Meditation is a helpful practice for various mental health struggles. It helps center oneself, stay in the moment, and face future challenges. Meditation has gained popularity in recent years, and there’s a lot of information out there. The following books will help anyone interested in meditation learn and practice the art of meditation.
1. How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends With Your Mind
Pema Chodron is an American Tibetan Buddhist nun who has spent her life studying and practicing meditation. In this comprehensive guide, readers will learn basic meditation techniques such as breathing and posture as well as tips on how to start a meditation practice.
From there, Chodron explains the nuances of working with the mind, thoughts, and emotions as one develops a steady routine of practice. Throughout the book, she stresses the importance of cultivating “unconditional friendliness” towards oneself while meditating. This, she says, gives meditation a quality of “sheer delight,” which can strengthen our practice when things get tough.
2. Meditation: The Complete Guide: Meditation For Beginners, Mindfulness, Happiness & Peace
Many self published books lack in quality and authority. However, in this down to earth, easy to read guide, long time yoga instructor and practitioner Katie Anderson, delivers what she promises in the title: a complete meditation guide for beginners.
Readers are introduced to the basics of meditation from picking a designated meditation “seat,” choosing a time, setting the session length, how to get into a comfortable position, all the way to settling into a relaxed state of focus and concentration. Various meditation techniques and practices are explored such as breathing, visualization, and mantra.
3. Practicing Mindfulness: 75 Essential Meditations to Reduce Stress, Improve Mental Health, and Find Peace in the Everyday
Mindfulness meditations are a great way to cultivate awareness and acceptance of the here and now―practicing mindfulness can be easy and accessible with these 75 evidence-based exercises designed to bring calmness and compassion into your day-to-day life.
From finding focus with a 5-minute “Power of the Mind” exercise to a 25-minute “Open-Awareness Meditation,” Practicing Mindfulness provides meditations to relieve stress and anxiety, improve wellness, and practice peace of mind moment to moment and throughout your day.
4. The No-Nonsense Meditation Book: A Scientist’s Guide to the Power of Meditation
If meditation feels a little bit “woo-woo” to you, then this science-rooted book by Dr. Steven Laureys offers meditation advice and insight straight from his 20 years of professional research.
Learn exactly what meditation does to the brain and how science can explain what most consider a more spiritual practice at its core. This book is perfect for those who need scientific proof of the benefits of meditation.
5. Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day
In this inspiring, empowering book, Shetty draws on his time as a monk to show us how we can clear the roadblocks to our potential and power. Combining ancient wisdom and his own rich experiences in the ashram, Think Like a Monk reveals how to overcome negative thoughts and habits, and access the calm and purpose that lie within all of us. He transforms abstract lessons into advice and exercises we can all apply to reduce stress, improve relationships, and give the gifts we find in ourselves to the world.
6. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation & Practice
Written by Shunryu Suzuki, one of the founding leaders of the Zen movement in America, Zen Mind is for those looking to understand the philosophy behind meditation and its more nuanced concepts.
Whether you’re a beginner looking to have a more thorough understanding or a regular practitioner, this book provides powerful insight into the Zen world of meditation.
7. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life
In this now classic book on mindfulness and meditation, Jon Kabat-Zinn inspired a new generation to begin living with calm, purpose, and intention in a hectic world. Through personal stories and practical exercises, Kabat-Zinn introduces a way of living that is at once simple yet deeply profound.
Meditation is a practice that can bring about a state of “mindfulness,” a condition of “being” rather than “doing.” By paying attention to the present moment rather than the past or the future we learn how to experience our lives in a much richer, deeper way. Kabat-Zinn shows that this way of “being” is accessible to everyone through meditative practices that he calls, “workouts for consciousness.” A must-have for all modern mindfulness practitioners.
8. Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book
Can’t sit still? You’re not alone. Many struggle with the concept of meditation, or the idea of “perfect stillness.” If that’s you, then Dan Harris’ book is for you.
Those familiar with meditation might know about Dan Harris and his experience with meditation: After a panic attack on live TV during his time as a news anchor, he became a vocal supporter of the practice. This book tackles some of the common excuses people have, like “I don’t have time,” or “I’m not good at this,” and offers real, practical solutions.
9. The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
In this beautiful and lucid guide, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercises as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness—being awake and fully aware. From washing the dishes to answering the phone to peeling an orange, he reminds us that each moment holds within it an opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness.
10. Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
Mindfulness reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that you can incorporate into daily life to help break the cycle of anxiety, stress, unhappiness, and exhaustion. The 8-week program outlined in the book is based on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). MBCT revolves around a straightforward form of mindfulness meditation which takes just a few minutes a day for the full benefits to be revealed.
MBCT has been clinically proven to be at least as effective as drugs for depression1 and is widely recommended by US physicians and the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. More importantly, it also works for people who are not depressed but who are struggling to keep up with the constant demands of the modern world.
11. Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment and Your Life
This beginner’s guide to meditation is perfect for those who either need a step-by-step, lesson-a-day plan to get into meditation, or who want to jump right in.
Exercises are manageable and offer simple ways to facilitate meditation in your life in a way that makes sense for you. Treat it like a daily read or let it inspire you when you need it most.
12. Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety: 100 Simple Practices to Find Peace Right Now
This is an excellent resource for those seeking a natural alternative to working with anxiety. Through 100 practical exercises, readers are shown how meditation can help handle the physical and mental responses of anxiety, no matter when or where fight-or-flight feelings strike.
Mindfulness and Meditations for Anxiety begins by introducing the basics of meditation and highlights many short practices that can be done anywhere at any time.
13. Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
In Practical Meditation for Beginners, experienced meditation teacher Benjamin Decker, offers a clear 10-day program for learning 10 different meditation techniques―one for each day of the program.
From meditation styles such as Zen and Vipassana to walking meditations and body scans, the simple practices outlined in this step-by-step guide make it easy to build an ongoing meditation routine that works best for you.
14. Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body & Mind to Face Stress, Pain, & Illness
Stress and pain impact our daily lives in huge ways. Without taking time for ourselves, we can feel off-balance and less resilient. This book offers a mind-body connection to break free from that constant “stress-response” style of living.
This science-backed meditation and mindfulness duo from Jon Kabat-Zinn offers a physical way to reduce stress and pain in your body using the relaxing techniques he’s famous for.
15. Mindfulness in Plain English
Mindfulness in Plain English was first published in 1994 and has since become a classic introduction to Buddhist meditation. This is another easy-to-read and easy to understand book that teaches the basic principles and techniques of meditation practice.
Although it is a book written for those without any prior meditation experience, through Bhante’s trademark clarity and wit, the reader is quickly introduced to the various tools of meditation, what it is, and how it works. A special chapter on loving-kindness has been included in this new edition along with the original text.
16. 5-Minute Mindfulness Meditations for Teens
Today’s teens are living in a frantic world of distraction and over-stimulation. 5-Minute Mindfulness Meditations for Teens offers easy, quick practices that allow them to harness the power of mindfulness meditation―paying immediate attention to their bodies and thoughts.
Crafted for real-world situations, these exercises teach teens to think and respond rather than react. There are even tips for how and where to engage in mindfulness meditation in complicated settings like school. Through these simple and practical techniques, teens will gain clarity and learn to cope with stress more effectively.
17. Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program
Meditation expert Sharon Salzburg argues that meditation is not just a spiritual practice; like riding a bike or getting daily exercise, a muscle that needs training. Creating that habit, in the same way as daily exercise, allows readers to reap the benefits of meditation in a practiced, simple way.
This 28-day program provides that framework and draws from Salzburg’s decades of teaching and experience.
18. Mindful Kids: 50 Mindfulness Activities for Kindness , Focus and Calm
Although not technically a book, this boxed set of activity cards includes 50 creative mindfulness games, visualizations and exercises. They are divided into 5 categories to help children feel grounded, find calm, improve focus, practice loving-kindness and relax.
The full-color illustrations on both sides of the cards break down each practice into easy-to-follow steps. Tips on individual cards plus an 8-page instructional booklet show modifications that make these activities inclusive for children of all abilities. For parents and caregivers looking for practical ways to introduce kids to mindfulness, this card deck is a great start.
19. The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness
The Mind Illuminated is a how-to meditation guide written by a neuroscientist who is also an acclaimed meditation practioner. This book offers a 10-stage program that is based on Buddhist meditation practices as well as the latest brain science. Yates offers practical tips including steps to overcome mind wandering and dullness, extending your attention span while meditating, and subduing subtle distractions.
This manual also provides illustrations and charts to help you work through each stage of the process, offering tools that work across all types of meditation practices.
20. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
It’s impossible to have a conversation about meditation and mindfulness without including the importance of the breath. In this investigative journal, author James Nestor travels the world tracking down men and women, exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo. He then teams up with pulmonary researchers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.
21. The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day
The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness offers simple but powerful meditation techniques that positively impact every area of physical and mental health: From productivity and focus, to stress and anxiety relief, sleep, weight-loss, personal relationships, the benefits are limitless.
Recognizing that modern humans have so many demands on their time, Andy Puddicombe offers tips on how to start and maintain a beneficial mediation practice in as little as 10 minutes a day.
22. The Power of Letting Go: How to Drop Everything That’s Holding You Back
The Power of Letting Go by John Purkiss shares multiple principles on how to practice self-reflection, self-development, acceptance, and mindfulness through meditation. It combines both how and why to let go of things like uncertainty, lack of trust, old trauma, and pain.
Purkiss says there are four stages to letting go:
- Be present and enjoy each moment
- Let go of the thoughts that keep you stuck
- Let go of the pain that runs your life
- Surrender and tune into something far more intelligent than your brain
23. The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now
In this vital book written by Zen master and spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh, readers can explore seven different transformative meditations. These meditations can be used to open up new perspectives on our lives, relationships, and interconnectedness with the world. The Art of Living answers so many of the deep questions that tug on our consciousness day and night, revealing how to better exist in a state of mindfulness, happiness, freedom, and peace.
24. The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health
Combining neuroscience with discoveries on the human microbiome, The Mind-Gut Connection functions as a guide to understanding the link between body and mind. This connection has long been recognized by ancient healing traditions like Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine, and now, Dr. Emeran Mayer, executive director of the UCLA Center for Neurobiology of Stress, offers a comprehensive, revolutionary glimpse into this emerging understanding. Throughout the book, he teaches readers how to fully harness the mind-gut connection.
25. Good Vibes, Good Life: How Self-Love Is the Key to Unlocking Your Greatness
Is self-love the way to unlock your greatness? In Good Vibes, Good Life, author Vex King says yes. He claims that once you learn how to truly love yourself, you can transform negative feelings into positive ones and overcome adversity. Drawing from his own experiences, King shares ways to embody self-care, overcome toxic energy, and prioritize yourself through meditation, mindfulness, improved lifestyle habits, and manifestation. When you change the way you think, feel, and act, you can start to change the world.
