Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery: A Step-by-Step MBSR Approach to Help You Cope with Treatment and Reclaim Your Life

by Linda Carlson PhD, RPsych, Michael Speca PsyD RPsych, Zindel V. Segal PhD (Foreword by)

Overview

A Mind-Body Approach to Healing

If you have received a cancer diagnosis, you know that the hundreds of questions and concerns you have about what's to come can be as stressful as the cancer treatment itself. But research shows that if you mentally prepare yourself to handle cancer treatment by getting stress and anxiety under control, you can improve your quality of life and become an active participant in your own recovery.

Created by leading psychologists specializing in oncology, the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery program is based on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a therapeutic combination of mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga now offered to cancer survivors and their loved ones in hundreds of medical centers, hospitals, and clinics worldwide. Let this book be your guide as you let go of fear and focus on getting well.

With this eight-week program, you'll learn to: • Use proven MBSR skills during your treatment and recovery
• Boost your immune function through meditation and healing yoga
• Calm feelings of fear, uncertainty, and lack of control
• Mindfully manage difficult symptoms and side effects
• Discover your own capacity for healing and thriving after adversity

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608822355
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	02/03/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	276,021
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Linda E. Carlson, PhD, R.Psych., holds the Enbridge Research Chair in Psychosocial Oncology, an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Health Scholar award, and is associate professor in psychosocial oncology at the University of Calgary. She is director of research and works as a clinical psychologist at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Canada. Carlson is coauthor of The Art and Science of Mindfulness and has published over ninety book chapters and research papers in peer-reviewed journals. She regularly presents her work at international conferences.
Michael P. Speca, PsyD, R.Psych., is adjunct associate professor of psychosocial oncology at the University of Calgary and a former Canadian Cancer Society post-doctoral fellow at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. As a clinical psychologist at the Centre, he counsels cancer patients and their families, facilitates a range of group support programs, and cofounded the Centre's popular Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery program.
Zindel V. Segal, PhD, is professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He is coauthor of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression and The Mindful Way through Depression.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Foreword ix

Part I Setting the Stage

Chapter 1 Mindfulness and Cancer 3

Outline of This Book

The Cancer Experience

What Is Mindfulness?

Roots of Mindfulness

Development of MBCR

Is Mindfulness for You?

Chapter 2 Stress and Cancer 17

The Stress Response

The Effects of Prolonged Stress

Recognizing Your Stress Symptoms

Where Does Stress Come From?

Stress and the Mind-Body Connection

Mindfulness and Stress

Stress and Cancer

Coping with Stress

Part II The MBCR Program

Chapter 3 Beginning the Program 35

Intention, Attention, and Attitude

Seeing Things Anew

Paying Attention to Breathing

Body Scan

How to Practice These Skills

Chapter 4 Responding to Stress 53

Reacting vs. Responding to Stress

Formal and Informal Mindfulness Practices

Sitting Meditation

Chapter 5 Mindful Movement 69

The Context of Yoga

Foundations for Yoga Practice

Getting Started

When to Practice Yoga

Chapter 6 Balancing Breath 99

The Autonomic Nervous System

"Mini" Practices

When to Do Minis

Chapter 7 Stories We Tell Ourselves 109

Your Life in Stories

The Nature of Thought

Trouble in Mind: Our Distressing Stories

Thoughts Running Wild

The "Don't Know" Mind

Walking Meditation

How to Practice These Skills

Chapter 8 Meditation with Imagery 121

Your Life in Images

Mountain Meditation

Lake and Tree Meditations

Uses of Nature Meditation

Chapter 9 A Day of Silence 127

Why Practice a Day of Mindfulness in Silence?

What the Day Involves

How to Practice a Day of Silence

Chapter 10 Deepening and Expanding 137

Choiceless Awareness as a Path of Insight

Choiceless Awareness and Cancer

Chapter 11 Moving into the World 143

You Are Not Alone

The Weekly Drop-in Group

Part III Symptom Management and Everyday Mindfulness

Chapter 12 Mindful Coping with Cancer-Related Symptoms and Side Effects 151

Hair Loss and Changes in Self-Image and Identity

Sleep and Fatigue

Pain

Nausea

Chapter 13 Knowing Your Fear and Other Difficult Emotions 163

The Paradox of Avoidance

Opening to Emotional Suffering

Working with Difficult Emotions

Calming the Anxious Mind

Antidotes to Difficult Emotions

Chapter 14 What Now? 169

Everyday Mindfulness

Life as Your Practice

Beyond Cancer

Healing Our World: Mindfulness in Community

Final Words

Appendix: Reading List 177

Meditation Instruction

Inspirational Books on Meditation

Mind-Body Health

Buddhist

Faith-Guided Approaches

Visualization and Imagery

Yoga and Stretching

Websites

References 185

Editorial Reviews

"If you give yourself over wholeheartedly to what is being offered in this book, it could make an enormous difference in your life and health in important ways too numerous to count. The authors are committed practitioners of mindfulness and their mindfulness-based cancer recovery program, firmly rooted in research findings, radiates an authenticity that you can readily feel, and that will grow with time."
—Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, professor of medicine emeritus at University of Massachusetts Medical School

"Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery is a thoughtful, clear, and useful guide to living with cancer and cancer treatment, written by leading experts in the field. It distills Buddhist tradition into a series of practical exercises that can help you spend more of your time in the calm eye of the hurricane that is cancer."
—David Spiegel, MD, Willson Professor and associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine

"Linda Carlson and Michael Speca have masterfully written a clear, insightful, and comprehensive book on coping with cancer. They beautifully weave together clinical wisdom, deep, personal mindfulness practice, and scientific rigor in their easily accessible book. I believe the wealth of ideas and practices in this book will be of benefit to those with cancer, offering a path toward greater ease, joy, health, and freedom both during treatment and beyond."
—Shauna L. Shapiro, associate professor at Santa Clara University and coauthor of The Art and Science of Mindfulness

"Linda Carlson and Michael Speca have cowritten this wise and practical guidebook, a generous offering to cancer patients and their allies. Those who find their way to it will certainly be blessed by their clear vision and deep experience."
—Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness

From the Publisher