Danny Penman - British scientist, professor clinical psychology Oxford University, developer of cognitive therapy.

Mark Williams - Doctor of Biochemistry, Science Journalist, Contributor to The Daily Mail, former employee BBC, New Scientist and The Independent.

Complexity of presentation

The target audience

Anyone who wants to find harmony with themselves through meditation practices to live more consciously and inclusively.

The authors offer some meditation practices that help reduce stress, prevent depression, develop memory, self-control, Creative skills, improve immunity. This therapy teaches you how to consciously meditate, stop the flow of thoughts and cope with the challenges of our time. The book is a great addition to psychotherapy.

Reading together

Very often, information noise, rush and fuss become the main problems of people who are always busy with something, do many things on autopilot, let this noise fill their thoughts. As adults, we notice that life is running faster and faster and becomes automatic rather than conscious.

To find harmony, sometimes healthy food, sports, good rest or healthy sleep. There is another great way - meditation. Many do not want to practice them, because they misunderstand this process, associating it with religion. In fact, meditation is a method of training the mind, which allows you to see the world more clearly, to accept wise decisions, search the right way to the discovery of values. There are sources of harmony within each of us, regardless of our confused state, we just have to release them.

Mindfulness meditation allows you to recognize memories and harmful thoughts as soon as they occur. You need to give them time to dissolve and disappear, then peace and happiness will take the place of emptiness. Meditation makes it possible to treat ourselves with understanding, patience, sympathy, relieves us of anxiety and longing.

Mindfulness helps to change the patterns of thinking, behavior that hinder our normal life. Delivering us from bad habits, awareness neutralizes negative processes in the brain, makes us more sensitive. It is worth learning to observe life from a different angle in order to radically change feelings.

The action and standby modes include seven characteristics:

1. Conscious choice, which allows us to be involved in life, to live in the mode of presence.

2. Analysis and the ability to feel in the mode of action, we can make sensory contact with the world.

3. Acceptance or struggle in the mode of awareness, allowing you to treat the problem with an open mind, to take experience for granted.

4. Thoughts as reality or result conscious activity in the mode of action, which are valuable in themselves, but they should not be identified with personality and reality.

5. Approaching or avoiding problem situations to see sadness, fatigue, or depression are areas where we can apply a compassionate approach.

6. Living here and now, not time travel. You need to live not with past emotions, but in the present moment, the events of the past in the awareness mode will be seen more objectively.

7. Knowledge that drains or nourishes. In the mode of action, consciousness is influenced by life goals as well. The mode of awareness of these goals allows you to restore the balance of energy and inner happiness.

Each meditation is performed six days out of seven.

1. The first week allows you to work with the autopilot, to understand what happens to it after it is turned off. The eight-minute breath and body meditation will help calm the mind, the raisin meditation will make it possible to start treating food more consciously. A technique called "familiar chair" is expressed in the choice of a different chair, and not the one in which we are used to sitting.

2. The second week involves using the body scan meditation to better understand the differences between sensation and perception. It trains the mind to focus on bodily sensations without judgment or analysis. Judgments greatly influence our the physical state, you can not ignore the body, you need to learn to reunite with it. The habit-breaking routine includes a 15-minute walk at least once a week.

3. In the third week, an eight-minute practice of conscious movement in the form of yoga is practiced. It aims to remove the limitations of the mind and body, is an "early warning system" to stop problems. You should also do a three-minute breathing meditation and master the technique to get rid of the TV in order to learn to appreciate the time spent in some other activity.

4. The fourth week introduces us to the "sounds and thoughts" meditation to become more aware of what we think too much about, to better capture the signals of the body. The situation and the interpretation of this situation are not the same thing. Meditation helps to discover the similarities between thoughts and sounds. A trick to break an old habit involves going to the movies at a certain time and choosing a movie on the spot.

5. In the fifth week, a 10-minute meditation "research difficult situation” will allow you to learn how to fearlessly respond to unpleasant situations. Mindfulness does not mean detachment, it allows you to avoid automatic reaction and take a pause for reflection. An exercise in getting rid of habits is planting seeds or caring for plants.

