Books like Mindfulness for Beginners

01

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Sam Harris · Religion & Spirituality

Waking Up is Sam Harris' argument that the insights of contemplative traditions — particularly Buddhism's claim that the sense of self is an illusion — can be separated from religious metaphysics and investigated directly through meditation and introspection.

Both dig into meditation.

02

Why Buddhism Is True

Robert Wright · Religion & Spirituality

Why Buddhism Is True is Robert Wright's argument that modern evolutionary psychology and neuroscience provide independent confirmation for core Buddhist claims about the mind, suffering, and the nature of the self.

Both dig into mindfulness.

03

10% Happier

Dan Harris · Memoir

10% Happier is Dan Harris's account of discovering meditation after a panic attack live on Good Morning America in 2004 forced him to confront an anxiety problem he'd been managing with cocaine and a punishing work schedule.

Shares mindfulness and meditation with Mindfulness for Beginners.

04

Wherever You Go, There You Are

Jon Kabat-Zinn · Health

Wherever You Go, There You Are is Jon Kabat-Zinn's accessible introduction to mindfulness as a way of living rather than a formal therapeutic program.

Shares mindfulness and meditation with Mindfulness for Beginners.

05

Full Catastrophe Living

Jon Kabat-Zinn · Health

Full Catastrophe Living is Jon Kabat-Zinn's foundational text on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the eight-week clinical program he developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979.

Shares mindfulness and meditation with Mindfulness for Beginners.

06

The Miracle of Mindfulness

Thich Nhat Hanh · Religion & Spirituality

The Miracle of Mindfulness is Thich Nhat Hanh's introduction to mindfulness practice, originally written in Vietnamese as a letter to a fellow monk.

Shares mindfulness and meditation with Mindfulness for Beginners.

07

The Relaxation Response

Herbert Benson · Health

In 1975, Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson published a compact, research-backed argument that the body carries a built-in counterforce to stress — one that medicine had largely ignored.

Shares meditation and stress reduction with Mindfulness for Beginners.

08

Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom

Joseph Goldstein · Religion & Spirituality

Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom is Joseph Goldstein's distillation of vipassana — the Theravada Buddhist practice of direct investigation into the nature of mind and experience.

Shares mindfulness and meditation with Mindfulness for Beginners.

09

Peace Is Every Step

Thich Nhat Hanh · Religion & Spirituality

Peace Is Every Step is Thich Nhat Hanh's most accessible work — a short, warmly written invitation to bring mindfulness practice into the texture of daily life.

Shares mindfulness and present moment with Mindfulness for Beginners.

10

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Shunryu Suzuki · Religion & Spirituality

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a collection of informal talks given by Shunryu Suzuki to his students at the San Francisco Zen Center in the late 1960s, edited and compiled by Trudy Dixon and published in 1970.

Shares meditation and present moment with Mindfulness for Beginners.

11

The Mindful Way Through Depression

Mark Williams · Health

The Mindful Way Through Depression is a clinical self-help book by four researchers — Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal, and Jon Kabat-Zinn — who developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, a treatment program with strong evidence for reducing depression relapse.

Both dig into mindfulness.

12

Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body

Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson · Science

Altered Traits is a careful assessment of what neuroscience actually knows about meditation, written by two researchers who have spent their careers at the intersection of contemplative practice and empirical science.

Both dig into meditation.