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On this page is my selection of books, all related to mindfulness, stress, or meditation:
On stress, mind-body connection:
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, Robert Sapolsky. St Martin’s Griffin, New York, 2004 (3rd ed).
My note: A must-read for whoever wants to understand the complexities of stress. Very engaging style! See a video below.
Buddha’s Brain, Rick Hanson & Richard Mendius (see ch. 3, The First and Second Dart; ch. 11, Foundations of Mindfulness). New Harbinger Publications, 2009.
My note: this is a book that serves as a bridge between Buddhism and neuroscience. Highly informative about the brain and what meditation does to enhance the well-being of your brain and the rest of you.
On the journey towards meditation, awakening, a higher life, however you want to call it:
Teach Us to Sit Still: A Skeptic’s Search for Health and Healing, Tim Parks. Rodale:2010.
My note: Although it’s autobiographical, it reads like a page-turner, at times funny, at times incredibly moving. I turned the last page having learned a lot, especially about male anatomy within the pelvic basin, but I also emerged from it with a lot of food for thought…like Tim Parks, I happen to live in words, and in my head, overmuch. The Guardian article about the book is worth a read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jul/27/tim-parks-life-in-writing/
The Accidental Buddhist, Dinty Moore. Harmony, 1999.
My note: Unputdownable! It was irreverent, very insightful and honest, it reminded me of my own crooked path up the mountain of Buddhism. It was also full of facts and episodes of the author’s retreats with various Buddhist schools of thought. Nonfiction of the best kind: I cannot recommend it highly enough.
On attention:
Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, Daniel Goleman. With CD, Cultivating Focus: Techniques for Excellence. Harper, 2013.
My note: a MBSR student of mine recommended this book highly.
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body, Les Fehmi & Jim Robbins. Boston: Trumpeter, 2009.
My note: About quieting your brainwaves. This is where I found the short text on reading words on a page then on paying attention on the space outside the written words.
On the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program:
Full Castastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, Jon Kabat-Zinn. New York: Delacorte, 1990.
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, Jon Kabat-Zinn. New York: Hyperion, 1994.
My note: If you are interested in mindfulness, the secular version, these two books mentioned above by the person who thought up the MBSR program, visionary biologist Jon Kabat-Zinn, are ‘must-reads’.
Buddhist Authors I recommend:
Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom, Gregory Kramer, Boston & New York: Shambhala, 2007.
My note: He has a website (see below) where you can read all about it. Excellent for negotiation, for conflictual inter-relating. Patricia Genoud-Feldman teaches a week-end on Insight Dialogue at Beatenberg Meditation Center, above the Lake of Thun, in Switzerland.
Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening, Stephen Batchelor, New York: Riverhead, 1997. UK edition: London: Bloomsbury, 1998.
My note: An excellent teacher, retreat leader in the field of secular Buddhism. No jargon, no rituals, no chanting. Often teaches with his wife. Like the couple Genoud-Feldmann, Martine Batchelor is warm, practical in her advice for everything concrete to do with meditation like posture, etc, in other words, accessible, while Stephen is more cerebral.
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, Stephen Batchelor, New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010.
Mindfulness in Plain English, Henepola Gunaratana. Boston: Wisdom, 1991.
My note: A favorite book because it is so readable.
The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hahn. Boston: Beacon, 1976.
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki. New York: Weatherall, 1970.
My note: There is a sumptuous new 40th anniversary edition from Shambhala: 2010, with a new afterword and calligraphy.
My note: not only is the book full of wisdom, it also happens to be very beautiful.
A Gesture of Awareness, Charles Genoud. Boston: Wisdom, 2006.
My note: lots of very useful exercices for experimenting simply ‘being’ in the present moment.
For those interested by mindfulness and sport:
The Psychology of Enhancing Human Performance: The Mindfulness-Acceptance Approach, Frank Gardner & Zella E. Moore. Springer: 2007.
My note: For whoever wants to use Mindfulness in physical activity, sports.