Copyright © 2012 The Affirmation Nation. All Rights Reserved. Snowblind by Themes by bavotasan.com. Powered by WordPress.
Perhaps no other person in America has done more to bring mindfulness meditation into the mainstream than Jon Kabat-Zinn. Through many research studies and his pioneering work at the University of Massachusetts where he is founder of its world renowned Stress Reduction Clinic, Kabat-Zinn has served as a recognized bridge between science and meditation. With Mindfulness for Beginners, he offers the definitive course designed specifically to introduce new students to the proven be…
Read More at Amazon.com
March 5, 2010 at 2:33 pm
March 5, 2010 at 7:57 pm
This CD is an introduction to mindfulness that is aimed at an audience of Westerners who are not familiar with Eastern philosophy. This audio provides the foundational concepts necessary to have a meditation practice and gives a taste of several different types of practice.
March 6, 2010 at 3:45 am
The first CD covers concepts such as the present moment, the definition of mindfulness at attending to what is arising in the moment, awareness, the relationship between mind and heart, etc. It also covers the importance of openness and curiosity vs. judgment and identification with what is going on. That is to say, it distinguishes between a witness of what is arising and the phenomena in question. In other words, it makes the point that there is something standing behind the mind, emotions, sensations, etc. and that this something is a type of consciousness called witness consciousness. This CD also goes into the important of allowing (non-striving) vs. a desire that pushes toward acheiving something. In the last section of CD Zinn contrasts awareness which is passive and accepting with thinking which arises out of desire.
March 6, 2010 at 11:23 am
The second CD provides an introduction to some minfulness practices such as mindful eating, breath meditation, mindfulness of the body as a whole, mindfulness of objects such as sounds, thoughts and emotions. It also introduces the notion of meditation as pure awareness without judgment. One might compare this to pure experience without desire or aversion. Although one is given a taste of each of these practices, none of them are comprehensively covered and the guided meditations are not long enough for practice purposes except for a complete beginner.
March 6, 2010 at 5:56 pm
In general, meditative practices are divided into concentration practices (narrowing the attention) and mindfulness practices (awareness is expanded in a detached way). On the this CD, all of the practices are termed mindfulness practices, but the CD actually contains both types which in essence are about attending to different aspects of reality in different ways.
March 6, 2010 at 9:24 pm
As someone who teaches meditation to Westerners myself, I find this an excellent, gentle and easily accessible introduction. It achieves what it sets out to do, which is to provide a philosophical framework for a meditation practice and the very basics of starting one.
March 6, 2010 at 11:15 pm
If you enjoy this tape and you want to take things deeper, then
March 7, 2010 at 6:47 am
by the same author would be a logical continuation. The book
March 7, 2010 at 11:47 am
would also be a great next step. Something complimentary that build on it, but is a bit more heart-centered would be
March 7, 2010 at 12:42 pm
. There is also a listmania list on my profile for meditation that has other recommendations.