I hear from a lot of people that they would love to start with their own mindfulness practice and would like to have some useful tools - so here some of my favourites:
1. Favourite Apps:
Headspace and their YouTube Channel give a lot of insights into mindfulness, support you to have a regular practice that you can track and is easy to start with.
Insight Timer does not only have the most beautiful gong sounds to time your meditation but you can also find guided meditations from teachers from all over the world and at the same time connect to the community there and see how many people meditated with you or say hi - I really love this one and actually use it every day.
Calm.com has awesome sleep stories that are definitely worth a try. On their YouTube Channel, they have a new meditation every day
There is many more out there in the market like Simple Habit or Buddhify and I heard good things about them but I have never used them before.
If you want to hear some guided meditations that I have recorded, feel free to go on my Soundcloud page.
2. Favourite Books:
I have always been someone who reads many many books, actually it is some kind of an obsession for me - so when I started looking into mindfulness and how this works and what helps me understand it, I read hundreds of books so bringing them back to a short list is not easy for me as it depends on what you are looking for - so I will try to give you a variation.
Eckhart Tolle - The Power of now & A new Earth
I have given this book to many people over the years and heard only amazing stories. For me personally his books were such a revelation. My recommendation is to actually listen to his book as audio as the actual aha moments happen when he is silent - this might sound funny for you but try it out. I can also recommend all of his other books but try this one first.
Steven Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly effective Leaders
This book does not even mention mindfulness even one time but has given me so many insights to finding my own area of influence and understanding how to change the way I work in a way that is according to the person I want to be at work and in personal life.
Chade-Meng Tan - Search Inside Yourself
When I read this book I finally had a language to describe my experiences with mindfulness to my colleagues, it was the reason to become a Search Inside Yourself Teacher. It gave me a way to look at mindfulness through the glasses of Emotional Intelligence and Science.
Thich Nhat Hanh - Body and Mind are One
Already the presence of this teacher is something really special and unique to me. His meditations are simple and profound and full of compassion. I get goosebumps when I hear his voice that's why I included the link to soundstrue.com which is by the way an amazing platform to find some great audios from mindfulness teachers around the world.
Don Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements
This book is almost like an easy guide to life and the longer you read it the deeper it gets. I have been reading this book again and again over the last 10 years and every time I learned something that showed me a way how to life my life and make me understand the principles of life better
Candace Pert - Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind
Understanding my body reactions more and more gave me such a new way of realising how much our body is connected to how we see the world and how we behave - we cannot really separate them. I learned how much my body was the actual leader, the more I understand my body the more I understand myself. Candace describes this in an amazing way - she is a world-class neuroscientist who was brave enough to be a pioneer to keep on questioning the status quo.
Jon Kabat-Zinn - Full Catastrophe Living
Jon was the first to bring it into the health system show casing how it can actually support curing sick people. If you have ever heard him talk you have experienced the depth of his mindfulness teachings. He is an amazing mindfulness teacher, his live workshops a special way to deepen your practice.
3. Favourite Videos:
Once you start exploring you might find out that there are many topics out there that are related - for me mindfulness opened a whole new way to seeing the world and why we act the way we do. Here some videos that go deeper into explaining how we
Why Mindfulness Is a Superpower, by Dan Harris
Mindfulness: How to Feel Comfortable in Your Own Skin, with Jon Kabat-Zinn
The power of vulnerability | Brené Brown
The habits of happiness | Matthieu Ricard
In the end the knowledge is great but the most important thing for me was always the practice and the connection that came through it - so join me for one deep breath: Inhale......exhale......
Happy Meditation :-)
Cheers
Mounira