Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn is a professor emeritus of medicine and the founder of the now renowned Stress Reduction Clinic, which functions out of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn completed a doctorate in molecular biology but moved into mindfulness work after attending a presentation on mindfulness and meditation as a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kabat-Zinn went on to study meditation under a number of Buddhist teachers.

At the Stress Reduction Clinic, Kabat-Zinn created the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, an eight-week program that draws on mindful meditation, yoga, body awareness, and non-judgmental reflection on thoughts, emotions, bodily feelings, and situations. The program’s teachings have their roots in Buddhist spirituality, but Kabat-Zinn’s application of the practices operate in a secular framework. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs now are present in hospitals internationally.

Wherever You Go, There You Are is Kabat-Zinn’s second work of nonfiction and received national and international acclaim. Kabat-Zinn continues to write and speak about mindfulness, which he believes can help people find peace and contentment and manage stress, anxiety, and depression.