Don’t get me wrong now, cultivating mindfulness is a practice, something that has to be experienced and cultivated through regular meditation, it’s not a concept or a theory. However, coupled with a regular mindfulness meditation practice, some books by brilliant teachers and authors can really enhance both your understanding and practice of mindfulness…Here are 10 of my faves:

1. Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagan

Mindfulness is adapted from Buddhist teachings, and while you certainly don’t need to be a Buddhist to practice mindfulness, understanding some of the key concepts that Buddha taught is helpful. This book gets straight to the essence of Buddha’s teaching, namely that we need to learn to “see” clearly, without any jargon or dogma – very interesting and inspiring.

2. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn is one of the founding fathers of modern mindfulness, a scientist and physician who created the hugely popular Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program. This comprehensive book is both practical and insightful, with a wealth of meditations and exercises to help the reader overcome stress, pain and illness with mindfulness.

3. Coming to Our Senses by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Another great book by Dr Kabat-Zinn, guiding the reader into bringing mindfulness into the everyday and living a more fully engaged, authentic life in the moment, through waking up our to our senses.

4. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

While not full of practical exercises and meditations like other books, Tolle’s grasp of the nature of the mind/ego and awareness/witness consciousness is fascinating and he clearly shows us how our “compulsive thinking” robs us of peace and joy in the moment.

5. The Untethered Soul by Michael SInger

Similar in subject matter to The Power of Now, this book looks at surrendering to the present moment and letting go of resistance from a fresh perspective with some very practical nuggets of wisdom too.

6. Transforming Suffering Into Wisdom by George Kinder

An excellent guide on mindfully attending to our difficult emotions and overcoming the mental tendencies that cause us to suffer unnecessarily. This could also be applied to coping with physical pain or illness, too.

7. Self Compassion by Dr Kristin Neff

A very practical and well-researched book on how to combine the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion, providing a powerful tool for emotional resilience and self-care.

8. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron

A wonderful and practical guide on how to apply Buddhist wisdom to difficult times in life. Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun who became ordained later in life, so has lots of down-to-earth wisdom for secular, ordinary people from all works of life.

9. A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook by Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein

An incredibly user-friendly workbook full of exercises to help you replace stress-promoting habits with mindful ones, and build a  home mindfulness practice of your own.

10, Real Love by Sharon Salzberg

For those wanting to learn how to live from their heart more and deepen and heal their relationships with others, this book offers plenty of insight and exercises on the Buddhist practice of loving-kindness meditation.