title: Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness
author:  Jon Kabat-Zinn 
description: To say that this wise, deep book is helpful to those who face the challenges of human crisis would be a vast understatement. It is essential, unique, and, above all, fundamentally healing.<b>Donald M. Berwick, M.D., president emeritus and senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement</b><br /> <br /> One of the great classics of mind/body medicine.<b>Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of <i>Kitchen Table Wisdom</i></b><br /> <br /> A book for everyone . . . Jon Kabat-Zinn has done more than any other person on the planet to spread the power of mindfulness to the lives of ordinary people and major societal institutions.<b>Richard J. Davidson, founder and chair, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of WisconsinMadison</b><br /> <br /> This is the ultimate owners manual for our lives. What a gift!<b>Amy Gross, former editor in chief, <i>O: The Oprah Magazine</i></b><br /> <br /> I first read <i>Full Catastrophe Living</i> in my early twenties and it changed my life.<b>Chade-Meng Tan, Jolly Good Fellow of Google and author of <i>Search Inside Yourself</i></b><br /> <br /> Jon Kabat-Zinns classic work on the practice of mindfulness to alleviate stress and human suffering stands the test of time, a most useful resource and practical guide. I recommend this new edition enthusiastically to doctors, patients, and anyone interested in learning to use the power of focused awareness to meet lifes challenges, whether great or small.<b>Andrew Weil, M.D., author of <i>Spontaneous Happiness</i> and <i>8 Weeks to Optimum Health</i></b><br /> <br /> How wonderful to have a new and updated version of this classic book that invited so many of us down a path that transformed our minds and awakened us to the beauty of each moment, day-by-day, through our lives. This second edition, building on the first, is sure to become a treasured sourcebook and traveling companion for new generations who seek the wisdom to live full and fulfilling lives.<b>Diana Chapman Walsh, Ph.D., president emerita of Wellesley College</b><br /> <br /> In this brilliant and comprehensive book, Jon Kabat-Zinn shares the depth of his meditation experience and the breadth of its application in the world. Through concise and extremely pragmatic meditation exercises, the wealth of science explaining the benefits, and the many compelling personal stories, <i>Full Catastrophe Living</i> offers the way to a balanced and mindful life.<b>Joseph Goldstein, author of <i>Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening</i> and <i>One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism</i></b><br /> <br /> This book challenges each American to slow down and pay attention to the power of their own mind and the impact it has on our physical and emotional health. By actively participating in your own health and wellness you will, by extension, increase the health and wellness of our country. As Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches us how to heal our body and boost our immune system, we can actively contribute to the healing of our body politic and strengthen our nations ability to attack the many challenges of our time. Join us in this quiet revolution! It has the potential to transform our country from the inside out, one courageous American at a time.<b>Congressman Tim Ryan, 13th district, Ohio, author of <i>A Mindful Nation</i></b>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  ![alt](titlepage.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # [Sum](a9781847675798_tableofcontents.html)
  
  ![alt](chapter_image.png)
  
  In the afterlife you relive all your experiences, but this time with the
  events reshuffled into a new order: all the moments that share a quality are
  grouped together.
  
  You spend two months driving the street in front of your house, seven months
  having sex. You sleep for thirty years without opening your eyes. For five
  months straight you flip through magazines while sitting on a toilet.
  
  You take all your pain at once, all twenty-seven intense hours of it. Bones
  break, cars crash, skin is cut, babies are born. Once you make it through,
  it’s agony-free for the rest of your afterlife.
  
  But that doesn’t mean it’s always pleasant. You spend six days clipping your
  nails. Fifteen months looking for lost items. Eighteen months waiting in line.
  Two years of boredom: staring out a bus window, sitting in an airport
  terminal. One year reading books. Your eyes hurt, and you itch, because y