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In Stillness Conquer Fear: Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Agoraphobia
Stress, anxiety, fear, panic - we all encounter these feelings at some time in our lives. But when they become constant companions we are crippled, our lives stifled by our inability to break free. Panic disorder and agoraphobia - fear of leaving the safety of home - cause suffering for a great many people today. This need not be so. In this fourth edition of her best selling book, Pauline McKinnon describes how she found the answer to overcoming her own experience of agoraphobia by using a unique form of meditation. 'In Stillness Conquer Fear' is the record of her journey of discovery. Already thousands of readers have found its insights as illuminating as they are practical.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 28, 2020
This is a thoughtfully written memoir about the author's personal struggle with agoraphobia and her recovery, a handbook on how to use the therapeutic stillness meditation technique created by Ainsley Meares, and an example of how to embody the underlying principles involved in the therapeutic approach she espouses. Quite remarkable.
The basic idea is that by practicing physical stillness, we can train ourselves to achieve and maintain mental calm and quiet. Equanimity. It is not the sort of stillness meditation more commonly referred to these days in the endless books on mindfulness. Those practices might well be useful and helpful, but they are not what's being described in this book.
If all you want to do is learn about the techniques and how to use them, skip to Chapter 17. The basic idea is very simple, but in order to increase the odds that she's been understood, the author provides three different ways to approach the meditation practice. They are, fundamentally, all the same, but the words she uses, the way she describes it, each approach has a slightly different verbal style. It's so simple, you practically do need to read all three just to get the point.
I get the feeling that the author has written this book with the hope of reaching those whose anxiety prevents them from easily acknowledging the need for help, from asking for help, from receiving help. Letting yourself relax and be vulnerable is pretty much what it's all about (so far as I can tell) and the target audience is likely filled with people who find it extraordinarily difficult to do those things.
The author has done a remarkable job of maintaining a tone of gentle acceptance, calm awareness, and thoughtfulness. I'm not sure I've ever read anything written with such careful attention to the information itself, the way it is presented and the way it is likely to be perceived. There was an occasional typographical error, but the work as a whole seems to have been very carefully and thoughtfully designed.
The author apparently has confidence in the therapeutic method she teaches and the skills to share her knowledge with a wide audience.
Reading this, I begin to suspect that the author's writing style has rubbed off on me, but I'm not convinced that's a bad thing.
All I do know is that my first experiences with this style of meditation practice have been positive ones, and I plan to continue exploring it.
The basic idea is that by practicing physical stillness, we can train ourselves to achieve and maintain mental calm and quiet. Equanimity. It is not the sort of stillness meditation more commonly referred to these days in the endless books on mindfulness. Those practices might well be useful and helpful, but they are not what's being described in this book.
If all you want to do is learn about the techniques and how to use them, skip to Chapter 17. The basic idea is very simple, but in order to increase the odds that she's been understood, the author provides three different ways to approach the meditation practice. They are, fundamentally, all the same, but the words she uses, the way she describes it, each approach has a slightly different verbal style. It's so simple, you practically do need to read all three just to get the point.
I get the feeling that the author has written this book with the hope of reaching those whose anxiety prevents them from easily acknowledging the need for help, from asking for help, from receiving help. Letting yourself relax and be vulnerable is pretty much what it's all about (so far as I can tell) and the target audience is likely filled with people who find it extraordinarily difficult to do those things.
The author has done a remarkable job of maintaining a tone of gentle acceptance, calm awareness, and thoughtfulness. I'm not sure I've ever read anything written with such careful attention to the information itself, the way it is presented and the way it is likely to be perceived. There was an occasional typographical error, but the work as a whole seems to have been very carefully and thoughtfully designed.
The author apparently has confidence in the therapeutic method she teaches and the skills to share her knowledge with a wide audience.
Reading this, I begin to suspect that the author's writing style has rubbed off on me, but I'm not convinced that's a bad thing.
All I do know is that my first experiences with this style of meditation practice have been positive ones, and I plan to continue exploring it.
November 6, 2021
This book saved my life when panic attacks and agoraphobia took over my life. I recommend this book to everyone. Even if you don't struggle with this problems, you can understand other people's problems. Thanks to that you can also give them the right help.
October 1, 2019
Interesting real stories to help the reader understand agoraphobia. Also tips on how to do stillness meditation
March 9, 2017
Read the first edition when it came out in 1983 and have just read the new updated 2016 edition that came out at the end of last year. OB
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews