Medicine and Meditation: Conversations on Mindfulness in the Management of Chronic Pain and Illness is a resource for those who suffer from any type of chronic disorder, physical or emotional.
Twelve individuals are interviewed by the author, some who are internationally renowned, such as Zoketsu Norman Fischer, former abbot of San Francisco Zen Center and currently the director of Every Day Zen, a teaching foundation that aims to bring mindfulness into every day living; Dr. Marsha Linehan, a psychology professor at Washington University-Seattle, who has taken the principles of Zen meditation and translated them into a cognitive/behavioral therapy that has saved many from self-harm and suicide; Ruth Ozeki, noted author and teacher, who writes poignantly about the five years she shared with her mother who deteriorated steadily with Alzheimer's disease; and Dr David Zucker of Swedish Hospital, Seattle, who incorporates mindfulness meditation with medical protocols in his treatment of cancer patients.
Along with these amazing teachers many others, well known and not so well known, share their experiences of suffering. Some interviewed in this book share their experiences with taking care of an ill loved one, or teaching people in chronic pain that is there a way to cope with suffering which does not deny the aid of medical intervention, but allows for the integration of mindfulness, of radical acceptance of one's suffering, in order to discover their own participation in finding relief. This approach, in all it's different manifestations, demonstrates that mindfulness, working in tandem with science and medicine, creates a holistic approach to illness and chronic pain which offers relief to so many who have thought there is no way out of their misery except through death.
The author speaks of her own experience with chronic pain and illness since early childhood, the many destructive ways she tried to deny or dismiss her suffering, and the kind of relief finally found in the practice of mindfulness integrated as a significant part of her medical treatment. She hopes that this book will offer hope to others who suffer unremitting pain and illness; not denying the importance of science and medicine, but also realizing the importance of active, personal involvement in their own relief.
Medicine & Meditation is printed on Village Books' Espresso Book Machine. We are please to have copies available at our store. Please call our store at 360-671-2626 to obtain copies.