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The Headspace Guide to... Mindfulness & Meditation: As Seen on Netflix Kindle Edition
by Andy Puddicombe (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 4,615 ratings
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'If you're thinking about trying mindfulness, this is the perfect introduction....I'm grateful to Andy for helping me on this journey.' BILL GATES
'It's kind of genius' EMMA WATSON
Feeling stressed about Covid/Brexit/everything? Try this...
Demystifying meditation for the modern world: an accessible and practical route to improved health, happiness and well being, in as little as 10 minutes.
Andy Puddicombe, founder of the celebrated Headspace, is on a mission: to get people to take 10 minutes out of their day to sit in the now. Here he shares his simple to learn, but highly effective techniques of meditation.
* Rest an anxious, busy mind
* Find greater ease when faced with difficult emotions, thoughts, circumstances
* Improve focus and concentration
* Sleep better
* Achieve new levels of calm and fulfillment.
The benefits of mindfulness and meditation are well documented and here Andy brings this ancient practice into the modern world, tailor made for the most time starved among us.
First published as Get Some Headspace, this reissue shows you how just 10 minutes of mediation per day can bring about life changing results.
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225 pages
Language
English
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Product description
About the Author
ANDY PUDDICOMBE is currently the only Clinical Meditation Consultant in the United Kingdom with Medical Advisory Committee clearance for private practice. As a former Buddhist monk, he has trained extensively in meditation all over the world for more than 15 years. He returned to the UK in 2004 and set up the Headspace organization with one simple aim in mind: to demystify meditation and make it accessible and relevant to as many people as possible.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"[Puddicombe] teaches techniques that can be practiced on a crowded subway or even while wolfing a sandwich during a quick lunch break at your desk.... Ed Halliwell ["The Guardian"] said Mr. Puddicombe is 'doing for meditation what someone like Jamie Oliver has done for food.' And like Mr. Oliver, he's ready to conquer the United States." - "The New York Times"
"The expert's expert." - "The Times" (UK)
"There is definitely no religion, and nothing touchy-feely about the [Headspace] workshop... By the end of the day, with the online resources for support, I feel equipped to join the ranks of those who make daily meditation part of their busy lives." - "Time Out"
"Om's the word, meet the "Sunday Times Style"'s amazing new meditation guru." - "Sunday Times Style" (UK)
"Andy bubbles over with enthusiasm and is so easy to follow that most of us leave convinced and with every intention of an attempt to sustain our relaxed/alert state." - "Easy Living Magazine"
"Mindfulness is a hot topic in neuroscience. I consider the techniques in this book essential for maintaining a healthy brain and a happy mind. Andy is living proof that the ancient practice of mindfulness benefits modern day living." - Dr. Elena Antonova, Neuroscientist, King's College London
[Puddicombe] teaches techniques that can be practiced on a crowded subway or even while wolfing a sandwich during a quick lunch break at your desk.... Ed Halliwell ["The Guardian"] said Mr. Puddicombe is 'doing for meditation what someone like Jamie Oliver has done for food.' And like Mr. Oliver, he's ready to conquer the United States. "The New York Times"
The expert's expert. "The Times (UK)"
There is definitely no religion, and nothing touchy-feely about the [Headspace] workshop By the end of the day, with the online resources for support, I feel equipped to join the ranks of those who make daily meditation part of their busy lives. "Time Out"
Om's the word, meet the "Sunday Times Style"'s amazing new meditation guru. "Sunday Times Style (UK)"
Andy bubbles over with enthusiasm and is so easy to follow that most of us leave convinced and with every intention of an attempt to sustain our relaxed/alert state. "Easy Living Magazine"
Mindfulness is a hot topic in neuroscience. I consider the techniques in this book essential for maintaining a healthy brain and a happy mind. Andy is living proof that the ancient practice of mindfulness benefits modern day living. "Dr. Elena Antonova, Neuroscientist, King's College London""
[Puddicombe] teaches techniques that can be practiced on a crowded subway or even while wolfing a sandwich during a quick lunch break at your desk.... Ed Halliwell [The Guardian] said Mr. Puddicombe is 'doing for meditation what someone like Jamie Oliver has done for food.' And like Mr. Oliver, he's ready to conquer the United States. The New York Times
The expert's expert. The Times (UK)
There is definitely no religion, and nothing touchy-feely about the [Headspace] workshop By the end of the day, with the online resources for support, I feel equipped to join the ranks of those who make daily meditation part of their busy lives. Time Out
Om's the word, meet the Sunday Times Style's amazing new meditation guru. Sunday Times Style (UK)
Andy bubbles over with enthusiasm and is so easy to follow that most of us leave convinced and with every intention of an attempt to sustain our relaxed/alert state. Easy Living Magazine
Mindfulness is a hot topic in neuroscience. I consider the techniques in this book essential for maintaining a healthy brain and a happy mind. Andy is living proof that the ancient practice of mindfulness benefits modern day living. Dr. Elena Antonova, Neuroscientist, King's College London
"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Demystifying meditation for the modern world: an accessible and practical route to improved health, happiness and well being, in as little as 10 minutes. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Review