6. The sixth week provides an opportunity to observe the disappearance of negative thought processes through a 10-minute practice of mercy and compassion called “friendly meditation”. Getting rid of habits can be started by returning a pleasant pastime, doing a good deed for another person.

7. The seventh week allows you to explore the relationship between current affairs, behavior and mood. Doing pleasurable activities increases creativity, resilience, and encourages you to enjoy life spontaneously. You can do three different meditations to learn how to do nice things for yourself, increase self-control, increase awareness.

8. In the eighth week, awareness is firmly rooted in life, developing a sense of completeness in relation to not the most important things.

All meditations are interconnected, changes in one lead to change in the other, helping in many ways to achieve awareness and reconnect with the deepest parts of our personality.

Best Quote

"Look, feel, let life lead you by the hand."

What does the book teach

After eight weeks of training, we can appreciate and love life, see the interfering attitudes and abandon them, learn to regulate emotions and be more attentive to others.

The main problem is not our bad mood, but the way we respond to it.

Meditation helps a person to become himself, to feel, see and hear the world, to restore the contact of the soul, mind and body.

A conscious attitude to life allows you to fully feel its taste, and control over it is nothing but the key to solving thousands of everyday problems.

Editorial

You can live and let go of emotions so that they do not accumulate inside you and do not find a way out in psychosomatics, by turning to the natural sensitivity of the body. To do this, you need to listen to your feelings and return yourself to the moment “here and now”. How to do it, says a psychologist Ilya Shabshin: .

Bad experience causes a storm of emotions, fetters and stops when trying to get out of the comfort zone. How to learn to “turn on the brain” in case of failures, so that the emotional component becomes much less, and the correct reaction becomes a habit? Life technologist, consultant, speaker Ekaterina Kostina offers several effective ways respond to failures so as not to get lost under stress, but to do correct conclusions: .

Throughout our lives, our relatives (especially grandmothers) tend to keep us anchored in food = relaxation and protection. Therefore, it is not surprising that in stressful situation the hand automatically reaches for the refrigerator, and the look is looking for a delicious cake there. What does such a machine lead to and how to deliberately turn it off, says a practicing psychologist, teacher and translator Nikita Dmitriev: .

I didn't expect it, but I liked it. It's really too early to say if you liked it or not. Because you have to work with the book. I just liked the theory so far. But here's what I want to say. I haven't read anything on popular psychotherapy for a long time. And at times I was very fond of it. It was read maybe not prohibitively much, but enough to get acquainted with the topic, roughly separate the wheat from the chaff, inspire something, and even use something. Yes, yes, I probably never did any long-running programs, but once inspired and tried something as simple and even fun as possible, I was able to redo a lot in my life for some time. But at some point she put it all aside, then forgot, then it became uninteresting, and finally in given time began to perceive skeptically all such literature en masse.
But this book ... Honestly, I have it in paper, but I never opened it - paper. Otherwise, I would have tormented for a long time: I would have stuck on the first 50-80 pages scientific calculations, research psychologists, positive success... Well, and everything that may be very attractive to the Western reader, but I was bored, tedious and completely unnecessary. Especially when the idea was repeated over and over again that all our troubles are from the fact that we think wrong, I decided that they would teach me the whole book, or rather, make me think correctly - and I frankly became sad. But the good thing is that I decided to listen to the book in a talking room, and I myself slowly went about my business. Quickly listen to the theory and to the side - it's done.
But when this very theory went - an 8-week course, meditation exercises, comments on them, my attention became more active. Because it turned out to be about me. And sometimes so to the point ... But I thought that with me alone this could not be fixed.
And this is not about how to become successful, earn a lot of money, learn how to communicate with people and all that, undoubtedly necessary, but not about that. If you are full of strength, energy and desires - you are not here. This is not about self-improvement and superpowers, but about how to return what has gone somewhere. This book is very kind, very caring and kind help those who suddenly or gradually and imperceptibly suddenly became something wrong. With life, strength, desires, work... When burned out. When you suddenly realized that you don’t want anything, nothing makes you happy and you want to hide from everyone. When did you suddenly realize that you were somehow not good and not kind, but all your life before that it turned out to be wrong? When you suddenly remembered with horror that you once had interesting hobbies, but somewhere along the way you lost them and they are not at all interesting to you now. When you blame yourself for everything and there is no forgiveness for you .... I can probably continue this list for a long time. But this is how stress probably ends and apathy begins, and then depression. The word is already worn out and uninteresting to the point of banality, but who knows, he will understand.
The main thing for me here was that nothing is imposed, no strictness and violence against oneself. Everything is extremely simple, you just need to understand what you need and do it. The book feels like a very benevolent, delicate and empathic offer to help. To teach to understand oneself, one's thoughts and feelings, to return to the present, to realize one's problems, to accept them. Not to solve the problem, but to help you understand what needs to be done. Because something can be fixed. Or a lot.
No, this is not another inspiration. I understand that in order to succeed, something must be done. I'm just curious - I suddenly found understanding of my problem in this book. But I may well not open it again - such is the fate of many good intentions. And I wouldn't want to force the book on anyone, but it's worth reading.

I didn't expect it, but I liked it. It's really too early to say if you liked it or not. Because you have to work with the book. I just liked the theory so far. But here's what I want to say. I haven't read anything on popular psychotherapy for a long time. And at times I was very fond of it. Maybe not a lot was read, but enough to get acquainted with the topic, roughly separate the wheat from the chaff, inspire something, and even use something. Yes, yes, I probably never did any long-running programs, but once inspired and tried something as simple and even fun as possible, I was able to redo a lot in my life for some time. But at some point she put it all aside, then forgot, then it became uninteresting, and finally, at this time, she began to perceive all such literature en masse with skepticism.
But this book ... Honestly, I have it in paper, but I never opened it - paper. Otherwise, I would have tormented for a long time: I would have got stuck on the first 50-80 pages of scientific calculations, research by psychologists, positive successes ... Well, and everything that may be very attractive to a Western reader, but I was bored, tedious and completely unnecessary. Especially when the idea was repeated over and over again that all our troubles are from the fact that we think wrong, I decided that they would teach me the whole book, or rather, make me think correctly - and I frankly became sad. But the good thing is that I decided to listen to the book in a talking room, and I myself slowly went about my business. Quickly listen to the theory and to the side - it's done.
But when this very theory went - an 8-week course, meditation exercises, comments on them, my attention became more active. Because it turned out to be about me. And sometimes so to the point ... But I thought that with me alone this could not be fixed.
And this is not about how to become successful, earn a lot of money, learn how to communicate with people and all that, undoubtedly necessary, but not about that. If you are full of strength, energy and desires - you are not here. This is not about self-improvement and superpowers, but about how to return what has gone somewhere. This book is a very benevolent, very careful and kind help to those who have suddenly or gradually and imperceptibly suddenly become something wrong. With life, strength, desires, work... When burned out. When you suddenly realized that you don’t want anything, nothing makes you happy and you want to hide from everyone. When did you suddenly realize that you were somehow not good and not kind, but all your life before that it turned out to be wrong? When you suddenly remembered with horror that you once had interesting hobbies, but somewhere along the way you lost them and they are not at all interesting to you now. When you blame yourself for everything and there is no forgiveness for you .... I can probably continue this list for a long time. But this is how stress probably ends and apathy begins, and then depression. The word is already worn out and uninteresting to the point of banality, but who knows, he will understand.
The main thing for me here was that nothing is imposed, no strictness and violence against oneself. Everything is extremely simple, you just need to understand what you need and do it. The book feels like a very benevolent, delicate and empathic offer to help. To teach to understand oneself, one's thoughts and feelings, to return to the present, to realize one's problems, to accept them. Not to solve the problem, but to help you understand what needs to be done. Because something can be fixed. Or a lot.
No, this is not another inspiration. I understand that in order to succeed, something must be done. I'm just curious - I suddenly found understanding of my problem in this book. But I may well not open it again - such is the fate of many good intentions. And I wouldn't want to force the book on anyone, but it's worth reading.

Awareness. How to find harmony in our crazy world Mark Williams, Danny Penman

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Title: Awareness. How to find harmony in our crazy world
Author: Mark Williams, Danny Penman
Year: 2011
Genre: Foreign psychology, Psychotherapy and counseling

About the book Consciousness. How to find harmony in our crazy world" Mark Williams, Danny Penman

Here is a book about mindfulness meditation, on which the therapy developed by the author and his colleagues at Oxford University is based. This technique not only helps to cure and prevent depression, but also helps to cope with the challenges of the modern rhythm of life. By spending 10-20 minutes a day in mindful meditation, you will learn to stop the flow of thoughts and emotions in order to focus on what is really happening in your life.

Published in Russian for the first time.

On our site about books lifeinbooks.net you can download for free without registration or read online book“Awareness. How to find harmony in our crazy world” by Mark Williams, Danny Penman in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. Buy full version you can have our partner. Also, here you will find latest news from literary world, find out the biography of your favorite authors. For beginner writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary skills.

The essence of traditional meditation is to fully concentrate on breathing, to follow the rhythm of inhalations and exhalations. Concentration on the breath allows you to observe thoughts as they arise and gradually stop fighting them.

At some point, you realize that thoughts come and go on their own, and you do not depend on them. You will feel how they appear in your head and disappear like a burst soap bubble. So you realize that your thoughts and feelings are fickle and you have a choice - to succumb to their influence or not.

Mindfulness helps to observe oneself, but without criticism, but with sympathy.

Benefits of Mindful Meditation

1. Increased levels of happiness and life satisfaction.
2. Reducing irritability, anxiety and depression.
3. Improving memory, reaction speed, psychological and physical endurance.
4. Regularly meditating people are more satisfied with their relationship with a partner.
5. Decrease in key indicators chronic stress including high blood pressure.
6. Meditation helps to cope with serious diseases, such as chronic pain and cancer, reduces alcohol and drug dependence.
7. Improvement immune system, prevention of colds, flu, other diseases.

Myths about meditation

Despite the proven benefits, many are still wary of meditation.

1. Meditation is not a religion, but a method of mental training. There are many atheists and agnostics among its practitioners.
2. Sitting in the lotus position is not necessary. You can meditate almost anywhere.
3. Practice does not take much time, but requires patience and perseverance. Many people notice that meditation frees them from the yoke of time and they have more opportunity do other things.
4. Meditation is not difficult. The terms "success" and "failure" do not apply to it.
5. Meditation does not dull your mind or prevent you from achieving important career and life goals, nor does it make you an incorrigible optimist.
6. Meditation does not call to accept the unacceptable, but helps to see the world more clearly and clearly.

How to find harmony in our crazy world

Our mood changes quite quickly. But why then a short decline in energy or emotional surges can result in a long period anxiety, stress, fatigue and depression?

Research has proven:

• When you feel sad, anxious, or irritated, it's not your mood that does the most damage, but how you react to it.
• Trying to get rid of bad mood or a depressed state - or understanding why you feel so bad and how you can fix it - often only makes the situation worse.

When we feel bad, we try to find out the cause of the bad mood and eliminate it. But our brain, in search of a solution to the problem, begins to select memories that reflect emotional condition at this moment. This skill is very important in problem solving, but it doesn't work with emotions. As a result, short-term sadness can trigger a flurry of unpleasant memories and negative emotions.

The fact is that our memory works much better in relation to specific context(place, feeling, sensations, sounds, visual images). We cannot stop the flow of these memories, but we can prevent the spiral from continuing.

Mindful meditation teaches you to recognize memories and self-destructive thoughts. Mindfulness does not deny natural desire reason to solve problems - it just gives us the time and place to choose the best way their decisions.

Chapter 2

Our restless mind

Our emotions are clusters of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and impulses. All elements are interconnected. It used to be thought that thoughts affect emotions, but latest research confirm that emotions also influence thoughts. In practice, this means that even a fleeting feeling of sadness can feed on itself and give rise to even more sad thoughts.

