Thoughts of worthlessness, poor self-image, lack of belief in your own abilities, failure, and social out-casting, can run rampant in the mind and detrimentally impact your ability to function.

I know from first-hand experience the negativity cycle that these thoughts can put you into. When I am suffering from anxiety or depression, these thoughts can become particularly powerful.

They play on a loop in my mind, getting ever louder. The more they play, the more that I am negatively impacted. My functionality drops as I am less and less able to do the things I usually do. These losses ‘prove’ that the voices in my head are right…

The first time I had a panic attack, I thought I was going to die.

There was no exact triggering moment, just a quick, overwhelming onslaught of symptoms. Tight chest, sweating, heart palpations, racing thoughts, and a feeling of impending doom…

Before we progress into the advanced practice component of this book, it is important to address some common myths and misconceptions about mindfulness. Below you will find some of the questions, beliefs and concerns people have prior to starting a mindfulness practice, as well as some of the things they wished they knew earlier on….

‘‘‘To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.’ – Lao Tzu

One of the goals of our meditation practice is to bring the mindfulness state off the meditation mat and into our everyday lives. Just as we lift weights in the gym to be strong in daily life, we meditate formally so we can be mindful in daily life. But there need not be a distinction between the end of a formal session and the rest of our day. Indeed, with practice we will be increasingly able to become mindful at any time. First with small glimpses, and then over longer periods of time…

‘‘We have only now, only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us, day and night.’ – Jack Kornfield

Knowing if you are meditating correctly is uniquely challenging. Unlike most other pursuits, it is completely internal, and the results are entirely subjective. You could watch two people sitting, one in deep meditation and the other lost in a daydream, and not be able to tell who was doing what. In fact, the day dreamer may emerge from their sit appearing more refreshed and relaxed than when they began, whereas the meditator may appear exhausted….

Daily meditation will help you to reduce the severity and duration of distressing thoughts, emotions, moods and mind-frames by getting you out of your head and into the present moment.

It will give you some space between you and your mental phenomena, allowing you to observe what is happening without falling into it completely.

Some of the most common questions about meditation relate to posture. ‘How should I sit? Should I open or close my eyes? What do I do with my hands? Can I use a chair and a cushion? What if I don’t have the flexibility?’ Depending on the tradition of your instructor, you will receive different answers to these questions, some of which will be contradictory, all of which will seem very convincing.

When meditating, if we notice our attention wandering, we gently bring our focus back to the meditation object again and again. This approach works fine, but there is another layer to the practice that can help you to stay focused and mindful for longer and far more effectively.