Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness

An excellent guidebook for facing the worst things in life. The best book I know of for those facing overwhelming problems & disasters & catastrophes -- which is almost everyone, sooner or later. Especially if you're facing serious physical problems & illnesses, but also for anyone in an equally terrible states for any reason. Condensed wisdom on how to live, and live a basically good and meaningful life, in the midst of the worst things happening to you. This is one of those extremely rare books that I think everyone would benefit from reading, and enormously so. Wish I had read it every year since I could start reading. The only real issue I have with it is that he doesn't condense the distilled wisdom as much as he could. I will try summing up the main things here, though this list of actions to take is oversimplified & biased towards my own experiences: 1) Find the best doctors and therapists in your area, including a Stress Reduction Clinic, or something like it. If they aren't working out, find ones that will. Probably will be lifechanging. 2) Visit a professional Pain Management clinic. Crucially important. 3) Learn to meditate, and do it daily. It's simple, easy, and surprisingly effective. The better you get at it, the more routine it is, and the more you can DETATCH from pain and suffering. Absolutely essential. (If you can't do it alone, get help & training. Also: you might learn it best through Yoga or Tai Chi -- all of which go hand-in-hand). 4) Be with others who are going through catastrophes. Especially catastrophes similar to your own, if possible. Alone, you'll probably feel overwhelmed and hopeless; with others, you probably won't. Helps massively. 5) Do Dry Sauna OR some form of intense cardiovascular exercise every day (treadmill, elliptical exerciser, bicycling, aerobics, sports, martial arts training -- SOMETHING), if at all possible. Might be hard at first, but you'll get addicted to it sooner or later, and then it will be effortless. Will help you intensely, and in multiple ways, by a) releasing tons of painkillers into your system b) dramatically improving your emotional state c) killing stress d) helping you detatch from both physical pain & emotional suffering e) radically improving your immune system f) flushing toxins from your tissues, which are constantly adding to the pain & stress. 6) Do Yoga, Tai Chi, or something similar every day. Deeply relaxing, pain-detatching, and helps your ability to meditate dramatically. 7) Find the best-tasting foods that are super healthy & nutritious & preservative-free & pesticide-free, and focus on eating them all the time, so you can avoid the terribly toxic foods that are multiplying your stress/pain/suffering drastically. 8) Listen to audio tapes on meditation, stress, tai chi, health, and all the other things listed above & related to them, while doing these activities. This will a) reinforce everything you're learning b) keep you maximally informed on all these things c) distract you & detatch you from pain/suffering/problems d) keep you INSPIRED and MOTIVATED to do them & keep doing them. 9) Get as deeply into spirituality as you can (or a profound form of existentialism if you're non-spiritual). Helps profoundly, and may be the most important thing of all. 10) Understand that EVERYONE goes through catastrophes, sooner or later, in one form or another. This is the way life is. Learning to accept this will help enormously. I could go on, but those are the most crucial things. Good luck.

I teach mindfulness and I started with one of Kabat-Zinn's easier books: "Mindfulness for Beginners". It wasn't until I starting working on my dissertation that I got this book a year or two later. This book is the complete course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). There are other books that are a spin-off or they use Kabat-Zinn's teachings, however, this book gives you everything including a complete program. The only issue that I had was that I had to buy the CD's separately. This is a heavy course and while some of the information in the book is from the 80's and 90's, there are updates to this book that make it relevant even for those of you who are looking for things that are current. It took me quite a while to read this book, it is not easy. I mean it is written with simple language but it is extremely deep and at over 600 pages, it took me some time as I flipped back and forth between the charts and took time to compare it with my own teaching of mindfulness. You can read this book over and over and over again and every time you go back, you will find something new and you will learn something different. This is a book that will remain on my shelf for the remained of my life and it is a resource that I turn to when I need something that is mindfulness related. If you are a teacher in a school district that infuses mindfulness for your children as part of a mental health initiative, this book may be a little too much. I would not start with this. I would start with Chambers & Hassed (2015): "Mindful Learning" or begin with one of Kabat-Zinn's other shorter books such as: "Wherever you go, There you are."

