Best Books on Meditation
Books on Meditation can be an invaluable resource for beginners in mindfulness practices. Here is a selection of ten titles which should help you choose which meditation book would best meet your individual needs.
Borucki makes meditation accessible for busy modern lives through her user-friendly approach, dispelling myths surrounding meditation as she does so.
1. 10% Happier: A Practical Guide to Meditation & Mindfulness by Dan Harris
Dan Harris’ best-selling book 10% Happier provides an accessible introduction to meditation and mindfulness for beginners. Harris shares his journey from skeptic to meditator while offering tips to readers seeking peace, happiness, and focus through this practice. Additionally, Harris explores both its scientific basis as well as its health benefits for overall well-being.
Harris offers an accessible approach to incorporating meditation into daily life, sharing his encounters with leading figures of mindfulness and meditation practice like Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and the Dalai Lama. Harris emphasizes the need for persistence when developing an effective meditation routine and encourages readers not to give up too easily.
While Harris’ book primarily chronicles his personal journey, it also explores scientific research behind mindfulness and meditation. According to him, these techniques have been shown to aid with depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, age-related cognitive decline and more.
Harris provides guidance for using the RAIN technique (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Non-identify) to manage difficult emotions such as fear and anger. This approach involves recognising challenging moments where emotions arise without judgment, accepting how these affect you without judgment, investigating their impact upon you further and ultimately realizing that they don’t define who we are as individuals.
This book offers both memoir and meditation advice in an accessible package, making it essential reading for those wanting to begin or restart meditation practice. Skeptics looking for an accessible entryway into this powerful practice should find this a particularly worthwhile read.
2. The Mindfulness Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Cultivating a Mindful Life by Chade-Meng Tan
The Mindfulness Workbook helps readers develop and sustain an ongoing mindfulness practice with daily meditations, affirmations exercises, and exercises designed specifically for beginners. It is an ideal guide for anyone hoping to incorporate mindful living into daily routines while reaping all the many advantages offered by a meditation practice.
In this practical and user-friendly book by a teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), mindfulness techniques proven effective and accessible for people of all ages are provided to reduce anxiety, build inner strength and lead a happier life.
This guide to mindful living provides a practical approach for finding inner peace and joy amid an overscheduled life. Drawing upon contemplative traditions, modern neuroscience research, and leading psychology principles – it offers step-by-step mindfulness advice in everyday situations.
Mindfulness for Dummies by bestselling author Jon Kabat-Zinn provides readers with exercises designed to bring greater focus into the present moment and release negative, distracting or judgmental thoughts. This book shows readers how to achieve lasting happiness and contentment with this practice of mindfulness.
Utilizing storytelling and mindfulness meditation techniques, this engaging guide to self-compassion will assist readers in managing difficult emotions while building a life filled with positivity.
From the outside, meditation may appear like an exhausting, soul-crushing practice: sitting still while counting breaths and trying to stop your thoughts from wandering aimlessly around your mind. But that’s not how Chade-Meng Tan sees it – this book filled with cartoons shows how mindfulness practice can add laughter and joy into everyday life!
3. The Mindful Way Through Depression: A Step-by-Step Guide to Relieving Stress & Finding Happiness by Jack Kornfield
Practice mindfulness meditation to learn to ignore unnecessary thoughts and focus on what’s most important to you. Mindfulness also can help make you less reactive to stressful situations and more capable of handling stressful situations effectively.
Jack Kornfield provides an accessible introduction to mindfulness practice for beginners in his book Mindful Every Day: A Beginners Guide, Drawing upon techniques and perspectives from two seemingly diverse traditions, he presents an easy yet profound way to manage anxiety, cultivate presence and stillness, find happiness and compassion in the present moment, and find contentment and peace within yourself.
This book presents meditations from the Buddhist vipassana tradition, which has been integrated scientifically into mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive therapy for depression. Additionally, lovingkindness and compassion meditations from vipassana practice reflect its belief that “we all deserve happiness” while simultaneously providing ways for others to experience it.
Paperback and hardcover editions both include a CD narrated by Jon Kabat-Zinn within their back covers; in contrast, ePub e-books sold at Guilford, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble contain embedded audio files. Furthermore, Dharma Seed talk page offers free streaming audio talks from Western teachers who practice vipassana or Zen traditions such as Joseph Goldstein or Sharon Salzberg.
Meditation can be an effective self-help tool, but for some individuals it can be harmful or even dangerous. People with histories of severe trauma, major depression or posttraumatic stress may require professional guidance as part of their meditation practice to ensure its safety and efficacy. For further learning on meditating for mental health purposes you could also check out these resources:
4. Think Like a Monk: A Practical Guide to Meditation & Mindfulness by Jay Shetty
Jay Shetty, social media influencer and host of the number one meditation podcast, uses his expertise as a monk to distill timeless wisdom into practical steps that anyone can use to lead a less anxious life. Step one involves realizing we are architects rather than victims in shaping our own lives; step two involves building self-awareness and mindfulness tools so as to clear your mind, relieve stress, and discover deeper purpose in life.
Sitting meditation, which involves sitting upright and paying attention to one’s breathing or trying to settle their mind, is most commonly associated with Eastern religions; however, its roots lie within Christianity as well. Trappist monk Thomas Keating revived Christian meditation through centering prayer practice during the 1970s; Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr then extended this practice further with a form of mindfulness meditation called ‘Loving-Kindness Practice.’
Although some individuals might be intimidated by meditation due to misperceptions that it contradicts religious faith, research shows it doesn’t. Meditation actually deepens and strengthens their connections to whatever faith they subscribe to while helping people develop compassion for both their own suffering as well as that of others – which ultimately allows for better relationships and an overall higher quality of life – making meditation one of the most popular wellness practices today.
5. The Mindful Way Through Anxiety: A Step-by-Step Guide to Cultivating a Mindful Life by Pema Chodron
Chodron provides practical techniques for cultivating mindfulness in daily life in this book, such as practicing acceptance without judgment of your experiences – be they painful or pleasurable – without judgment. Her meditation advice involves being with what’s happening without feeling overwhelmed by them, so as to be present for all your feelings with clarity and spaciousness and not get caught up in hopes and fears when times get difficult, which helps reduce anxiety.
Chodron not only writes books but also runs retreats and workshops in both the US and internationally. You can discover more by visiting her website.
If you are new to mindfulness meditation, it is highly advised that you find an experienced teacher to guide your efforts. Many may feel intimidated or frustrated when trying to meditate for the first time; it’s best to work with what your experiences bring rather than trying to fight against them. A meditation teacher can help explain what’s going on inside of your head while offering support during tough moments.
Vipassana meditation, also known as insight into reality meditation in Sanskrit, uses repeated mantras – either silently repeated or spoken aloud and timed to the breath – to focus the mind. This ancient technique dates back to when Buddha first practiced it and has since been extensively studied (Benson & Klipper 2001).
Thich Nhat Hanh’s book The Miracle of Mindfulness provides beginners with easy-to-read guides about mindfulness meditation’s benefits and his website offers free audio talks from western teachers in the Buddhist Vipassana tradition. Wildmind provides mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation guides.
