January 19, 2005
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of the acclaimed University of Massachusetts Stress Reduction Clinic, delivers the lecture Coming to Our Senses—Mind-Body Medicine, Crisis and Change at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Coming to Our Senses—Mind-Body Medicine, Crisis and Change
• Kabat-Zinn is the author of classics Wherever You Go, There You Are and Full Catastrophe Living
• Co-presented with the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and La Casa de Maria
• Sunday, February 27 / 3 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public: $10 / UCSB students: $8
• Tickets/Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the major proponents of mindfulness and meditation, will present the latest findings in the emerging discipline of mind-body medicine in his lecture Coming to Our Senses—Mind-Body Medicine, Crisis and Change, on Sunday, February 27 at 3 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. This event is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and La Casa de Maria.

Kabat-Zinn’s lecture will be based on his newly published book Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World through Mindfulness. This entertaining and far-reaching work teaches readers about the relationship between mindless living, personal stress, and the chaotic world in which we live. Drawing on both the latest research in mind/body medicine and his own work bringing the heart of Buddhist meditative practices, namely mindfulness, into mainstream health care, Kabat-Zinn discusses the importance of appreciating the mind-body connection and making time for the “powerful work of cultivating awareness in the present moment.” In the book—and in his lecture—he teaches his audience how to shift from existing carelessly to living mindfully. “Once again Jon Kabat-Zinn is on the cutting edge,” claims Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience. “The relevance of the work is unquestionable, as it leaves us inspired and optimistic that true healing is really possible.”

Kabat-Zinn is the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, as well as Professor of Medicine emeritus. His books and guided meditation programs describe meditation practice in such commonsensical, relevant and compelling terms that mindfulness meditation practice has become a way of life for thousands of people. His work has contributed to a growing movement of mindfulness into mainstream institutions in our society such as medicine, health care and hospitals, schools, corporations, prisons and professional sports. His work at the stress reduction clinic was featured in the PBS broadcast Healing and the Mind, with Bill Moyers and in the book of the same title.

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 (Delta, 1991) and Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (Hyperion, 1994). They have been translated into over fifteen foreign languages, including German, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Hebrew and Korean. Dr. Steven E. Locke of the Harvard Medical School called Full Catastrophe Living “simply the best popular book on health I have read in years. It offers a guide for personal transformation that literally can save your life.” Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield praised Wherever You Go, There You Are, claiming, “This book shines with an exquisite simplicity and straightforwardness. Jon-Kabat Zinn is one of the best teachers of mindfulness you will ever meet.” Kabat-Zinn is also co-author with his wife Myla Kabat-Zinn of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting (Hyperion, 1997) about which Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund, asserted, “Reading this book could be a life-changing event.”

Kabat-Zinn received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from MIT in 1971, studying with Salvador Luria, the Nobel Laureate in physiology and medicine. 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 and how it processes emotions, particularly under stress, and on the immune system; on the use and effects of MBSR with women with breast cancer and men with prostate cancer; on patients undergoing bone marrow transplant; with prison inmates and staff; in multicultural settings; and on stress in various corporate settings and work environments.

Courtesy of Borders, copies of books by Jon Kabat-Zinn will be available for purchase and signing.

Jon Kabat-Zinn is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and La Casa de Maria. Tickets for the event are $10 for the general public and $8 for UCSB students, who must show valid ID when purchasing tickets and at the door. Tickets are on sale now and can also be purchased at the door, if still available.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.