Synopses & Reviews
The Mindfulness Solution to Anxiety
Drawing on techniques and perspectives from two seemingly different traditions, this second edition of the self-help classic Calming Your Anxious Mind offers you a powerful and profound approach to overcoming anxiety, fear, and panic. From the evidence-based tradition of Western medicine, learn the role your thoughts and emotions play in anxiety. And, from the tradition of meditation and the inquiry into meaning and purpose, discover your own potential for presence and stillness, kindness and compassion-and the tremendous power these states give you to heal and transform your life.
Use this encouraging, step-by-step program to:- Learn about the mechanism of anxiety and the body's fear system
- Develop a healing mindfulness practice-one breath at a time
- Start on the path to presence, stillness, compassion, and loving kindness
- Practice acceptance during mindfulness meditation
- Feel safe while opening up to fearful and anxious feelings
This book is a welcome addition to the anxiety disorders field. Comprehensive as well as clearly written, it provides a wealth of information on the use of meditation and mindfulness practice in recover from anxiety difficulties.
-Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D., author of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook and Coping with Anxiety
Dr. Brantley's book is clear and warm. It takes the mystery out of meditation and explains how things that at first sight appear 'ordinary' are in fact very important. His extensive clinical experience and his empathy constantly shine through the book.
-Jonathan Davidson, MD, director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke University
I think the book is fantastic and believe it will fill an important niche in the treatment of anxiety disorders. The information on the physiology of anxiety and the stress response helps to demystify the symptoms for readers, making their problem seem more manageable. Beautifully guided meditations anticipate and address the questions that anxious new meditators will have. The instructions to stay present with the anxiety is powerful and healing. I know I will be recommending it to my patients and colleagues.
Holly B. Rogers, MD, staff psychiatrist with Duke University Counseling and Psychological Services
As a psychotherapist and teacher of stress reduction, I find this book helpful to clients and clinicians, as well as to meditators wishing to deepen their own practice. Brantley gives practical and compassionate guidance to anyone seeking skillful ways to work with anxiety and panic.
Allie Rudolph, LCSW, founder and codirector of the University of Virginia Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program
Review
This book is a welcome addition to the anxiety disorders field. Comprehensive as well as clearly written, it provides a wealth of information on the use of meditation and mindfulness practice in recover from anxiety difficulties.
—Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D., author of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook and Coping with Anxiety
Review
"Dr. Brantley’s book is clear and warm. It takes the mystery out of meditation and explains how things that at first sight appear ‘ordinary’ are in fact very important. His extensive clinical experience and his empathy constantly shine through the book."
—Jonathan Davidson, MD, director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke University
Review
"I think the book is fantastic and believe it will fill an important niche in the treatment of anxiety disorders. The information on the physiology of anxiety and the stress response helps to demystify the symptoms for readers, making their problem seem more manageable. Beautifully guided meditations anticipate and address the questions that anxious new meditators will have. The instruction to stay present with the anxiety is powerful and healing. I know I will be recommending it to my patients and colleagues."
—Holly B. Rogers, MD, staff psychiatrist with Duke University Counseling and Psychological Services
Review
"As a psychotherapist and teacher of stress reduction, I find this book helpful to clients and clinicians, as well as to meditators wishing to deepen their own practice. Brantley gives practical and compassionate guidance to anyone seeking skillful ways to work with anxiety and panic."
—Allie Rudolph, LCSW, founder and codirector of the University of Virginia Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program
Review
Anxiety is, without doubt, the greatest enemy faced by couples, and its regulation is the most challenging and important achievement in marital happiness. The authors describe this crucial dilemma with deep and profound clarity and its resolution in clear instructions and exercises. Every couple who follows this path will end up in the kingdom of marital bliss. As the authors say, practice leads to permanence. I recommend this book not only to all couples, but also to all couples therapists. It will make their work with couples less anxious!”
