Just over 30 years ago, a molecular biologist, while meditating, had the inspiration to bring meditation into the secular world of a hospital. In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn gave up his career as a scientist and started a stress-reduction clinic in Massachusetts University Hospital. He had studied Korean Zen and yoga in the past and is a regular meditator.
In the early 1990s, a 40-minute TV programme introduced mindfulness, which originated in contemplative teachings, to a wider audience. Several thousand people wanted to learn the 'mindfulness stuff' after they watched the programme. Around this time Jon wrote Full Catastrophe Living - the title is based on Alexis Zorbas in the film Zorba the Greek, played by Anthony Quinn, who says: 'Am I not a man? And is a man not stupid? I'm a man, so I married. Wife, children, house, everything. The full catastrophe!'
A decade later, psychotherapists in Canada and the UK began to understand that mindfulness interventions may also be useful for reducing and improving psychological disorders. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Depression (2002) was the first publication in which the ancient wisdom was interwoven with cognitive therapy to help patients not to relapse into depressive episodes.
Today, MBCT and MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) are used to treat a multitude of illnesses including anxiety, stress, burnout, trauma, chronic pain, some forms of cancer, psoriasis, eating disorders, addiction, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
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The Little Book of Mindfulness
Non-FictionMindfulness is the easy way to gently let go of stress and be in the moment. It has fast become the slow way to manage the modern work - without chanting mantras or finding hours of special time to meditate. Bring these simple 5- and 10-minute pract...
