Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World Read Free

studies have shown that regular meditators see their doctors less often and spend fewer days in hospital. Memory improves, creativity increases and reaction times become faster (see “The benefits of mindfulness meditation” on the following page).
     

The benefits of mindfulness meditation
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    Numerous psychological studies have shown that regular meditators are happier and more contented than average. 1 these are not just important results inthemselves but have huge medical significance, as such positive emotions are linked to a longer and healthier life. 2
     
     
 
Anxiety, depression and irritability all decrease with regular sessions of meditation. 3 Memory also improves, reaction times become faster and mental and physical stamina increase. 4
     
     
Regular meditators enjoy better and more fulfilling relationships. 5
     
     
Studies worldwide have found that meditation reduces the key indicators of chronic stress, including hypertension. 6
     
     
Meditation has also been found to be effective in reducing the impact of serious conditions, such as chronic pain 7 and cancer, 8 and can even help to relieve drug and alcohol dependence. 9
     
     
Studies have now shown that meditation bolsters the immune systemand thus helps to fight off colds, flu and other diseases. 10
     
     
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    Despite these
proven
benefits, however, many people are still a little wary when they hear the word “meditation.” So before we proceed, it might be helpful to dispel some myths:
     
     
 
Meditation is not a religion. Mindfulness is simply a method of mental training. Many people who practice meditation are themselves religious, but then again, many atheists and agnostics are avid meditators too.
     
     
You don’t have to sit cross-legged on the floor (like the pictures you may have seen in magazines or on TV), but you can if you want to. Most people who come to our classes sit on chairs to meditate, but you can also practice bringing mindful awareness to whatever you are doing on planes, trains, or while walking to work. You can meditate more or less anywhere.
     
     
Mindfulness practice does not take a lot of time, although some patience and persistence are required. Many people soon find that meditation liberates them from the pressures of time, so they have more of it to spend on other things.
     
     
Meditation is not complicated. Nor is it about “success” or “failure.” Even when meditation feels difficult, you’ll have learned something valuable about the workings of the mind and thus will have benefited psychologically.
     
     
It will not deaden your mind or prevent you from striving toward important career or lifestyle goals; nor will it trick you into falsely adopting a Pollyanna attitude to life. Meditation is not about accepting the unacceptable. It is about seeing the world with greater clarity so that you can take wiser and more considered action to change those things that need to be changed. Meditation helps cultivate a deep and compassionate awareness that allows you to assess your goals and find the optimum path towards realizing your deepest values.
     
     

Finding peace in a frantic world
     
    If you have picked up this book, the chances are you’ve repeatedly asked yourself why the peace and happiness you yearn for so often slip through your fingers. Why is so much of life defined by frantic busyness, anxiety, stress and exhaustion? These are questions that puzzled us for many years too, and we think that science has finally found the answers. And, ironically, the principles underlying these answers were known to the ancient world: they are eternal truths.
     
    Our moods naturally wax and wane. It’s the way we’re meant to be. But certain patterns of thinking can turn a short-term dip in vitality or emotional well-being into longer periods of anxiety, stress, unhappiness and exhaustion. A brief moment of sadness, anger or anxiety can end up tipping you into a “bad mood” that colors a