Meditation and mindfullness help

[BADGER.BRAD]

Hello all,

After having been recommended meditation /mindfulness to help with my long lasting (35 years) mental health issues I'm asking for recommended links to good sites and videos (I don't know where to start and what is good or bad).

Many thanks all.

 

[annedonnelly]

I've a book with accompanying CD that I bought a couple of years ago. It was highly recommended but I never got round to reading all of it

If you want it you're welcome to it for the price of postage. Just send me a PM with your address.

 

[Drago]

Long bike rides are relaxing, contemplative endeavours.

 

[steveindenmark]

Cycling is what my stress councillor advised me to do.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Smiling Mind is a good app. And it’s free. There are a few other good ones but their subscription costs are high. (To me anyhoo)

 

[steveindenmark]

Smiling Mind is a good app. And it’s free. There are a few other good ones but their subscription costs are high. (To me anyhoo)

Smiling mind is only free for 7 days and then about £30 a year.
If Im wrong let me know.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Smiling mind is only free for 7 days and then about £30 a year.
If Im wrong let me know.

Never paid a penny or seen advertising. I have done several of their programs too. You can donate and I think Cricket Australia are the main sponsors.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Given that meditation, or mindfulness, is a skill acquired through learning I'd strongly suggest you consider a class or one on one learning. A class might be more social. Maybe that suits, maybe not.

Like a lot of things, we can have a stab at it ourselves using YouTube, books, apps etc. And like a lot of things we need to be naturally skilled or just plain lucky to become any good at it. A lot of times we get frustrated and give up.

After 35 years you deserve to give yourself the best chance possible.

Good luck.

 

[AuroraSaab]

I have read a lot of Mindfulness stuff over the years. My recommendation would be Jon Kabbat Zinn's books and CDs. The guided meditations CD especially is very calming and relaxing - I transferred them to an mp3 player so I could use them all the time.

In terms of free stuff, I found the free Destressify app is quite good. It has a small number of guided meditations. The Insight timer app used to be free and had hundreds of guided meditations, though I haven't used them in a long time. I tried Headspace but didn't like it, though others do.

YouTube has loads of stuff too. Just search guided meditations.

If you are looking for books to help with anxiety, depression etc. I can recommend:

Stop Thinking, Start Living by Richard Carlson. An excellent book on overcoming negative thinking. The Worry Cure by David Leahy is similar. Feeling Good: the new mood therapy by David Burns is a comprehensive CBT book.

Self Help for Your Nerves by Dr Claire Weekes is a great book. Some find it dated, but it is very comforting and has a useful method for coping with panic attacks.

You can get these on Amazon but try Abe Books first as most are available second hand for a couple of quid.

Like most things, mindfulness and CBT is not a quick fix, but if you are prepared to persevere and practise they can be very helpful.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

I have read a lot of Mindfulness stuff over the years. My recommendation would be Jon Kabbat Zinn's books and CDs. The guided meditations CD especially is very calming and relaxing - I transferred them to an mp3 player so I could use them all the time.

In terms of free stuff, I found the free Destressify app is quite good. It has a small number of guided meditations. The Insight timer app used to be free and had hundreds of guided meditations, though I haven't used them in a long time. I tried Headspace but didn't like it, though others do.

YouTube has loads of stuff too. Just search guided meditations.

If you are looking for books to help with anxiety, depression etc. I can recommend:

Stop Thinking, Start Living by Richard Carlson. An excellent book on overcoming negative thinking. The Worry Cure by David Leahy is similar. Feeling Good: the new mood therapy by David Burns is a comprehensive CBT book.

Self Help for Your Nerves by Dr Claire Weekes is a great book. Some find it dated, but it is very comforting and has a useful method for coping with panic attacks.

You can get these on Amazon but try Abe Books first as most are available second hand for a couple of quid.

Like most things, mindfulness and CBT is not a quick fix, but if you are prepared to persevere and practise they can be very helpful.

Thanks for sharing. I’m going to give DeStressify a whirl.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

Bird watching and walks in gardens and countryside I find relaxing ideally without too many about or too much noise. Noise gives me stress but nature takes it away. As members of the National Trust we get plenty of relaxing walks at their properties.

 

[eddyb1988]

Calm app and Headspace are really useful