Updated November 27, 2021
Yeah yeah yeah. I know I’ve talked about life changing books before. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t share with you that this book has had such a profound effect on my stress levels, peace of mind, and habits.
The Best Introduction to Meditation Book You’ve Never Heard Of
There are a million reasons why I love 8 Minute Mediation. In fact, I read this book before I read 10% Happier. First of all, Victor Davich is a great author and writes in a conversational tone that really relates to his readers. Second of all, most people think you need to go to a monastery or spend hours a day sitting still meditating, but through reading this, I’ve learned that that is completely not true. Third of all, the 8 minutes is key- the main message is not necessarily that you need to do 8 minutes of meditation like you needed to do 8 minute abs back in the ’90s ;)- the point of the 8 minute meditation is to build the habit of meditating daily. The habit of breathing and becoming present.
Davich breaks the book out into 8 chapters of different “themes” of meditation. Put another way, you will meditate 8 minutes a day for 8 weeks. Each week, you will be working on a different them or type of meditation. One week is concentrating solely on your breath, and another week is lovingkindness meditation, for example. After 8 weeks, congratulations! You now have the meditation habit.
After this 8 weeks, you have built your meditation skills, and you can choose what to do after that. A lot of times, I do lovingkindness meditations. There is a resource section in the back of the book which you can use to explore meditation further once you are done the 8 week program.
My Biggest Takeaway from 8 Minute Meditation
Is the habit formation. Before reading this book, I never meditated consistently. I always gave up, frustrated that I didn’t have some magical power that other meditators possessed. I was completely wrong about that as I learned through this book and through my own meditation experience.
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How 8 Minute Meditation Has Personally Affected Me
I’ve always been interested in meditation. I wanted to be more “zen”. Years ago, I even did a temple stay in Korea. As of this writing, I’ve meditated for about 100 days straight. There was one night when my wife asked me if I meditated that day, and I had forgotten! So right before bed, I took some breaths. That is the closest I’ve gone to not meditating daily. As Davich puts it, everyone has 8 minutes a day for themselves, and I certainly have no intention of stopping my 8 minute daily habit.
How Many Stars
5 🙂
If you have even the faintest interest in meditation, I’d recommend this book wholeheartedly.
BOOK DETAILS ONE MORE TIME
Title: 8 Minute Meditation
Author: Victor Davich
Publish Date: December 2, 2014
ISBN: 0399173420 | ISBN-13: 978-0399173424
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Comments?
Do you meditate? Have you heard of this book? Did you give up on meditating? Let me know in the comments!