5 Must-Read Mindfulness Books
During my recently initiated deep dive into discovering the practice of mindfulness and the soothing, inner mental serenity that mindfulness can create, I have returned to my university study habits and opened the covers of many a book - or listened to audio books - in order to become illuminated and inspired by the words, stories, and teachings of those who have much to say on the subject.
For those of you looking for pointers on how to understand what mindfulness is and learn the art of living more mindfully, I humbly recommend bookmarking this list of the following five books by five legendary mindfulness teachers, listed in order of my opinion on the easiest to most advanced (though all are profound and impressive in their own rights).
The first book on the list comes from the upbeat, down-to-earth, and all around good guy Jay Shetty:
Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day
Jay Shetty is a British-born public speaker and life coach whose life experiences revealed to him that his Dharma (loosely: life’s purpose) was to help others to find their own life purpose. He made this realization after walking two seemingly opposite lives: on the one side living a life of minimalism and dedication to deepening his mindfulness practice in an Indian Ashram, while on the other, working as in the business consulting company, Accenture.
In Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty shares his own experiences discovering mindfulness, training as a monk, as well as the challenges he faced along the way. Jay Shetty teaches readers a whole host of mindfulness tricks and tips in this book, weaving his own life learnings into the mix as well as offering hypothetical situations from modern life. Think Like a Monk is one of the only reads I’ve discovered so far that is as up-to-date enough to reference iPhones, social media, dating, and other familiarities of contemporary life, which makes it a more topical entry point for aspiring mindfulness practitioners from Millennial, Gen Z, and the upcoming Gen Alpha.
The second book on the list comes from the approachable, funny, and always insightful Pema Chodron:
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist monk who has spent decades guiding people closer to mindfulness at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, Canada, who studied under mentors Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche - whose work she often references in her own teachings.
When Things Fall Apart is a great next-step for beginners looking to dip a toe deeper into mindfulness by learning more about Buddhist teachings. When Things Fall Apart is a refreshing and smooth read that flows almost like a conversation and which you can finish in a day or two. While being an easy read, When Things Fall Apart does not sacrifice in teaching mindfulness techniques in order to achieve a refreshing and easy-to-comprehend delivery. In fact, Pema Chodron exhibits a very polished tact in using anecdotes from life that anyone can relate as vehicles to convey the applications of Buddhist concepts like the four Maras, Samsara, and Tonglen along with other important lessons such as letting go, learning to accept what happens in life, and not judging oneself.
The third book on the list comes from the frank, no-nonsense, and simple-yet-powerful Eckhart Tolle:
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Eckart Tolle is an German spiritual teacher and speaker, who, after suffering from depression, suddenly found himself awakened and transformed, and discovered the simple joy of being (alive), and dedicated himself to teaching others about the path to unlock their own mindful awakenings.
The Power of Now is the perfect read for people who have reached a point of desiring, or at least being open to the idea of making the practice of mindfulness a central part of their life. In particular, The Power of Now is a phenomenal read for those who are wrestling with existential questions or a mid-life questioning. In this book and many others of his, Eckhart Tolle uses simple words, simple stories, and simple concepts, to explains in his straightforward style how much of our belief systems about life that we have internalized growing up in is actually an illusion and how our thinking patterns must be rewired if we wish to establish a mindful life. Eckhart Tolle does so by casting the individual and collective human ego as the major antagonist to overcome on the path to enlightenment, laying out a whole new series of understanding of the words “form,” “unconsciousness,” and “time,” and explaining new concepts such as “the pain body” and “the unmanifested.” In authoring this book, Eckhart Tolle almost seems to be a powerful wizard, casting an enchanting spell of realization on readers - or rather removing the spell of illusion that most people find themselves asleep beneath throughout their lives.
The fourth book on the list was written by the hilarious, witty, and devilishly detailed Alan Watts:
Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide and Seek
Alan Watts was a British-born, American professor and scholar of Zen Buddhism, who went on to write dozens of books and give innumerable dialogues on the approach of Zen Buddhism. Alan Watts is allocated a sizable amount of the credit for introducing the west to Zen Buddhism.
Alan Watts is fourth on the list because of how sage his teachings are, yet how intimidating his style can be for new mindfulness explorers. While I have enjoyed many of Alan Watts’s books, Out of Your Mind makes this top list because it contains the essence of much of his teachings, boiled down via six of Alan Watts’ most influential dialogues. In the dialogues, Alan Watts equally entertains and educates his readers, and also occasionally bedevils them through his use of Zen koans, or the mental equivalent of Chinese finger traps. Alan Watts’ style has become my favorite of all mindfulness for his unique style of teaching and his masterful grasp of the teachings of mindfulness and Buddhism; an appreciation of Alan Watts is enhanced by listening to his whimsical style of speaking and pronounced accent - the Out of Your Mind collection is also available as an audio book, and many of his lectures are also on YouTube.
The author(s) of the fifth book on the list are debated, but credit is generally assigned to the historical figure of the legendary, saintly, and eternally-wise Lao-Tzu:
The Tao Te Ching (free e-book, translated by Stephen Mitchell)
Lao Tzu was a Chinese philosopher held to have lived somewhere between the 6th and 4th century BC, with a reputation verging on the same level as another philosopher from around the same time period: Confucius.
For those who study mindfulness long enough, The Tao Te Ching will eventually land on your list as essential reading material. This book is last on the list because it is, in my opinion, best saved for the point in the mindfulness journey for those who have already made some headway in the practice of mindfulness, and have found that some of the core teachings of mindfulness have already begun to take root. At this point, once one is ready to be inspired to dive even deeper, it’s high time to read one of the most profound and deceptively simple set of teachings out there. The Tao Te Ching is the shortest read on the list, but this fact takes away not one iota from the pure genius of the book. As Albert Einstein once said, “genius is making complex ideas simple, not simple ideas complex.” The Tao Te Ching conveys its genius through the use of a stream of riddle-like sayings to communicate the tenets of what Lao Tzu refers to as The Tao, or “The Way.” The Tao shares many similar tenets of mindfulness with Buddhism’s middle way, and both urge practitioners to follow a life free of striving for particular outcomes, instead focusing on being present and accepting or enjoying every moment of the journey of life. In this way, teaches the Tao Te Ching, the right action will be free to arise of its own accord.