Three human experiences have been documented as promoting well-being: secure attachment, mindfulness meditation, and effective psychotherapy. In his first professional book since the publication of The Developing Mind in 1999, leading neurobiologist Daniel Siegel presents a unifying theory that shows how being mindfully aware and attending to the richness of our experience, creates scientifically recognized enhancements in our physiology, our mental functions, and our interpersonal relationships. Being fully present in our awareness opens our lives to new possibilities of well-being. In this new book, Siegel uses theory, science, and anecdote in order to reveal how to transform the brain as well as promote well-being and emotional balance within everyday life as well as within psychotherapy. Contents: Part I: Mind, Brain, and Awareness A Mindful Awareness Brain Basics Part II: Immersion in Direct Experience A Week of Silence Suffering and the Streams of Awareness Part III: Facets of the Mindful Brain Subjectivity and Science Harnessing the Hub: Attention and the Wheel of Awareness Jettisoning Judgments: Dissolving Top-Down Constraints Internal Attunement: Mirror Neurons and Attention to Intention Reflective Coherence: Neural Integration and Middle Prefrontal Function Flexibility of Feeling: Affective Style and an Approach Mindset Reflective Thinking: Imagery and the Cognitive Style of Mindful Learning Part IV: Reflections on the Mindful Brain Educating the Mind: The "Fourth R" and the Wisdom of Reflection Reflection in Clinical Practice: Being Present and Cultivating the Hub The Mindful Brain in Psychotherapy: Promoting Neural Integration Afterword: Reflections on Reflection Appendix I: Reflection and Mindfulness Resources Appendix II: Glossary and Terms Appendix III: Neural Notes About the Author: Daniel J. Siegel received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics, general adult psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry. He has served as a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellow at UCLA, studying family interactions with an emphasis on how attachment experiences influence emotions, behavioral regulation, autobiographical memory and narrative processes. An award-winning educator, he formerly directed the training program in child psychiatry and the Infant and Preschool Service at UCLA. He is the recipient of the departmental teaching award and several honorary fellowships. He is currently an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and serves as the director of interdisciplinary studies for the international nonprofit Children's Mental Health Alliance in New York. He is also the Director of the Center for Human Development, an educational organization that focuses on how the development of individuals, families and communities can be helped by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.
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