(Received from the publisher via NetGalley)
In case you hadn't noticed, mental health and mindfulness are big topics right now, and it's very easy to find plenty of writing telling us why we should be focusing on our mental wellness, talking about our problems, taking time for the things that really matter, and all the rest of it. What's lagging behind is information on the practicalities of changing our lives: yes, it's all very well saying we need to worry less and look after ourselves more, but given that the vast majority of us live in a world that's falling apart under authoritarian late-stage capitalism and our survival means we fundamentally don't have control over how we spend our time and energy, the actual realities of that can be quite different.
That's where Ten to Zen, by Owen O'Kane differs from other things we've seen on the topic: where other books are introductions to subject matter, this is very specifically a manual on how to integrate a particular ten minute "mental exercise routine" into your life. In doing so, O'Kane introduces a lot of tools and concepts I've been familiar with from elsewhere, as well as some (like EDMR and "tapping") that I'm not. Taking the rationale that, no matter how busy we are, most of us can probably squeeze in a ten minute activity somewhere in our ridiculous schedules, O'Kane offers a minute by minute breakdown of how we can calm down, centre ourselves and give our minds the workout needed to just work a bit better for us. He does so by bringing in lessons from his own life and work, including counselling for the terminally ill, which gives everything a touch of "focus on what really matters".
O'Kane brings quite a specific tone to the writing in this book that's probably best characterised as "friendly old schoolteacher". It's a tone that probably won't work for some people - it does, frankly, come across as a bit condescending at times - but it does mean that Ten to Zen is very accessibly written and would serve as a good introduction to the subject it tackles. If you've read other books on the techniques contained here, Ten to Zen is probably only going to be of interest if you are interested in that "how" question and in giving the specific ten-minute routine a go. I have to admit that so far I haven't actually tried it out, although I have taken on some of the things I didn't know much about and incorporated that into my "toolkit" of anti-anxiety stuff.
Of course, the concept isn't perfect. There is something fundamentally broken about the idea that we need to justify spending ten minutes watching the clouds and not thinking about our e-mails through its own "productivity" lens. But that's not O'Kane's fault, and I think the gap that Ten to Zen addresses is an important one to fill. This is a short read and, if the concept appeals, one that I can definitely recommend as delivering exactly what it promises.