The Mindful Path through Shyness: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You from Social Anxiety, Fear, and Avoidance

by Steve Flowers, Jeffrey Brantley (Foreword by)

Shyness often helps protect us from the judgments and resentments of others, but once you get in the habit of avoiding social situations, you can become stuck in a cycle of avoidance that can be difficult to escape. Ready to let go of shyness and make stronger connections with others? The Mindful Path Through Shyness shows you how.

This guide uses techniques from mindfulness-based stress reduction and cognitive behavioral therapy to help you cultivate awareness of your own thoughts so that you can act with more wisdom and compassion toward yourself. Over time, you will be able to free yourself of the old mental habits of self-consciousness and self-blame, and replace them with new habits that foster confidence and joy.

A heartfelt and practical guide to… transforming one's relationship to social fears and inhibitions.
-Zindel V. Segal, Ph.D., author of The Mindful Way Through Depression

Genres: Self Help, Psychology, Nonfiction, Buddhism, Meditation, Mental Health

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone really wanted to understand me, they could just read this handy book!

[ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book on how mindfulness relates to shyness. It provides a good foundation for understanding how people who are shy treat themselves with endless harsh criticism and judgement. It also provides a good selection of meditation practices to get you started on the path.

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that has to sit for a while. It's more of a self-help book with exercises to help someone with their shyness. The author talks about his own and others' experiences of shyness, although you could probably apply the philosophy and exercises to many other things.

It became somewhat repetitive to read for a while and I think it's clear this is (for me) more of an ongoing book to come back to and go through gradually.

Definitely worth it for those who have an interest in conquering shyness and an interest in mindfulness.

[Tony Almquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good book, introduced me to mindfulness, redirecting yourself into the moment, letting unpleasant thoughts pass, instead of fighting them and saying no or vocalizing to block. Stephen mostly avoids the clichéd Stuart Smally-isms to explain his ideas, but gets a little repetitive. Some more stories and examples would have helped. but overall, reading the book did me alot of good

[Mark Yashar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good guide to the different mindfulness methods and techniques
(like meditation and yoga) one can use to deal with and try to self-treat shyness
and social anxiety.