Practicing Mindfulness: 75 Essential Meditations to Reduce Stress, Improve Mental Health, and Find Peace in the Everyday Paperback

by Matthew Sockolov

It’s easy to disconnect when life moves fast. Practicing Mindfulness offers effective exercises and meditations to live every moment of your daily routine, in the moment.

From finding your breath to feeling grounded, these practice-based exercises make integrating mindfulness into your routine easy. With over 75 essential meditations―that take between 5-20 minutes from start to finish―Practicing Mindfulness is an approachable way to apply mindfulness in your day-to-day life.

Reduce stress, improve mental health, and stay present no matter what the day holds when you practice mindfulness, with:

Mindfulness 101 that provides clear explanations of what mindfulness is, along with why and how it helps in your day-to-day life
75 mindfulness exercises that are organized by difficulty to help develop your practice
Practical advice for overcoming obstacles to your mindfulness practice like how to deal with distracting noises or fight off sleepiness
Today and every day, mindfulness takes practice. Practicing Mindfulness offers effective, modern meditations and exercises to start practicing everyday mindfulness, today.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Meditation, Psychology, Health, Mental Health

210 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2018

About the author

Matthew Sockolov is a meditation teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition. Receiving empowerment to teach through Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Matthew has been teaching meditation in online groups, addiction treatment centers, and at meditation centers in California.

First introduced to meditation at a young age, Matthew combines his deep understanding of the Buddha's teachings with modern life to create practices that are useful to us all.

Reviews

[Candace Haskell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read. The first person voice is companionable, approachable and trustworthy. I wanted to dive into almost every one of his exercises. This a great book for novice meditators who are apprehensive and for experienced people who want to up their game. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[Yvonne Kimbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every day we suffer from many forms of stress and finding a way to deal can be difficult. In this book you get several different way to deal with your stress and get rid of stress you don't need. The author shows you ways to get rid of your stress or just reduce it to the point you can go on. With so much going on in my personal life I look to this book to help me to deal. There are stresses that you can't control, the author gives you ideas as to what you can do to go on.

I highly recommend that you purchase this book and use it to deal with your stresses. You will find that some things are not worth you stressing over. Let go of somethings can help you find peace in your life. Plus you get 75 ideas to reduce your stress.

[Paul Brandel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the 3 best books on meditation and mindfulness, good job, Matthew Sockolov!

[Tom Mobley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been adding some meditation time to my morning routine. Book had a lot of suggestions. I will be going back to it when I need to spend time focusing on an area.

[Ranvir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I began my Meditation journey with this book and read 'Mindfulness Meditation in Plain English' while I was in the middle of this book.
Most of the practices are quite similar, since the main point is to bring awareness in whatever you're doing. Nevertheless, I found the book especially helpful for integrating Mindfulness in my daily life.
Another reason for not giving 5star is that I found some of the practices of the book contradict with basic premises of Vipassana Meditation.

Still, anyone new can definitely check out the book.

[Kathrynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy to read and implement the steps to practice mindfulness and meditation. The author spends a few pages explaining the process and providing a brief background and the majority of the book consists of 75 varied mindfulness exercises to do on your own. The author has them separated into categories and at the beginning of each is the time recommended to spend doing it. Some are 5 minutes, some 10 and 20 minutes.

The meditation steps are very practical. As the author states, practicing mindfulness is a "practice" that takes time to see the results as does going to a gym. If you go to the gym 2-3 times a week the changes will happen sooner.

5 Stars!

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Sockolov is not a big name in the mindfulness business, and doing mindfulness from a book instead of an audiotape seems like a ludicrous idea. But... this really works for me. The meditations have a gentle learning curve and a ton of variety. There's a bit of everything for you to try in easy and accessible ways to find out what works for you. I tried starting mindfulness a few times, and this is definitely the one that worked for me.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that it starts with simple meditation exercises and then develops into more advanced/longer practices. The author also uses later meditations that build off of earlier exercises which make it convenient for the reader to put into practice.

[James Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to serve as a guidance towards meditation. It can be used as one lesson a day or read in its entirety. I recommend that you use a timer to help with the guided sections of mindfulness.

Dr. James Arthur Williams
www.unmaskytp.com

[Rooster And Momma T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

With each lesson you learn more and more about yourself and your needs to be mindful of. Highly recommend this book.

[Debi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand it better now, and I’m able to do many of the practices outlined in the book.

[Dima Vayn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Досить цікава книга з дієвими практичними порадами. Автор ділиться перевіреними практиками, які допомагають жити більш  усвідомлено. 

Особливо цікава перша частина книги з базовими медитаціями, детально розглянуті техніки дихання й заземлення. Також сподобалася третя частина, яка допомагає справлятися з емоціми і думками, саме не гасити їх всередині і приховувати, а бачити де вони, працювати з ними і розуміти, що це лише тимчасові речі, які не мають впливу на наше тіло і розум. 

В другій частині розлянуті практичні поради, які можна використати у повсякденному житті. Тобото можна навчитися жити усвідомлено навіть миючи посуд і стоячи у черзі. 

