Meditation

Mental Health @ Home book review: Radical Compassion by Tara Brach

Book Review: Radical Compassion

Radical Compassion by Tara Brach is her latest book; I’ve previously reviewed Radical Acceptance. This book focuses on RAIN, which can give you the gift of “living from your full potential.” I did a post not long ago about RAIN, which involves Recognizing, Allowing, Investigating, and Nurturing. Brach explains that basic mindfulness meditation involves the […]

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It’s RAIN-ing Mindfulness

My friends at WeDIDitPTSD recently brought up Jack Kornfield‘s approach to RAIN, a mindfulness meditation for dealing with overwhelm, and I thought I’d explore that further in a post. RAIN, which is based on Buddhist teachings, was first described by Insight Meditation Society teacher Michele McDonald. Rain acronym R: Recognition The R is about exploring

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The tree of contemplative practices from The Contemplative Mind Foundation

Exploring Contemplative Practices

I first heard of the term contemplative practices when reading the book A Fearless Heart by Thupten Jinpa. This involves approaching an inner problem without avoidance or distraction. By establishing some mental space, you can consider the problem without getting caught up in the thoughts and emotions that swirl around it. Contemplative practices build meta-awareness,

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Mental Health @ Home book review: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook

Book Review: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook

A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, 2nd edition, is written by Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein. MBSR was originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn; I’ve previously reviewed his book Wherever You Go There You Are. The authors offer this description of mindfulness: Mindfulness is about being fully aware of whatever is happening in the present moment, without

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Mental Health @ Home book reviews: Mindfulness for Insomnia

Book Review: Mindfulness for Insomnia

Mindfulness for Insomnia by Catherine Polan Orzech and William H. Moorcroft lays out a day-by-day four-week meditation program to facilitate sleep. I’ll start off by saying that I read the book because I was curious about the method, but I didn’t actually practice it myself. Aside from the sleep education in the first part of

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Mental Health @ Home book review: Wherever You Go There You Are

Book Review: Wherever You Go There You Are

I was expecting good things from Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He’s quite well-known within the mindfulness world as the developer of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and a founding director of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This book was a best-seller,

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Mental Health @ Home book review: Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach

Book Review: Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach

In Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha, Tara Brach draws on her knowledge and experience as a psychologist, Buddhist, and meditation teacher. Buddhism plays a significant role in the book, but it’s written in a way that’s accessible to all. The author describes radical acceptance as clearly recognizing what’s going

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Book Review: Mindfulness For Bipolar Disorder

Mindfulness for Bipolar Disorder by Dr. William R. Marchand lays out specific areas for mindfulness practices that be useful in managing bipolar disorder symptoms. Much of the book would also be applicable to other mood disorders. I believe mindfulness can be a really helpful thing to incorporate into one’s life; however, along with the good stuff

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