Harville Hendrix, PhD, author of Getting the Love You Want and coauthor of Receiving Love with Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD
Review
Anxious in Love brings help for anxiety disorders into new territory, revealing how it can affect both partners in a relationship and endanger the well-being of their connection. In a compassionate, step-by-step strategy, the anxiety disorder is first managed, and then mastered using both behavioral and psychological tools. Ultimately these practices are woven into an effective program for couples to useone that empowers both partners to calm the inner and outer effects of anxiety on their relationship and maintain a quality connection. Anxious in Love is an invaluable resource and guide for anyone suffering from an anxiety disorder or anyone in a relationship with someone who suffers from anxiety.”
Eleanor Payson, LMSW, author of The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists
Review
Anxiety, phobias, compulsions, and social avoidance can erode and even destroy relationships. Anxious in Love gives you the tools to decrease, manage, and even eliminate your excessive anxiety (or to understand your anxious partner). After reading the simple but powerful methods in the book, I am confident you'll be anxious to try them and will feel better right away.”
Bill O'Hanlon, author of The Change Your Life Book and Rewriting Love Stories
Review
Above all, therapists should not overlook the great advantage of prescribing Anxious in Love as a workbook for patients to use in tandem with ongoing psychotherapy. Its use will help patients get more out of their therapy by promoting self-awareness and self-reliance, as well as expanding self-care for stabilization, boundary development, and affect management.”
Claire Frederick, MD, coauthor of Inner Strengths and Healing the Divided Self
Review
This book is written primarily for people suffering from anxiety, but also for their partners. . . . There is a wide range of specific exercises for readers to try, so they can find what works best to reduce the overall anxiety level, recognize emotional and physical triggering experiences so the anxious reaction can be prevented, and perhaps most importantly, to learn to be calm, not merely avoiding the anxiety. . . . The authors bring multiple human examples from their decades of clinical experience, simple assessments, and many practical exercises. They create a light and reassuring mood with a genuine concern to assist healing. . . . Anyone suffering from the potentially crippling fallout from any of the potentially crippling experiences of anxiety is likely to have significant benefit from actively engaging with this book.”
Robert B. McNeilly, MBBS, CET, director of the Milton H. Erickson Institute of Tasmania
Review
Calming Your Angry Mind is a wonderful guide to help you transform your anger through mindfulness, understanding, and compassion. It is filled with many practical and hands-on mindfulness practices that you can bring into your everyday life. This book shows you how to live a life with less anger and more peace.”
Bob Stahl, PhD, coauthor of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, Living With Your Heart Wide Open, Calming the Rush of Panic, and A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety
Review
With compassion, clarity, and skill, Dr. Brantley provides a practical guide to dealing with anger productively and, more broadly, an inspirational introduction to the broader practice of mindfulness.”
Richard M. Jaffe, associate professor in the department of religious studies at Duke University
Review
We have the capacity, within our own heart and awareness, to handle panic attacks. Calming the Rush of Panic is a clear and compassionate guide in navigating this acute form of fear. Through wise teachings, case studies and a range of reflections and meditations, this book will strengthen your inner resources and nourish your spirit.”
Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
Review
An extremely useful and practical book that goes to the very heart of the matter. If you wholeheartedly embody in practice what it recommends, it can help transform a tendency to panic into an opening to greater balance of mind, self-acceptance, and self-compassion, right in that moment. Ultimately, it manifests as wisdom. That is the power of mindfulness. And it is already yours.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Mindfulness for Beginners
Review
Panic attacks are one-two punches: they feel dreadful, plus people shrink their lives to avoid having another one. With kindness, insight, and research-proven methods, this book shows you how to prevent panic attacks or ride them out with less suffering, plus how to reclaim your own full life. Grounded in the power of mindfulness, full of effective tools and practices, and rich with the authors' warmth and genuine wisdom, this is a remarkable guide to a life beyond panic.”
Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha's Brain and Just One Thing
Review
In addition to the clearly presented instructions for counteracting and overcoming panic, what makes this book special is the uniformly kind tone of voice of these authors throughout. They embody the wisdom of health professionals in emergency situations: they reassure, and they convey confidence and hope. You believe that they are teaching out of personal experience!”
Sylvia Boorstein, author of Happiness Is an Inside Job
Review
Delightfully clear and practical, Calming the Rush of Panic offers profound insights from ancient wisdom traditions and modern psychology to help free oneself from panic attacks and live a healthier, more joyful life. The mindfulness practices offered are wise, scientific, nourishing, and transformative. Grounded in modern science, yet written from the heart, this book is a gem.”
Shauna L. Shapiro, associate professor at Santa Clara University, clinical psychologist, and coauthor of The Art and Science of Mindfulness
Review
Grounded in the experiential and direct, this pragmatic approach will help you become intimate with the taste, touch, and mind of fear. Of course, no one wants to look closely at such painful experiences. Yet, deftly guided by the authors into developing a clear-minded relationship with the unwanted, youll learn to catalyze within yourself the openness, kindness, clarity, and love that have the power to liberate and release you from the knot of panic.”
Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA, associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts Medical School and author of Heal Thy Self
Synopsis
Although it's been practiced for more than a thousand years, mindfulness has been making waves recently in psychological circles. Therapists have discovered that the act of being present in the moment can be a powerful tool for overcoming certain psychological problems, especially anxiety. The first edition of Calming Your Anxious Mind introduced readers to the use of mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion as tools for bringing peace to a mind shaken by anxiety, fear, and worry. Now, Dr. Brantley offers readers this fully revised and expanded second edition of a book that has changed so many lives for the better. This major revision includes two completely new chapters. The first deals with acceptance practice during mindfulness meditation. In the second, Brantley helps readers feel safe while facing fear, anxiety, and panic by using mindfulness and acceptance principles by opening up to fearful feelings. Other chapters have been revised with the most current research data and with feedback the author has received on the first edition.
Synopsis
This is a major revision of the classic book using mindfulness to overcome anxiety. It includes information on the latest research into mindfulness, new step-by-step exercises, and new thoughts on taking daily mindfulness to deeper and more rewarding levels.
Synopsis
The Mindfulness Solution to Anxiety
Drawing on techniques and perspectives from two seemingly different traditions, this second edition of the self-help classic Calming Your Anxious Mind offers you a powerful and profound approach to overcoming anxiety, fear, and panic. From the evidence-based tradition of Western medicine, learn the role your thoughts and emotions play in anxiety. And, from the tradition of meditation and the inquiry into meaning and purpose, discover your own potential for presence and stillness, kindness and compassion-and the tremendous power these states give you to heal and transform your life.
Use this encouraging, step-by-step program to:
- Learn about the mechanism of anxiety and the body's fear system
- Develop a healing mindfulness practice-one breath at a time
- Start on the path to presence, stillness, compassion, and loving kindness
- Practice acceptance during mindfulness meditation
- Feel safe while opening up to fearful and anxious feelings
Synopsis
In Anxious in Love, an Imago therapist and a couples therapist present practical relationship tools for people struggling with any anxiety disorder that leaves them feeling disconnected and misunderstood by their partners. These strategies will help readers apply practical tools for healing their anxiety, communicating their needs, and improving their relationships.
Synopsis
Healthy relationships require trust, intimacy, effective communication, and understanding. However, if you suffer from chronic anxiety you may have trouble dealing with everyday conflicts and tensions that can arise in relationships. No matter how committed you are, anxiety can leave you feeling distanced from your partner. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to overcome the anxiety-fueled reactions that keep you from achieving true closeness in your relationship.
Written by two experts on anxiety disorders, Anxious in Love offers easy-to-use techniques for calming anxieties and strengthening communication in your relationship. With this book, you will learn to stay centered when faced with conflict, understand your partners perspective, and become more independent. By changing the way you react to triggers and stress, you will be able to focus on enjoying time with the one you love, without anxiety getting in the way.
Synopsis
From Jeff Brantley, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at Duke Integrative Medicine and author of Calming Your Anxious Mind comes Calming Your Angry Mind. Inside, readers with anger management issues can find step-by-step mindfulness and compassion practices to help soothe anger, fear, and hostile emotions that can wreak havoc at home, work, and in relationships. Using mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques, reader will also learn important awareness skills so that they can stop overreacting, improve communication with others, and live a more fulfilling life.
Synopsis
Anger is a natural emotionand a part of what makes us human. But when you lose control of your anger, it can get in the way of meaningful relationships, successful careers, and ultimately, feelings of happiness and enjoyment. In this highly anticipated book, renowned mindfulness expert and author of Calming Your Anxious Mind Jeff Brantley offers a breakthrough approach using mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and compassion practices to help you better handle the anger, fear, and hostile emotions that can wreak havoc at home, work, and in relationships. In addition, you will also learn important self-awareness skills to help you stop overreacting and improve communication with others.
