This is a book that belongs on the shelf of anyone who works with people who suffer from depression, anxiety, PTSD or other imbalanced mind states.  It will also appeal to lay practitioners of meditation or those who are considering meditation as a tool to altar the structure of their brains in ways that support optimal mental health. Author of the acclaimed The Developing Mind, psychiatrist and attachment researcher Daniel Siegel provides the evidence that demonstrates how "we can actually focus our minds in a way that changes the structure and function of the brain throughout our lives."

The Mindful Brain is an astounding achievement, integrating Siegel's own personal narrative-his first experience on a meditation retreat and the way he now integrates mindfulness meditation practice in his clinical practice-with a vast compendium of research that covers the current scientific understanding of brain function, of mind (defined by Siegel as "a process that regulates the flow of information and energy"), and of the effects of mindful awareness on both intrapersonal qualities of life (our individual sense of well-being) and interpersonal qualities of life (healthy relationships).   

One quality optimized in meditation practice is attunement, which Siegel suggests is at "the heart of therapeutic change."  For those of us whose brains were not supported by good early attachment experiences, the intrapersonal attunement that we may experience in mindfulness meditation can become a corrective, actually, changing our brains.  As Sarah Lazar and her colleagues at MIT have shown, mindful awareness of the breath literally thickens the self-regulatory prefrontal regions, especially the middle prefrontal cortex.  These are the areas that depend for their development, according to Siegel, "upon proper experiences with caregivers," and yet mindfulness meditation has been shown to grow these regions of the brain.  As Siegel explains it, "If mindfulness is considered as a secure relationship with the self, we can then make the link that this form of internal attunement would also promote the healthy activation and subsequent growth of these same social and self-regulatory prefrontal regions." 

This book is a pleasure to read, even for the non-scientist.  Siegel's prose is graceful and at times poetic, even as he seeks to explain complex ideas.  For example, one way in which he describes mindful awareness is as an upending of "top down" perception that is based on past experience.  He notes how we perceive time as slowing down when we notice something out of the ordinary-a phenomena, based on an experiment designed by Tse (2005) he calls the "oddball" experience.  We derive more pleasure from this noticing of the extraordinary within the ordinary.  "Prior learning," he says, "helps us become more efficient information processors."  [But prior learning also] "oppresses our raw sensory experience by muddying the waters of clear perception with prior expectation."

Throughout, Siegel takes pleasure in creating acronyms used as mnemonic devices, all of which are redefined in a glossary in one of the appendices.  Here's a delightful example, worthy of a thirteenth century scholarly mystic-"The word coherence itself is the acronym for its own features: connected, open, harmonious, engaged, receptive, emergent, noetic, compassionate, and empathetic." (He does define "emergent" and "noetic.")

Siegel's compilation and synthesis of research, philosophy and psychology offers a clear picture of the neuroscience behind effective empathic communication. He even offers the reader a transcript of a fifteen minute meditation he uses in his office, a tape of which patients can use for their own daily home practice. This book is a blueprint for sustaining a mindful awareness that promotes healthier relationships, including the one we have with ourselves.  "In both mindful intrapersonal and interpersonal attunement," says Siegel, "one mind attunes to the affective and intentional states of mind and everyone benefits."

· 75 minute video (DVD) practice, led by Amy Weintraub
· 12 Programmable Chapters shot in HD
· Original music by William Chapman + Music from Krishna Das, MJ Bindu Delekta
· Includes a Study Guide booklet
· Shot on-location in Tucson, AZ by Emmy- award winning Director of Photography, Dan Duncan.

Introduction
Joint Warm-ups
Centering Meditation
Breathing Exercises
Warm-up Poses
Cultivating Will: Standing Poses
Will and Willingness: Backbending Poses
Will and Surrender: Forward Bends and Twists
Surrender: Yoga Nidra

This unique DVD showcases the integrative practice of LifeForce Yoga® designed especially for mood management. Invite Amy into your home to lead you through comprehensive breathing techniques, toning, and postures to awaken your physical energy and calm your busy mind.

Shot on location in Tucson, Arizona, Amy invites practitioners into the loving embrace of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kwan Yin, "she who hears the cries of the world." In the sacred space Amy creates, students begin to feel and safely experience their bodies and their emotions. The practice culminates with yoga nidra, or deep relaxation, in which participants integrate the experience and return to full wakefulness feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

For more information and to order, please visit Amy's web site: http://www.yogafordepression .com