2019-08-01_Mindful

When three mood-disorder researchers (John
Teasdale, Zindel Segal, and Mark Williams)
collaborated in the early 90s to marry Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy to mindfulness practices,
they created a hybrid greater than the sum of
its parts. MBCT doesn’t simply overlay medita-
tion on CBT’s challenging of habitual thought
patterns. It emphasizes going beyond manipulat-
ing thoughts to becoming intimately aware of
our automatic patterns—trusting that repeated
non-judgmental appraisal of these patterns can
inspire us to disrupt repetitive thinking.
In this book, three clinicians who have been
teaching MBCT for nearly as long as it has
existed (and who also train others to teach
MBCT) lift up the hood on this relatively new
and powerful vehicle. They do so in order to
guide would-be practitioners—particularly those
who facilitate MBCT courses—in the nuances of
how MBCT works when it’s done well.
Two major themes rise to the surface. The
first is that to facilitate MBCT requires embody-
ing the practice. One of MBCT’s founders,
Zindel Segal, who wrote the foreword to this
book, has repeatedly emphasized that mindful-
ness is a skill. As such, it must be modeled and
demonstrated for others. MBCT is not about
getting high on insights; it’s about learning how
to ride and redirect our mind and emotions.
The second major theme is that inquiry prac-
tice—essentially prompting us to explore and
describe experience—is the powerhouse at the
heart of MBCT, and it emerges as a “contempla-
tive dialogue.” The book offers a master class in
this powerful form of dialogue, which has been
extremely helpful for countless people work-
ing with anxiety, depression, and other mood
disorders.

MINDFULNESS-BASED

COGNITIVE THERAPY

Embodied Presence

& Inquiry in Practice

Susan Woods, Patricia Rockman,

and Evan Collins • New Harbinger

Anxiety often goes hand-

in-hand with navigating the

teenage years. Academic

stress, home life, relation-

ships, sexuality, emotional

and physical changes—it

seems like there are end-

less sources of worry. Based

on the principles of cogni-

tive behavioral therapy

and mindfulness, Put Your

Worries Here offers a safe

and welcoming place for

teens to manage these anx-

ious thoughts and feelings.

With 100 written and visual

journaling prompts, it speaks

directly to teens (“Create a

playlist of the songs that help

you de-stress. Write the best

lyrics here.”), and lets them

discover their own best way of

expressing and working with

difficult emotions.

PUT YOUR WORRIES HERE

A Creative Journal for

Teens with Anxiety

Lisa M. Schab, LCSW

• Instant Health Books

The popular self-help vision-

ary Byron Katie goes by a sur-

name that’s a common first

name. She is simply Katie, like

Lebron is Lebron and Prince

was Prince. Simple yet com-

plicated, as is the system she

teaches the world over, which

is “the revolutionary process

called ‘the work.’”

You don’t need a secret

initiation to uncover what “the

work” is. It’s right there, in

four questions: 1. Is it true?;

2. Can you absolutely know
   that it’s true?; 3. How do you
   react, what happens, when
   you believe that thought?; 4.
   Who would you be without
   that thought?
   Beneath that simplicity is
   a minefield of fundamental
   questions. In person, Katie is
   playful, humorous, both direct

and elusive. On the page,

with the aid of co-writer and

husband Stephen Mitch-

ell, she seems a little more

philosophical and speculative.

But the strongest sections of

A Mind at Home with Itself are

transcripts of Katie carrying

on the inquiry process with a

range of people going through

widely varying challenges.

And herein lies the popu-

larity of Katie’s work: the

enduring power of inquiry.

The Socratic method of

continually inquiring of a

thing whether it’s true and

what consequences emerge

from that is alive and well,

and even though this book is

largely dedicated to a Bud-

dhist sutra, it’s reminiscent

of the mindfulness of an

ancient Greek.

A MIND AT HOME

WITH ITSELF

Byron Katie, with Stephen

Mitchell • HarperOne

Can we gently

turn toward the experience

of sensations just as they

are right now, without

judging them?

74 mindful August 2019

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