While at MIT, Kabat-Zinn was a leading campaigner against military research at the university and against theVietnam War.[6] To reduce student protests, MIT appointed him, alongsideNoam Chomsky andGeorge Katsiaficas, to an advisory panel on the future of the university's military labs.[7] During this time, he pondered his life's purpose, which he called his "karmic assignment."[8]
Kabat-Zinn was first introduced to meditation byPhilip Kapleau, a Zen teacher who came to speak at MIT where Kabat-Zinn was a student. Kabat-Zinn went on to study meditation with other Buddhist teachers such asSeungsahn.[9] He also studied at theInsight Meditation Society withJack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein, and eventually taught there.[3][9] In 1979 he founded the Stress Reduction Clinic at theUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School, where he adapted the Soto Zen, Vipassana, Hatha Yoga and Advaita Vedanta teachings and developed the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program.[3] He subsequently renamed the structured eight-week courseMindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). He removed thesoteriological goals of the religious and spiritual systems that influenced the MBSR and any connection between mindfulness and Buddhism, instead putting MBSR in a scientific context.[9][10] He subsequently also founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His secular technique ofMindful Yoga, which combines meditation andyoga as exercise, has since spread worldwide.[9] The course aims to help patients cope with stress, pain, and illness by using what is called "moment-to-moment awareness."[11][12]
Kabat-Zinn's MBSR began to get increasing notice with the publication of his first book,Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (1991), which gave detailed instructions for the practice.[5][13] Then, in 1993, his work in the Stress Reduction Clinic was featured inBill Moyers's PBS specialHealing and the Mind, spurring wide interest in MBSR and helping to make Kabat-Zinn nationally famous.[9] In 1994 Kabat-Zinn's second book, titledWherever You Go, There You Are, became a national bestseller.[14] In the latter part of the 1990s, many MBSR clinics were opened, either as standalone centers or as part of a hospital's holistic medicine program.[9]
Research by Kabat-Zinn includes the effect of MBSR onpsoriasis, pain, anxiety, brain function, and immune function.[15]
MBSR has been adapted for use by the US military to improve combatants' "operational effectiveness," apparently with Kabat-Zinn's approval, which has provoked some controversy among mindfulness practitioners.[17][18][19]
Discussing the integration of narratives into mindfulness practice, Kabat-Zinn has said, "the map... can occlude... the territory.' That is, thinking about a storyline can get in the way, like creating a mental representation 'map' rather than directly experiencing the 'territory' of the present moment.
Kabat-Zinn is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.[20]
Kabat-Zinn is married to Myla Zinn, the daughter of the historian and playwrightHoward Zinn and his wife Roslyn. They have three grown children.[21]
Kabat-Zinn grew up in a non-practicing Jewish family.[22] He has stated that his beliefs growing up were a fusion of science and art.[20] Although he has been "trained in Buddhism and espouses its principles", he rejects the label of "Buddhist",[14] preferring to "apply mindfulness within a scientific rather than a religious frame".[9]
The Power of Meditation and Prayer, with Sogyal Rinpoche,Larry Dossey, Michael Toms. Hay House, 1997.ISBN1-56170-423-7.
Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting, with Myla Kabat-Zinn. Hyperion, 1997.ISBN978-0-7868-8314-1.
Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. Hyperion, 2006.ISBN0-7868-8654-4.
The mindful way through depression: freeing yourself from chronic unhappiness, by J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale, Zindel V. Segal, Jon Kabat-Zinn.Guilford Press, 2007.ISBN1593851286.
Arriving at Your Own Door. Piatkus Books, 2008.ISBN0-7499-2861-1. The book contains 180 verses that discuss the connection between mindfulness and our physical and spiritual wellbeing and can lead to healing and transformation.[24][25][26]
Letting Everything Become Your Teacher: 100 Lessons in Mindfulness. Dell Publishing Company, 2009.ISBN0-385-34323-X.
The Mind's Own Physician: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama on the Healing Power of Meditation, co-authored withRichard Davidson (New Harbinger, 2012) (based on the 13thMind and Life Institute Dialogue in 2005).
Mindfulness for Beginners: reclaiming the present moment - and your life. Sounds True, Inc., 2012.ISBN978-1-60407-753-7.
^Fitzpatrick, Liam (24 January 2019)."The Monk Who Taught the World Mindfulness Awaits the End of This Life".Time. Retrieved22 June 2020.Among his students was the American doctor Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course that is now offered at hospitals and medical centers worldwide.
^Nelkin, Dorothy (1972).The University and Military Research, Moral Politics at MIT. Cornell University Press.pp. 67-8, 81-2, 105;Knight, Chris (2016).Decoding Chomsky. Yale University Press.pp. 34-5
^Kabat-Zinn, Jon (2011)."Contemporary Buddhism"(PDF). University of Massachusetts Medical School. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 10 September 2015. Retrieved3 July 2020.
^abcdefgWilson, Jeff (2014).Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture. Oxford University Press. p. 35.
^Gesund durch Meditation p330 and 331 the German translation ofFull Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness
^Kabat-Zinn, Jon (2012).Mindfulness for Beginners: reclaiming the present moment--and your life. Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True, Inc. p. 165.ISBN978-1-60407-658-5.OCLC747533622.
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