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Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. is internationally known for his work as a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He is Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was founding executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, and founder (in 1979) and former director of its world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic.
He is the author of two best-selling books:
* Full Catastrophe Living: Using The Wisdom Of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness (Dell, 1990), published in Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Korean, Finnish, and French
* Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (Hyperion, 1994), published in German, Italian, French, Spanish, Czech, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Russian, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Hebrew, Polish, Vietnamese, Korean, Croatian, Bulgarian, Finnish, and soon, in Chinese and Norwegian.
* He is also co-author, with his wife Myla, of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting (Hyperion, 1997).
* He is also the author of Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness (Hyperion, 2005),
* The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (with Williams, Teasdale, and Segal – Guildford, 2007),
* Arriving at Your Own Door (Hyperion, 2007), a book of excerpts from Coming to Our Senses,
* Letting Everything Become Your Teacher (Bantam Dell, 2009), a book of excerpts from Full Catastrophe Living.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from MIT in 1971 with the Nobel Laureate in physiology and medicine, Salvador Luria.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn's research between 1979 and 2002 focused on mind/body interactions for healing, on various clinical applications of mindfulness meditation training for people with chronic pain and/or stress-related disorders, on the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the brain.
His work in the stress reduction clinic was featured in Bill Moyers' PBS Special, Healing and the Mind and in the book of the same title.
In 1998, he and his colleagues published a research paper demonstrating in a small clinical trial, a four-fold effect of the mind on the rate of skin clearing in patients with psoriasis undergoing ultraviolet light therapy: [Kabat-Zinn et al, Psychosomatic Medicine.
Another study [Davidson, Kabat-Zinn, et al. (2003)], showed positive changes in brain activity associated with more effective emotional processing under stress, and in immune function in people taking an MBSR course in a corporate work setting in a randomized clinical trial. Read more about Jon Kabat-Zinn at the official site…
