Welcome to the Media Kit for Mindfulness and the 12 Steps
Letter of Introduction
It is with great excitement that I share Mindfulness and the 12-Steps: Living Recovery in the Present Moment with you. Released by Hazelden Publishing in June 2010, this book is a guided journey through the 12 steps of recovery, with an emphasis on the mindfulness and meditation practice that come from the Buddhist tradition.
Over the past several years, meetings focused on the 12-Steps and Buddhism have grown into a burgeoning national movement. Many of these meetings are a part of the Buddhist Recovery Network (www.Buddhistrecovery.org.), including my local Monday night chapter in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Mindfulness and the 12 Steps is a direct outgrowth of our many discussions, offering the reader a “virtual seat” in our meeting as I take them through each of the 12 steps with anecdotes from my own story of recovery peppered with ancient wisdom from Buddhism. The lessons and suggestions in Mindfulness and the 12 Steps are applicable and comforting to anyone working a 12-step program of recovery.
For individuals in recovery seeking to enhance their level of spirituality, and for licensed professionals looking to improve their spiritual toolbox, my teaching partner Jean Fraser and I offer a workshop/retreat called Living Recovery in Body and Mind. This program consists of presentations on mindfulness and recovery, recovery-focused yoga movements, and guided meditation. The program can be customized either small or large groups, and to professional clinicians and patients alike. Living Recovery in Body and Mind can also be tailored from a half day session to multi-day workshop.
~Thérèse
About the Author
DownloadThérèse Jacobs-Stewart is the author of Mindfulness and the 12 Steps, Living Recovery in the Present Moment. Readers explore how mindfulness can inform the daily practice of living. Included are lessons from ancient and contemporary Buddhist teachers, and a guided approach to putting mindfulness practices into action. Mindfulness and the 12 Steps comes alive with personal anecdotes from the author’s own life and recovery, and resonates with a positive tone.
Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart has been a practicing psychotherapist, retreat and workshop leader, and international consultant for more than twenty-five years. She is a recognized expert in emotional intelligence, and the author of Paths are Made for Walking: Practical Steps to Attaining Serenity.
In 2004, Thérèse founded MindRoads Meditation Center, a community-based center offering a practical, actionable approach to mindfulness training and meditation. It is the home of the Saint Paul, Minnesota chapter of Mindfulness and 12-Step meetings and a member of the Buddhist Recovery Network.
Thérèse lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband of thirty years, Jim, and their cat Johnny.
About the Book
Download
Mindfulness and the 12 Steps
Living Recovery in the Present Moment
By Thérèse-Jacobs-Stewart
A fresh resource to help those in recovery from addiction find their own spiritual path through the Buddhist practice of mindfulness.
In recent years, people of diverse social and religious backgrounds have embraced the Buddhist philosophy of mindfulness, or bringing one's awareness to focus on the present moment, to enrich their mental and spiritual lives.
Mindfulness and the 12 Steps provides those in recovery with a new resource and fresh perspective for developing their own spiritual path. While revisiting each of the Twelve Steps, readers explore the interplay of ideas between mindfulness and Twelve Step traditions and learn to incorporate mindfulness into their path toward lifelong sobriety. Reflections and questions for inquiry are complemented by stories from Buddhist teachers and members of the author's mindfulness recovery group, as well as by her personal story of recovery as a practicing Buddhist.
Mindfulness and the 12 Steps will help awaken new thinking and insights into what it means to live fully—body, mind, and spirit—in the here and now.
Mindfulness and the 12 Steps: Living Recovery in the Present Moment
Softcover, 208 pp.
Author: Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart
Recovery / Self-Help
ISBN-10: 1592858201
ISBN-13: 9781592858200
Publisher: Hazelden
www.hazelden.org/bookstore
Published: June 2010
List Price: $14.95
Distribution: HCI The Life Issues Publisher
800/441-5569
Excerpt
DownloadA Recovering Addict's Journey to Meditation Practice
I learned about meditation after I stopped imbibing white crosses and other street junk. The drugs had become my refuge after I enrolled in a private school I didn't want to attend, keeping up a high grade point average because I had to. My alcoholic father expected no less. I used speed to erase the need to sleep, to achieve more and more, to be the life of the party. All limitations vanished.
The insanity ended when I woke up in a hospital isolation ward with a 104-degree fever and a severe case of mononucleosis. I was 22 years old and burnt out.
Reviews
Download"This is a remarkable book. Thérèse tells her personal story of recovery with the artistry of a memoirist; then she draws on an impressive range of knowledge in psychology, spirituality, and the Twelve Steps to show us the way out of the morass of pain and confusion that addiction creates. This is a book that is moving and inspiring, while at the same time full of practical guidance."
"A great way to break the cycle of addictive thinking that can lead to depression, suicide, or relapse."
"This gracious and elegant book is compelling witness of a life transformed. I see the vows of a Buddhist enlightened one (a Bodhisattva) being fulfilled on every page as Thérèse charts a new course to a life of freedom and awakening. Buy this book! I promise you that your experience of the 12 Steps will never be the same again."
"In Mindfulness and the 12 Steps: Living Recovery in the Present Moment, Jacobs-Stewart skillfully illustrates how [the 12-Steps and mindfulness practices] may be used to build on each other and contribute to an individual's psychological growth. …This straightforward book includes numerous personal anecdotes that will be helpful to a reader. Each chapter progresses through the 12 Steps and at the end includes a mindfulness exercise for the reader to practice as he or she works that particular step. Mindfulness and the 12 Steps is a spiritually focused, accessible guidebook for many who are recovering from an addiction."
Video
- Thérèse introduces "Mindfulness & the 12-Steps," 3:41 minutes
- Recovery Church, "The Miracle of Spiritual Awakening," 12:24 minutes
- Thérèse Tells Her Story, 10:34 minutes
Audio
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Mindfulness for the Holidays (21.16 MB)
12-16-2010 Length: 39:59
Talk on "Mindfulness for the Holidays" by Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart and comments by members, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center (MZMC) Buddhism and 12-Steps meeting.
