8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Emotional Health and Well-being

by Manuela Mischke Reeds, Babette Rothschild (Foreword)

Becoming mindful is about the small, everyday things such as pausing to take a breath before you drive off in a hurry or considering the food that will nourish your body before a meal. Or it can mean checking in with yourself before responding to a challenging email or text.

Every moment of our lives can become an opportunity to practice mindfulness. This book will invite you to sharpen your awareness and ask yourself with more frequency, “What do I notice right now?” or “How do I need to respond or be with this situation?”

These seemingly tiny moments of noticing yourself can have a major impact on your life as you learn to track habitual patterns and awaken to change. Practicing mindfulness is not about being better by figuring it all out. It is about tolerating the moments when you don’t know or learning to be more curious about the struggle.

Here you will learn how to establish a basic practice with guidelines for posture and breathing as well as various options for meditations that involve sitting, walking, gently moving or lying down. You can try these exercises at your lunch break, before you rise or fall asleep. But best of all is for you to sprinkle mindfulness throughout your day.

Whether you are new to mindfulness or a seasoned practitioner, you can make the conscious decision to change your approach to life. Moment by moment you have the opportunity to cultivate awareness that will make a difference in how you engage with the world on a daily basis.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology, Audiobook, Personal Development, Buddhism

256 pages, ebook

First published March 9, 2015

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Anya Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me this book took me a lot to read. I have been dealing with quite a bit and I have to say I was kind of like "eh i don't know about this book" but I kept reading and started to pay more attention to it and to myself I realized that it worked. Reading this book has helped me. Quite a bit. While I was reading it I was highlighting things I thought where important. I recommend this book to anyone who needs to be mindful not just of people around them, but themselves. We get so focused on people around is, we don't really remember us.

[Max Smirnoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have listened to 44% of the book and completed all exercises. I would recommend this book for those who struggle to stay on track and need a drill sergeant to keep practicing. Just drop all excuses and blindly follow the program, and you'll see results soon. I dropped out of following the program as I found that other authors like Tara Back, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Cheri Huber work more effectively for me. I still follow them and practice with them to this day (26.11.23).

[Kristen-Marie Freeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am interested in learning more about meditation these days. While this book had some nuggets of wisdom, it, unfortunately, also had a lot of ‘whoo-whoo’ language that left me asking myself, “well, what does that mean?”

I have connected much better with Dan Harris’ Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. :)

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got half way through and realized that audio format is not the correct form for this book, for me at least. I enjoyed what I learned and will be purchasing this to use in everyday life and working on myself.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best if used in conjunction with the print text as well.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book on practicing mindfulness - a little repetitive in parts, but otherwise fantastic! It's a great resource.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helped with calming the roaming mind

[Kaitlyn Whitten · Rating 3 out of 5]

3🌟

An interesting read with some helpful exercises throughout.

[Ariadna73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2015 book is a helpful explanation of different techniques to practicing this new old-trend that has been poppulating the media in the later years.

This is the cover page and the jacket of the book I read:



This is the editorial information:



This is the table of contents. As you can see, there are descriptions of how to practice mindfulness at home and at work:



This is the first page of the introduction:



And here are some examples of the tips in the book:



Finally, some other tips and tricks:



Well, I hope you liked this entry. Did you know that I also have a blog? Take a look here: http://lunairereadings.blogspot.com

[Therry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a practical approach to incorporating mindful meditation into your life. There is structured guidance for each meditation practice. Mischke-Reeds also shares real life examples from individuals who struggled with incorporating meditation and into their lives and the transformation that occurred with continued practice. What is also great about this book is that she encompasses mental health into the picture. She is gentle in providing cues that one's struggles may be deeper and that seeking professional guidance is more than appropriate and beneficial. This provides a balance between the art and science behind meditation. The suggestions are more realistic, approachable and achievable for those just starting out with mindful meditation practice. I can see myself returning to this as a reference to provide challenge and nuance to meditation.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shows Why to meditate

The author is especially good at explaining the various benefits of meditation and why we might commit to a sustained practice (since it can be hard for beginners like me to keep going when some sessions feel blah or especially effortful). She helped me through my third week of daily meditation by showing a larger purpose clearly, and by attaching mindfulness to activism, as well. Meditation is not something we do only for ourselves, or only in isolation. Thank you for speaking from your long term experience.

[Lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am unsure how I feel about divorcing meditation from Buddhism, although I can see it's benefits in various psychological practices. Although this book takes a critical stance on the phenomena of mindfulness, it seems just as much part of that same fad.

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great strategies, many of which I wish I'd known about for my teaching. We did mindfulness exercises weekly, but Mistake-Reeds's way of referring to mindfulness as being curious about the moment is lovely. It would resonate with little people! I am curious by nature so this delighted me!

[Michelle Kocin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could have lived with less stories, but I understand why she included them. This is a very practical guide to practicing mindfulness. It takes a lot of the unapproachable stuff out of it and breaks it down to each steps. As someone that is skeptical about meditation and the imagery sometimes used, I only found myself rolling my eyes a few times. I'm new to the idea of mindfullness and I'd definitely recommend this to another novice like me.

[Tracy]

I can't do it. I guess I've learned that mindfulness + meditation books don't work for me while I'm driving. I get kind of frustrated when I can't follow instructions to close my eyes when I'm behind the wheel. Oh well.