"[Puddicombe] teaches techniques that can be practiced on a crowded subway or even while wolfing a sandwich during a quick lunch break at your desk.... Ed Halliwell [The Guardian] said Mr. Puddicombe is 'doing for meditation what someone like Jamie Oliver has done for food.' And like Mr. Oliver, he's ready to conquer the United States." --The New York Times
"The expert's expert." --The Times (UK)
"There is definitely no religion, and nothing touchy-feely about the [Headspace] workshop... By the end of the day, with the online resources for support, I feel equipped to join the ranks of those who make daily meditation part of their busy lives." --Time Out
"Om's the word, meet the Sunday Times Style's amazing new meditation guru." --Sunday Times Style (UK)
"Andy bubbles over with enthusiasm and is so easy to follow that most of us leave convinced and with every intention of an attempt to sustain our relaxed/alert state." --Easy Living Magazine
"Mindfulness is a hot topic in neuroscience. I consider the techniques in this book essential for maintaining a healthy brain and a happy mind. Andy is living proof that the ancient practice of mindfulness benefits modern day living." --Dr. Elena Antonova, Neuroscientist, King's College London
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Review
The expert's expert - Britain's top meditation guru. - The Times
Learn to live in the moment with GET SOME HEADSPACE by top meditation guru Andy Puddicombe. His practical guide will help you de-stress and have a calmer, happier life. - Grazia
If you've always wanted to try meditation, then this is the perfect guide to 'mindfulness' and finding yourself ten minutes of Zen. - Scotsman Magazine
Andy bubbles over with enthusiasm and is so easy to follow that most of us leave convinced and with every intention of an attempt to sustain our relaxed/alert state. - Easy Living
A quiet mind is the key to feeling less stressed, less tired and having a new level of calm and contentment. - Woman's Way --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
From the Publisher
Andy Puddicombe is a meditation and mindfulness expert. An accomplished presenter and writer, Andy is the voice of all things Headspace.
In his early twenties, midway through a university degree in Sports Science, Andy made the unexpected decision to travel to the Himalayas to study meditation instead. It was the beginning of a ten year journey which took him around the world, culminating with ordination as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Northern India.
His transition back to lay life in 2004 was no less extraordinary. Training briefly at Moscow State Circus, he returned to London where he completed a degree in Circus Arts with the Conservatoire of Dance and Drama, whilst drawing up the early plans for what was later to become Headspace.
He has been featured widely in international press, appearing in Vogue, NYT, FT, Entrepreneur, Men's Health and Esquire, to name but a few. He also makes regular appearances on TV and online, having been featured on BBC, Dr Oz, Netflix and TED.
Andy currently lives in Venice, California, with his wife Lucinda. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
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Product details
ASIN : B0050C863G
Publisher : Coronet (26 May 2011)
Language : English
File size : 1653 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
Print length : 225 pages
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From Australia
Becca
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely read
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 25 July 2022
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I loved this book. I am so grateful that Andy’s shares his knowledge in such an approachable way. I have been an on and off meditator for about 2 years and I still learnt so much reading this. It links in so well with the Headspace app too. I love having theories and stories that link to concepts so I can better understand them & that is what this book does.
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CassW
5.0 out of 5 stars Great start to getting into mindfulness
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 29 March 2021
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I found this book a great support whilst getting into mindfulness. I also used the app, but the book was useful to know the 'how' and 'why' of mindfulness. Would recommend to others!
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Ben
3.0 out of 5 stars Good starting point
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 1 December 2020
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A good book for beginners to meditation. Helped a lot with starting a practice and understanding how to use it in every day life/activities.
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Matt
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 11 February 2019
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Really good book as an intro to Headspace and just some background story on Andy’s adventures.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Taking10
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 6 December 2015
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This book is great. Covers every hitch I came across, and prepared me for some I hadn't reached yet. Assured me I wasn't hopeless at meditating, but had to focus on the actual meditation time and being mindful instead of the end result.
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Ahmed Ibrahim
5.0 out of 5 stars A Guiding Light to Inner Peace: The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 8 June 2023
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The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness is an absolute treasure. With clarity and simplicity, this book offers a practical and accessible approach to meditation. It provides invaluable guidance on navigating the journey towards inner peace and mindfulness. The author’s expertise shines through as he demystifies meditation and offers a wealth of techniques and insights. Whether you’re a beginner or experienced practitioner, this guide is a must-have. It has transformed my daily practice and brought a sense of calm and clarity into my life. A resounding five stars for this transformative gem.
