Kabat-Zinn is often credited with bringing the mindfulness and meditative yoga movements into the popular vernacular.  Educated at Haverford and with a PhD from MIT in molecular biology, he became a devoted meditator after studying with a Zen teacher who came to MIT to lecture.  Kabat-Zinn went on to create the stress reduction program at U. Mass Medical School in the early 1970’s, and based on his experiences there, he wrote this book about mindfulness.

The book, written 32 years ago, was a bit of a slog to get through as Kabat-Zinn succumbed to the non-fiction writer’s trap of endlessly repeating the same take home message.  On the other hand, the book has everything one needs to know about mindfulness and served as the jumping off point for a huge body of literature written since then about this practice.  Being awake and aware to the present moment; living in the present instead of regretting the past and/or worrying about the future; focusing on the breath and allowing thoughts to come and to go without allowing them to define who you are; practicing self-kindness and affirmation in the face of the vagaries of life.  These and other basic tenets of mindfulness are all there in the readable and engaging first half while the second part of the book becomes dull and repetitive.  One must credit Kabat-Zinn with having an enormous impact on our world as millions now meditate, engage in yoga, and often combine the two practices as he suggested more than 30 years ago.

A worthwhile read if for no other reason than to get a perspective on how this daily practice of mine began.  In addition, I try to find one ‘take home phrase’ from each book I read on mindfulness.  In Kabat-Zinn’s case, the phrase is “dwelling in stillness”.