I strongly recommend "Buddhism Plain & Simple" by Steve Hagen. It's much more meditation / awareness than Buddhist practice, so don't worry much about the title

I strongly recommend "Buddhism Plain & Simple" by Steve Hagen. It's much more meditation / awareness than Buddhist practice, so don't worry much about the title. I also really enjoyed "10% Happier" which was way more of a practical story vs. instruction manual. In general, meditation is NOT about "not thinking" - a major misconception about the practice. It's always helped me to view it less as a "mental getaway" and more as "training my mind like a muscle." The practice, btw, is the whole point, it's not a means to getting to "the real part." That's a difficult point for some to grasp. Every time you sit and your mind wanders, that's the practice right there. This might be the most accurate image of what meditation is: http://www.highexistence.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/meditation1.jpg http://www.highexistence.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/medi... A few links that might help: http://buyalex.com/2015/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/breatheAware_gif-01_buyalex.gif http://buyalex.com/2015/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/breatheAw... http://i.imgur.com/75wn1o9.jpg http://i.imgur.com/75wn1o9.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze6t34_p-84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze6t34_p-84