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Ismael de Leon H.
4.0 out of 5 stars A very good and easy-to-follow guide to meditation
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 10 January 2021
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I have read several books about meditation and none is as good as this one. It is well explained, easy to read, to-the-point and concise. It is an excellent read that explains what is meditation, mindfulness, their benefits and the way to practice them. I highly recommend it.
For many years I have dedicated considerable effort to meditation, with no results that I can be proud of. However, since I was a child I became familiar with those concepts for having read Timothy Gallwey’s books (The Inner Game of Tenis, Golf, etc.). At that time books did not mention the term “mindfulness” as they do now, but I understood the existence of different levels of consciousness, which Gallwey referred to as “egos”, inside our minds. I learned that it was necessary to quiet one of those egos in order to perform better at sports. Quieting that ego was no easy task though, but it was possible with the help of certain mental tools that ended up astounding me when I could perform considerably better than expected, with no effort, much pleasure, as if by magic, as if the performance was done by someone else. Such result is what today is called “being in the zone”.
But in spite of this, I could never show such results in other aspects of my life just by practicing meditation. Mindfulness and other techniques helped me in sports, but I cannot say that I had a similar success in my professional or personal life. Up until now, meditation has been to me just another chore.
Puddicombe says in his book that he is concerned about some people considering it a chore, but I am concerned about his concern. The great majority of meditation instructors insist on the importance of routinely meditating, time and again for longer periods, in order to get some results, which not always show-up. In fact, there is a section in his book in which he narrates the experience of a monk that invested a long time to improve his patience, just to end up comically showing that he did not succeed. Evidently it is easy to end up practicing many long meditation sessions fruitlessly and that is when meditation becomes a chore.
Being deeply aware of life’s simple and not-so-simple experiences (mindfulness) is something that can be intellectually understood and I do have had the opportunity to obtain its benefits in a few occasions, although more frequently in sports. But what is important is to be able to apply meditation and mindfulness concepts to our everyday lives. In other words, we need to be able to export mindfulness tools to our jobs and personal relations in such a way that we can keep a good balance among our performance, learning and enjoyment in every aspect of our lives. To explain these tools and the means to export them is what Puddicombe does so well.
Puddicombe says that no book can give you the benefits of mindfulness just by reading it. In fact, that same statement is mentioned in an 80’s movie “The Razor’s Edge”, when a miner hands a book (The Upanishads) to the main character, a monk-to-be. But I do not completely agree. I do have the experience of having consciously read Thureau's classic, “Walden”, and experienced a profound sense of acceptance of everything, that I am OK and that I do not need anything at all to continue being that way, only by reflecting about the writing and my own past experiences. Even so, I do agree that it must be easier to experience the benefits of mindfulness by practicing it.
This is the best book I have read in this subject and made me want to come back to the practice, from a freshly new perspective. I have invested an important amount of time and money in books and apps and even so, I will try it again.
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DEBASIS MONDAL
5.0 out of 5 stars mind reading
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 10 March 2023
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ThePocketJ
5.0 out of 5 stars ✅ If you've ever wondered what it means to meditate, this is the right book! Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on 1 April 2021 Verified Purchase Several years ago in an attempt to find a way to reduce anxiety, brain full of thoughts, I suspended my cynicism, turned off my cell phone and tried to take a meditation class of two days. After forty-eight awkward hours of chanting, bell ringing, and dead silences, I was sent home with a personal mantra and a recommendation to practice "doing it" for thirty minutes twice a day. Guess what happened? I did not! Every time I sat down, hoping to regain my composure, I ended up making mental to-do lists. When time was up, I'd leap out of my chair feeling frantic and annoyed that I'd wasted half an hour of my life. I've read other books on the subject over the years and been in and out. Sometimes the advice to "imagine my thoughts as fluffy clouds on a summer day" worked but, more often than not, it didn't. I started reading Get Some Headspace after an enthusiastic recommendation from a friend, who also used the Headspace app. I really like Andy's simple language and his personal stories. I can relate to his desire to handle the negative voice
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rahulraj
5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect book for a novice
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 14 December 2022
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A perfect book for someone who wants to know what is medidation and mindfulness. It is written in a very easy to understand language which i thoroughly enjoyed. Definitely recommended.
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From other countries
Providential
5.0 out of 5 stars Get Some Headspace
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 8 February 2019
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Headspace combines a lot of great ideas.
