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I arrived at Harvard’s McLean Hospital in May 2000 to start work on the adolescent unit. At that time I knew nothing about a new treatment known as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which had previously been used to treat suicidal women. McLean was pioneering DBT in adolescents. Core to DBT is the practice of mindfulness, and although the concept is easy to articulate in theory, the practice and experience is more nuanced. We opened a dedicated DBT unit for adolescents in 2007 and with that I decided that I needed a much deeper understanding of mindfulness. With that I headed out to Tucson and the Redemptorist Renewal Center in the Sonoran desert. It is a perfect site for mindfulness prac- tice: located in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains on the edge of the Saguaro National Park. For the next five days I sat in silence together with my fellow retreat- ants. The experience changed my life. It taught me how to accept things as they are, to become far less judgmental, to tolerate intense emotions, and to recognize that automatic nature of many of my thoughts and behaviors. I noticed that I was far less anxious than I had ever been and, with that, just how powerful mindfulness could be as a tool for healing mental suffering. This book is a testament to the broad utility of mindfulness and an explo- ration of the practice beyond its use in mental and physical well-­being. Preface