Michael Chaskalson - Mindfulness in Eight Weeks

Copyright

HarperThorsons

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This edition published by HarperThorsons 2014

Text © Michael Chaskalson 2014

Illustrations © Nicolette Caven

Cover photograph © Flint/Corbis

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book.

Michael Chaskalson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780007591435

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2014 ISBN: 9780007591442

Version 2014-09-04

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for Mindfulness in 8 Weeks

Introduction: Mindfulness Is Everywhere

Box 1: A Small Digression into History

Box 2: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Box 3: How Did the Course at the Heart of This Book Come to Be Formulated?

Box 4: The Effects of Mindfulness Training

Week One: Automatic Pilot

Box 1: The Raisin Exercise

Box 2: Unhelpful Automatic Routines

Box 3: The Body Scan

Box 4: If I Had My Life to Live Over

Box 5: Tips for the Body Scan

Box 6: Stream 1 Home Practice for Week One

Box 7: Stream 2 Home Practice for Week One

Week Two: Mindfulness of the Breath

Box 1: Postures for Meditation

Box 2: Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation

Box 3: Four Key Skills

Box 4: Mindful Attitudes

Box 5: Stream 1 Home Practice for Week Two

Box 6: Stream 2 Home Practice for Week Two

Box 7: Pleasant-Events Diary

Week Three: Mindfulness of the Body Moving

Box 1: The Old Lady and the Fish Basket

Box 2: Change Takes Time

Box 3: The Three-Step Breathing Space

Box 4: The Physical Barometer

Box 5: Approach and Avoidance

Box 6: Empathy and Body Awareness

Box 7: Narrative Mode, Experience Mode

Box 8: Stream 1 Home Practice for Week Three

Box 9: Stream 2 Home Practice for Week Three

Box 10: Unpleasant-Events Diary

Week Four: Managing Reactions

Box 1: The Two Arrows

Box 2: Instructions for Walking Meditation

Box 3: What Is Stress?

Box 4: Mindfulness of the Breath and Body

Box 5: Mindfulness of Sounds and Thoughts

Box 6: Choiceless Awareness

Box 7: The Neurophysiology of Stress

Box 8: Stream 1 Home Practice for Week Four

Box 9: Stream 2 Home Practice for Week Four

Week Five: Letting Things Be

Box 1: Another Way of Being with What Is Difficult

Box 2: The Guest House

Box 3: ‘Sitting with the Difficult’ Meditation

Box 4: Relating to Aversion

Box 5: Using the Three-Step Breathing Space to Cope with Difficulties

Box 6: Stream 1 Home Practice for Week Five

Box 7: Stream 2 Home Practice for Week Five

Week Six: Recognising Thoughts and Emotions as Mental Events

Box 1: Mindfulness and Mental Proliferation

Box 2: Mindfully Relating to Thoughts

Box 3: The Cookie Thief: A Parable

Box 4: So Why Don’t Zebras Get Ulcers?

Box 5: Unhelpful Patterns of Thought

Box 6: Using the Breathing Space to Work with Thoughts

Box 7: Stream 1 Home Practice for Week Six

Box 8: Stream 2 Home Practice for Week Six

Week Seven: Taking Good Care of Yourself

Box 1: What If There Is No Need to Change?

Box 2: Stress – and Its Effect on Kindness and Compassion

Box 3: Mindfulness and Compassion

Box 4: Stress Indicators and Action Strategies

Box 5: Nourishing and Depleting Activities

Box 6: Stream 1 Home Practice for Week Seven

Box 7: Stream 2 Home Practice for Week Seven

Week Eight: Living Mindfully

Box 1: 21 Ways to Stay Mindful at Work

Further Resources

Further Reading

Notes

List of Searchable Terms

List of Audio Files

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Permissions

About the Publisher

Praise forMindfulness in 8 Weeks

This book is a real joy ... Michael has laid it out clearly, succinctly and approachably. It’s a wonderful mix of clear, practical guidance and sound scientific evidence. Read this book, follow and practise the guidance, and enjoy the fruits!

Rebecca Crane, Director, Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University

Before I met Michael I thought I knew all there was to know about my thoughts. I was wrong.

Eight weeks on I knew a feeling of space and calm. The internal chatter of my mind was there but not so demanding or noisy. Instead, I was just enjoying a new sense of seeing the world as it is rather than as the setting for my own thoughts.

David Sillito, Media and Arts Correspondent, BBC

This book provides a highly accessible way for people to learn mindfulness, experience its potential to relieve suffering, and cultivate joy, compassion and wisdom.

Willem Kuyken, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Exeter University

Mindfulness in Eight Weeks is a clear, practical and wise companion as you embark on the journey of transformation outlined in the book’s programme. With its balance of scientific knowledge, detailed meditation instructions and tips on how to bring mindfulness into daily life, it is indeed a trustworthy and accessible manual as, step by step, you change your mind and change your life.

Vidyamala Burch, Author and co-founder of Breathworks CIC

A great book for both novices and those familiar with mindfulness practice – I highly recommend it.

Mark Williams Co-Author of the bestselling Mindfulness: A practical guide to peace in a frantic world

The ideas and practices discussed here truly change lives.

Dr. John Teasdale Co-Author: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression

As we campaign in Parliament and in government to raise awareness of the benefits of mindfulness training more generally, I hope this new book will open many more eyes to the great benefits that are so readily available with mindfulness practice

Chris Ruane MP

Introduction

Mindfulness Is Everywhere

When I first started practising mindfulness in the UK back in the 1970s, very few people outside of Asia had heard of it. Now it’s everywhere. TIME Magazine devoted a recent cover to it, US congressmen and British Members of Parliament are vocal about its benefits, public courses abound, there are widely respected programmes available for schoolchildren and young adults, the US Marines are building it into their training, top corporations offer training in it to their employees, scientists study its effects (there are around 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers on the theme published every month) and NICE, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence that advises the UK National Health Service on appropriate treatments, recommends an eight-week mindfulness course as a front-line intervention for certain conditions.