These are some of my favorite books and other resources that I have used to develop my meditation practice. Starting with practical guides:

• The Mind Illuminated: A complete meditation guide integrating buddhist wisdom and brain science by Culadasa John Yates, PhD, Matthew Imergut, PhD, and Jeremy Graves – Great book, my favorite practical guide to meditation.
• Mindfulness in Plain English by Henepolaa Gunaratana
• The Magic of Awareness by Anam Thubten, Sharon Roe.
• Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shyunryu Suzuki

Buddhism and Buddhist meditation:

• The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh – This book was amazing!
• Why Buddhism is True – The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment by Robert Wright
• The Path is the Goal by Chogyam Trungpa
• Enlightened Vagabond by Matthieu Ricard – entertaining and educational stories from Patrul Rinpoche’s life. Quite a few good nuggets in here.
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead – preparing for death by understanding the process.
• The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche – I read this when I was a young adult and it got me interested in Tibetan Buddhism.
• Embracing the Unknown: Life Lessons from the Tibetan Book of the dead by Pema Chodron, great lectures on compassion.
• The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chogyam Trungpa – how to avoid materialism on your path to enlightenment.
• The Way of the Boddhisattva by Shantideva – how to cultivate love, compassion, generosity, and patience.
• The Path is the Goal by Chogyam Trungpa – practical guide to Buddhist meditation.

Science of meditation:

• How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, actually a book about psychedelics and what they can teach us about consciousness and how we can use them clinically.
• Altered Traits: Science reveals how meditation changes your mind, brain and body by Daniel Goleman & Richard J Davidson.
• Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom by Rich Hanson
• A Symphony in the Brain by Jim Robbins – this is the book that started me on this journey and encouraged me to purchase the Muse headset.

Philosophy and Story:

• Kosmic Konsciousness by Ken Wilbur
• The Future of Spirituality by Ken Wilbur
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin – I read this a couple years ago and it inspired me to make this a project that I would document.
• Designing your Life – How to build a well-lived, joyful life by Bill Burnett and David Evans
• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
• The Buddha and the Badass by Vishen Lakhiani
• The Surrender Experiment by Michael A. Singer, great story about surrendering to the universe and letting things flow. Great story-telling.
• The Art of Solitude by Stephen Batchelor
• No Self, No Problem by Chris Niebauer
• The Urban Monk by Pedram Shojai
• The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer.
• The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani
• Less is More by Vandenbroeck
• The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi