7 Books on Mindfulness for Anxiety That Could Help You
/Everybody feels anxiety - it’s natural. But sometimes, for whatever reason, anxiety can feel overwhelming.
You may be feeling anxiety due to a certain event like an exam, or feeling anxious about something happening at work or you may just be feeling anxious generally.
If you’re finding the anxiety overwhelming, of course you need to make sure you go and see your doctor. In addition to that, reading one or two of these books may help too.
Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World
This book has become something of a classic. Easy to read, great examples and lovely short guided mindfulness meditations by the wonderful Mark Willams.
The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety
An enjoyable read. The writing style is accessible and the book has exercises you can do throughout. There are also audio and texts available for download.An ideal book for if you’re suffering from anxiety, worry or panic attacks and ready to work towards helping yourself to feel better.
Managing Anxiety Mindfulness For Dummies
This book was actually written by a friend of mine, and I edited all of the content and was very happy with the result. It’s a nice short book rather than the full longer ‘for dummies’ books.
As one reviewer said: ‘I am currently reading this book with my partner and already learning so much. I really appreciate the diligent way this book is written and how much it helps you to understand not just what, but why. It gives you bite sized chunks of information so you don't feel overloaded and really eases you into concepts and methods. I already feel I am capable of tackling anxiety with more confidence and that thanks to Joelle’s approachable style and obvious thorough knowledge on both mindfulness and anxiety. I can already see this book being reference for a long time.’
The Mindful Way Through Stress
This is one of my own books! I spent a couple of years writing it, and based it on the evidence-based program called Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction. I created two sets of guided meditations too - a long and short version of each so you can choose what’s right for you. I’ve had lots of positive feedback from people who’ve read the book and done the exercises. If you buy it, I hope it helps you too.
Here’s what one of the reviewers on Amazon said about it:
‘This is a fantastic book, simply written and easy to understand. I would highly recommend anyone who is struggling with stress to get this book and do the meditations. The meditations are lovely and Shamash has a wonderful voice - I found them hugely beneficial.’
The Mindful Way through Anxiety
This book is more specialised on focusing on anxiety, and offers an 8-week program to help work through your anxiety. Written by clinicians. Goes through the kind of thought patterns you may be experiencing and breaks them down so you understand that’s it’s normal and you’re not going crazy.
A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled
Here’s a fun book if you want a bit of light relief as you’re learning about mindfulness. Written by comedian Ruby Wax, you’ll find this a different approach to many of the other books. As Ruby experiences a lot of anxiety and other mental health challenges, she’s writing it from her own perspective and shares what’s worked for her.
Peace is Every Step
Thich Nhat Hanh, if you’ve not heard of him, is one of the most famous Buddhist monks in the West. He was nominated for the Noble Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. and has even appears on Oprah! You’ll enjoy this calming and peaceful guide to everyday mindfulness
If you have any other suggestions for books like these, or have any comments about the ones I’ve recommended above, do let me know in the comments below. Thanks!
If you’d like to learn more about my approach of combining mindfulness with kindness, consider my free 7 day course. Or my full 8 week program which is currently on sale - includes 60 mini daily videos and over 15 guided kindfulness audio meditations to try.
20 guided Kindful Meditations,
50 High- Definition Videos
200 students have completed the program
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