Guide to Jon Kabat-Zinn: 14 Books by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn is a professor, writer, scientist, and mindfulness meditation teacher whose work in the study of mindfulness has changed the landscape and understanding of physical and mental wellness across the globe. He was raised in Manhattan, New York, by his father, an award-winning molecular immunologist at Columbia Medical School, and his mother, a painter. In 1964, he graduated with a chemistry degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania before pursuing a PhD in molecular biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the lab of Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist Salvador Luria.

It was at MIT, in 1965, that Jon heard a talk by the American Zen teacher Philip Kapleau and began meditating. Fourteen years later, he founded the Stress Reduction Clinic to teach what later became known as the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. In 1995, Jon founded the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. Today, he is a professor of medicine emeritus, the author of a number of books translated into more than 45 languages, and has led MBSR retreats worldwide.

Mindfulness is the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. The practice of mindfulness involves acute self-awareness, awareness of your surroundings, and the ability to exist in your current space without judgment. Mindfulness meditation is often combined with other wellness practices, such as yoga and walking, to curb obsessive or damaging thoughts that cloud our focus. Regular mindfulness practices can have a positive impact on your physical and mental health. The beneficial effects of mindfulness can include stress reduction, memory improvement, mental clarity, and emotional regulation.

Jon Kabat-Zinn’s eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program has contributed to the mainstreaming of the term mindfulness and to an interest in formal meditation practice. Here is an overview of the program.

• Original objective: From the beginning, the purpose of the MBSR program was to help outpatients suffering from chronic pain and other medical conditions who were not responding well to traditional therapies. To complement their treatments, the program helped patients experiment with changing their mental and physical relationship to their experiences.
• Research: Studies increasingly showed the physical and mental benefits of mindfulness and a wide range of potential applications in medicine and psychology; this led doctors and researchers to become interested in what MBSR seemed able to achieve. It is now recommended by England’s National Health Service as a way to ward off depression and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce workplace stress.
• Influence: Over time, mindfulness and MBSR (as well as other programs modeled on the latter) spread far and wide at an exponential pace. His work in the stress reduction clinic was featured in Bill Moyers' PBS Special, “Healing and the Mind.” Celebrity proponents range from moguls (Oprah Winfrey) to royals (Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge) to Grammy winners (J Balvin) to athletes (Serena Williams).

Jon Kabat-Zinn has written many books on mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Some of his books include:

1. 1. Full Catastrophe Living (1990): This book is the foundation of Jon’s MBSR curriculum. It covers various ways to use mindfulness to face stress, pain, and illness, and shares information regarding the proven effectiveness of mindful meditation practices.
   
2. 2. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (1994): This book—which is full of poetry and stories—is an appropriate guide for meditation newcomers and experienced practitioners to cultivate their own mindfulness practice.
3. 3. Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness (2005): This book guides readers further into the understanding, practice, and application of mindfulness to their everyday lives. Jon makes the case that paying attention and “coming to your senses” allows a person to get the most out of life, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Starting in 2018, Jon updated the content in this book with a new series of four books: Meditation Is Not What You Think (2018), Falling Awake: How to Practice Mindfulness in Everyday Life (2018), The Healing Power of Mindfulness (2018), and Mindfulness for All: The Wisdom to Transform the World (2019).
4. 4. Mindfulness For Beginners (2006): Mindfulness For Beginners is a gateway for people who are interested in beginning a mindfulness practice. It teaches readers how mindfulness can affect their relationships and how they can live a more present existence.
5. 5. Arriving at Your Own Door (2007): This book contains 108 selections of transformative, healing messages, and details how mindfulness practices can change our behavior and therefore alter the course of humanity itself.
6. 6. The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (2007): This book is a collaboration between Jon and mindfulness experts Mark Williams of Oxford University, Zindel Segal of the University of Toronto, and John Teasdale, formerly of Cambridge University. Williams, Segal, and Teasdale created the Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program which was largely based on Jon’s MBSR program—to help people manage their feelings of depression. This book introduces readers to a series of tools that can be helpful in breaking negative mental habits.
7. 7. Adventures in Mindfulness: A Program to Cultivate the Wisdom of Your Body, Mind, and Heart (2012): This audiobook includes elements of poetry, science, and advice to teach listeners to trust themselves on their unique mental and spiritual journeys.
8. 8. Mindfulness: Diverse Perspectives on its Meaning, Origins, and Applications (2013): This book synthesizes perspectives from many renowned experts in scientific research and Buddhist studies about applying mindfulness to societal institutions like education, healthcare, and psychology
9. 9. Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting (1997): Jon and his co-author, his wife Myla Kabat-Zinn, address how parents can use mindfulness practices to become more understanding of both themselves and their children.
10. 10. Letting Everything Become Your Teacher: 100 Lessons in Mindfulness (2009): This book is a collection of 100 excerpts from Jon’s first book, Full Catastrophe Living.
11. 11. Meditation is Not What You Think: Mindfulness and Why it is so Important (2018): This first book of Jon’s updated Coming to Our Senses series addresses the continuous importance and use of mindfulness.
12. 12. Falling Awake: How to Practice Mindfulness in Everyday Life (2018): In this second book of the four-book Coming to Our Senses series, Jon offers a guide to certain meditations, such as sitting or walking meditation and other ways to use mindfulness practically in your everyday life.
13. 13. The Healing Power of Mindfulness: A New Way of Being (2018): In this book, Jon delves into the science of meditation, examining its effectiveness for healing pain and encouraging transformation. He discusses how to open up beyond your own ego to form a deeper connection with the world.
14. 14. Mindfulness For All: The Wisdom to Transform the World (2019): The last book in the Coming to Our Senses follow-up series discusses how mindfulness extends beyond the individual. It delves into the future of mindfulness in the realms of politics, the environment, social justice, and humanity.

Find something comfortable to sit or lie on, grab a MasterClass Annual Membership, and dial into the present moment with Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of the Western mindfulness movement. From formal meditation exercises to examinations of the science behind mindfulness, Jon will prepare you for the most important practice of them all: life itself.