Meditation is the best way for releasing all the stress that has been building up inside you throughout your busy schedule. Stress is not a small issue. If not kept in check, stress can bring you down and hamper your physical and mental health.

One of the best ways to practice guided meditation at home is with a meditation book. Books are said to be our friends in need. Getting your hands on the right meditation book can change your life for good.

So, to help you find the right book for meditating, we have recommended the 5 best meditation books here for you.

Best Breathing and Meditation Books for a Guided Experience at Home

Best Breathing and Meditation Books: Breath The New Science of a Lost Art

This book is a fan favorite. It focuses on the breath and how it impacts all aspects of health, wellness, and physical and mental fitness. It’s written by a journalist who travels all over the world to investigate how breathing impacts athletic performance, internal organs, snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease, among other things. He finds that modern society has lost the ability to breathe correctly, and he outlines the awful consequences. He looks at ancient societies, modern science, and new research in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology. This book is an eye-opener and a great introduction to the world of breathwork.

Pros:

• A detailed explanation of the science behind breathing
• Clear instructions about different breathing techniques
• Tons of references for further study and reading

Cons:

• Does not include specific lessons on breathing or meditation
• Not focused on the guided meditation experience

Best Breathing and Meditation Books: Wake Up to the Joy of You

This is one of the best mindfulness meditation books for beginners. It offers 52 guided meditations for you to practice at home by yourself. 

Written by a psychologist, this book guides you through a year’s worth of self-care in a warm and wise way. You’ll learn what works for you and what doesn’t. You’ll explore your own inner conflicts and learn to trust your own creativity. This is a fun and creative book that everyone can benefit from using.

Pros:

• Perfect for beginners
• All 52 meditation techniques are described with clear instructions
• This book has an audiobook version available

Cons:

• The 52 techniques in this book are mostly elementary and intermediate  level techniques
• No advanced meditation technique is available

Best Breathing and Meditation Books: Declutter Your Mind

Are you looking for some practical meditation solution for getting rid of all your stress? Then this book is perfect for you. It is one of those great meditation books that focus on how to stop stress, anxiety, and other negative thoughts that are cluttering your mind. The goal of the book is to teach habits, actions, and mindsets to clear mental clutter and live a meaningful life. The book reviews specific mindfulness techniques, and addresses the causes of mental clutter, strategies to improve bad relationships, strategies to discover what matters, and the benefits of meditation and focused deep breathing. 

Even though the book goes into a deep understanding of mindfulness meditation, it remains at the beginner level. SO if you are a beginner looking for a solution to all your mental problems, read this book and practice its meditations. It will help.

Pros:

• Talks about different mindfulness and meditation practices
• Lessons have an immediate positive impact
• Science-backed exercises can create lasting change

Cons:

• May fall short for advanced meditation practitioners

Strength in Stillness: The Power of Transcendental Meditation

This book is best for those who want to experience transcendental meditation. What is transcendental meditation? It is a simple practice and a 5000-year-old meditation technique that changes how we respond to life’s challenges and allows us to refresh our minds and souls.  That may sound like a big ask, but a lot of people including business tycoons and Hollywood stars have been doing transcendental meditation. The book explains three types of meditation: Focused Attention, Open Monitoring, and Self-Transcending. You can also meditate with the instructions from this book and some guided meditation music in the background.

Pros:

• Accessible and effective meditation practice
• Explains how to reduce stress and build resilience

Cons:

• The book needs your full attention
• If you truly want to experience transcendental meditation, you must practice and pay close attention to the book

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

This modern classic is an American zen favorite for fifty years. It presents the basics of zen, from posture and breathing to concepts of nonduality. The writing is clear, calm, pleasant, and easy to follow. It’s not exactly a manual, nor a guide to teaching meditation. Rather the book itself is the meditation. It reaches readers’ souls and makes them meditate. People come back to read this book over and over. It is a timeless classic.

Pros:

• Focuses on Zen and is a pleasant read
• Comes in an audiobook format
• A perfect free-time reading book for everyone

Cons:

• Not exactly a guided meditation book

Advantages of Guided Meditation

Guided meditation has its advantages in many ways. You can enjoy reduced stress, mental peace, self-awareness, and many other benefits.

• Reduce stress

When meditating, your body relaxes. This lowers your blood pressure, which triggers more positive responses in the body. All those responses result in reduced stress.

• Enhance self-awareness

Meditating puts your body and mind in a resting state. This allows you to be more reasonable. When you are reasonable, you can maintain better emotional control of yourself and thus you become self-aware.

• Encourage Mindfulness

Meditation helps you to be mindful in many ways. And being mindful can significantly improve the quality of your life. That helps you to be satisfied with what you have and accept who you are without any pointless judgment.

• Better lung health

Meditation involves a lot of breathing techniques including those that expand the lungs and exercise the diaphragm. This enhances the amount of oxygen in the blood and also leads to better lung health. As they say in yoga, the breathing matters more than the pose.

• Maintain focus

Meditation makes your mind more self-aware and present. This will extend your brainpower to focus on what you are doing, instead of swirling with irrelevant thoughts and worries.

FAQ

Can books help you meditate at home without supervision?

With clear, well-written instructions from a book and some classic guided meditation music in the background, anyone can meditate at home without the need for someone to supervise them all the time.

What can you expect from a good book for meditation?

From a good meditation book, you can expect to have clear guidance on all the meditation techniques that are written in the book. You can also expect some insight into the subject that the book is talking about.

Should I go for hardback, paperback, or Kindle?

If money is not an issue and you will be reading the book at home, go for hardback. But if you want to be budget-friendly, then buy paperback format.

On the other hand, if you are onto a more digitized solution, then go for the Kindle eBook format.

Will audiobooks be a great choice for guided meditation?

Audiobooks have a positive effect on our mood and can be a great alternative to regular print books. If you prefer listening and like to give your eyes a break, audiobooks are a great choice. However, be aware that audiobooks require your full attention, and are more difficult to reference if you want to skip back a few pages. 

Conclusion

Using books as a way to learn meditation and breathwork can be a viable alternative if hiring a meditation and/or breathing coach is not possible for you. Meditation can help defend us from anxiety, worry, and stress. To begin your learning journey towards relaxation, you can pick any book you like. We’ve reviewed some of the most loved books in this post, and we hope we’ve helped you choose the one that’s right for you. Happy meditating!

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