Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman

Having seen Mark Williams do a talk at a literary festival, and read about other people's life-changing experiences upon reading this book, I was curious. So I bought the book and accompanying CD, to see if it could help me live more in the present, feel less anxious, and to feel more at peace.

The book takes you through the theory and practice of mindfulness meditation and explains how mindfulness has been scientifically proven to be beneficial to health. I have no doubt about that.

The book takes you through a programme of mindfulness practises, a week at a time. You have to dedicate about half an hour a day to practising mindfulness daily for about eight weeks. The book explains what you're trying to achieve with each week's activities, and sets you tasks to do positive things in life, other than meditation. Some of the meditations are designed to get you focused on the breath, one asks you to focus on uncomfortable feelings so that you can learn to accept them, and another is designed to focus the mind on befriending yourself and other people.

I struggled with concentrating on the meditations, but that's OK because a wandering mind is normal. I had periods during the meditations of feeling bored or anxious, and had to keep bringing my mind back to the meditation in hand. I also found that after listening to the same meditations so many times, the words washed over me, and I drifted off into whatever was on my mind at the time. Sometimes this was relaxing. Other times, not so much. Sometimes I felt that listening to any soothing voice or music would generate the same calming effect.

So was the book 'life changing' for me, as claimed on the cover? Not really. I think I am calmer now than when I started, but my anxiety tends to pass anyway. I've come across other meditations that I enjoyed more, and will continue to try to be more mindful. My favourite part? The raisin meditation.