About the Author

Shamash Alidina has been teaching mindfulness since 1998. He was invited to experiment with a short mindfulness exercise whilst studying in a ‘practical philosophy’ evening class, and caught the mindfulness bug! He was amazed at the power of mindfulness to transform his state of mind, both during the meditation itself, and through exercises in day to day life. He decided to dedicate his time to learn and teach mindfulness to others. He taught mindfulness to groups of adults, and then additionally taught in a children’s school in London for eight years which integrated mindfulness and meditation into the curriculum. He’s been working in the field of mindfulness on a full-time basis since 2010.

Shamash formally trained at Bangor University’s Centre for Mindfulness in Wales. He runs his own successful training organisation, ShamashAlidina.com, to introduce mindfulness to the general public, as well as training mindfulness teachers and business organisations, both in-person and often through live online learning. He has trained in managing workplace health with the Health and Safety Executive and regularly coaches executives in stress reduction. He has taught mindfulness all over the world, including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Europe.

Shamash has been interviewed by many national newspapers and magazines and has appeared on radio and television. He has featured in mindfulness campaigns, and regularly blogs on his main passions: mindfulness, compassion, wisdom and happiness. He currently lives in London.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to you, dear reader. May the practice of mindfulness be of benefit to you, and your loved ones.

Author’s Acknowledgments

I would like to say a special thank you to my editor Iona Everson who I’ve had the pleasure to meet and work with — I’m proud to have had her insightful eye over the production of this second edition. I would like to thank Jennifer Prytherch and Nicole Hermitage who originally commissioning me to write the first edition of this book. And I would also like to wholeheartedly extend my thanks to the whole production team at Wiley — this book is certainly a team effort!

I’d like to thank all my family members. In particular, thanks to my brother, Aneesh, who first suggested the idea of Mindfulness For Dummies, and my parents Manju and Fateh, who support me throughout my life.

Big thanks to my wonderful friends for their support (together with why I think they’re great!): Joelle (bright enthusiasm), Vicky (glowing positivity), Michal (visionary outlook and kindness), Patrycja (compassionate being), Alma (my inspiration), Garry (full of laughter), Marc (so wise and fun), Harpal (friendly and funny), Oskar (pure spiritual), Maneesh (big thinker), Joe (friendly and fun), Richard (makes things happen), BKC (deep thinker), Sid (keeping it chilled), Leroy (hilarious) and Waqas (a great friend). I don’t have a chance to see some of you often, but rest assured, I often think of you. And apologies to any of you I’ve forgotten — it just means mindfulness has not improved my memory!

Gratitude to my Chief Technology Officer and friend Paul who has helped me SO much with turning my passion into my work. And to Teresa, my friend and Chief Happiness Officer, who you’d chat to if you contact us.

I would like to thank Steven Hickman, Director of the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, for his support of my work, and for writing a beautiful foreword to this book.

Finally I’d like to thank the teachers who continue to inspire me with mindfulness, wisdom and compassion through their talks and writing: The Dalai Lama, Matthieu Ricard, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mark Williams, Steven Hayes, Russ Harris, Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta. Thank you for inspiring others to look deep within and for sharing the beauty of this mysterious gift we have — life itself.

Publisher’s Acknowledgements

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at (001) 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial and Vertical Websites

Project Editor: Iona Everson

Commissioning Editor: Ben Kemble

Proofreader: Mary White

Publisher: Miles Kendall

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Melissa Cossell

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC