Mindfulness meditation is being rediscovered as a very modern path to personal nirvana.

There is a nice article in NewsWeek written by an ex – Oprah Magazine editor. The editor in chief to be precise. She gives it all up to meditate. I like the simplicity with which she writes about what meditation means in her life.

I’m excerpting just one little paragraph because it encapsulates so well part of what meditation is about. The rest is worth reading as a light introduction to meditation and what it can do for people.

The key shift is in turning toward pain, when all your life you’ve turned away from it. You give it your full attention—you yield to it—and, paradoxically, its hold on you diminishes. (The majority of chronic-pain patients in an eight-week meditation course are able to reduce their medications and become more active.) You open to emotional pain as well. As you meditate, the grip of your history loosens and you get a little saner, lighter, less entangled. (read the rest)

She is introduced to meditation via Jon Kabat Zinn. Someone whose work I often post about on Beyond Meds. For posts featuring Jon Kabat-Zinn on this blog see here.

A great book by Jon Kabat-Zinn that introduces mindfulness in a wonderfully accessible way is: Wherever You Go, There You Are. I recommend this to people who are completely new to meditation, but it’s a great book for anyone really.

Here are a couple of other books of his that are popular. You really can’t go wrong:

●  Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness

●  Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness