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The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health
Original price was: $59.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
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Original price was: $39.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $59.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $49.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $39.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $39.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $39.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $49.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $39.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $49.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $39.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $49.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $49.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
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Original price was: $49.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Original price was: $39.95.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
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Description
Learn how adjusting your thoughts can change your health—from the “mother of mindfulness” and first female tenured professor of psychology at Harvard.
“What matters more: mind or body? Filled with original research and thought-provoking insights, The Mindful Body shows that the two are not just connected but are actually one, opening us to vast potential for health and happiness.”—Dan Ariely, New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational
When it comes to our health, we tend to live our lives as though our ailments—our stiff knees or frayed nerves or diminished eyesight—can change only in one direction: for the worse. Award-winning social psychologist Ellen J. Langer’s life’s work proves the fault in this negative outlook as well as the healing power of its alternative: mindfulness—the process of active noticing where we are not bound by past experience or conventional wisdom.
In The Mindful Body, Dr. Langer unpacks her assumption-busting findings and outlines her bold new theory of mind-body unity, along the way clearly demonstrating how our thoughts and perspectives have the potential to profoundly shape our well-being. Whether it is hotel chambermaids who lost weight when they simply came to see that their work constituted exercise, or patients whose wounds healed faster in rooms with accelerated clocks, she shows how influential our thoughts are to the state of our bodies. Her work has likewise proven that discouraging health news can have negative effects. Learning you are prediabetic, for example—even if your blood sugar reading is only a fraction away from “normal”—may actually play a part in the development of the disease.
A paradigm-shifting book by one of the great psychologists of the twenty-first century, The Mindful Body returns the control over our bodies back to us and reveals that a true understanding of health begins with our minds.
While the focus of the book is on mind-body unity and how our thoughts affect our health, it’s a surprisingly wide-ranging discussion. I particularly enjoyed Chapter 2 on prediction of risk and the illusion of control and Chapter 4 on making decisions. Those chapters had insights I can make use of in every area of my life. Chapter 8 on paying attention to variability seemed particularly helpful for those of us coping with chronic pain or illnesses. The author was at her most provocative in Chapter 9 on the contagion of mindfulness and Chapter 10 on new approaches to health. This book gave me a lot to think about.
Although she is often writing about scientific studies, Dr. Langer writes in an interesting and easy to understand way. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in psychological research, mind-body medicine, and integrative wellness.
Thanks to Ballantine Books for providing me with an unproofed ARC through NetGalley, which I volunteered to review.
Professor Langer skillfully combines scientific rigor with accessible language, making complex ideas approachable for both scholars and the general reader. This book, brimming with facts and studies, highlights the pivotal role of mindfulness in managing chronic conditions and addressing age-related issues.
What truly distinguishes this book is Langer's interdisciplinary approach, seamlessly connecting psychology, medicine, and spirituality. Her unconventional insights challenge conventional thinking, and she enriches them with relatable anecdotes.
"The Mindful Body" serves as a practical guide for stress reduction, pain management, and cultivating inner peace, providing a clear path to a healthier and more fulfilling life. If you're intrigued by the body-mind connection, "The Mindful Body" is an absolute must-read.
I initially bought the audiobook, but now I'm contemplating acquiring a hardcopy version for easy reference.
This book was heavily scientific, so if you like to read science this is for you. The only thing I missed in this book was that I would have like to see more clear ideas on how we can all put this into practice in our own lives.
The author also includes studies with results to support her findings.
Chapter 5 :Level UP is the chapter that stood out to me the most. It talks about blame and forgiveness. It put alot of things into perspective for me and actually helped me to let go of some resentment I've been feeling.
I do not read alot of "self help" books but I am glad I read this one. It's written with clear and concise information that is easy to understand and very relatable. Like I said above, this is one of very few mind and body books that I really got something from and helped me grow.
At first I wasn't sure if this is good news or bad news. For example, Langer says it’s a myth that a medical scare will always improve behavior. If someone is given a pre-diabetic diagnosis, she says that it often makes them more likely to get diabetes down the road.
“Perhaps they become resigned to getting diabetes, and even after an initial attempt to eat differently, become less careful about their diets. Maybe they start exercising less, since they assume they already have the disease. Or maybe the body follows the mind, which now believes it has an early form of diabetes.”
Langer intends for her book to be positive though. And overall, it is.
Langer points out that when given diagnostic results, patients need to understand that scores are often still only probabilistic guesses for future outcomes, not certainties. If your hearing test reveals your score is one point below normal, you may or may NOT need a hearing aid.
“When we recognize that rules, labels, and cutoff points are made by people, there is lots of room to question how any situation could be otherwise. We gain a newfound sense of freedom. We expand our possibilities. . . . The key is to question those things we mindlessly accept, to mindfully interrogate all of the descriptions and diagnoses that can hold us back. When we do, we can get better.”
Langer also writes that our illusion of control—yes, even when it’s only an illusion—can sometimes still prove beneficial. We feel better pressing the “close door” button of the elevator even if it does nothing. Placebos often help.
Regarding our bodies and the illusion of control:
“If we’re diagnosed with a dread disease and assume we have no control, we become helpless, which itself is bad for our health.”
So Langer suggests we practice “mindful optimism,” focusing on things we actually can control.
The Mindful Body is full of research as well as practical advice on how we can improve our bodies by including our minds. And vice versa.
“If mind and body are one, we can do more than change the body by changing the mind; we can change the mind by changing the body.”
So by the end of the book, I am ready to highly recommend it. Knowing that our health isn’t totally bound by past experiences or conventional wisdom is freeing, both for my body and for my mind.
My thanks to NetGalley + Ballantine Books for the review copy of The Mindful Body.