A thoroughly researched, well-articulated study of mindfulness practice and its potentially powerful effects.
A book that sorts out common misconceptions and offers a wealth of research while exploring how, why, and if meditation can help one achieve mindfulness.
From this work’s outset, Larrivee (Cultivating Teacher Renewal, 2012, etc.) seeks to dispel the idea that mindfulness meditation and mindfulness practice are one and the same. Mindfulness meditation, she explains, is one single path of many that may be used to achieve a state of calm awareness of the mind, its thoughts, and emotions. By delving into her own personal experiences, along with a wealth of other literature, the author explores not only meditation’s benefits, but also other ways to achieve them. To that end, she pulls statistics and findings from numerous studies from sources such as the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine and the Rand Corporation, which claim that mindfulness meditation helps with sleep, depression, memory loss, and one’s ability to remain in a calm state despite outside stress. But the book also emphasizes incorporating different types of techniques in smaller segments throughout the day. Specifically, the author suggests that taking a two-minute mindfulness-practice break may produce better results for one’s well-being than longer sessions at the beginning and end of the day. Additionally, the book discusses changes in the brain that meditation may help to bring about, such as greater awareness of one’s own impatience and that negative emotions can essentially be “interrupted” and redirected through “mindful moments.” Overall, this book effectively sets itself apart from many other books in its genre by exhaustively curating research, statistics, and empirical studies to discuss its ideas. It’s a well-rounded work that will engage and guide any reader who’s seeking to introduce more mindfulness into their daily life in order to stimulate wellness, positivity, and other benefits.
A thoroughly researched, well-articulated study of mindfulness practice and its potentially powerful effects.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9651780-0-6
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Shoreline Publications
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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