Emotions are influenced not only by thoughts, but also by other elements that make up emotions.

Mind in depression - body in depression

To understand how strong the relationship between bodily sensations and perception of the world can be, psychologists conducted an experiment. The group members were asked to watch cartoons and rate how funny they are. One part of the group was asked to hold a pencil between their lips, causing them to frown. Others watched cartoons with a pencil between their teeth, imitating a smile.

The smiling subjects found the cartoons to be much more funny than those who had to frown. Conclusion: a smile not only speaks of good mood, but also creates it. It turns out a vicious circle.

But the vicious circle also works in a negative direction: feeling threatened, we tense up and prepare to rush into battle. The body's fight-or-flight response is controlled by one of the oldest parts of the brain, which often interprets danger too primitively. It does not distinguish between an external threat and an internal one, for example, bad memory, and rushes into battle with emotions.

Constantly arising negative thoughts and moods eventually create in the mind a kind of well-trodden paths that gradually become deeper and deeper. Because of this, even the most insignificant emotions can have enormous consequences, but the very mechanism of their occurrence is so fragile that it is almost impossible to notice it.

Compare the behavior of man and animal. Animals enter the fight-or-flight mode only in moments of open threat. As soon as the threat disappears, the animal goes into normal mode.

However, the human brain is built differently, the fight-or-flight mode is activated with any stress, anxiety or irritability. Activating this mode can cause a flood of negative memories, which will also be perceived as a danger, and the fight-or-flight mode will not be turned off in time.

If a person in a stressful situation asks himself: “Why do I feel tired? Something went wrong? What does this fatigue say about me? ”Most likely, he will become even worse.

Our consciousness is constantly striving to solve the problem of a depressed state, but a depressed state is an emotion, it does not require a solution, it can only be felt.

Trying to get rid of emotions also leads to undesirable results. When trying to solve the problem of bad mood, you use rational-critical thinking. You see yourself in a certain place (you are unhappy), you know where you want to be (be happy).

Next comes the action mode, which can effectively solve problems and complete tasks. It helps to gradually get from the starting point to the end point, breaking the path into small segments and following them. It happens so fast that we are often unaware of the process. This is how we orient ourselves, drive a car, plan a schedule.

But when working with emotions, this method does not help, but only aggravates the situation. The problem remains, moreover, it is being analyzed, which means that it will most likely cause a stream of negative emotions and memories.

How to get out of the vicious circle

Action mode is not the only way functioning of our consciousness, but we often abuse it. Our consciousness not only thinks, it is aware of what it thinks.

This is pure awareness, which allows you to experience the world directly. Pure awareness goes beyond thinking and allows you to interrupt the negative internal dialogue, impulses and emotions.

Chapter 3

Awareness mode is a different mode of interacting with the world. Mindfulness meditation allows you to learn how to switch to awareness mode.

Conscious understanding, or mindfulness, can be achieved when our consciousness is here and now, and when we learn to concentrate on the current moment and the state of things without judging them.

By practicing mindfulness, we begin to see the world as it is, and not as we expect it, want it, or, on the contrary, are afraid to see it.

Seven Characteristics of Modes of Action and Awareness

1. Autopilot or conscious choice

The action mode helps to bring things to automatism through habits. But when there is too much automatism, it can become dangerous. You can think, work, eat, walk, or drive a car without paying attention to what you are doing, and there is a danger that most of your life will pass by. Mindfulness brings us back to the here and now, where you can do conscious choice and have certain intentions.

Many of us act consciously for only a couple of hours a day. If you have another 50 years to live, but only 16 of them are conscious. If you double the number of conscious hours, then your life expectancy will double.

Of course, not only quantity is important, but also quality. According to research results, people who practice meditation are less prone to anxiety and stress, more relaxed, energetic and satisfied with life.

2. The ability to analyze or the ability to feel

The mode of action requires constant reflection, planning, and recollection. This makes us spend more and more time in own thoughts without noticing what is happening around.

Mindfulness allows you to be on the same wavelength with your senses to see, hear, touch, smell and taste, as if for the first time, imbued with sincere curiosity.

