Give Me a Break! No Fuss Meditation by Whitney Stewart is a wonderful little book on meditation. It is short, to the point, easy to follow, and is a great tool for anyone interested in learning how to meditate and what it’s benefits are to you.
My favorite thing about this book is that it is short – a mere 33 pages I believe. The author has made meditation very doable for the average person. So many books I’ve looked at are long and seem to have so much extra stuff in them and that immediately turns me off. With Give Me a Break!, Whitney Stewart takes you directly into why people meditate, to how it can help you and then into how to sit, warm up relaxation and then right into several different meditations all geared towards different things which I’ll elaborate on in a minute.
First though, why do people meditate? Well the biggest reason is it calms a person down. It makes you focus and takes your mind which is running around in all it’s busyness to a much more peaceful place. This is what Whitney Stewart says on why we should mediate…
‘Mediation calms you down. It helps you find your own wisdom. It settles your nerves and fills your mind with space.’ (page 5, eBook)
She stresses as well that meditation is about accepting yourself as you are and I think that’s really important. In our busy world I think we often find ourselves so stressed and torn in so many different directions that we lose focus on who we really are inside. I really believe that meditation can help us rediscover that person.
There are several reasons to meditate but a few important ones are: to calm down, to think clearly, to avoid overreacting, to be more patient, and to know your mind and these are just a few. Along with where to meditate and how to sit, Whitney talks about something really important and that’s how to breathe. Have you ever noticed when you get angry how you don’t always breathe properly – if you can focus on your breathing you’ll calm down a whole lot sooner.
Whitney then goes on to explain several different meditations you can try and I’ll just go through a couple of my favorites. One is the Favorite Object Meditation which has you focusing on an favorite object – drawing it in your mind and seeing it, imagining how it feels. For me that is Sam. If I want to focus and calm myself I will focus on him in my mind and it’s surprising how quickly I can feel my heart rate calming and my breathing returning to normal.
Another favorite of mine is Special Place Meditation and I’ve been doing this one for a long time. This meditation involves finding a place that makes you happy. See it in your mind. What do you see? What does the air feel like? Is it sunny or cloudy? Make sure to focus on your breathing too. For me this place has always been a big country field with the greenest grass you can imagine. In the middle of it is a beautiful big tree and there I am sitting on my blanket against it just looking out onto the field and enjoying the smell of the grass and the beauty around me. It always calms me down and makes me feel peaceful.
There are so many other great meditations though. I really enjoyed this book and will be giving many more of the meditations a try. I think it’s really important to be able to find a way in this busy world of ours to focus ourselves and be able to feel at peace. It’s important for our minds and our health. If you’re at all interested in learning to meditate I would recommend this book for the reasons I’ve stated – it’s short and too the point. It tells you what you need to know and how to do it; all in a easy to understand and easy to follow way.
I had the opportunity to read Give Me a Break! by Whitney Stewart for her book tour with Pump Up Your Book. Be sure to check out what others on the tour think of the book as well. You can find Whitney on her website as well as Twitter and Facebook. You can pick up your own copy of Give Me a Break! by Whitney Stewart in eBook format for your Kindle, Nook, or Kobo eReaders.
Source: Review copy provided by Pump Up Your Book and the Author. No compensation was received for this review.
I have used a few of these techniques and they really do work! I would love to check out this book, and think it’s great that it’s so short and to the point. I find that I also get a lot of relaxation and stress relief from yoga, which is something that I am growing to love. There are a lot of benefits to the body as well! Have you ever tried yoga, Dar?
I could so not find my inner calm
Sounds interesting. nice and short too
I’ve often wished I learned to mediate because there are days when I could scream with frustration and wish that I could get myself balanced and centered!