Full Catastrophe Living provides an introduction to a body of mindfulness-based meditation practices aimed at cultivating a greater sense of awareness in the face of all of life's events. Particularly, the author looks at how mindfulness can be used to confront stress, illness, and disease. He argues for a shift in how we understand health and well being, an approach which aims to integrate the partially fragmented approach to health practiced in many medical settings. (Zach Rowinski 2005-03-04)
Preface / Thich Nhat Hanh -- Forward / Joan Borysenko -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: stress, pain, and illness: facing the full catastrophe -- Pt. 1 The practice of mindfulness: paying attention : 1. You have only moments to live ; 2. The foundations of mindfulness practice: attitudes and commitment ; 3. The power of breathing: your unsuspected ally in the healing process ; 4. Sitting meditation: nourishing the domain of being ; 5. Being in your body: the body-scan technique ; 6. Cultivating strength, balance, and flexibility: yoga <i>is</i> meditation ; 7. Walking meditation ; 8. A day of mindfulness ; 9. Really doing what you're doing: mindfulness in daily life ; 10. Getting started in the practice -- pt. 2 The paradigm: a new way of thinking about health and illness : 11. Introduction to the paradigm -- 12. Glimpses of wholeness, delusions of separateness ; 13. On healing ; 14. Doctors, patients, and people: moving toward a unified perspective on health and illness ; 15. Mind <i>and</i> body: evidence that beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, and emotions can harm or heal ; 16. Connectedness -- Pt. 3 Stress : 17. Stress ; 18. Change: one thing you can be sure of ; 19. Stuck in stress reactivity ; 20. Responding to stress instead of reacting -- pt. 4 The applications: taking on the full catastrophe : 21. Working with symptoms: listening to your body -- 22. Working with your physical pain: your pain is not you -- 23. More on pain ; 24. Working with emotional pain: your pain is not you . . . but there is much you can do to heal it ; 25. Working with fear, panic, and anxiety ; 26. Time and time stress ; 27. Sleep and sleep stress ; 28. People stress ; 29. Role stress ; 30. Work stress ; 31. Food stress ; 32. World stress -- pt. 5 The way of awareness : 33. New beginnings ; 34. Keeping up the formal practice ; 35. Keeping up the informal practice ; 36. The way of awareness -- Appendix: Awareness calendars ; Reading list ; Index ; Tape ordering information