The Headspace Guide to: Mindfulness & Meditation

by Andy Puddicombe

In order to get the best from this book, and consequently the many benefits of meditation, you don’t need to choose just one area of your life that you’d like to focus on. At least not at first anyway. Meditation is much broader than that and the qualities that arise from it tend to inevitably impact those areas of life where it’s needed most. However, it’s useful to know how other people use meditation, to appreciate its full potential. For many it’s the all-round stress buster, an aspirin for the mind. In short, a way of getting some headspace each day. For some, it’s the foundation of a broader approach to mindfulness, an opportunity to touch base with what it means to be present and in the moment throughout the day. For others, it might be part of a personal development plan towards greater emotional stability, or integrated into a spiritual path of some kind. And then there are those who turn to meditation as a way of improving their relationships with partners, parents, children, friends, colleagues and associates. Meditation is also used in much more specific ways. Ever since the UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) approved the use of meditation (or mindfulness as it’s known in the medical world), it’s been used to treat a wide range of stress-related health symptoms. These include, but are no means limited to, chronic anxiety, depression, anger, addiction, compulsive behaviour, insomnia, muscle tension, sexual dysfunction and PMS. Away from the med...