Non-fiction books on mindfulness and wellbeing
Mental health and wellbeing is just as important as physical health. Take a look at our recommended books on practicing mindfulness and improving your wellbeing.
The pursuit of wellness: 12 steps to a healthier, happier you, by MaryRuth Ghiyam
Do you want to nourish your body, but don't have the time, energy or motivation to make the necessary changes? This book contains twelve easy, actionable, and inspiring steps that are specially tailored toward anyone who feels stuck in terms of their health or happiness. Including everything from simple lifestyle changes, such as how 15 minutes of sunshine a day and positive thinking can literally change your life, to bigger hacks that cover how we eat, sleep, and move, these basic but profound steps will help you to harness your energy and take back control.
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Positivity now: optimism, resilience, confidence and motivation, by Paul McKenna
With easy-to-use exercises and visualisation techniques, this is a practical psychological system in how to discover your own natural most powerful resources for self-care, self-belief and for taking control of your life.
Empowered: live your life with passion and purpose, by Vee Kaitvhu
From experiencing grief and leaving her home country of Zimbabwe for the UK, to attending disruptive state schools and working long hours to support herself and her mother, Vee Kativhu has faced much adversity. But through personal experience, she has triumphed, using her experience to help underprivileged and underrepresented people from all over the world recognise their own talent and achieve their goals.
From graduating from Oxford and becoming a Harvard grad, to building an online community of over 260,000, Vee has become an icon and inspiration to young people in need of a boost of confidence, motivation and practical life advice.
The poetry pharmacy: tried-and-true prescriptions for the heart, mind and soul, by William Sieghart
Sometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice offer comfort, delight and inspiration for all; a space for reflection, and that precious realisation - I'm not the only one who feels like this. In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. This pocket-sized book presents the most essential poems in his dispensary: those which, again and again, have really shown themselves to work.
How to be human: the manual, by Ruby Wax
In this work, Ruby Wax tries to come up with some answers to that niggling question about who we are. With the input of a monk (an expert on our inner lives) and a neuroscientist (an expert on the brain), Ruby explores how to find happiness in the modern world - despite the constant bombardment of bad news, the need to choose between 5000 different types of toothpaste, and the loneliness of having hundreds of friends who we've never met and don't know us.
The book of overthinking: how to stop the cycle of worry, by Gwendoline Smith
Overthinking is also known as worrying or ruminating and it's a form of anxiety that many people suffer from. Psychologist Gwendoline Smith explains in clear and simple language the concepts of positive and negative overthinking, the truth about worry and how to deal with the 'thought viruses' that are holding you back. She helps you understand what's going on in your head, using humour, lots of examples and anecdotes, and she offers powerful strategies for addressing your issues.
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Losing Eden: why our minds need the wild, by Lucy Jones
Today many of us live indoor lives, disconnected from the natural world as never before. And yet nature remains deeply ingrained in our language, culture and consciousness. For centuries, we have acted on an intuitive sense that we need communion with the wild to feel well. Now, in the moment of our great migration away from the rest of nature, more and more scientific evidence is emerging to confirm its place at the heart of our psychological wellbeing.
So what happens, asks acclaimed journalist Lucy Jones, as we lose our bond with the natural world - might we also be losing part of ourselves? Delicately observed and rigorously researched, this book is an enthralling journey through this new research, exploring how and why connecting with the living world can so drastically affect our health.