Mindfulness is not just a buzzword, it’s a wonderful way to live. These days in an age of pandemics, war and angry politicians, becoming mindful can help you to just focus on one thing at a time, different from meditation. Vietnamese monk called it ‘washing the dishes, to wash the dishes’. If everyone lived a bit more mindfully, our country and world would not be in the state it’s in.
The A to Z of Mindfulness helps you squeeze each drop of life and live it to the full, by discovering the art of mindfulness. Appreciate the little things, believe in your personal power and connect with nature. Learn how reignite the sense of wonder in the everyday with this book of illustrated tips for mindful living. Anna Barns has a longstanding interest in mindfulness, and enjoys coastal walks and t’ai chi.
Mindful Walking is a delightful guide by Alice Peck, on how the simple practice of walking has benefits from connecting with our body and the earth, to discovering a new sense of calm. Walking outside in nature evokes awe, and nurtures the soul. Includes inspiration for ways to walk (forest-bathing – strolling through trees and wooded areas) and walking barefood in the mud, to friluftsliv – the Norwegian philosophy of enjoying the outdoors.
Nomaste: The Mindful Plant-Based Kitchen is a lovely little guide, inspired by the yoga phrase Namaste, that means ‘I bow to the Divine in you’. This is a respectful prayer of thanks for delicious, nutritious and just plain yummy food. Beautifully illustrated, the book looks at how ahimsa (non-violence) and Ayurveda (food as medicine) can go together beautifully in the kitchen, with 60 wholesome plant-based recipes that leave you filled with good food and gratitude. Miranda Moore loves wild places and beautiful food, and has a Masters in International Peace Studies.
Self-Care: Live Mindfully and Look After Yourself is a book to dip into when your energy is flagging. Find tips on nature walks and healthy food to slow evenings of face masks and hot soaks. This soothing collection of self-care ideas and inspiring words contains the pick-me-up you need.
No Place Like Home offers a mindful way to a healthy and happy home. Your home environment should lift you up, and bring you joy. And if you live and work in one place, you’re all the more aware of how surroundings can affect your wellbeing.
This book offers simple and effective ways to transform your home environment, to be more more mindfully aligned with who you are. This restorative book will help you discover the delights of your four walls as a space for calm, productivity, happiness and personal growth. It’s packed with:
- Ideas for upcycling and decluttering
- Comforting recipes
- Soothing relaxation rituals
- Ways to bring the ‘outside’ in
Mindful Menopause is a supportive book by mindful hypnotherapist Sophie Fletcher to give powerful skills to manage perimenopause and menopause. Drawing on years of experience, effective ways to harness the hormone connection and find visualsations, affirmations and mindfulness exercises to reduce stress and tisp to ease insomnia, weight gain and hot flushes. Includes 10 relaxing audio downloads to feel empowers and ready to embrace this liberating time of life.
Alive Until You’re Dead: Notes on the Home Stretch offers wisdom by Zen teacher and writer Susan Moon, who shares stories on keep replacements, chats with grandchildren, companionship with a close friend moving deeper into dementia and a season with a Zen monk in the wilderness. A Zen approach to aging, on not turning away from what’s difficult, wishing for and working to help others, and being willling not to know what’s nest. Field notes from an old human being invite us to feel more alive in teh final stretch, whatever it holds.
Known as ‘the father of mindfulness’, Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh died in January 2022 at his home in Vietnam, 7 years after suffering from a severe stroke. One of his disciples wanted to build a stupa for his ashes, to put on a plque ‘Here lies my beloved teacher’. He told them not to waste the temple land, instead having a plaque that said ‘I am not in here’. But in case people did not get it, there could be a second plaque ‘I am not out there either’. if still people don’t understand, then you can wrote on the third and last plaque ‘I may be found in your way of breathing and walking’.