Mindfulness. There was a time in America when meditation was the domain of gurus and cults. After a bevy of research proved that meditation has long-term benefits for the brain, many practitioners began using the term mindfulness. Mindfulness is also a specific aspect of meditation which seems to have the most clear benefits. In short, even for the most jaded person who doesn't understand meditation, you can still see how beneficial it would be for someone to practice sitting still and being quiet for a few minutes a day. Do this every day, perhaps first thing after you wake up, and you're almost guaranteed to have a better day.
A completely friendly approach. The author opens the book with a story about how he escaped by night from a monastic compound because- at that point in his life- silent meditation just wasn't for him. Keenly aware that other people might have a similar reaction, Headspace first and foremost builds a happy and safe environment for all. Cute animated characters, anecdotes, and self-reinforcement messages are sprinkled here and there to help you stick with this new skill.
A lovely voice, and a lovely perspective. Andy Puddicombe has the sort of voice to put anyone to sleep. He's honed this talent into a relaxed, soft speaking method for guided meditation. I'd highly recommend anyone interested in this book to also download the Headspace app to try a guided meditation directly from the master. It's really something special. Failing that, there's plenty in the book to help you understand the ins and outs. I would at least encourage everyone to find a video of Andy speaking online, because reading the book in his voice will certainly make it a more enriching experience.
The Headspace book covers it all. The benefits of meditation. The history of meditation. How to get started meditating. Roadblocks you might hit during your meditation- from your first session to your second decade practicing. It's all here, it's all friendly, and it exists to benefit you. Give it a try.
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Brad Feld
4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Addition to the Headspace Online Program, Which is Awesome
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 2 March 2014
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My exploration into meditation continues. I started on February 5th when I wrote the post Learning To Meditate. Since then, I've been practicing every day, read a few books on meditation, talked to a lot of people about it, and explored several iPhone / web apps.
The impact on me has been awesome.
After talking to Jerry Colonna for a few hours about meditation on the snowy Sunday after I started, he recommended I take a look at Headspace. I signed up that night and started doing the Take10 meditations. For the first few days, I did it once a day, but then quickly starting practicing twice a day, once in the morning and once before I went to bed. Occasionally I'd toss in another session at lunch time, although sometimes I just did a silent meditation instead for 10 to 15 minutes.
After about a week I was deeply hooked. I grabbed the iPhone GetSomeHeadspace app and untethered myself from my desk. We've got a meditation room in our new house and even though it's very sparse right now (just one sitting pillow), it's a magnificent sanctuary for my meditation.
I noticed that Andy Puddicombe, the founder of Headspace, had written a book called Get Some Headspace: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day. I downloaded it and read it last night and this morning. Since I'm deep into the Headspace program, a lot of it was familiar to me. But Andy's description of his own meditation journey is fascinating, and reinforces a lot of things he guides you through in the Headspace program.
Near the end, he has a great chapter on different forms of meditation beyond sitting. He covers walking, sleeping, eating, and running. These are forms that intrigue me, especially since I run a lot, eat too fast, and am exploring different sleep patterns.
Overall, the book is a nice addition to the Headspace program. If you are intrigued about meditation, it's a fast, easy, helpful read. But there's nothing like just practicing. For that, I recommend you hop on line and try the free Headspace Take10 program.
13 people found this helpful
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Kushal
4.0 out of 5 stars Opened me to meditation
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 16 January 2022
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Very detailed analysis of what the mind goes through. You will the issues relatable. The solution offered through meditation is also very practical and easy to implement.
Andy is a true entrepreneur. He has made meditation accessible for all people which was before a thing that only closed group did.
I hope I can continue following Headspace as it making small difference in my every day life. I do have a habit of getting back into old habits of doing things. So it is going to be a long journey before I feel more comfortable and confident about this.
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Ken
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Book
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 10 February 2023
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Nice book. A lot of good information.
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Eggy
5.0 out of 5 stars Read at the same time as starting the Headspace App - latter very good for actually training oneself to do it!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 16 April 2013
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I have rather liked the "idea" of meditation after doing a brief Buddhist meditation intro years ago & being impressed that they didn't push religion in anyway. Unfortunately I was always too busy/ stressed/ happy to get into the habit of doing it. Anyway after a stressful Xmas, when I didn't get a break, I was searching for something easy to teach me a bit of mindfulness & came across this as a sample on Kindle. I know that mindfulness is trending in NHS circles as being a useful aid to prevention of depression & can make changes in the brain on MRI scans. This book is a remarkably easy & down to earth read. It didn't quite make me cross the barrier of actually doing it - however then I realised that there was a Headspace App & this really has changed inner thought processes. the1 st 10 x10 min are free & gave me the thought holiday I needed. then I was curious, but somewhat cynical, as the hard sell to buy in is rather off putting- however I coughed up the money & 4 months down the line I now do daily, - well almost, & it is great!
I was a bit embarrassed to have signed into & paid for this sort of thing to admit it to anyone at 1st, but now i tell everyone!
