Jon Kabat-Zinn

[amb3542]

Hi everybody! I'm pretty new to this discussion board, and mindfulness in general for that matter, but I thought I'd start a new topic. I'm reading "Wherever You Go There You Are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn and I was wondering if anyone can share their favorite piece of advice they have seen or read by him. I know he has pleny of YouTube videos of him interviewing or lecturing. I just read the "A "What is my Way" " chapter and it says its ok to ask yourself questions while meditating. It also says not to force anything though and to accept whatever comes after asking, even if you find you don't know. Anyone have any opinions on this or anything to add at all. I appreciate everyone of you and hope you are having a great time on here. Thanks.

[JonW]

Hello amb,
Welcome to the site.
I'm new here myself.
I've now read all the Jon Kabat-Zinn books available and they're packed with wisdom.
This is favourite Kabat-Zinn quote:
"Life on earth is a whole, yet it expresses itself in unique time-bound bodies, microscopic or visible, plant or animal, extinct or living. So there can be no one place to be. There can be no one way to be, no one way to practice, no one way to learn, no one way to love, no one way to grow or to heal, no one way to live, no one way to feel, no one thing to know or be known. The particulars count."
All best wishes, Jon

[Gareth]

This was the book that changed my life. A good place to start I would say.

My favourite quote by JKZ would be the title of the book itself. You are where you are and nothing can change that. Complete acceptance of your current experience will give you a massive amount of resources to deal with the bad stuff that life throws at you!

Welcome to the board. Stick around and help make this into a community for good.

Gareth

[JonW]

"Complete acceptance of your current experience will give you a massive amount of resources to deal with the bad stuff that life throws at you!"
If only I'd grasped that at twenty!

[FeeHutch]

"Complete acceptance of your current experience will give you a massive amount of resources to deal with the bad stuff that life throws at you!"
If only I'd grasped that at twenty!

Amen to that Jon! I haven't read much JKZ so will follow this thread with interest.

[JonW]

Of course I wouldn't have grasped the truth of that at twenty.
Anything written by Kabat-Zinn is an essential read but my favourites are Wherever You Go There You Are, Full Catastrophe Living and The Mindful Way Through Depression (the last-named written with Mark Williams, John Teasdale and Zindel Segal).
Kabat-Zinn's audios are absolutely beautiful. A true master.

[amb3542]

I really like the chapter in Wherever You Go There you are where he covers "Coming out of Meditation" and says that "all endings are also beginnings, that what is most important, in the words of the Diamond Sutra is to "Develop a Mind That Clings to Nothing". This really sums up Meditation for me. If I can accept that all endings are also beginnings and be ok with that I think I will save a lot of stress and anxiety. If I can go even deeper and prevent myself from clinging to any feeling for too long it will help me even more. Definitely a lot of good stuff in this book. Are the members of this discussion board mostly located in the UK? Just wondering. Lol

[JonW]

There's many great Jon Kabat-Zinn clips on YouTube. This is one of my favourites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc
What an extraordinary man.

[amb3542]

Jon that's the first video I ever watched on mindfulness. That's pretty much what got me started on mindfulness

[JonW]

What a great way to start!