Eight Step Recovery: Using the Buddha's Teachings to Overcome Addiction

"Give yourself over day by day, thought by thought, moment by moment to this reliable and profound form of nurturance and healing." —Jon Kabat-Zinn, from the Preface

"The MBAR programme draws on a wide range of the Buddha's practical, yet deeply profound, teachings. Over the eight steps you are given a priceless gift the possibility to gain mastery over your mind and heart and find freedom." —Vidyamala Burch, founder and co-director of Breathworks and author of Mindfulness for Health

"Blending MBAR with traditional Buddhist teachings and personal stories, the authors give us a wise and compassionate approach to recovery from the range of addictions. This comprehensive approach will be a valuable tool for addicts and addiction professionals alike." —Kevin Griffin, author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

Winner of the 2014 USA Best Book Award and the 2015 International Book Award in the Self-Help: Motivational category.

This new edition includes a foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn, advice on how to run an Eight Step Recovery meeting, and insight on how to teach a Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR) program, including teacher's notes and handouts.

"The Buddha was in recovery." Taking this bold statement as a starting point, this wonderful book shows how we are all addicted to aspects of life and can all benefit from training our minds and hearts to be free of the tyranny of compulsion.

Valerie Mason-John is the author of seven books. She works as a consultant in Conflict Transformation. She was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005.

Dr. Paramabandhu Groves is a consultant psychiatrist for the National Health Service in the UK, specializing in addiction. He is ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order.

Dr Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara) is a playwright and the author of seven books, including Detox Your Heart (2005, Windhorse Publications), and her award winning novel Borrowed Body, republished as the Banana Kid. Her most recent publication, The Great Black North – Contemporary African Canadian poetry 2013, is the first national anthology to document the voices of African Canadian Poets. She has just completed her second novel, The War Done Done. She works as a consultant in Conflict Transformation, Restorative Justice, Leadership and anti Bullying in both the domestic field of education, social services, youth, addiction and the police, as well as in the corporate world. She was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005. She is currently based at the Vancouver Buddhist centre.

Dr Paramabandhu Groves is a consultant psychiatrist working in the National Health Service in the UK, and has specialized in the field of addiction for 20 years. He is the clinical director of Breathing Space, which is the health and well-being wing of the London Buddhist Centre, teaching mindfulness-based approaches to help with depression, addiction, and stress. He developed the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention course for addiction, which has successfully run in both the UK and Canada. He is the author of Practical Buddhism: Mindfulness and Skillful Living in the Modern Era, and has published academic papers and contributed to several books in the field of addiction. He is ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order.