The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being

This is an excellent book in need of some editing. I have the sense it is one of Siegel's earlier books, as his later MINDSIGHT seems more polished. The pros:The book offers an incredible amount of information and understanding about the relationships between the functions and attributes of consciousness and the structures of the brain. It is really a "brain-mind" primer. The author is clearly of the opinion that mind is not merely an epiphenomenon of the brain, but an equal creator of it. If the brain is hardware, then the mind is the experiential aspect of using a computer--one step up from software, in fact. The number of areas the text touches upon is staggering: from child development to parenting, education, meditation, psychotherapy, you name it. Siegel is one of the leaders in this field, and the book offers an extensive bibliography of books and articles consulted in the writing. If someone has the time, a second reading is definitely warranted as the information can be overwhelming.Cons:This is part of the problem with the text and why I'm not giving it five stars. It is at times repetitive, stating the same things over and over in different ways. This can make it feel poorly organized. Sometimes the discussion of brain structures is on the rather dry and technical side, and this can seem a little irrelevant at times, especially for non-specialists. This was another issue: I had the sense the author was unable to target a specific audience. Was he writing for neuroscientists or laypersons? Sometimes it seemed like the former, sometimes the latter. The text was as a result alternately overly technical and at other times just right (for me, at least). Often the figures and diagrams were not where they should have been and the writing seemed awkward--clear indications than an editor (or two) was asleep on the job.Overall, this is a very good book--not entirely introductory--and this author clearly has much to offer. I am starting in now on MINDSIGHT, which, as noted, appears a more polished, more focused work. The science here is exciting and this book is just scratching the surface, a start and going in the right direction, it seems to me.

I purchased this to complement my neuroscience textbook for college and it "filled in" the details behind crucial concepts. I am glad to add this to my professional library!

I found the content of this book fascinating and important (5 stars) but the writing ponderous and redundant (2 stars), for the most part. It is an ambitious attempt to synthesize and interpret scientific research and the author's personal experience in an emerging field that is fraught with speculation. Perhaps because of this, the author appears to have cobbled together every study potentially relating brain function and mindfulness, weaving back and forth to make every possible connection, rather than following a few salient lines of thinking and explicating them clearly. Difficult as it was to digest some of the material (I am a practiced reader of science but had to read too many sentences too many times), I benefited personally and immediately from several of the concepts presented such as streams of awareness, parenting styles ("secure attachment"), approach mindset and mindful education, and I look forward to further research in this field. I had imagined the brain research to be further along than it is and expected more about research on meditation, so I was a tad disappointed, but this is not the author's fault. In spite of the poor presentation, there was some delightful new learning for me and I am glad to have read this.

The topic of mindfulness has been around for many millenia, & espoused by many religious & spiritual sects throughout the world, primarily in the East. The topic fascinates me, as I have taken a course in Asian Philosophy and have read many neuroscience books the last couple of years. Despite this, the book was unable to keep my attention, ironically, because of the redundant writing style. While eloquent, Siegel is often rearranging the same statement without adding much knew to it. Perhaps this is great for a more global, holistic view of the subject, but it is difficult to maintain attention (ironically) when you lose your place from feeling like you just read the same thing.The neuroscientific aspects of resonance circuitry (and mirror neurons) isn't a new idea but Siegel skillfully expounds upon it and how it relates to mindfulness. All in all, despite some glaring flaws in my opinion, the book was worth buying for this alone, but if you're expecting an emphasis more on the brain rather than a subjective perspective on mindfulness, I find the balance of the book to be tilted in the other direction--so it may disappoint you if that's the case.

Absolutely brilliant for both professional and no professionals . I have used this book and some others, but principally this one along with others by Dan Siegel to inform my medical lectures on the neuroscience of mindfulness for both clients and other professional who need to know how to talk about mindfulness and it's base in neuroscience so as to interest clients to actually engage in mindfulness practice and so as to interest professional to be interested enough to teach it simply to their clients.

I have indicated the degree to which I have appreciated this purchase and how it his been of value to me. Hope you have the same experience that I did and that it will be beneficial to you.

Book is in good condition and came on time. Great book. Thank you

This is an interesting book. I bought it because I live in Los Angeles, and there is a Mindful Awareness program at UCLA. I wanted to see what that program was all about before I joined it.This Mindful Awareness program has online links where one can download some mindful awareness meditations. They are pretty good in helping you get into a state of greater mindful awareness.

Best book I've ever read couldn't wait to Finnish it so could start again. Absolutely changed my life. Everything I do seems better. The book lead me onto other areas and I'm starting to understand myself. The minds wheel of awareness is brilliant. The man who wrote this is unbelievable.

I loved this book... absolutely fascinating. I struggle to articulate just how much so. Recommended to everyone.

I was directed to this book via the book list at the end of Daniel Goleman's "Focus" (which I also found a useful collection of insights and exploration of the potential of attention) and I was curious to deepen some knowledge coming from Goleman going in the direction of understanding how Mind and Brain ("extended brain, including the neural connection throughout the body") work. I got both the book and the audio book, which I put on my commuting route from home to office and back, extremely rewarding, btw.As a mindfulness practitioner since years, I find this book a useful compendium on the topic, easy to access also for non-scientific based people. It gives a very solid background to understand the connection between how our mind and brain influence and actually build each other and includes a very interesting correlation with Relationship with others. The takeaway is that these three aspects (Mind, Brain, Relationship) are somehow coordinated by similar areas of the brain and the practice of mindfulness and secure attunement produce very similar outcome.All this results in very useful guidelines in how to use such information in daily life.I would suggest this book (and/or audio version) to any mindfulness meditation practitioner who wants to go beyond personal practice and understand a bit more what's behind that.

Une oeuvre remarquable d'un médecin, psychiatre, psychothérapeute et éducateur, chercheur, Directeur du Mindsight institute et Co Directeur du Centre de recherche sur la Conscience attentive de l'UCLA, une pointure de la Santé Mentale qui réussit le tour de force de faire la synthèse de domaines généralement considérés si distincts, notamment d'un point de vue épistémologique, que sont les neurosciences, la psychothérapie et l'exercice d'une pleine conscience, les démarches contemplatives, la capacité de se percevoir et comprendre les intentions comme les points de vue d'autrui, l'enseignement comme l'éducation. Tout cela dans un langage simple et accessible, dans le respect des concepts inhérents à chaque domaine, la rigueur des approches expérimentales auxquelles il se réfère, et, aussi, la complexité des réalités des relations humaines...Il s'agit d'une synthèse argumentée (les études citées sont toutes récentes et solides), non le fruit d'un esprit syncrétique et fumeux)... J'y vois un champ commun avec les rencontres Mind and Life, une clarté et une finesse d'analyses et de réflexions d'un Francisco Varela, le souci d'un intérêt clinique et thérapeutique d'un Cozolino (2006, 2002) ... Bref, une oeuvre incontournable propice à la révision de nos pratiques, à la définition de nouveaux savoirs faire en thérapie comme en éducation. Cette façon assez novatrice de considérer le champ de la santé mentale et celui de la psychothérapie, donne déjà lieu à des applications pratiques, comme dans le traitement de la dépression (Segal et al., 2006)Pour moi, il s'agit d'une oeuvre inédite et déjà incontournable qui en ouvrant l'esprit, renvoie dans leurs filets les tenants d'un affrontement à mort entre psychanalyse et autres approches, pour s'intéresser à l'essentiel, aux processus communs dont nous n'avons pas fini d'explorer les expressions à chaque plan d'investigation ...Le livre se compose de quatre parties :Partie I : Esprit, cerveau et conscience1. Un esprit en pleine conscience2. Les bases du cerveauPartie II : Immersion dans l'expérience directe3. Une semaine de silence4. Souffrance et les courants de consciencePartie III : Les facettes du cerveau en pleine conscience5. Subjectivité et science6. Atteler le moyeu : Attention et la roue de la conscience éveillée7. Se délester des jugements : Dissolution des contraintes du Top-down8. Synchronisation interne : Neurones miroirs, Résonance, et Attention à l'intention9. Cohérence réflexive : Intégration neuronale et fonction préfrontale médiane10. Flexibilité des sentiments : Style affectif et une approche de l'établissement de l'esprit11. Penser réflexive : Imagerie et le style cognitif de l'apprentissage de l'espritPartie IV : Réflexions sur l'esprit en pleine conscience12. Éduquer l'esprit : Les 4 « R » et la sagesse de la réflexion13. Réflexion dans la pratique clinique : Etre présent et cultiver le moyeu14. Le cerveau en pleine conscience en psychothérapie : Promouvoir l'intégration neuralePostface : Réflexions sur la réflexionAppendice I : Réflexion et ressources de l'esprit en pleine conscienceAppendice II : Glossaire et termesAppendice III : Notes neuralesRéférencesIndexMême si, comme le discute Julie Grès de Marseille à travers une série d'expériences aux protocoles astucieux, on peut douter que les neurones miroirs soient principalement à l'origine de la théorie de l'esprit ou de la capacité de percevoir les intentions de l'autre (Intervention à l'ENS Lyon, 2006), la discussion et les éléments probant quant à leur contribution sont mesurés, pondérés et pour tout dire, très judicieux et incitateur à aeuvrer à notre propre réflexion ...Siegel repousse les limites et les incapacités individuels à lier recherche et pratiques...Lecture et expérience hautement Recommandées!!!Cozolino, L., Attachment and the Developing Social Brain, New York (NY) : W.W. Norton & Company, 2006, 449 pagesCozolino, L., The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy, Building and Rebuilding the Human Brain, New York (NY) : W.W. Norton & Company, 2002, 377 pagesSegal Z.V., Williams, J.M.G., Teasdale J.D., La thérapie cognitive basée sur la pleine conscience pour la dépression, BRUXELLES : DeBoeck & Larcier, 2006, 375 pages.The Neuroscience of Human Relationships:

An excellent resource for the elementary counselling office! This is a book I keep in my personal library and enjoyed reading.