Mindful Books and Apps Worth Checking Out This Month

The Mindful Editors sifted through mindfulness books, recordings, and apps to offer up this short list for your September reading and listening pleasure.

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1) ON THE VERGE

Wake Up, Show Up, and Shine
Cara Bradley (New World)
A business coach, a basketball coach, and a congressman endorse this book, which gives you a good idea of whom it’s aimed for. Bradley is a former professional figure skater—think of many long cold mornings of practice and thousands of trips and falls—who now teaches yoga and mindfulness, to develop what athletes call “mental strength” or agility. Bradley’s upbeat spirit jumps off the page in a book that is both practical and inspirational for active people who want to synchronize their body and mind to perform at their best.

2) IT DIDN’T START WITH YOU

How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
Mark Wolynn (Viking)
Many people who meditate begin to discover how vulnerable they are as they notice old wounds that have festered, unattended. If you prick us, we bleed. If you prick us with words and attitudes, we bleed inside. The wounds scab over, but the scars remain, and can be passed on generation to generation, creating new wounds. Wolynn presents practical methods to examine where this pain resides and find healing and resilience.

3) CURE

A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body
Jo Marchant (Crown)
What power does the mind have to heal the body? Science writer Jo Marchant explores research into the placebo effect, meditation, prayer, conditioning, and hypnosis. Her aim is to re-introduce “mind” into conventional science and medicine, since “body”—a more measurable unit of study—has “sidelined the more intangible effects of the mind.”

4) EAT RIGHT: NOW!

Judson Brewer (Claritas MindSciences)
Stress-eating is like scratching an itch. “We get a momentary distraction because our brain gets a spritz of dopamine,” says cravings expert Judson Brewer. For some, that chemical surge trumps stress and provides a feeling of control, creating a habit. Eat Right: Now! trains users to differentiate between stress-related hunger and actual hunger. Users learn mindfulness practices to ride out cravings and can find support from an online community.

Bonus Reading and Listening:

1) SLEEP SMARTER
21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success, by Shawn Stevenson

2) LIVING WITH DIFFERENCE
How to Build Community in a Divided World, by Adam B. Seligman, Rahel R. Wasserfall, and David W. Montgomery

3) MINDFULNESS
How School Leaders Can Reduce Stress and Thrive on the Job, by Caryn M. Wells

4) BEING TRUE
What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love, by Tami Simon

5) MINDFUL SELF-COMPASSION
Core Meditations, by Christopher Germer