Mindfulness for Health

BMA Medical Book Awards, 2014

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780749959241

Price: £13.99

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WINNER OF BEST BOOK (POPULAR MEDICINE) AT THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION’S BOOK AWARDS 2014

Pain, suffering and stress can be intolerable – but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Mindfulness for Health reveals a series of simple practices that you can incorporate into your daily life to relieve chronic pain and the suffering and stress of illness. Clinical trials show that mindfulness meditation can be as effective as prescription painkillers and also enhances the body’s natural healing systems. Mindfulness can also reduce the anxiety, depression, irritability, exhaustion and insomnia that can arise from chronic pain and illness.
Mindfulness for Health is based on a unique meditation programme developed by Vidyamala Burch to help her cope with the severe pain of spinal injury. Taught at Breathworks in the UK – and its affiliates around the world – this programme has helped tens of thousands of people cope with pain, illness and stress. Breathworks’ pioneering approach is praised by Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Professor Lance McCracken of King’s College London.
The eight-week programme at the heart of this book takes just 10-20 minutes per day. It is particularly effective for the biggest causes of pain – back problems, arthritis, migraine and diabetes but works equally well for cancer (and its associated chemotherapy), heart disease, fibromyalgia, celiac disease, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, labour pain and even tinnitus. You will be surprised by how quickly your suffering melts away, leaving you able to live life to the full again.

Reviews

Vidyamala and Danny have written an inspiring book . . . It is alive with heart-warming stories and practical and engaging ways of managing your distress and finding more joy, peace, wisdom and compassion for yourself and others - from day one of this excellent programme. It is a guidebook for thriving and not just surviving each day
Timothea Goddard, MBSR teacher, Psychotherapist – Openground, Australia
In a world of much suffering, this book is a gift of wisdom and practical help
Professor Paul Gilbert, PhD, OBE, author of The Compassionate Mind and Mindful Compassion, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Thoughtful and practical . . . This will be an important resource for the mindfulness community
Dr Elizabeth Foley, Senior MBCT Facilitator & Researcher, Sydney, Australia
Meeting pain with the "tender gravity of kindness" is courageous and transformative. Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman "walk the talk"; they invite people suffering pain to reclaim their lives through this accessible, personal, wise and eminently commonsensical guide
Willem Kuyken, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Exeter
An excellent resource for people in the community who live with pain and long-term health conditions, and also for those health-care professionals who support them
Peter Moore, co-author of the Pain Toolkit
A beautiful and compassionate book, Mindfulness for Health will put you back in touch with the extraordinary person you already are
Professor Mark Williams, University of Oxford
This book provides an extremely effective and elegant mind-body approach to healing . . . Highly recommended
Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Coming to Our Senses
Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman . . . show how the benefits of mindfulness can bring a different kind of healing so that the mind-body can be calmed, focused, refreshed and renewed
Liz Lobb, Professor of Palliative Care, Sydney, Australia
Mindfulness offers a distinctly compassionate and authentic way to reconcile our experiences of pain . . . I would really encourage you to give yourself eight weeks with this book. You will be rewarded with a profound change
Dr Margaret Macky, FAFOEM, Occupational Medicine Specialist, New Zealand
Through simple exercises, well explained and prepared . . . they guide the reader through the principles and practice of mindfulness applied to pain, and towards self-understanding, gentle control and connectedness
Dr Amanda C de C Williams, Reader in Clinical Health Psychology, University College London
If you have chronic pain or another persistent health problem, if you struggle, feel stuck or feel alone, read and follow this book. It will encourage, guide and liberate you
Lance M. McCracken, PhD, Professor of Behavioural Medicine, King’s College London
Mindfulness for Health offers those who struggle with the painful loss of health much support to become more alive and compassionate and not trapped by pain and ill health. This truly resourceful book will help people grow their own sense of self . . . and lessen their suffering
Dr Frances Cole, GP, Pain Rehabilitation Specialist and CBT therapist, Leeds Community Trust, Spinal Pain Management Service, UK