Wherever You Go There You Are

Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

Featured on the PBS series, Healing and the Mind, with Bill Moyers, a best-seller explains the principles of mindfulness--a Buddhist method of achieving fulfillment and inner peace--through a blend of anecdotes, instructions, and meditations.

Mindfulness is considered the heart of Buddhist meditation but its essence is universal and of deep practical benefit to all. In essence, mindfulness is about wakefulness.

Our minds are such that we are often more asleep than awake to the unique beauty and possibilities of each present moment as it unfolds.

In Wherever You Go, There You Are, Jon Kabat-Zinn maps out a simple path for cultivating mindfulness in one's own life.

It speaks both to those coming to meditation for the first time and to longtime practitioners, anyone who cares deeply about reclaiming the richness of his or her moments.

When Wherever You Go, There You Are was first published in 1994, no one could have predicted that the book would launch itself onto bestseller lists nationwide and sell over 750,000 copies to date.

Ten years later, the book continues to change lives. In honor of the book's 10th anniversary, Hyperion is proud to be releasing the book with a new afterword by the author, and to share this wonderful book with an even larger audience.

Dimensions: 8.24" x 5.76"
Details: Paperback, 304 pages
Author: Jon Kabat-Zinn

Testimonials

"In his follow-up to Full Catastrophe Living--a book in which he presented basic meditation techniques as a way of reducing stress and healing from illness--here Jon Kabat-Zinn goes much more deeply into the practice of meditation for its own sake. To Kabat-Zinn, meditation is important because it brings about a state of "mindfulness," a condition of "being" rather than "doing" during which you pay attention to the moment rather than the past, the future, or the multitudinous distractions of modern life. In brief, rather poetic chapters, he describes different meditative practices and what they can do for the practitioner. The idea that meditation is "spiritual" is often confusing to people, Kabat-Zinn writes; he prefers to think of it as what you might call a workout for your consciousness. This book makes learning meditation remarkably easy (although practicing it is not). But it also makes it seem infinitely appealing."

—Amazon.com

"Kabat-Zinn ( Full Catastrophe Living ), founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, here urges readers to practice "mindfulness," a more than 2000-year-old Buddhist method of living fully in the present, observing ourselves, our feeling, others and our surroundings without judging them. Free of trendiness, the book presents meditation as a natural activity that can be practiced anytime and anywhere, without props or trappings. Kabat-Zinn explains how to live in the moment by taking up such techniques as "non-doing," trust and concentration. He shows readers meditation postures and ways to meditate, including visualizing mountains and lakes, and concentrating on walking or standing. Amusing anecdotes illustrate applications of mindfulness in everyday life, including "Cleaning the Stove While Listening to Bobby McFerrin," "Cat Food Lessons" and two chapters on parenting as a form of meditation (children as "live-in Zen masters"). This warm, witty and wise guide should bring relaxation to stressed-out people."

—Publishers Weekly

"Kabat-Zinn, the founder and director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, provides an excellent handbook on living fully in the present moment through mindfulness meditation. This meditative technique, widely used in Buddhist practice, is presented in nonsectarian form with sufficient instructions for the beginner (who may also order the cassette tapes to facilitate disciplined practice). Kabat-Zinn's previous Full Catastrophe Living (Delacorte, 1990) was directed to those in crisis; this book, which is for everyone, includes reflections on the beauty of the present and meditation's emotional and spiritual applications. An important book for public and seminary libraries, and for health and New Age collections."

—Library Journal

About Jon Kabat-Zinn

Dr. Kabat-Zinn's major research pursuits lie in the emerging field of mind / body medicine, with the focus on the clinical, social, and human performance effects of mindfulness meditation training in various populations.

These include people with chronic pain, stress related disorders, and / or a wide range of chronic diseases with a particular focus on breast cancer; multi-ethnic and multi-racial inner city communities experiencing high psychosocial stress due to poverty and associated social conditions; and inmates and corrections personnel in the prison system.

Other areas of research are directed at the effects of regulated attention on healing processes; stress in medical education; cost-effectiveness of mind / body interventions; stress related to work and organizational re-engineering; the tao of work; mindfulness in the physician-patient relationship; the development of psychological resilience to stress; mindfulness-based stress reduction curricula and their implementation in the primary and secondary education; achieving optimal performance in athletes through mindfulness meditation training.