Bob Stahl - A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety

Bob Stahl, PhD, founded and directs mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programs at Dominican Hospital and El Camino Hospital. Stahl also serves as a senior teacher for Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional Education and Training at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Stahl is a coauthor of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, Living With Your Heart Wide Open, and Calming the Rush of Panic. He is the guiding teacher at Insight Santa Cruz and visiting teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society.

Florence Meleo-Meyer, MS, MA, is director of Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional Education and Training at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Meleo-Meyer is a leading international teacher who has helped develop and offer professional trainings for MBSR teachers for over eighteen years. In addition to teaching in the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, she has offered mindfulness programs to educators, physicians, psychologists, and young adults.

Lynn Koerbel, MPH, is associate director of Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional Education and Training at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Koerbel cofounded Present Moment Mindfulness in Western Massachusetts, a community-based organization offering MBSR classes and mindfulness-based applications in the fields of education, business, and health. Prior to teaching MBSR, she worked in the field of integrative bodywork for almost twenty-five years, with a focus on healing from trauma and the integration of the body in healing.

Foreword writer Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA, is executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and author of Heal Thy Self.

Anxiety can be a prison that prevents us from living and loving fully. In this beautifully organized workbook, we are guided through a powerful set of mindfulness tools and teachings that have the power to open the prison door. Id recommend this to anyone struggling with anxiety or simply seeking a deeper taste of the healing potential of mindfulness.

Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

Mindfulness is the way through the jingle jangle morning we keep waking to. Socrates said, Know thyself. This is how.

Stephen Levine, author of Who Dies?, Meetings at the Edge, and A Year to Live

Anxiety clouds the mind. Mindfulness can foster the ability to see things as they are. Anxiety is painful. Mindfulness can be a pathway to mental and bodily ease. By bringing together the ailment and the cure, this book fills a real need. By doing so with care and skill, Bob, Florence, and Lynn provide the most needed nourishment.

Gregory Kramer, PhD, guiding teacher at Metta Foundation and author of Insight Dialogue

Whether you struggle with anxiety and panic, or simply wish to navigate the stresses of daily life with more peacefulness and balance, A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety offers trustworthy guidance and companionship on your journey toward wholeness. By cultivating mindfulness in this present moment, we discover liberation from the shackles of worry and anxiety that prevent us from living our love and giving the gifts we have come here to give.

John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America, The Food Revolution, Healthy at 100, The New Good Life, and Reclaiming Our Health

This masterful workbook integrates the rigor of science, the wisdom of reflection, and the effectiveness of years of clinical experience. The wealth of the ideas and practices presented in this educational, practical, and experiential workbook will be of benefit to anyone living with fear and anxiety, as well as to therapists and educators. Grounded in mindfulness, this workbook offers a new way of living that has the power to transform our individual and collective lives.

Shauna Shapiro, PhD, coauthor of Mindful Discipline

Who among us has not suffered from anxiety at one point or another? This skillfully-crafted, wise, and compassionate book offers a thorough and much-needed mindfulness approach to dealing with anxiety. The practical exercises, real-life stories, and heartfelt encouragement will benefit anyone who undertakes the journey to alleviate and transform anxiety.

Diana Winston, director of Mindfulness Education at UCLAs Mindful Awareness Research Center and coauthor of Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is currently the gold standard of mindfulness training, and this workbook [features] the essentials of MBSR written entirely for the anxious person. Its like having the finest MBSR teachers speaking personally with you and guiding you on the path to emotional freedom. The course material is presented in a gentle, easy-to-read, carefully sequenced manner. If you follow along closelyusing the downloadable guided meditations for supportyour life will surely change for the better. I highly recommend this book for anyone who struggles with anxiety.

Christopher Germer, PhD, clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, and coeditor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Copyright 2014 by Bob Stahl, Florence Meleo-Meyer, and Lynn Koerbel

New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Cover design by Amy Shoup; Edited by Jasmine Star; Acquired by Jess OBrien

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stahl, Bob.

A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook for anxiety / Bob Stahl, PhD, Florence Meleo-Meyer, MS, MA, and Lynn Koerbel, MPH ; foreword by Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-60882-973-6 (paperback) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-974-3 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-975-0 (epub) 1. Anxiety--Treatment. 2. Stress management. 3. Stress (Psychology) 4. Mind and body. 5. Mediation therapy. I. Meleo-Meyer, Florence. II. Koerbel, Lynn. III. Title.

RC531.S68 2014

616.8522--dc23

2014025227

To those living with anxiety who looked within and discovered deeper wisdom and compassion.