Five Books That Will Guide You Through Mindfulness Training

More often than not, our attention is distracted by hundreds of different stimuli, which tend to overwhelm our senses. This sensory overload is due to the amount of information we are exposed to every day, largely due to ubiquitous Internet use and wall-to-wall advertising, which often causes feelings of tiredness, stress and anxiety.

We have problems with concentration, we lose the ability to think clearly and we’re blind to many aspects of our environment. Fortunately, mindfulness will help you regain your mind-body balance and help you lead a more harmonious life!

Time to forget about multitasking!

Monotasking is much better for you than multitasking. Mindfulness is the psychological process of focusing your attention on the present moment or, in other words, doing one thing at a time. It’s basically about training one’s mind, awareness and observation of thoughts and emotions. 

During MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) courses one of the basic exercises is a body scan. It’s 30–40 minutes of meditation during which you lie down or sit still and listen to an instructor who tells you to focus on parts of your body, from your big toe to the top of your head. It’s a time where you can take a break from your busy life and forget about the whole world. 

A daily mindfulness practice can simply consist of short exercises during the day, it doesn’t always have to be a long session. You can do it anywhere, whether that’s on the bus, in the office, or at home in your bed. 

All you have to do is to focus on your breathing and try not to think about everything going on, all you need to do is live in the moment. On the Internet you can find loads of mobile applications intended for those who want to practise mindfulness. But are they really necessary? There are still a lot of offline ways to practice mindfulness, for free!

Mindfulness, without technology.

Below you can find a short list of five books written by mindfulness teachers and experts. 

Choose one of these recommendations and try out the mindfulness exercises. Try to do it on your own, without any distractions, particularly avoiding distractions from mobile devices. Isn’t that what mindfulness should be about after all? Focusing on yourself, in the here and now. More information about each book can be found by clicking on the links below.

1. 'Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World' by Mark Williams, Danny Penman and Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.

2. 'The Art of Breathing' by Dr Danny Penman

3. 'Wherever You Go, There You Are' by Jon Kabat-Zinn

4. 'The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment' by Eckhart Tolle

5. 'Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life' by Thich Nhat Hanh, Arnold Kotler and H. H. the Dalai Lama

Have you tried mindfulness? Is there anything you’d like to add, have we missed anything? If you’re interested in sharing your experiences with us or writing a guest post for us, send us an email via hello@mudita.com!

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