A while back, we talked about guided meditation and how it can help you, especially if you don’t find it easy to control your mind – which is normal when you start practicing. We also shared some apps designed to ease you into regular meditation.
Today, let’s look at some books that you can read to help you on your meditation journey.
Best meditation books for beginners
Meditation Now: A Beginner’s Guide
Written by Elizabeth Reninger, this best-seller promises calm and a peaceful mindset in 10 minutes. Of course, that doesn’t mean it stops there, but it is a good start.
Book description:
Filled with time-honored practices and insightful discussions, Meditation Now: A Beginner’s Guide makes it easy to learn meditation, with:
- Step-by-step instructions for 18 meditation techniques that can be practiced anytime, anywhere
14 “Take Ten” meditations to promote mindfulness in everyday situations like traffic jams and work presentations - Essential advice and guidelines for overcoming common obstacles like boredom and relating skillfully to thoughts and emotions
- 3 focused 28-day meditation plans for those months when you need extra emotional support, happiness, or relaxation
- Inspirational quotations and practical tips that motivate you to deepen your practice
GET IT HERE
8 Minute Meditation Expanded: Quiet Your Mind. Change Your Life.
An updated version of another best-selling meditation book, 8 Minute Meditation provides an even easier starting point for those who want to make meditation a regular part of their lives. The book revolves around the idea that everyone can learn how to meditate wherever, whenever.
If you feel you don’t have time and yet you know you need to do something to live a better life, then this book is for you.
GET IT HERE
Meditation for Beginners
A respected meditation teacher, Jack Kornfield wrote this book especially for those who are just getting started. It is straightforward and simple, guiding readers one step at a time – from breathing to becoming aware of bodily sensations to getting in touch with emotions, and more.
GET IT HERE
How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind
We all have negative thoughts about ourselves – in varying degrees. For some people, their mind is their worst enemy, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Meditation is one of the best ways to become “friends” with your mind, and that’s what this book is all about.
Written by American-born Tibetan nun Pema Chodron, this meditation book highlights the following:
- The basics of meditation, from getting settled and the six points of posture to working with your breath and cultivating an attitude of unconditional friendliness
- The Seven Delights – how moments of difficulty can become doorways to awakening and love
- Shamatha (or calm abiding), the art of stabilizing the mind to remain present with whatever arises
- Thoughts and emotions as “sheer delight” – instead of obstacles – in meditation.
As such, it is one of the best meditation books for beginners, as well as more practiced individuals.
GET IT HERE
Guided Mindfulness Meditation: A Complete Guided Mindfulness Meditation Program
This audiobook is by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD – founding Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Additionally he is the founding director of the school’s Stress Reduction Clinic and Professor of Medicine emeritus. He is considered to be one of America’s foremost experts in this field.
The book focuses on the following:
- Utilize body and mind meditations in daily practice
- Practice mindful yoga with clear, safe and simple instructions
- Describe the basic state of being which is present awareness
- Compare the results of unmoving, sitting meditation to a movement meditation such as mindful yoga.
Whether you’re looking at practicing yoga or already doing so, this audiobook is a great complement.
GET IT HERE
Also read: Quotes About Meditation
https://www.thedailymind.com/mindfulness/best-mindfulness-books/
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Originally posted on October 28, 2015 @ 8:30 am
