What Happens in Mindfulness

John Teasdale, PhD, held a Special Scientific Appointment with the United Kingdom Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, England. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences. Dr. Teasdale collaborated with Mark Williams and Zindel Segal in developing mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to prevent relapse and recurrence in major depression; together, they coauthored Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, Second Edition (for mental health professionals), as well as the self-help guides The Mindful Way Workbook and (with Jon Kabat-Zinn) The Mindful Way through Depression. He has also published numerous highly cited articles in refereed journals. Since retiring, Dr. Teasdale has taught mindfulness and insight meditation internationally. He continues to explore and seek to understand the wider implications of mindfulness and meditation for enhancing our way of being.

"Many are familiar with mindfulness, meditation, and other contemplative practices, particularly in the relief of depression and similar negative affective states. But few understand why mindfulness works, or the actual transformative outcomes possible from this ancient tradition. Teasdale, one of the foremost cognitive scientists in the world, now unravels the mysteries of mindfulness, and in so doing lays out nothing less than a new and different way of living. This book is 'must' reading for clinicians, clergy, and all helping professionals who are seeking to maximize human potential."--David H. Barlow, PhD, ABPP, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder, Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University"A remarkable book that I will contemplate and revisit many times. Teasdale addresses mindfulness as more than a technique or an end in itself--he reaches beyond applications to mental illness and stress and toward discovering the ways we can be the flourishing, happy, and responsive human beings we have the potential to be. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of mindfulness and how it can bring about profound inner change."--Christina Feldman, cofounder and teacher, Bodhi College"This is a book about wisdom. There is a kindness, a wholeness, that you can sense as you make your way through these pages. Read the book from beginning to end and allow its fabric of knowledge to envelop you. You will not emerge unchanged."--Steven C. Hayes, PhD, Foundation Professor of Psychology Emeritus, University of Nevada, Reno"As a pioneer of mindfulness treatment for recurrent depression, Teasdale has always been one of our deepest, most creative innovators. In this tour de force volume, Teasdale once again offers illuminating insights and understanding. This is a penetrating and expansive work that tackles fundamental human experiences such as joy, compassion, suffering, and meaning. Teasdale presents a compelling discussion of the shortcomings of contemporary psychotherapy and argues that mindfulness can be truly transformative by strengthening the holistic-intuitive way of knowing. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in integrating psychological research and Eastern spiritual traditions. It promises to become required reading for training in mindfulness-based psychotherapy."--David A. Clark, PhD, Department of Psychology (Emeritus), University of New Brunswick, Canada-The book is an important source of inspiration and practical guidance for practitioners of mindfulness; a supportive companion offering frameworks of understanding to guide and encourage practice. More widely, the book has the potential to inspire the field of psychology and related fields to grapple with greater urgency with the need for us to reconnect on both an individual and a collective social level with the realities of our deep interconnectedness with each other and with all life forms, and with the need for us to foreground our innate capacities for care, connection, and interrelatedness.--Mindfulness (review by Rebecca S. Crane, PhD), 10/4/2022ƒƒIn this important new book, John Teasdale deftly weaves a course between the Scylla of cognitive science and the Charybdis of classic spiritual teaching to create a clear and compelling understanding of how mindfulness actually works to support the deep, unitive transformation of mind and heart traditionally known as 'awakening' or 'enlightenment.'--Parabola, 10/30/2022

• Foreword, Jon Kabat-ZinnIntroductionI. Foundations1. The Quest for Happiness2. A World of Ideas3. A World of Relatedness4. Whole-MakingII. Mindfulness5. Mindfulness: The Central Underlying Process6. Mindfulness: The How7. Mindfulness: The What8. Transforming Emotional Suffering9. Mindfulness: The WhyIII. Inner Awakening10. The Awakening Mind11. Lessons from Flow12. A Hidden Treasure13. Understanding the Awakening Mind14. Paths to AwakeningReferencesIndex