This is a great book about how the Buddhist practice of Mindfulness Meditation can help an individual gain insight into the body and mind. By implementing these practices, you can become more aware of life moment to moment. The book describes how this type of meditation is used at the Massachusetts General hospital Pain Reduction Clinic, where the author Kabat-Zinn uses a combination of Mindfulness practices to help people with serious, chronic illnesses ranging from heart disease, back pain, cancer and AIDS. The book gives more than just the history of the practices and how they have been medically proven to help bring wholeness to the mind, body and spirit. It provides the basic instruction how to begin such practice in your own life. This is not a book to read and leave but one to use as a guide to practice mindfulness in your own life. The author has provided other boos to begin meditation practice that are focused on the practice alone. This book serves as a great introduction.

A classic book on the theory and application of mindfulness backed by years of research and real life application on hundreds of patients at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. A specific 8 week program called the Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) is outlined for systematic introduction of mindfulness in our lives. I have been recently afflicted by an illness induced by the very medical field that is supposed to help us. The doctors prescribed a dangerous combination of cipro (antibiotic) and ketorolac (banned in many countries) for a minor illness which has left my entire body debilitated and in chronic neuropathic pain. This book has helped me tremendously. It has taught me to detach the mental part( worry, despair, ego) from the actual physical sensation. Thereby the intensity of the pain has reduced. I no longer identify myself with my body condition. It has made me realize that we are something beyond our body. It has given me hope. My only regret is that I did not come across this book much earlier. For someone who is facing a catastrophe and dead end with no hope, this is a God send. My deepest gratitude to the author Dr Kabat Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the creator of "MBSR" (mindfulness based stress reduction") explains how and why it works. He takes you through a literal MBSR class so through reading this book you can ALMOST have your own, individual MBSR 8-weeks class. The book is full of stories from the stress reduction clinic and how people found relief and healing. At the same time, it is an honest record of the limits of MBSR. Jon quotes lots of evidence from research. This book helped me tremendously to understand the why and how of mindful meditation practice. Ans I love Jon's compassionate and calm way of dealing with pain. Like he says (quoting Alexis Sorbas) in life, we always deal with the "full catastrophe" of it - and it is still possible to laugh and to be centered.

I adore audio books. OK its athe abridged version but all of the main points are there and you can rewind. Mindfulless is a fantastic way to veiw and live life and this book along with the 8 week audio programme i also brought gives you a great grounding in what Mindfulness is about without being prescriptive as to what you should get out of it. I listen to this anytime during the day but find when I get into bed is the best time for me . Its surpising how much you do remember and I think it helps me to undertsand because I can hear the words. I do hope Amazon provide a wider range of audio books, as for me it makes reading so much more enjoyable.

I first bought Full Catastrophe Living many years ago during an extremely stressful period in my life while living in Japan. The book came to me at exactly the right time. Some time later, I passed my copy on to a close friend. He read it once, then—years afterward—returned to it again when he was facing a terminal illness. I can only hope the book offered him some comfort, clarity, or acceptance during that incredibly difficult time.

Jon Kabat Zinn offers practical advice, hope, insight and practice to those human travelers suffering pain, depression and worse. This is my third copy, since each is ultimately given away to some friend in need. I cannot recommend this book more highly because it puts you in charge of the investment in your wellness. No magic potions, no pills - just learning to focus, to pay attention. "He had also learned that the sick and unfortunate are far more receptive to traditional magic spells and exorcisms than to sensible advice; that people more readily accept affliction and outward penances than the task of changing themselves, or even examining themselves; that they believe more easily in magic than reason, in formulas than experience. These are matters which in several thousand years since this era have probably not changed as much as many history books claim. But he had also learned that a seeking, thoughtful man dare not forfeit love; that he must meet the wishes and follies of men halfway, not showing arrogance but also not truckling to them; that it is always only a single step from sage to charlatan, from priest to mountebank, from helpful brother to parasitic drone, and that people would far prefer to pay a swindler and be exploited by a quack than accept help given freely and unselfishly. They would rather pay in money and goods than in trust and love. They cheat one another and expect to be cheated themselves..." Herman Hesse - Magister Ludi