3. Fight or Accept

Consciousness in action compares real world with the peace of our thoughts and dreams. When all attention is focused on this discrepancy, our field of vision narrows, and we strive to achieve perfection in any way.

In mindfulness mode, we allow the world to be as it is. But this does not at all mean submission to fate, it only allows you not to argue with it, refute or justify.

4. Our thoughts: reality or products of consciousness

Mindfulness teaches us that thoughts are just thoughts and should be treated as events occurring in the mind, not in reality.

5. Problem situations: avoid or approach them

In action mode, consciousness solves problems by considering not only our goals and places we are going, but also our anti-goals and places we don't want to go. This is reasonable for traveling from point A to point B, but the problem of fatigue, sadness, nervous tension so don't decide.

Mindfulness mode helps you to become interested in the most difficult states of consciousness that you prefer to avoid. Mindfulness is not about telling yourself not to worry or be sad. On the contrary, it helps you see your own sadness, fatigue and exhaustion and face them and any other emotions that threaten to consume you. Such a compassionate approach can gradually dissipate the power of negative feelings.

6. Time travel or living here and now

The mode of action is the future (our dreams) and the past (our memories). They are indispensable in Everyday life, but are fickle and depend on our mood at a certain moment.

Meditation trains awareness so that it tracks thoughts as they come, so you can live your life as it happens. This does not mean that you will be "locked" in the present. You will still be able to remember the past and plan for the future, but the awareness mode will allow you to see them more objectively.

7. Exhausting or nourishing activities

In the action mode, your consciousness obeys not only the autopilot, but also important career and life goals. In addition, it consumes a lot of energy to maintain household care for children and elderly relatives. These goals are justified, but they take a lot of time and effort, so there is always a temptation to focus on them, ignoring everything else, including own health and morale.

Mindfulness mode restores balance by helping you understand what nourishes and what depletes your inner resources.

Conscious gear shifting

Conscious meditation will gradually teach you to feel the seven aspects described above and determine in which mode your consciousness works. If you manage to switch any of these aspects, the others will switch themselves.

How happiness takes root

Mindful meditation makes the areas of the brain associated with positive emotions- happiness, compassion and sympathy.

For many years it was believed that a basic level of Happiness does not change throughout life. But a few years ago, this assumption was debunked, it was found that the practice of mindful meditation makes people happier.

Other proven benefits of meditation:

1. Increases the level of immunity.
2. Activates the insular cortex responsible for empathy.
3. Promotes good mood.
4. Increases autonomy.
5. Improves physical health.
6. Reduces the level of depression.

Mindfulness and emotional stability

Practicing mindfulness has been shown to significantly increase emotional stability, that is, the ability of a person to withstand various blows of fate.

After completing the mindfulness meditation program, participants not only became happier, more energetic, and less stressed, but they also gained more control over their own lives.

Chapter 4 The Eight-Week Mindfulness Meditation Program

Ways to get rid of habits

In addition to the practice of meditation, it is necessary to do exercises to get rid of habits every week. They are aimed at developing curiosity and competent response to everything that happens around.

Choosing a time and place for meditation

The program can be completed at any time, but it is best to allocate 8 weeks for it.

To find time for daily practice, you should think of meditation as a way to be yourself, self-improvement.

After allocating time for practice, take care of the conditions for meditation. You should be warm and comfortable. Turn off the phone, warn colleagues and those who may interfere with you.

Meditation is not always enjoyable - that's okay.

Practice meditation every day until it becomes a habit.

What you need.

1. A room or place where no one and nothing will distract you.
2. A rug to lie on or a chair/cushion to sit on.
3. Warm blanket.
4. A pen or pencil to write down your observations from time to time.

Caution

More than once you will feel like nothing is working out for you. Your consciousness will not want to calm down, thoughts will overcome you one after another. It will be like fighting a snake.

All this does not mean failure at all, but it is at these moments that it is important to continue what you started and do it kindly.

Chapter 5 Life on autopilot: is it life?

In the first week, you will see your own autopilot in action and understand what happens when you turn it off.

