book recommendation....mindfulness/meditation..Zen?

[dancer67]

Forgive me if I do not ask this question properly.

I am looking for a beginners book to get me started with mindfulness.....meditation.....inner peace...positive energy...

I am not sure what to call this? Zen?

Also, I struggle with anxiety....what kind of workbook in relation to the above would you suggest?

 

Being brought up Catholic...I am really clueless and how to get started on this.

Thank you

 

[mellifera33]

Jon Kabat Zinn has been leading mindfulness classes and writing about mindfulness for years. I found his first book, Full Catastrophe Living, helpful years ago, and he has written many books since then. Many of the popular mindfulness books are written from a non-religious perspective, using mindfulness to deal with stress, anxiety, etc. rather than as a religious practice. 

[PeachyDoodle]

I've found this book, and the app Headspace (created by the author) both very helpful in my struggle against anxiety.

The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness

[G5052]

9 hours ago, mellifera33 said:

Jon Kabat Zinn has been leading mindfulness classes and writing about mindfulness for years. I found his first book, Full Catastrophe Living, helpful years ago, and he has written many books since then. Many of the popular mindfulness books are written from a non-religious perspective, using mindfulness to deal with stress, anxiety, etc. rather than as a religious practice. 

 

It's in a rack where I keep my favorite books.

I have diagnosed C-PTSD, and mindfulness changed my life. 

[Pen]

17 hours ago, mellifera33 said:

Jon Kabat Zinn has been leading mindfulness classes and writing about mindfulness for years. I found his first book, Full Catastrophe Living, helpful years ago, and he has written many books since then. Many of the popular mindfulness books are written from a non-religious perspective, using mindfulness to deal with stress, anxiety, etc. rather than as a religious practice. 

 

I agree.

There are many many books, and if that doesn’t fit you I’m sure we can suggest others. However, I think that’s a great basic place to start.  

 

Zen btw is one form of Buddhism, and while you might want to explore that someday, that’s not where I would suggest you start for meditation for anxiety reduction purposes.  

[Pen]

10 hours ago, PeachyDoodle said:

I've found this book, and the app Headspace (created by the author) both very helpful in my struggle against anxiety.

The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness

 

I wasn’t familiar with that, but it looks good too!

[Pen]

In re anxiety, aside from meditation, for supplements and so on that could help, you might also want to look at this thread:

Okay I can’t link today.  

Thread title has GABA in it.  And is up toward top of Chat right now. 

[Angie in VA]

14 minutes ago, Pen said:

In re anxiety, aside from meditation, for supplements and so on that could help, you might also want to look at this thread:

Okay I can’t link today.  

Thread title has GABA in it.  And is up toward top of Chat right now. 

 

I think this is the thread Pen means. 

[Angie in VA]

If you have to wait for that book to arrive, one thing you could do immediately is start a gratitude journal. Or just write out 5 things you're grateful for each day on a piece of paper. If you don't want anyone to see what you write, you could shred it as soon as you're done. 

[Guest]

I have several books, a few CDs and took a class on meditation, but my favorite is the Calm app on my iPad. It is not a free app but, IMO, is way worth it. I am following a series right now by Jeff Warren called How to Meditate. Every day, I just do the meditation lesson on the app; it takes about 15 minutes. I also have used the Daily meditations by Tamara Levitt and have used the sleep stories at bedtime uncountable times. 

I have even used very short meditations when I was in a stressful situation, like I did a 2 minute “safety” meditation before I went in for dental work. It was very helpful and I kept using the mantra, “I am safe” in my head during the procedure. 

[Carol in Cal.]

You might look for an older book (90s) called "The Earth House".  It describes the 'sense' of Zen better than any other Western book I have run across, and it's fairly short.

Full disclosure:  I am Christian and this is not exactly for me.  But I was glad to get an overview of the way of thinking in that book.  I read widely and talk with people about their faiths and practices a lot but I never felt like I really got my arms around the basic core stuff until I read that book.