The Mindful Elite: Mobilizing from the inside out by Jaime Kucinskas (Oxford University Press) takes up the challenging investigation into the origins of the mindfulness juggernaut that includes everything from contemplative to the clinical and popular use of meditation. This is not the first investigation of the path Western forms mindfulness sans Buddhism has taken and [...]
Category: Books & Reviews
Eat All You Want AND Lose Weight: Delicious delusions and terrible truths
It's Day 2 of 2019 and I am thrilled to say I'm not on a diet. As a lifelong poundage yo-yo attached to a weighing scale, I am very happy to find myself in a place where the leftover Xmas cookies (Really. Leftover!) aren't enticing me, the Baumkuchen I baked for my daughter's birthday is begging [...]
Book Review: Make peace with your mind by Mark Coleman
Mark Coleman, mindfulness teacher and psychotherapist has gifted us a powerful set of directions that liberate from that most insidious part of ourselves: the inner critic. In Make Peace with Your Mind (New World Library), the inner critic is revealed in its history, purpose and misguided intentions and Coleman makes it completely accessible. So let me start [...]
Book Review: Siddhartha’s Brain by James Kingsland
Siddhartha's Brain, written by science journalist James Kingsland, opens with what would be a somewhat shocking quote from Ajahn Amaro, a Buddhist monastic in the UK. We are all mentally ill. While this should not quite raise the eyebrows of mental health professionals, it is a rather bald (apologies to Ajahn Amaro!) statement to make in [...]
Into the Magic Shop by Dr. James Doty MD: the magic in mindfulness and compassion
Into the Magic Shop by Dr. James Doty, founder and director of The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE), captivates from the first page and continues at an unrelenting pace through Doty's life, beginning with a disadvantaged childhood to his current work as a leader in the field of compassion training. The book [...]
Ottawa Mindfulness Clinic 