While other self-help books focus on traditional anger management, Brantley offers solutions that give you personal control over the experience of anger in your life. Inside, youll discover the three major meditative approaches to soothing anger: stabilizing mind and body through concentrating your attention mindfully; using compassionate attention and reflection to disarm the energy of your anger; and learning to use wise understanding about the impermanent and conditioned” nature of your angry reactions in order to diminish your vulnerability to angers power. If you have difficulty with anger, you may be quick to blame others or act in aggressive ways. Unfortunately, this kind of thinking can often leave you feeling alone, alienated, and unhappy. If you are ready to make real, lasting changes, this book can provide you with the skills needed to manage and and transform your anger so that you can live a happier, healthier life.
Synopsis
School, friends, dating, and raging hormones: for many, the teenage years are among the most stressful, and teens lack the experience and knowledge needed to manage stress and anxiety in healthy ways. In the tradition of the bestselling book Calming Your Anxious Mind, nationally recognized pediatrician and expert in mindfulness for adolescents, Michelle L. Bailey, presents Calming Your Anxious Mind for Teens, which outlines practical mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) exercises to help teens overcome anxiety, fears, and worries.
Synopsis
The teen years are a time of intense change, and with these changes often come intense emotions, anxiety, and stress. If you are a teen dealing with challenges in school, problems with friends, and the scary world of dating, you may need guidance and resources for managing your stress in healthy ways.
Written by a nationally recognized pediatrician and expert in mindfulness for adolescents, Calming Your Anxious Mind for Teens provides practical mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) exercises to help you overcome your fears and worries. Originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, MBSR is a proven-effective therapy for treating anxiety, depression, stress, and a number of mental health issues. This book is unique in that it specifically adapts MBSR skills for a teen audience.
This book offers safe, natural, alternative strategies to effectively manage anxiety and improve day-to-day functioning. It will provide you with information to help you understand your anxiety, mindfulness practices for increasing awareness, and practical tips for managing stress. In addition, you will learn how to navigate friendships, school, family, sports, and other common factors for teen stress with confidence.
If you are looking to create a personalized anxiety management plan, this is your guide.
Synopsis
Written by Bob Stahl, coauthor of the bestselling book, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, Calming the Rush of Panic offers readers powerful mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) practices in a quick, accessable format to help them cope with panic disorder. The book contains guided mindfulness meditations and exercises to help reduce fears, restore feelings of security and safety, stay calm, and get back to living life.
Synopsis
Do you constantly feel anxious? Do you have panic attacks that make you feel as though you are about to lose control? You are not alone. In fact, anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions faced by our society. Perhaps youve tried therapy or medication and have not found any real, lasting relief for your symptoms. So where do you go from here?
Calming the Rush of Panic will introduce you to the practices of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)a proven-effective meditational method developed by Jon Kabat-Zinnas a way to work through episodes of panic. After an informative introduction to MBSR, you will be guided through a number of exploratory practices and meditations to transform your panic into peace." Each chapter in the book contains informational background on the topic, guided meditations, and up to 10 practices that let you put the information and skills you will learn into action.
The book promotes mindfulness-based practices and exercises to help you deal with the physical, emotional, and mental effects of panic, and inside you will learn foundational MBSR meditation practices, including mindful breathing, sitting meditation, and loving-kindness meditation. If your fear response is out of sync with the situations you find yourself in, this book will show you that your thoughts are just thoughtsthey are just one part of you.
This quick, accessible book is the first to use an MBSR approach to specifically target panic attacks and panic disorder, and its goal is to show you what exists beyond your panica life filled with a greater sense of calm, connection, and happiness.
Synopsis
Anxiety is an epidemic in our modern world, and studies now show a direct link between emotion regulation and anxiety. Based in the latest research from a Yale University psychologist and professor, The Logic of Emotion provides a groundbreaking, step-by-step guide for managing the emotions that cause anxiety, worry, fear, and panic. The simple yet powerful tips in this book will help readers stay calm, collected, and make significant improvements in their everyday lives, whether at work, at home, or in relationships.
