Preview
  • The Mindful Body

  • Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health
  • By: Ellen J. Langer
  • Narrated by: Subhadra Newton
  • Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (130 ratings)

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The Mindful Body

By: Ellen J. Langer
Narrated by: Subhadra Newton
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Publisher's summary

Learn how adjusting your thoughts can change your health—from the “mother of mindfulness” and first female tenured professor of psychology at Harvard.

“What matters more: mind or body? Filled with original research and thought-provoking insights, The Mindful Body shows that the two are not just connected but are actually one, opening us to vast potential for health and happiness.”—Dan Ariely, New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational

Can changing your thoughts improve your health? We tend to live our lives as though our ailments—our stiff knees or frayed nerves or diminished eyesight—can change only in one direction: for the worse. Award-winning social psychologist Ellen J. Langer’s life’s work proves the fault in this negative outlook as well as the healing power of its alternative: mindfulness—the process of active noticing where we are not bound by past experience or conventional wisdom.

In The Mindful Body, Dr. Langer unpacks her assumption-busting findings and outlines her bold new theory of mind-body unity, along the way clearly demonstrating how our thoughts and perspectives have the potential to profoundly shape our well-being. Whether it is hotel chambermaids who lost weight when they simply came to see that their work constituted exercise, or patients whose wounds healed faster in rooms with accelerated clocks, she shows how influential our thoughts are to the state of our bodies. Her work has likewise proven that discouraging health news can have negative effects. Learning you are prediabetic, for example—even if your blood sugar reading is only a fraction away from “normal”—may actually play a part in the development of the disease.

A paradigm-shifting book by one of the great psychologists of the twenty-first century, The Mindful Body returns the control over our bodies back to us and reveals that a true understanding of health begins with our minds.

©2023 Ellen J. Langer (P)2023 Random House Audio
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Critic reviews

"For decades, Ellen Langer’s work has taught us the incredible power of the mind to affect our lives. In this fascinating new book, she highlights the startling role that our mind plays in fostering or undermining what is perhaps our most important asset—our health.”—Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., author of Mindset

“Ellen Langer’s pioneering research put mindfulness on the map in psychology and overturned our assumptions about the mind-body connection. In this engaging book, she introduces provocative ideas about how rethinking our beliefs and attitudes can actually improve our health and happiness.”—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast Re:Thinking

“A remarkable work of science and scholarship . . . Ellen Langer’s pioneering research shows that our thoughts and perceptions can rejuvenate our physical health, replenish our intellectual energy, and restore our broader sense of life’s possibilities. This book offers the ultimate key to unlocking your full potential.”—Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When and The Power of Regret

What listeners say about The Mindful Body

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Healing Words

Powerful ideas of the kind body connection, thankful to know hold this wisdom and theory

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Refreshing Information That Older Folks Will Appreciate

Ellen Langer are gives us the results of her life of research in a compelling and interesting narrative. Her work and results bring to my mind. Other books are on different topics that reinforce her findings and conclusions. or invitation to becoming mindful, is both stimulating and practical.

Combined, this book with the best seller Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia, and with the book The One by Heinrich Pas give us a startling perspective that just could be a way out of the woods of modernity in which we all mostly reside.

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Great book on getting more life out of your time

Being more mindful improves everything you do in life especially the times when interacting with other people <3

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New and helpful concept

Introduced a whole new concept. I don’t agree with all the points but doesn’t matter, great to learn and will definitely practice.

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Opens your mind

I loved all the studies done and how her mind thinks. I really needed to hear this. Loved it.

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Life changing book

This is one of those books that takes up very little of your week yet profoundly effects the way you think. So many amazing implications

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Great research and anecdotes

Summation of much research and some great anecdotes, but if you’re looking for resources or clear path forward, you may need to look elsewhere.

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Great insight into the real mind

Grateful for the research into how humans really think and act. It is well written

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Too Much Like a Textbook

Only made it through 90 min. Too dry. Didn’t keep my interest. Felt like I was reading a lecture.

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WOW, everyone ought read or hear this one!

What an amazing souls, researcher, and guide for us all. Buy copies fir everyone you know!

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