This was done through an eight-week course, which, in the words of Kabat-Zinn,[6] was meant to serve as an educational (in the sense of inviting what is already present to come forth) vehicle through which people could assume a degree of responsibility for their own well-being and participate more fully in their own unique movement towards greater levels of health by cultivating and refining our innate capacity for paying attention and for a deep, penetrative seeing/sensing of the interconnectedness of apparently separate aspects of experience, many of which tend to hover beneath our ordinary level of awareness regarding both inner and outer experience.Kabat-Zinn composed Full Catastrophe Living with aim of capturing "the essence and spirit of the MBSR curriculum as it unfolds for our patients", while at the same time articulating "the dharma that underlies the curriculum, but without ever using the word 'Dharma' or invoking Buddhist thought or authority, since for obvious reasons, we do not teach MBSR in that way.

"[7] Kabat-Zinn recalls his desire for the book to "embody ... the dharma essence of the Buddha's teachings" in a way that was "accessible to mainstream Americans", and to avoid "as much as possible the risk of it being seen as Buddhist, 'New Age,' 'Eastern Mysticism' or just plain 'flakey.

I thank the author for having written it.Eventually, Kabat-Zinn decided to include the letter in his book as a preface, judging that by 1990 "there was no longer as big a risk of our work being identified with a 'lunatic fringe'", due to the scientific evidence that had already emerged for MBSR's efficacy, as well as the accelerating interpenetration of the so-called "counter-culture" with America's mainstream culture.

In doing so, he is never weighed down for long, never ultimately defeated either by the world or by his own considerable folly.Kabat-Zinn has written that his editor for the first edition of the book was concerned that including the word "catastrophe" in the title might "repel potential readers right from the start."

"[2]: xxxvii  While stressing that "mindfulness has its own internal logic and poetry", he suggests that scientific research showing its beneficial effects for health and well-being may provide extra incentive to follow the MBSR curriculum.

For instance, he tells the story of "Mary", for whom the body scan precipitated a transformative encounter with physical tensions connected with traumatic experiences from childhood,[2]: 81–7  and that of a young woman for whom the walking meditation proved to be the key to overcoming her extreme anxiety.

The new perspective acknowledges the central importance of thinking in terms of wholeness and interconnectedness and the need to pay attention to the interactions of mind, body, and behavior in any comprehensive effort to understand and treat illness.

This view emphasizes that science will never be able fully to describe a complex dynamical process such as health, or even a relatively simple chronic disease, without looking at the functioning of the whole organism, rather than restricting itself solely to an analysis of parts and components, no matter how important that domain may be as well.Kabat-Zinn goes on to lay out the extensive scientific evidence for the close interconnection between mental and physical processes, examining the impact that attitudes such as optimism or pessimism, self-efficacy, hardiness, sense of coherence, and anger can have on physical conditions including cancer and heart disease.

[2]: 242–68  He also extends the concept of wholeness to stress the intimate interconnectedness of all living and non-living phenomena, approvingly quoting a letter from Albert Einstein stating that the human sense of being "something separated from the rest" is "a kind of optical delusion of consciousness".

Drawing on the work of Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman, he defines psychological stress in terms of the relationship between a person and their environment, which in this case is perceived as taxing or threatening.

Automatic reactions triggered out of unawareness—especially when the circumstances are not life-threatening but we take them that way all the same—can compound and exacerbate stress, making what might have remained basically simple problems into worse ones over time.

A lifetime of unconscious and unexamined habitual reactivity to challenges and perceived threats is likely to increase our risk of eventual breakdown and illness significantly.Habitual maladaptive reactions to stressors can include physical tensions, workaholism, addiction to various chemicals, drugs, or foods, and depressive rumination.

"[2]: 349 In this section Kabat-Zinn offers detailed advice for practicing mindfulness in the face of a range of specific stressors, including medical symptoms, emotional disturbance, time and work pressures, relationship issues, and stress relating to political or world events.

Reflecting MBSR's origins in a medical clinic, significant space is devoted to considerations relevant to people suffering from chronic pain and other long-term health conditions.

[2]: 361–85  Kabat-Zinn describes various scientific studies showing the significant benefits of mindfulness practice for chronic pain sufferers, and illustrates these findings with the stories of MBSR patients.