The Mindful Path through Shyness: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You from Social Anxiety, Fear, and Avoidance

by Steve Flowers, Jeffrey Brantley (Foreword by)

Overview

Shyness often helps protect us from the judgments and resentments of others, but once you get in the habit of avoiding social situations, you can become stuck in a cycle of avoidance that can be difficult to escape. Ready to let go of shyness and make stronger connections with others? The Mindful Path Through Shyness shows you how.

This guide uses techniques from mindfulness-based stress reduction and cognitive behavioral therapy to help you cultivate awareness of your own thoughts so that you can act with more wisdom and compassion toward yourself. Over time, you will be able to free yourself of the old mental habits of self-consciousness and self-blame, and replace them with new habits that foster confidence and joy.

A heartfelt and practical guide to… transforming one's relationship to social fears and inhibitions.
-Zindel V. Segal, Ph.D., author of The Mindful Way Through Depression

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608824625
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	11/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	730 KB

About the Author

Steve Flowers, MFT, conducts mindfulness-based stress reduction online programs and is the founder and director of the mindfulness-based stress reduction clinic at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, CA. He also works in private practice as a psychotherapist.

Jeffrey Brantley, MD, is a consulting associate in the department of psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University, and the founder and director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at Duke Integrative Medicine. He has done multiple radio, television, and print media interviews regarding the MBSR program at Duke. He is author of Calming Your Anxious Mind and coauthor of Daily Meditations for Calming Your Anxious Mind, FiveGood Minutes, Five Good Minutes in the Evening, Five Good Minutes at Work, Five Good Minutes with the OneYou Love, and Five Good Minutes in Your Body.
 
 

Table of Contents

foreword ix

acknowledgments xii

introduction: approaching a mindful path 1

Part I starting from where you are

1 the nature of shyness 15

2 mindfulness and healing 30

Part II coming home to yourself

3 practicing mindfulness 49

4 embracing the nonverbal world 68

Part III caring for yourself mindfully

5 you are not your thoughts 89

6 welcoming emotions 104

7 the wisdom of turning toward 127

Part IV interpersonal mindfulness

8 cultivating mindfulness in interpersonal relationships 145

9 the healing power of compassion 170

epilogue: a hidden wholeness 186

resources 189

references 194