I have calm ( well a bit more than I had before) & often increased clarity & surprisingly more creative thoughts which I hadn't looked for. I noticed my spouse, ha,ha, so they are pleased too.
On the App site & website there are some animations which are similar to the book but I still feel that reading the book at the beginning of commencing the App was useful & gave me extra impetus to try. As did signing up to the Lift motivational App. The Andy Puddicombe TED talk on YouTube & some of the Guardian web articles on him & BBC ones on mindfulness are also worth a look for anyone thinking about mindfulness meditation.
9 people found this helpful
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PrideOfNottingham
4.0 out of 5 stars The start of the journey
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 2 December 2012
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I read this book about a year ago after reading another book on Mindfulness called "The Mindfulness Manifesto".
I found Get Some Headspace to be easy to read and generally entertaining, and it gave me a good introduction to Mindfulness and meditation. I have been practising meditiation since. It is a long and sometimes difficult journey, but I can honestly say that it has changed me for the better. I am a bit calmer and less of a slave to my emotions, and am also able to stop and appreciate things a bit more. There is still a long way to go, and I couldnt tell you exactly how mindfuless has made a difference, but it has. I would say that somehow it has increased my self-awareness, and therefore given me more choices about what I do and how I behave in certain situations. The start of that was reading this book and also The Mindfulness Manifesto (and I should probably give Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies a mention too, as that helped me at times).
I would therefore have to say this this book is well worth the money. I have been following the guided meditations on the Headspace website for some time now, and these are good also in my opinion. However only the first 10 are free, just to make everyone aware.
So for me, this book was the start of a difficult but rewarding journey that will probably go on for the rest of my life.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Looks like it's going to be a good read for me as a beginner
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 22 January 2023
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Just arrived and new to meditation. The reviews look great
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Kishore Jasotani
5.0 out of 5 stars It's really genius
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 29 August 2020
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The book covers everything and details everything in a story telling manner with great wisdom embodied in each story. Some books on meditation while describing the approach repeat the same thing again and again. Andy keeps focusing on approach but with something extra to learn in each lesson. Andy was a former monk and now runs a clinic, so he explains the concepts scientifically, with logic and at the same time the wisdom he gained in monastery reflects in everything he explains. Best thing about the book is that it really makes the barrier to entry low enough for the people who are new to the world of mindfulness, both in understanding and in practice, at the same time explaining everything. I don't think there could have been any better or wise explaination condensed in a 200 pages book. You never feel the redundancy and your wisdom earns a new badge with every paragraph in it. If you are really exploring "The Book" on mindfulness, your search ends here. I searched a lot, read a lot. Trust me, this is "The Book" you are looking for.
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Kelly
4.0 out of 5 stars Good companion to the app, definitely not Eat Pray Love
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 20 February 2015
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This book is a great companion to the headspace app, which I am really enjoying these days. It answered some of the questions I had, and I suppose I'm old enough that I'd rather find answers in a book than in on-line help forums. How would it stack up against other "how to meditate books?" Good question. I think the genius of Andy's approach is his ability to hit all the salient points with phenomenal brevity, and a generally encouraging tone that contributes to making the material very accessible. He's very matter-of-fact, never overplays anything. In fact, I would have liked some vivid descriptions. But I am not very far along on the headspace journey, i.e., learning to meditate, and I am still attached to thoughts that are organized into stories. I must confess I was hoping for more detail about the personal journey from regular guy to monk to secular meditation guru. I mean, it is after all a book by a guy whose story gives him amazing cred. He includes some food-related insights and escapades, but I never found out whether he went through anything trippy, mystical or otherwise really compelling in all those years of meditation. I don't think the book as much as alludes to, let alone describes, a single religious experience. So to sum up, the book has a lot of good pointers for new meditators, but it could have been juicier, in the conventional sense of what a lifetime of reading conditions one to expect from a book.
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Sandeep Gondhalekar
3.0 out of 5 stars Very bad print too light
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 18 October 2022
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Hope the printing was better and easy on eyes to read
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====
The Headspace Guide to Meditation & Mindfulness
Andy Puddicombe
4.03
12,337 ratings967 reviews
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This program was previously published as Get Some Headspace: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day.
Quiet the mind, feel less stressed and less tired, and achieve a new level of calm and fulfillment in just ten minutes a day.
Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk, the Voice of Headspace, and the UK's foremost mindfulness expert, is on a mission: to get people to take 10 minutes out of their day to sit in the here and now.
Like his readers and students, Andy began his own meditation practice as a normal, busy person with everyday concerns, and he has since designed a program of mindfulness and guided meditation that fits neatly into a jam-packed daily routine - proving that just 10 minutes a day can make a world of difference.
