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Meditating, mindfulness and some tools and books

I try to practice mindfulness, but I'd rather put on my headphones when I am cleaning the house or doing my job than "be in the moment". Still I work at it. I mediate daily and find it really helps calm my busy mind. there are heaps of different apps, I use and like Insight Timer, which has a timer, as well as a lot of guided meditations and courses. These range from the scientific to the spiritual, but it's easy to separate out what I want.

NetGalley recently approved my requests for two books on these topics - Mindfulness in Knitting - Meditation for Craft and Calm and There Is No Right Way To Meditate. I started Mindfulness for Knitters First and was very confused. It's word salad, Here is the introduction:

From the origins of societies natural evolution, two ancient cultures have emerged, guiding the way for our heads, hears and hands. one of these cultures is knitting, or to be more descriptive, the addictive habit of forming a soft textile with your hands. the other culture is mindfulness, or as I like to think of it, a childlike love of hooking up with your inner being...

What? Maybe look up what culture means. This book fails to site knitting in any real historical space, and continually makes sweeping generalisations. There are a whole lot of words that don't mean very much. What made me nope out was when the racism started. Yes, it's white woman racism, but it's still icky. Rachel says  she went to Uzbekistan and saw the pitfalls of cotton production, including child labour and the environmental impact. But "I was relieved to find there were still beautiful local fabrics for tourists to buy... The crafts were very much alive even (sic) many of the people weren't." Excuse me? Then she exoticises India and says that Eskimos have lots of word for snow, a statement that is ignorant, if not outright racist. Anyway, by this point I was pretty ragey and gave up on this book. 

I took a deep breath, tried to get myself back in the moment and started There Is No Right Way to Meditate. This is a beautifully illustrated book which has background, thoughts and lots of simple meditation exercises. Easy to follow, affirming and lovely. I was given an e-copy, but it's a book that would be a beautiful hardcopy, maybe as a gift. 

So, two very different experience, one positive, one negative, both worth having (but don't read Mindfulness in Knitting, it's trash!)




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