This book is about how to cope with a chronic and serious condition, possibly involving intractible pain, possibly that will eventually end your life. But how to nevertheless come to terms with your condition and continue living as fully as you can. The major tool it promotes for doing this is meditation.
I've never been the type to medidate. Too impatient. Not interested in the spiritual trappings. Also not especially taken with "meditation lite" as promoted by the medical community -- you know, guided relaxation for stress reduction.
This is different. Kabat-Zinn is a scientist and also a black-belt serious meditater, who founded a stress clinic at the U Mass med school where they work with patients with chronic pain. Without much spiritual baggage, the book treats meditation as a form of serious training, like strengthening a muscle. Unlike meditation lite, it is about mindfulness, not "trying to relax." Stress reduction is a by-product of consciously, gradually, persistently working to change how your mind behaves.
Weirdly, this book is working for me. Instead of just throwing around phrases like "mindfulness" and "non-striving," it actually explains what those things are supposed to mean. I kind of get it now, what I'm supposed to be working towards when "focusing on my breath" and "noticing my thoughts without judging them" and so on. I've been meditating for 15 minutes a day for a few weeks now, and having no problem sticking with it. In fact, I kind of need it.
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