Accessible and portable, The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness offers simple but powerful meditation techniques that positively impact every area of physical and mental health: from productivity and focus, to stress and anxiety relief, sleep, weight-loss, personal relationships...the benefits are limitless. The result? More headspace, less stress. Andy brings this ancient practice into the modern world, tailor made for the most time starved among us.
Switch off after work
Fall asleep at night
Feel less anxious, sad, or angry
Control your cravings
Find a healthy weight
©2011 Andy Puddicombe (P)2012 Macmillan Audio
Genres
Nonfiction
Self Help
Psychology
Health
Personal Development
Spirituality
Philosophy
...more
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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About the author
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Andy Puddicombe
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Andy Puddicombe, born September 23, 1972, is the founder of Headspace; an award-winning[1] digital health platform that provides guided meditation sessions for its users. A former Buddhist monk with a degree in Circus Arts. According to The Times, he is also considered the "international poster boy for the modern mindfulness movement".[2] As both author and public speaker,[3] Puddicombe is known for his simple, accessible and secular approach, which has led to over 1 million users of the Headspace platform. The New York Times claims "Puddicombe is doing for meditation what Jamie Oliver has done for food". (source: Wikipedia)
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Profile Image for Bill Gates.
Bill Gates
10 books · 510k followers
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December 4, 2018
I stopped listening to music and watching TV in my 20s. It sounds extreme, but I did it because I thought they would just distract me from thinking about software. That blackout period lasted only about five years, and these days I’m a huge fan of TV shows like Narcos and listen to a lot of U2, Willie Nelson, and the Beatles.
Back when I was avoiding music and TV in the hope of maintaining my focus, I knew that lots of other people were using meditation to achieve similar ends. But I wasn’t interested. I thought of meditation as a woo-woo thing tied somehow to reincarnation, and I didn’t buy into it.
Lately, though, I’ve gained a much better understanding of meditation. I’m certainly not an expert, but I now meditate two or three times a week, for about 10 minutes each time. Melinda meditates too. Sometimes we sit to meditate together. (We use comfortable chairs; there’s no way I could do the lotus position.)
I now see that meditation is simply exercise for the mind, similar to the way we exercise our muscles when we play sports. For me, it has nothing to do with faith or mysticism. It’s about taking a few minutes out of my day, learning how to pay attention to the thoughts in my head, and gaining a little bit of distance from them.
Andy Puddicombe, the 46-year-old cofounder and voice of the popular Headspace app, was the person who turned me from skeptic to believer. Prior to finding Headspace, I had read several books about meditation, all of which intimidated me. They made me think that the investment in terms of time and energy was just too high. Headspace made the barrier to entry low enough for me. It’s just 10 minutes a day of listening to Andy’s soothing British accent and trying to stay with him. Andy has taken some heat from hard-core meditators for his low-barrier approach, but he got me to take up meditation and stick with it. I’m glad he did.
If you want to try meditation for yourself, one good way to ease into it—especially if you’re as skeptical as I was—is to pick up a copy of Andy’s book, The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness. Andy’s a witty storyteller and offers lots of helpful metaphors to explain potentially tricky concepts, which makes the book an easy, enjoyable read. Andy presents the evidence base behind these practices in sections called “What the research shows” so you know the benefits are legitimate. And the book also helps you see that Andy himself is legitimate. He’s an ordained Buddhist monk who trained for many years in monasteries in India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Australia, Russia, and Scotland.
The book begins with Andy describing one of them: “Locked in, day and night, surrounded by high stone walls and with no way of contacting anyone on the outside, at times it had felt more like a prison.”
At another monastery, the monks served trainees curry and rice every day, and they made the trainees eat it very slowly over the course of exactly an hour. One super hot day, the monks placed in front of each trainee a wonderful surprise: ice cream. “It was like being a child at a birthday party when the cake comes out.” Unfortunately, the trainees soon discovered they were not allowed to touch the ice cream until they had eaten their curry and rice in the painfully slow way they’d been taught. As the ice cream melted in front of him, he felt angry, then sad and guilty for feeling angry—just as the monks knew would happen.
It turns out that monastic life wasn’t right for Andy. As we learn in the book, after ten years he left and—I kid you not—became a circus clown in London. He wanted to be fully engaged in the world rather than cloistering himself away in artificially quiet retreats.
While he was a clown, he started teaching meditation to those with severe anxiety and other conditions. A few years later, he started Headspace to bring meditation to the masses. He felt that meditation was a skill everyone could learn without sitting behind high stone walls or being subjected to mind games.
Melinda and I enjoyed Andy’s work so much that we reached out to him to see whether he might be willing to spend some time teaching our family. He was glad to do it, which was a real treat for us. For a day and a half, Andy helped us and two of our kids through exercises that are similar to the ones you’ll find in the book. Andy was just as warm, humble, and real as we’d imagined from reading his book and listening to him on the app.
I’m not sure how much meditation would have helped me concentrate in my early Microsoft days, because I was monomaniacally focused without it. But now that I’m married, have three children, and have a broader set of professional and personal interests, it’s a great tool for improving my focus. It’s also helped me step back and get some ease with whatever thoughts or emotions are present. I like what I’m getting from my 10 minutes every few days. I’m grateful to Andy for helping me on this journey.
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Graham Sharpe
1 book · 21 followers
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January 27, 2013
Several years ago I suspended my cynicism, switched off my mobile phone and went on a two-day meditation course. After an awkward forty-eight hours of chanting, bell ringing and deathly silences I was sent home with a personal mantra and a recommendation to practice ‘doing it’ for thirty minutes twice a day. Guess what happened? I didn’t do it. Every time I sat down, hoping to find calm, I ended up compiling mental to-do lists. When the time was up I’d leap out of the chair feeling frantic and annoyed that I’d wasted half an hour of my life. Over the years I’ve read other books on the subject and dipped in and out. Sometimes the advice to ‘imagine my thoughts like fluffy clouds on a summer day’ has worked but, more than often, it hasn’t. I started reading Get Some Headspace after a friend’s enthusiastic recommendation. I really like Andy’s down-to-earth language and his personal stories. I can relate to his desire to manage the negative/rambling voice in his head and his initial struggles to achieve positive results from meditating. I’ve registered online, downloaded the app (which is brilliant because you can have a guided meditation anytime, anyplace), and I’m enjoying my ten minutes everyday. I think this system works because it offers accessible support and encouragement and it enables me to easily incorporate meditation into a busy day. To my amazement, I’m beginning to think ten minutes isn’t long enough!
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Brad Feld
42 books · 2,348 followers
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March 3, 2014
My exploration into meditation continues. I started on February 5th when I wrote the post Learning To Meditate. Since then, I've been practicing every day, read a few books on meditation, talked to a lot of people about it, and explored several iPhone / web apps.
The impact on me has been awesome.
After talking to Jerry Colonna for a few hours about meditation on the snowy Sunday after I started, he recommended I take a look at Headspace. I signed up that night and started doing the Take10 meditations. For the first few days, I did it once a day, but then quickly starting practicing twice a day, once in the morning and once before I went to bed. Occasionally I'd toss in another session at lunch time, although sometimes I just did a silent meditation instead for 10 to 15 minutes.
After about a week I was deeply hooked. I grabbed the iPhone GetSomeHeadspace app and untethered myself from my desk. We've got a meditation room in our new house and even though it's very sparse right now (just one sitting pillow), it's a magnificent sanctuary for my meditation.
I noticed that Andy Puddicombe, the founder of Headspace, had written a book called Get Some Headspace: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day. I downloaded it and read it last night and this morning. Since I'm deep into the Headspace program, a lot of it was familiar to me. But Andy's description of his own meditation journey is fascinating, and reinforces a lot of things he guides you through in the Headspace program.
Near the end, he has a great chapter on different forms of meditation beyond sitting. He covers walking, sleeping, eating, and running. These are forms that intrigue me, especially since I run a lot, eat too fast, and am exploring different sleep patterns.
Overall, the book is a nice addition to the Headspace program. If you are intrigued about meditation, it's a fast, easy, helpful read. But there's nothing like just practicing. For that, I recommend you hop on line and try the free Headspace Take10 program.
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Amirography
198 reviews · 113 followers
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January 16, 2019
It was a relaxed, slow-paced, lite book on meditation and a method of doing it.
I enjoyed the book, however, it didn't gave me a heavy insight into meditation, but it gave me fairly good understand of what involves in a good practice of meditation. And also it brought the importance of its integration into other parts of my life. I should mention that though the book explains some meditation practices, it cannot do the job of the app, and vice versa. Although I think the book was intended as an independent product with the same aim as the app.
by-the-bed-books
philosophy
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Florencia
649 reviews · 1,915 followers
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June 14, 2021
Often in life we get so caught up in the analysis, the dissection of every possible outcome, that we miss an opportunity altogether. Of course, some things require careful consideration, but the more we live mindfully, in the moment, the more we start to get a sense of what feels right. Whether you think of it as a gut feeling, intuition, being guided, or just knowing for yourself that it’s the right thing to do, this can be an incredibly liberating discovery.
Do your thoughts define the way you feel? Or does the way you feel define your thoughts?
May 21, 21
non-fiction
philosophyland
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Devo62
3 reviews
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April 21, 2012
Beginners Only!!
