Open Mind Lecture Fully Present: The Science. Art, and Practice of Mindfulness Sue Smalley, PhD with Diana Winston

From Buddhist traditions to daily exercises, enhance your physical and mental health with the ultimate practical guide to mindfulness: Fully Present: The Science. Art, and Practice of Mindfulness written by Sue Smalley, PhD Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA and Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education at Mindful Awareness Research (MARC) Center at UCLA.

Mindfulness -- the art of paying attention with an open and curious mind to present-moment experiences--has attracted ever-growing interest and tens of thousands of practitioners, who have come to the discipline from both within and outside the Buddhist tradition. In Fully Present, Dr. Sue Smalley and Diana Winston, two leading mindfulness researchers and educators, provide an all-in-one guide for anyone interested in bringing mindfulness to daily life as a means of enhancing well-being. Fully Present provides both a scientific explanation for how mindfulness positively and powerfully affects the brain and the body as well as practical guidance to develop both a practice and mindfulness in daily living, not only through meditation but also during daily experiences, such as waiting in line at the supermarket, exercising, or facing difficult news.

Originally written in 2011, this second edition to be released in January 2023 will include a 20-page Afterword with an update to the science and a discussion of what has happened in the field in the last decade.

Sue Smalley, PhD, Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science at UCLA, is a behavioral geneticist, investor, activist, and writer. She spent over three decades conducting genetic research on behavioral disorders, including Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as well as research on mindfulness and wellness. She published 100+ peer reviewed articles on genetic influences in human behavior, co-authored Fully Present: the Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness, and has written extensively on happiness and wellbeing for online journals. Post-retiring from UCLA, Dr. Smalley co-founded PTK Capital, an investment fund focused on early-stage companies that are likely to benefit the human condition, moving from academics to business. She recently helped create the Bedari Kindness Institute at UCLA to bring more kindness into society through the integration of science with social impact work. She serves as the chair of the executive committee of that Institute and as an emeritus board member of Equality Now, a global human rights organization dedicated to women and girls.

Diana Winston is the author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness. Called by the Los Angeles Times “one of the nation’s best-known teachers of mindfulness,” she has taught mindfulness since 1999 in a variety of settings including hospitals, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and schools in the US and Asia. A sought-after speaker, she developed the evidence-based Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPS) curriculum, and the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation which trains mindfulness teachers worldwide. She is a founding board member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.