Synopsis
Anxiety is an epidemic in our modern world. But studies now show there is a direct link between anxiety and how you respond to emotions. The Logic of Emotion provides a groundbreaking, step-by-step guide for managing the thoughts and feelings that cause anxiety, worry, fear, and panic.
Are your emotions causing you anxiety? Emotions can be quite beneficial—they help us communicate with others, and are deeply connected to special and important memories in our lives. But sometimes, emotions can have unwanted consequences, especially when they cause us fear or anxiety.
Studies now show a direct link between emotion regulation and anxiety. Based in the latest research from a Yale University psychologist and professor, the simple yet powerful mindfulness tips in this book will help you stay calm, collected, and make significant improvements in your everyday life, whether at work, at home, or in your relationships.
This is the first book to present an integrated model of mindfulness and emotion regulation—both clinically proven for reducing anxiety symptoms. Using these easy mindfulness practices, you’ll learn to manage your emotions and lessen your anxiety, leading to improvements in your social life, work obligations, and family responsibilities.
Synopsis
Almost everyone has a bad habit—or two, or three. But some bad habits, such as habitual drinking, emotional overeating, self-criticism, chronic worrying, or even spending too much time in front of the TV can take a toll on our health and happiness. The Here-and-Now Habit provides powerful practices based in mindfulness and neuroscience to help readers rewire their brain and finally break the bad habits that are holding them back from fully experiencing life.
Synopsis
Bad habits can take a hefty toll on your health and happiness. In The Here-and-Now Habit, mindfulness expert Hugh Byrne provides powerful practices based in mindfulness and neuroscience to help you rewire your brain and finally break the habits that are holding you back from a meaningful life.
Have you found yourself doing something and thinking, Why do I keep doing this? We all have an unhealthy habit—or two, or three. Yours may be as simple as wasting time on the Internet, constantly checking your e-mail, or spending too much time in front of the TV. Or, it may be more serious, like habitual drinking, emotional overeating, constant self-criticism, or chronic worrying. Whatever your harmful habit is—you have the power to break it.
The Here-and-Now-Habit provides proven-effective techniques to help you stop existing on autopilot and start living in the here and now. You’ll learn how to cultivate mindfulness to calm and focus your mind, be aware of thoughts without identifying with them or believing they are true, deal with difficult emotions, and clarify your own intentions regarding unhealthy habits by asking yourself, What do I want? How important is it to me to make this change?
By learning to pay attention to your thoughts and actions in the moment, you’ll discover how to let go of old patterns and create healthier habits and ways of living that will make you feel good about yourself. And when you feel good about you, you can do just about anything.
About the Author
Michelle L. Bailey, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician who teaches mindfulness skills to children and teens at Duke Integrative Medicine and Duke Childrens Healthy Lifestyles program. She is also president and founder of Blue Dragonfly Coaching, LLC, an integrative health coaching practice serving women and men who serve the world. Visit her online at www.drmichellebailey.com.
Robin J. Mogul, MD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist from Charlotte, NC. She practices integrative psychiatry and is troubled by the increasing number of anxious teens living in sympathetic over-drive,” so often dictated by the increasing demands of our fast paced lifestyle and academic pressures compounded by harried home and social lives, not to mention poor diets. Robin additionally is also a passionate food fighter.” She teaches nutrition and healthy living to all age groups, and has worked to start school gardens and increase PE in our schools to help combat Childhood Obesity. She trained at Stanford University and Emory University Schools of Medicine and most recently was a Bravewell Fellow at Duke Integrative Medicine, in Durham, NC, through Dr. Andrew Weils Fellowship Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She lives in Charlotte, NC.
Jeffrey Brantley, MD, is a consulting associate in the Duke Department of Psychiatry, and founder and director of the mindfulness based stress reduction program at Duke Integrative Medicine in Durham, NC. He has also done multiple radio, television, and print media interviews regarding the MBSR program at Duke. He is author of Calming Your Anxious Mind, and coauthor of Daily Meditations for Calming Your Anxious Mind and the Five Good Minutes® series.
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