This book contains very basic information on mindfulness and meditation. If you are a beginner or have been having trouble following a practice, this may contain the guidance you need. I was a little upset about the blatant commercialism of this book. The use of cute copyrighted terms like "headspace©" and "Take10©" turned me off. The book also repeatedly references the author's website where very little information is available without registering. It looked and smelled like a moneymaking machine that I would prefer to avoid. I did enjoy reading about the author's experiences as a Buddhist monk, especially the "Screaming Man Story".
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reading is my hustle
1,488 reviews · 294 followers
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April 11, 2015
Wow. I sort of cannot believe how much I liked this book. I have never been good at quieting my mind and that was BEFORE having kids. And since? It is so noisy- I want a break from my thoughts. Enter this book. I think I read somewhere that meditation is a gym membership for the mind. It's true, guys! I have downloaded the Headspace app and I LOVE it. It is perfect for a beginner like me b/c the app uses guided meditation. All it requires is ten minutes of your time a day. And after that ten minutes? So relaxed.
non-fiction-general
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Arimo
95 reviews
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October 28, 2017
[I've also written a longer review of the book in my blog. You can find it here.]
I had already used the Headspace meditation app for a year before reading the book. Still, the book was definitely worth it! For example, the Headspace book goes deeper in the theory and reasoning than the app. The clear explaining also helped me correct some misconceptions I still had about meditation.
The Headspace book does a great job of teaching mindfulness in a very easy-to-understand way. Instead of giving the reader an information overload, the book has a clear focus on the most important information. It also helps that Andy Puddicombe is a very engaging and entertaining writer.
If I'd need to recommend just one book for someone who wants to learn mindfulness and meditation, I'd hand them "The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness".
Ps. "The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness" and "Get Some Headspace" are listed as different books in Goodreads, but make no mistake: "The Headspace Guide..." is just a re-branded version of the exact same thing.
ei-fiktio
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TS Chan
706 reviews · 872 followers
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September 14, 2020
3.5 stars.
I am quite convinced of the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, which was why I read this book. The instruction surrounding the concept of mindfulness as a form of meditation made more sense than the 'traditional' idea of meditation, i.e. a state of having no thoughts in one's mind. I had tried that kind of meditation many times with all those breathing techniques with picturing one's third eye and the flow of prana, etc etc, but it never worked. The only thing that left me feeling a bit cold is the whole idea that people who are already so reliant on their smartphones are now reaching for it to help them meditate through an app. This is truly a sign of our times.
non-fiction
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Sumit
232 reviews · 26 followers
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February 6, 2019
While this book was an entertaining, gentle, and refreshingly irreverent introduction to meditation, from my perspective it didn't live up to the glowing reviews I'd heard about it. I've read a number of books and guides to meditation over the years, from Western approaches to Eastern religious texts (Hindu and Buddhist), and it's true that many of them can make the practice of meditation seem incredibly intimidating. This book takes a much less formal approach, and guides the reader through both the why and how of basic meditation techniques with joy and humor. As others have pointed out in their reviews, the book is made stronger both by his reference to studies that have demonstrated the value of meditation, as well as the endless personal stories which bring color to the sometimes dry material. In the end, though, the book just doesn't contain that much real information about meditation, and most of what it has to teach could easily have been covered in a chapter or two. It was an enjoyable read, so this is acceptable, but intermediate or advanced meditators are not going to find much new here.
I will admit that this book, unlike the many others I've read, did get me to start a meditation practice, both at home and in some of the situational mindfulness practices he describes (walking, riding the bus). I don't follow his take-10 methodology exactly, but I did find the framework he presents helpful in coming up with a practice that works for me. Only time will tell if this will prove useful for me, but this is more committed than I've been to a practice than ever before.
A note about the audiobook - the author reads very slowly, and it was hard to handle this book at less than 2.5x. As such, I found the HeadSpace app unbearable, as you must listen to the guided meditations at 1x. The last chapter in the book does have a version of each guided meditation, but I did not find this particularly useful.
[update 12/20/18]
Though I stand by the content of my review, I've updated my rating from three stars to four. This is primarily because I've found the lessons and techniques in this book to be remarkably "sticky" - it has not only led me to consistent practices of both sitting and walking meditations, various concepts, images, and techniques from the book keep coming back to me as I shape my own practice. It's a book I'll definitely be recommending to others, and as such it deserves at least four stars.
[Update 2/5/19 - bumping up to five stars. Despite its quirks, this book was incredibly helpful to me, and it has taken a couple of months to see the full benefits. As I mentioned in my last update, the book got me to finally start a meditation practice, and now I've found several real world situations where being able to use that muscle of clearing my mind has been incredibly useful. I'm now going back through "Peace is Every Step," and even that book is proving far more meaningful now that this one got me on the path to a daily practice.
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