Two things are certain: the path through suffering involves an active practice of mindfulness, and the way is much smoother and direct when guided by a skilled, compassionate, and astute teacher. Cedar Koons, a gifted writer, inspiring mindfulness practitioner, and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) master, is just that person, and her book, The Mindfulness Solution for Intense Emotions, is just the road map many of us need to begin or strengthen our own mindfulness practice. Cedar's deep wisdom about mindfulness and DBT resonates throughout each page
through story, vignette, explanation, and practical exercises. Her style is personal, accessible, and direct. For those of us who seek solace from suffering, to live freely with our eyes and hearts wide open, this book is for you!
Linda A. Dimeff, PhD, president and chief scientific officer at Evidence-Based Practice Institute in Seattle, WA; institute director at Portland DBT Institute in Portland, OR; and coeditor of Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Clinical Practice I highly recommend The Mindfulness Solution for Intense Emotions to anyone
Koons's teaching, examples, and stories are so clear, engaging, and inspiring. If you are wondering which self-help book to buy, this is the one. It gets right to the heart of the matter!
Mitch Ditkoff, cofounder and president of Idea Champions, and author of Storytelling at Work Reading Cedar's wonderful book was an exercise in beginner's mind. It is a reminder that there are infinite ways to practice mindfulness, and so the book will resonate with the person new to mindfulness as well as with the expert who is open to the richness of new teachings. By practicing the skills in this book, the result for the person struggling with intense emotions will be greater mastery and control of their experience; and the expert, too, if open to new learning, will continue to strengthen and broaden the delivery of skilled and compassionate care.
Blaise Aguirre, MD, medical director at McLean 3East Continuum of Care, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, author of Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescents, and coauthor of Mindfulness for Borderline Personality Disorder and Coping with BPD A seasoned expert in both dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and mindfulness, Cedar Koons has packed a ton of wisdom into this book. She brings the material alive with vivid writing and her use of illustrative case examples and practical mindfulness exercises. Even more impressively, she unpacks concepts such as 'wise mind' in a way that is both true to DBT, and practical for readers who are first learning about DBT mindfulness skills. I would highly recommend this book for anyone struggling with intense, hard-to-tolerate emotions. Clinicians helping people with intense emotions will also benefit greatly from Cedar's practical guidance on how to understand and use mindfulness skills.
Alexander L. Chapman, PhD, RPsych, professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University, president of the DBT Centre of Vancouver, and coauthor of The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger, The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide, and The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety Cedar Koons has written a thorough, practical workbook for people with intense emotions. Often mindfulness skills seem mysterious, and explaining them to another person is like trying to help someone understand what chocolate tastes like when they have never tasted it before. Koons bridges the gap between Eastern/Buddhist practice and a way to know and regulate intense emotions by providing the reader with concrete examples, case stories, and practices. I will recommend this book to all of my emotionally intense clients.
Shari Manning, PhD, founding partner of the Treatment Implementation Collaborative, LLC, a group that provides dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) training, consultation, and supervision worldwide; and practicing DBT therapist of over twenty years who was trained by Marsha Linehan, PhD