lexington’s favorite Tolly-Ho’s. But despite that, eating mindfully allowed me to experience the flavors and texture of food in a new way. Each bite felt like experiencing it for the first time again. My tendency it towards scarfing as much food as possible as fast as possible, but eating mindfully made that approach seem unsatisfying. Another benefit I noticed was that I felt full and satisfied when I was finished. Rather than wishing there was more for me to taste, I was content with what I had eaten.

I would recommend this book to anybody interested in exploring mindfulness or seeking a refresher. I found the information in the book helpful as well as motivating me to read more about the subject. ( )

This 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. ( )

I'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 your 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.

I've come back Nov 16th 2021 to say that my review has been confirmed. From ScienceDaily: "Despite understanding the concept of mindfulness, people are applying it incorrectly, research finds". Quotes: "...the researchers found most laypeople are confusing the practice with passive acceptance of problem" where one must engage with his stressors to actually experience stress relief.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211108081645.htm ( )

I 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. ( )