Shamash Alidina - The Mindful Way through Stress: The Proven 8-Week Path to Health, Happiness, and Well-Being

Praise for
THE MINDFUL WAY THROUGH STRESS

Alidina has written a very practical and engaging guide to stress reduction! Extracting much of the essence of the well-known and researched mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, he shows how to begin practicing and experiencing the benefits of mindfulness. For those who dont have the opportunity (or time) to take the full program in person, following the wisdom of this fun-to-read guide can jump-start the integration of mindfulness into todays hectic and fast-paced lifestyles. Do yourself a favor and pause to really take in the message of this book and make room in your day to practice what is taught, and youll definitely be glad you did.

Steven D. Hickman, PsyD, Executive Director, Center for Mindfulness, University of California, San Diego

Do you want to learn mindfulness without leaving home? If so, this is an ideal place to start. Written in an exceptionally clear and encouraging style, it is chock-full of practical wisdom, supportive research, and opportunities for self-reflection. Alidina creatively presents the gold standard of mindfulness training: MBSR. Included is a mini-course for those with little time, as well as downloadable meditations. This book is a welcome companion for anyone wishing to lead a more stress-free life.

Christopher K. Germer, PhD, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion

Drawing on decades of experience with the highly successful MBSR program, this clear, practical, step-by-step guide can help anyone use mindfulness practices to feel less stressedeven in difficult circumstances.

Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, author of The Mindfulness Solution

Everyone deserves to reduce stressnot only will you feel better, but youll also be surprised by how MBSR unleashes your creativity and productivity. Shamash is a wonderful teacher.

Chade-Meng Tan, Jolly Good Fellow of Google and author of Search Inside Yourself

Internationally recognized mindfulness teacher and writer Shamash Alidina has written a wonderfully practical, easy-to-read book helping us to recognize the many different elements of stress and how to cope. Full of examples and step-by-step guidance, this book offers a clear path to a calmer mind and life. A gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.

Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Head, Mental Health Research Unit, University of Derby, United Kingdom

THE
MINDFUL
WAY
THROUGH
STRESS

The Proven 8-Week Path to Health,
Happiness, and Well-Being

S HAMASH A LIDINA

THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London

Epub Edition ISBN: 9781462518821; Kindle Edition ISBN: 9781462518838

2015 Shamash Alidina

Published by The Guilford Press

A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.

72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012

www.guilford.com

All rights reserved

The information in this volume is not intended as a substitute for consultation with healthcare professionals. Each individuals health concerns should be evaluated by a qualified professional.

Except as indicated, no part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alidina, Shamash.

The mindful way through stress : the proven 8-week path to health, happiness, and well-being / Shamash Alidina.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4625-0940-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-4625-1793-0 (hardcover)

1. Stress management. 2. MeditationTherapeutic use. 3. Health. I. Title.

RA785.A43 2015

613dc23

2014032834

Illustrations by Christopher Reinke

This book is dedicated to all those suffering from stress. May you discover the freedom and joy of living mindfully in the present moment.

WRITING IS a great privilege. Your willingness to purchase this book helps to support me. Id like to thank you personally for that.

I would like to thank Jon Kabat-Zinn, Saki Santorelli, and their colleagues at the Center for Mindfulness in Massachusetts for originally developing the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program upon which this book is based. Id particularly like to thank them for the training theyve offered many others, including me. Without their teams hard work, this book wouldnt exist. Im also grateful for the teachers at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, United Kingdom. Additionally, many hundreds of researchers have worked tirelessly to build the evidence base of the program, and Im grateful for their work.

Id like to thank all my friends and family for their kindness and support. Im especially grateful for their readiness to put up with my silly jokes and frequent absence while writing. Id probably be stressed out without them!

Id like to give a big thank you to Kitty Moore and Chris Benton of the fantastic Guilford Press. They really make a wonderful team and have played a massive part in producing this book, as well as making mindfulness more accessible through many other publications. Id like to thank Kitty for her trust in me, her guidance, and for our wonderful meetings in San Francisco. And thanks to Chris for her meticulous eye for detail, many hours of editing the manuscript, and her sound advice. Im forever grateful for their wisdom and compassion.

Im also aware of the many other people working behind the scenes at Guilford to produce this book. Id like to acknowledge and thank the part theyve played to develop this work.

And last, but not least, Id like to thank Christopher Reinke for all the illustrations in this book. Im immensely grateful for his generosity and patience with the many high-quality drawings he produced. Thank you.

SARAH WAS a typical busy working mom. Her first marriage didnt work out the way she had hoped. After the divorce, she couldnt face looking for someone else on top of everything else she had to do. She was assistant manager at a small hotel and had a 6-year-old son to look after on her own. He was a lovely boy, but certainly a handful. Teachers often called her in to discuss his aggressive behavior toward the other children. She also had to juggle helping her mother, who lived 2 hours away. If she didnt make that trip every Sunday, she was filled with pangs of guilt. Her father had died last year, and her mother was feeling terribly lonely. Sarah didnt really have time to process the emotions of losing her father, and she continued to find herself crying out of the blue.

But these were just the external pressures. Internally, she had to deal with the challenges of feeling frustrated and angry at her boss, constantly worrying about her little boy and whether he was going to be okay, and feeling sad about how life seemed so difficult at the moment.