Наші думки постійно блукають, заважаючи нам перебувати в тілі і жити в спокої.  Ця книга допоможе контролювати переживання й емоції. Перша книга, яка мені попалася на цю тематику, де всі поради й медитації дієві і дійсно працюють!

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled with lots of practical and easy to follow meditations. First third of the book is filled with basic meditations for every day and takes you from quick meditations to longer more involved practices. The second half is filled with excercizes for every day, which I found I needed to kind of plan out (ex some were for when you first woke up while others were to be done during tasks). The last section was for specific occasions like when you were feeling stressed. I really appreciated the variety.

[Grek Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is useful, practical and simple. The 75 exercises can be built into your day with no problem, and the step-by-step guides can help anyone from the inexperienced to the master of mindfulness. This book contained the how-to side of what I was looking for in other books about mindfulness, forgiveness, self-Improvement, etc. As a teacher, I will be planning on ways I can build these exercises into my classroom. Great book!!!

[Jim Keyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book . very quick read...

[Alexandria · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dad died and I was really going through it.

[James]

It’s easy to disconnect when life moves fast. Practicing Mindfulness offers effective exercises and meditations to live every moment of your daily routine, in the moment.From finding your breath to feeling grounded, these practice-based exercises make integrating mindfulness into your routine easy. With over 75 essential meditations―that take between 5-20 minutes from start to finish―Practicing Mindfulness is an approachable way to apply mindfulness in your day-to-day life.Reduce stress, improve mental health, and stay present no matter what the day holds when you practice mindfulness, with:Mindfulness 101 that provides clear explanations of what mindfulness is, along with why and how it helps in your day-to-day life75 mindfulness exercises that are organized by difficulty to help develop your practicePractical advice for overcoming obstacles to your mindfulness practice like how to deal with distracting noises or fight off sleepinessToday and every day, mindfulness takes practice. Practicing Mindfulness offers effective, modern meditations and exercises to start practicing everyday mindfulness, today.

[Seth McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts out great with getting you on track for turning meditation into a daily habit. Starts with 5 minute practices and eventually gets you up to 25 minutes by the end of the first section of the book. The author sprinkles great tips throughout the book for dealing with the hindrances that commonly arise when initially practicing meditation. The later sections then delve more deeply into the concept of incorporating mindfulness into your daily life. There were definitely some gems in these sections but I felt that some were too similar to each other and the list could have been shortened down to around 50 instead of 75 total.

[Meeghan Kummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy self help book with 1-2 pages for each exercise to get better at being mindful. Love the gratitude and happiness part of practicing gratitude to rewire your brain for more happiness. Also, love the loving kindness mantras- You are happy, Your are healthy, You are safe, and you live a life of ease. Alot of great easy examples.
I need to work harder on mindfulness. Alot better now that I am retired however I could be better.

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The exercises are excellent, practical, and well explained. It was a good resource for me; someone who understands a lot of the theories behind mindfulness, but struggles to put them into my daily practice. I have already referenced it several times since I finished reading, and plan to buy a physical copy so I can mark it up and flip through it.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Resource

I believe this book is a positive tool for those looking to address various intentions in their meditation practice. At the root, mindfulness practice moves us toward wholeness in every aspect of our lives. These meditations give special attention to specific areas where we may have a highlighted need.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review might be a little low. I need a half star. I liked the meditations in the book. My issue is that I personally struggle to meditate from a book. I do better when I have a guided meditation. That being said, I definitely used this book to further my online yoga business. And I found the meditations to be varied in topic and a great place to start to gaining a foundation in meditation.

[lynn holman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real and practical

With this book I was able to take away many meditations to help me live in and appreciate the present. Self care is now a joy and an opportunity to help others to find the peace in living in a state of mindfulness through everyday circumstances.

[Tiffany Wadena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Book!!! Best MINDFULNESS book yet!!!

Dang good book if you are looking for mindfulness meditation and how to start with them daily. I would definitely consider this book to anyone!

[Nae · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a yoga instructor and teacher, I found this book extremely helpful for anyone seeking specific exercises to help with mindfulness practice. This easy read gives practical and realistic advice on how to really embrace staying present in the moment. Highly recommend!!

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like this book also could have been titled "Practical Mindfulness."

Easy read, but informative with easy and clear guidance for all types of mindfulness exercises. I feel like it was at just the right level of depth and instruction.

Bookmarked quite a few exercise to try! 🔖

[Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A practical guide to mindfulness. As someone who likes to be mindful while moving my body, I appreciate the second part that focuses on everyday mindfulness (when doing dishes, eating, cleaning, etc). I also appreciate the guide to certain practices based on emotions.

[Dominique Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai adoré tout de ce livre. Quiconque voudrait me faire plaisir me l’achèterait. J’ai expérimenté beaucoup et c’est impressionnant de vivre la pleine-conscience au travers de toutes les facettes proposées de notre vie.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but found myself questioning the length of it. At times it just felt redundant.

[Carol Dye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting

For the most part it is very insightful and enlighten.
Trying to find ways to relax and distress and this helped me a great deal.