Tamara Russell - What Is Mindfulness?

#WHAT IS

#WHAT IS

MINDFULNESS?

DR TAMARA RUSSELL

CONTENTS

Why read this book?

My aim in writing this book is to provide you with a friendly, accessible guide to mindfulness such a popular term these days, yet one that is rarely fully understood. I would like to give you a broad understanding of the topic, as well as clear up some common confusions. With more insight into the meaning, mechanisms and origins of mindfulness, I believe its possible for everyone to find a way to weave mindfulness into their daily lives. Im passionate about the brain and keen to share the exciting neuroscientific research thats helping us understand why mindfulness really can work. As we all know, we need clear and calm thinking to meet the challenges our world is facing. Mindfulness is one route to ensuring we proceed with this consideration and clarity rather than knee-jerk reactions. In a more mindful world there is room for us all to thrive. I hope this book will inspire you to consider where in your world there is an opportunity to act with more care and attention, and in line with your deepest and most heartfelt intentions.

Explore the meaning and concept of mindfulness

Differentiate between mindfulness and ordinary awareness

Recognize that you already have mindfulness within you

Discover how mindful living benefits both body and mind

Understand the key brain networks you are using and developing when you practise mindfulness

Become familiar with different types of attention and how we can fine-tune our attentional capabilities

Get better acquainted with your wandering mind, and harness its power in line with your intentions

Learn how to learn in the most efficient ways

Understand the benefits of engaging with lifes challenges in a less reactive, more considered way

Improve your self-knowledge and awareness of your own personal habits of mind

Feel confident you can make any activity mindful

Learn how developing awareness is in our genes

Hear the story of how many human civilizations have explored and developed awareness

Learn how modern-day mindfulness has grown into the globe-spanning phenomenon it is today

Learn how to prepare for mindfulness training, making your efforts most efficient

Discover how to be mindful in mindless environments

Reflect on your own personal learning style and how this will interact with attempts to unveil your innate mindfulness

Explore three key mindfulness practices in depth

Challenge yourself to embed mindfulness in everyday activities and interactions

Embrace the joy and pain of the human condition to continually learn and grow

From the list on the previous pages, you can see that Im keen for you to explore this topic from all angles, so you really know what you are getting into if you decide that mindfulness is for you. Being prepared will speed your journey and make it more fun. You may explore lightly or want to go deep. You are at your own starting point and I hope that this book will give you all you need to know to begin your explorations.

In the Introduction that follows, I provide the context for this book and my work and my motivations for writing it. considers what happens with continued, dedicated practice and whether it might be possible to create more mindful communities, and, ultimately, a more mindful world.

This book has a number of features to make mindfulness as accessible as possible for you. These include:

A Q & A approach that, chapter by chapter, explores the questions that are often asked about mindfulness.

Focus On boxes that invite you to go deeper into a practice or topic and think about how it applies in your life.

Try It boxes that suggest practical exercises you can try right now to explore a learning/teaching point.

At the end of the book, a What Next section and further reading list suggest how to continue your investigations. This book is a first dip into the topic; if you really want to dive in, there are many more fascinating things to discover.