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

Description

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

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.

"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 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 "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 "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