I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of

the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present.

Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right

now.

John Kabadzen was born in New York City in 1944. He was a gifted student and entered

Haviford College when he was 16 years old. He went on to earn his PhD in Molecular Biology

at MIT. In graduate school, John first attended a lecture about Zen Buddhism and Mindfulness

Meditation. In 1979, John founded the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University

of Massachusetts Medical School. Of course, he became a pioneer in this field, developing

a healing program that integrated Western medicine with Eastern Mindfulness. Over the last

35 years, John's trailblazing approach to health and healing has gone mainstream, bringing

relief to countless patients suffering chronic illnesses and pain. Today, his eight-week

mindfulness-based stress reduction course is available in more than 700 medical centers,

hospitals and clinics around the world. But this groundbreaking scientist and teacher

is also a best-selling author. His tenth book Mindfulness for Beginners reassures us that

even though we may long for wholeness, the truth is it's already here and already hours.

It's so fascinating to me that when we first met in 1992, the word mindful was actually

cutting edge. People were like, what are you talking about? They didn't even know what

we were talking about. And now it's sort of become the buzz word for the time. I mean,

a lot of people use it in terms of their daily practice, their classes about it, their

schools where they're teaching mindfulness to children all because of you.

It feels like this was your calling, would you say? Totally.

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