Cheryl A. Rezek - Brilliant Mindfulness: How the Mindful Approach Can Help You Towards a Better Life

This book is designed to introduce you to the concepts and practices of mindfulness in a straightforward and accessible way. It includes the philosophy of mindfulness, its origins and how it has developed into a mainstream approach that can assist with everyday health and emotional issues. Most importantly, it will give detailed descriptions, suggestions and information on what to do, why to do it and how to move from one step to the next.

The concepts of mindfulness are interspersed with the different practices and exercises that should be used. Mindfulness is an approach to life and can be used without the practices. However, throughout the book, these practices are made available as they are the cornerstone of mindfulness work and are particularly helpful. Using these practices, or exercises, takes the ideas and transfers them into real and practical skills that you can draw on throughout your life. Coupled with these practices are discussions on how you might begin to recognise the effects of your feelings, thoughts and behaviours on your life and whether or not they are interfering or helping you.

You will notice that a CD is provided with this book. The practices on this audio format are also given as written text in each relevant section of the book. The text has been made available so that you can read through the practice and see what it entails. At times, we are reluctant to listen to audio material as we dont know what to expect or we may not necessarily have the equipment available to listen to it. Once you are familiar with it and can see that it doesnt involve anything that is strange or hypnotic, you will be more willing to make the effort to listen to the relevant section. The written text can also give you the basis of the practice, allowing you time to read and absorb the idea behind it. This can be kept in mind and used wherever you are or with whatever youre doing. For example, the phrases anchored, balanced and alert or use your breath as an anchor can be said to yourself when youre feeling anxious before an interview or distressed by a situation.

Youll notice on the CD that between each practice title there is a track entitled Gentle Space. This is a 5-minute series of gentle bong sounds that have been included for two reasons. The first is so that one practice doesnt run into the next because if it did you wouldnt know when to stop. The second is that it gives you time to move out of the practice in a smooth and easy way.

The book allows you to become familiar with the concepts associated with mindfulness, such as bringing your attention to this moment in time, being caring towards yourself and mindful breathing. There is a lot of attention paid to breathing as it is a key element in reducing our bodys level of stress and arousal, and in rebalancing our internal systems as well as our psychological and emotional states. In addition, it is a core component in mindfulness work. It doesnt involve anything more than your normal breathing process other than paying attention to it and using it in a very beneficial way.

There is a specific section on stress and distress and their medically recognised detrimental effects on our bodies as they are associated with a whole range of situations, such as depression, illness, anxiety, trauma, chronic pain and so forth. Mindfulness practices and a mindful approach to life can help to counteract and reduce some of these negative effects. For this reason, attention has been given to the issue of stress and distress, both physiologically and psychologically.

A chapter can be found that involves gentle body movements. This too is part of mindfulness work as it is important that we reconnect our minds, bodies and breathing. We tend to hold a lot of stress and other emotions within our bodies and these moves will help towards releasing them as well as provide a careful introduction to exercise and body movements.

The latter chapters of the book refer to difficult life situations and how we might manage them using the ideas that have been presented throughout the book. They also look at how you can keep it all on track so that it becomes integrated into your life, piece by piece, over the days, weeks and years to come. There can be important and beneficial shifts that can come about if you continue keeping it in mind and doing the work. There are no quick-fix solutions but there are helpful ideas that can assist and be built upon if youre willing to do the work. This is one of them.

Footnote numbers in the text refer to the References at the back of the book.

If you are reading this as an eBook, audio MP3 files of the guided mindfulness practices are available to download from www.pearson-books.com/brilliantmindfulness

In a hurry, rushing about, lacking in time and energy with each day feeling like the last and tomorrow never bringing anything different? Are you feeling trapped on the hamster wheel with no idea of how to stop it without throwing your life into chaos? If this sounds familiar you may be wondering whether this book can be of any use.

Life is difficult much of the time and we dont always know how to manage the various aspects that emerge or get thrown our way. We learn to read and do arithmetic, we know how to work computers and drive cars but what we often falter with is the experience and knowledge of how to deal with the tricky and harsh things that occur. These happen not because we are bad people or deserve to suffer but simply because that is what happens in life. Events throw us off balance and challenge our ability to cope.

This is where learning about mindfulness and the practices that come with it can be of invaluable help. Its not only for crises but for all of life, on an everyday basis, and it can be applied to each moment of our lives in one form or another. It builds resources and resilience within you as an individual and it helps to keep life in perspective.

It is tempting to say that mindfulness is taking the West by storm but that would make it sound as if it was something loud and dramatic that swept in, created havoc and then left leaving behind debris and damage. This would give the wrong impression as mindfulness is the exact opposite. Its about managing the storms, both big and small, as well as the sunshine and having a constant at hand that helps you to be resilient within the eye of the storm, mop up some of the damage and feel enabled to enjoy those in-between times of calm and ordinariness.

Mindfulness is fun and serious, easy and hard work, simple and complex.