I was excited about this one, but it was a bit lackluster. I didn't feel as though any new revelations or ideas about mindfulness jumped out. Seemed very run off the mill, jumping into a swamped Content area.

I just couldn't relate to this book. I think if someone was facing heavy addictions, this would be full of great advice and words of wisdom, but as an ex smoker, it was a bit belittling. No a favorite....

I must apologise for not being able to review this book after you so kindly accepted my request. I have had an unfortunately challenging time, but am now free to resume reading and reviewing. I hope that you will not hold my difficulties against me in future requests

A great book if your fighting addiction or struggling to quit smoking. I found those topics to be the books primary focus.

Excellent book, i now practice meditation and mindfulness on a regular basis. My only gripe was the focus on quitting smoking and other addictions as these were not why i read the book....

This seems to be a book of two halfs. On the one hand it heavily goes on about smoking and the clinnics that Allen Carr runs and on the other it's about Mindfulness and how to become aware of your breathing, your thoughts and activities to do to overcome unwanted thoughts.

Through out the book there are helpful hints and tips and it also discusses our awareness of not just our bodies and how sometimes we forget to breathe or whether we actually notice how our bodies respond to stress, it also points out our reliance on technology and how whilst waiitng for a train, bus or to fill a void we are constantly checking social meida for updates instead of being aware of the noise, smells and views we seen around us or on our journeys.

We drive from a-b and not aware how we got there. We veiw others lives on social media as being fantastic when in reality we only show snippets. We are ocnstantly bombarded with adverts that make us believe our lives will be better with technology when years ago we lived quite happily without it and yet these days we are lead to believe that sitting still and doing nothing is a bad thing.

These days, as mentioned in the book, we are lead to believe reprogramming ourselves, changing our thoughts and perhaps just sitting still and doing nothing is a bad thing when in reality we need these times to rest and recover, so many pressures are put on us these days in our working life becuasse more and more technology is taking over and we are expected to do more with less time.

Although the book seemed focused on smoking and bad habits it does give a brief insight into mindfulness with some helpful hints and tips, some of which I will try and take forward and use.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Do you want to free yourself from worry and anxiety?
Allen Carr's Easyway method has brilliantly transformed lives all over the world, setting out a wonderful practical
pathway to help free millions from a whole variety of addictions.
It strips away the illusions that leave us prey to negative thoughts and behaviours, showing us how to gain clarity and control if we focus on who we truly are rather than being distracted by those things that harm and trouble us. The key to peace of mind lies within.
Mindfulness lies at the heart of Allen Carr's philosophy and this book shares the proven principles of mindfulness with a wider audience in simple accessible terms that apply to real life and provide a tangible, practical outcome: YOUR HAPPINESS.

This was a DNF.

I wanted to learn more about mindfulness - which is why I requested the book.

Basically, what I got was a 250 page advertorial for the Easyway Program. "Here are my products, go and buy them." That was so uncool on multiple levels, especially in a book that is supposed to help reduce stress and anxiety - and all it does is pressure the reader into trying out his programs.

It was shoddy, in poor taste and an embarrassment to authors and publishers.


Paul
ARH

Really didn't enjoy this book at all and actually didn't finish it.. There was just too much repetition about how successful the Author has been with his anti-smoking/anti-addiction programme. Half way through and I was still waiting to find out about mindfulness.

This is one of the few, maybe even the first, book I've read on mindfulness. I've been intrigued by the topic for quite a while but I've only done some light research on the Internet. When The Easy Way to Mindfulness became available on NetGalley I was very excited to give it a try, however, after finishing it I think I am more disappointed in this book despite it's few nuggets of wisdom and exercises it offers. I feel this way because the book was mostly aimed at heavy addictions. Despite this, there was some information that I can still use and implement in my life.

More than anything this book felt like an advertisement for Allen Carr and The Easyway to Stop Smoking. While how to quit smoking mindfully sounds like it may help some people with the mental part of their addiction, there is still a physical aspect to their addiction (nicotine, sugar, booze) that needs to be overcome. I think that needs to be acknowledged more in the book.

Also, even though I don't have an addiction I do consider Carr referring to addictions as "little crutches". I found it offensive and I don't even have a "little crutch". Methinks Carr should rethink how he speaks to people.

Similar to the other Carr books with in depth descriptions and easy to follow meditation instructions. Very helpful.

What if there was a simple, no-effort way to reduce stress, free yourself from anxiety and depression, and increase your happiness? This book’s not quite promising to magically transform your life into rainbows and unicorns, but it’s not far off!

I actually am a huge believer in the power of mindfulness, and meditation, and have experienced a positive change in my life from years of both. However, I’m by no means an expert so any help is more than welcome. Step forward this ‘Easy Way’ title, from the people who apparently devised the best quit smoking method ever – surely a good credential?

Well, they seem to think so, as the book half-reads as a giant advert for the system and previous books – which I found massively irritating. Even discounting those bits, the examples tend to go back to smokers – which was beyond irrelevant to me, and actually left me struggling as I have no experience to connect to such an addiction. Could I move the example over to, say, tea or chocolate? Not so much – unlike smoking, there isn’t the same black-and-white it’s awful, and quite frankly I don’t really want to give up tea or chocolate (having done both at certain points) so this “every smoker absolutely wants to quit” message is again pushing me away.

So: I’d suggest that this is perhaps a book for people who have or want to quit smoking, drinking, gambling, etc, perhaps even using the Easy Way method, and want to go deeper into the mindful techniques that they’ve already used for that.

I did quite like some of the imagery: head in a box of flies-that-are-your-issues, mindfulness is not trying to squish the flies but rather taking your head out of the box. One chapter (13) in particular resonated with me, about the struggling against things being more stressful than the thing itself; life is change, go with the flow etc etc.

However, while there are little bits and pieces like that throughout the book – and these are handily summarised in a final chapter run through (that could, I suspect, have been the outline for a better stab at the full content) – I felt it could have been much better written, with a lot more flow. Paragraphs don’t always follow from the previous one, but rather jump around a little, and the content of each chapter isn’t necessarily as strongly linked to the title as I would have expected.

It really doesn’t help that every single chapter seems to include heavy advertising for the quit smoking clinics and previous books. This is shoe-horned in regardless of whether it actually fits with the mindfulness concept under discussion, which was hugely off-putting. And then the last 10% of the book is a list of clinics’ contact details and previous books o_O

Overall: it’s got some useful advice buried in the advertising, and I suspect that if you’re already a member of the Easy Way audience this might resonate more with you, but I couldn’t help be disappointed that it wasn’t a little more helpful, a little more on-topic (I am hugely interested in mindfulness, after all!) and a little less advertisement for a product I have no use for.