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I've been looking for a good book on how to get started with meditation. Does anyone have any recommendations?

by neop 14y ago

jackbravo 14y ago
I liked Mindfulness in plain english (http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html) and The miracle of mindfulness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_of_Mindfulness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_of_Mindfulness). Both have easy approaches and stick to the basics.
- neop 14y ago
  Thanks!
- antinitro 14y ago
  +1 for MIPE
redwood 14y ago
edit: a great first step would be to watch the meditative film: Baraka!! To be honest, I would not recommend starting with a book. It'd be hard to go into meditation that way. I don't meditate daily, so what do I know? But I do know that the few times I've gotten to that place where I said "oh wow I love meditating!" were guided meditations led by someone who's good at guiding. Basically for beginners, it's nice to close your eyes and let a guide take you through a series of thoughts/visualizations/concepts/sounds that end in a breathing- or mantra-focused meditation. The goal in meditation is the ceasing of thought, which is probably why thinking too much and reading thus may not help. Tho it depends. Search youtube for some good guided meditation and approaches and see if any work for you. I often return to the best guided approaches in my own mind when I do try to meditate... final edit: If you are by any chance near Berkeley, I strongly recommend checking out (any week is good) the Meditation, Mysticism, and the Mind decal (grad-student-led course) at UC Berkeley. They bring in a wonderful speaker each week from a different world tradition and mix lecture with guided meditation.
- neop 14y ago
  Thanks! I'll check this out...unfortunately I'm nowhere near Berkely :(
LeonW 14y ago
Hey - I've been meditating daily for the last 6 months and had the same issue as you, where getting started was really the hardest part. Here is what I've done. The first book that really got me thinking was "Happiness: Developing Life's Most Important Skill" from Matthieu Ricards. I then went on to use an iPhone app developed by a buddhist monk called Headspace http://getsomeheadspace.com http://getsomeheadspace.com - this is guided meditation, where he walks you through 10 minutes every day for 10 days. Absolutely awesome to get started. I hope this helps you as much as it has myself to get started! :)
- neop 14y ago
  Thanks! This looks great :)
Zelphyr 14y ago
I got started with "Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761159258/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761159258&linkCode=as2&tag=mediamojo-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761159258/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...) It's a very easy introduction to several kinds of meditation. The CD that comes with it are guided meditations of all the types she talks about in the book.

I've been looking for a good book on how to get started with meditation. Does anyone have any recommendations?

by neop 14y ago

I've been looking for a good book on how to get started with meditation. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I liked Mindfulness in plain english (http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html) and The miracle of mindfulness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_of_Mindfulness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_of_Mindfulness). Both have easy approaches and stick to the basics.

neop 14y ago
Thanks!
antinitro 14y ago
+1 for MIPE

redwood 14y ago

edit: a great first step would be to watch the meditative film: Baraka!! To be honest, I would not recommend starting with a book. It'd be hard to go into meditation that way. I don't meditate daily, so what do I know? But I do know that the few times I've gotten to that place where I said "oh wow I love meditating!" were guided meditations led by someone who's good at guiding. Basically for beginners, it's nice to close your eyes and let a guide take you through a series of thoughts/visualizations/concepts/sounds that end in a breathing- or mantra-focused meditation. The goal in meditation is the ceasing of thought, which is probably why thinking too much and reading thus may not help. Tho it depends. Search youtube for some good guided meditation and approaches and see if any work for you. I often return to the best guided approaches in my own mind when I do try to meditate... final edit: If you are by any chance near Berkeley, I strongly recommend checking out (any week is good) the Meditation, Mysticism, and the Mind decal (grad-student-led course) at UC Berkeley. They bring in a wonderful speaker each week from a different world tradition and mix lecture with guided meditation.

neop 14y ago
Thanks! I'll check this out...unfortunately I'm nowhere near Berkely :(

LeonW 14y ago

Hey - I've been meditating daily for the last 6 months and had the same issue as you, where getting started was really the hardest part. Here is what I've done. The first book that really got me thinking was "Happiness: Developing Life's Most Important Skill" from Matthieu Ricards. I then went on to use an iPhone app developed by a buddhist monk called Headspace http://getsomeheadspace.com http://getsomeheadspace.com - this is guided meditation, where he walks you through 10 minutes every day for 10 days. Absolutely awesome to get started. I hope this helps you as much as it has myself to get started! :)

neop 14y ago
Thanks! This looks great :)

Zelphyr 14y ago

I got started with "Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761159258/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761159258&linkCode=as2&tag=mediamojo-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761159258/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...) It's a very easy introduction to several kinds of meditation. The CD that comes with it are guided meditations of all the types she talks about in the book.