Practice:

1. "Raisin Meditation".
2. Daily activities that we usually don't notice (such as brushing our teeth).
3. Meditation "mindfulness of the body and breath" twice a day.
4. Habit breaking exercise.

Chapter 6 For the mind to remember the body

The second week uses a simple "body scan" meditation to help us understand the difference between a sensation and our perception of that sensation. Body scanning meditation helps train the mind to focus directly on bodily sensations without evaluating or analyzing them.

Practice:

1. Body scan meditation at least twice a day, six days out of seven.
2. Do one more daily activity consciously - a new one this week.
3. Habit Breaking Exercise - Walk for at least 15 minutes at least once this week.

Chapter 7 Help the mouse get out of the maze

The third week builds on the first two and includes the practice of conscious movement based on yoga. They help the mind continue to reconnect with the body.

Practice:

1. An eight-minute "conscious movement" meditation, followed by another eight-minute "breath and body" meditation.
2. The "Three Minute Respite Meditation" to be done twice a day.
3. Exercise to get rid of habits "How to learn to appreciate the TV."

Chapter 8 What do thoughts and rumors have in common

In the fourth week, you will be introduced to the Sounds and Thoughts meditation, which helps you understand that you, unwittingly, are thinking too much about something. You will learn to see your thoughts and feelings from the outside and track how they come in the space of conscious attention.

Practice:

1. An eight-minute "breath and body" meditation followed by an eight-minute "sounds and thoughts" meditation. We recommend doing this sequence twice a day.
2. The "Three Minute Respite Meditation" to be done twice a day, any time you need to.
3. Habit Breaking Exercise: Going to the Movies.

Chapter 9 How to deal with difficult situations

Meditation of the fifth week - "exploring a difficult situation" - helps to respond without fear to various problems that arise from time to time in life, rather than avoid them.

Practice:

1. Perform the following 3 meditations one after another once a day:

• Eight-minute breath and body meditation.
• Eight-minute meditation "sounds and thoughts"

2. Ten-minute meditation "exploring a difficult situation."

3. "Three Minute Respite Meditation" to be done as before.

Chapter 10 Live in the present or the past

In the sixth week you will have the opportunity to develop the ability to approach problems openly, with interest, curiosity and compassion.

Practice:

1. Ten-minute "friendly meditation" six days a week. Can be done without preparation, can be used as a meditation preparation from the first or third week.

2. "Three-minute meditation-breathers" at least twice a day.

3. One of the following habit breaking exercises:

• Take back your life.
• Do something nice for the other person.

Chapter 11 When did you stop dancing?

In the seventh week you have to explore close relations between daily activities, activities, behavior and mood.

Practice:

1. Choose a meditation that has made a big difference to you, such as helping you relax or come to terms with your surroundings.
2. Choose a meditation that you couldn't get through the first time: it seemed difficult or you have a feeling that it will be useful for you to repeat it.
3. "Three Minute Respite Meditation" at least twice a day.

Chapter 12 Your free and priceless life

The eighth week practice will help you integrate mindfulness into your daily activities so that you can use it when you need it most.

The mindfulness technique can serve as your reserve parachute, but you need to work on it every day, collecting the pieces of the parachute so that it is ready at the crucial moment.

For this:

1. Start your day mindfully. After opening your eyes, pause, take five slow breaths.
2. Use Respite Meditations to return to awareness throughout the day.
3. Keep practicing mindfulness meditation, by doing full-fledged meditations whenever possible, which will complement the short "breath meditations" and help maintain conscious attention in everyday life.
4. Make friends with your feelings. Whatever feelings you have, try to deal with them openly and kindly.
5. Give yourself a "meditation break" when you feel tired, irritated, anxious, angry, or have other strong emotions.
6. Be aware of your actions. Whatever you do, try to maintain mindful attention throughout the day for as long as you can.
7. Do more sports. Try to walk more, ride a bike, work in the garden or go to the gym - any physical exercise help in the creation of a parachute.
8. Remember to breathe. Your breath is always with you, it helps you to be in the present.

Remember the advice that yoga instructors always give: the most difficult thing is movement.