Will Williams - The Effortless Mind: Meditation for the Modern World

Praise for The Effortless Mind

Will makes meditation cool. Say hello to a clearer mind thanks to your new bulletproof technique to help you relax and unleash your best self.

Madeleine Shaw, author of Get The Glow

Wills meditation is a game changer. If you want to understand meditation more deeply and how you can harness the benefits in the most profound ways possible, The Effortless Mind is where its at. I will be giving this important book to everyone I know.

Jasmine Hemsley, author of The Art of Eating Well

Meditation can be a powerful tool in managing anxiety, stress and other common daily experiences that so many people seem to face, and Vedic meditation with Will is one of the simplest forms of meditation there is, making it incredibly accessible for anyone to learn.

Annie Clarke, author of Mind Body Bowl

I learned how to meditate with Will Williams two years ago and since then so many things have changed. I have a lifelong tool that has brought me calm, clarity and increased creativity and allowed me to far more effectively weather the storms of everyday life. My husband and daughter have also been taught by Will, and we now share a common thread of understanding and respect for this incredible tool. Will is the most generous, warm and gracious teacher.

Emin Rushton, wellbeing director, Psychologies

Within a few months of learning to meditate with Will, I realised I was starting to have so many ideas for songs and books, as well as helping me with a busy schedule of touring and being a dad.

Howard Donald, Take That

Vedic meditation is now part of my daily routine. It has been hugely beneficial in so many ways. Will is very supportive and nurturing and makes learning seem easy and fun. I feel extremely grateful this has come into my life.

Cressida Bonas, actress

Wills practical, non-woo-woo approach to meditation has enabled thousands of busy people to find a way to fit a regular practice into their lives.

Lesley Thomas, The Times

Will Williams did nothing less than open my eyes to meditation by teaching me how to close them. Of all the practices I tried, and I tried many, his was the most welcoming, the most inclusive and inspiring. And it works. We could all do with a little Will Williams in our lives.

Nick Duerden, author of Get Well Soon

Vedic meditation has been very transformative for me. Ive noticed that Im able to calm my nervous system down, Im ten times more aware and my intellectual capability is increased. Ive got more energy and Im appreciating special moments with my two children.

Sam Branson, documentary maker

To my nephews Ryan, Lloyd and Owen,

and my godchildren Dexter and Charlie.

You are all so very precious.

D ont worry thats not an existential question. What I mean is: why are you here, now, reading this book?

It might be because youve been curious about meditation or mindfulness for a while and have decided to see what its all about. Or perhaps youve tried other forms of meditation in the past but for some reason or another they havent been quite right for you. You might have a specific problem that you are desperate to resolve, maybe an illness, a difficult relationship, or issues at work. Equally, you may have no real problems to overcome; youre a generally happy individual, yet feel as if there might be more to life that you could feel happier, more satisfied.

Whatever your reason, Im really pleased youve decided to take the time to read this. And whatever it is youre looking for, Im pretty sure I can help.

Before we get going, a bit about me. Im Will, and Ive been teaching meditation for six years, mostly in London, but also in many other places around the world. Ive found that every country Ive visited, just like every person Ive taught, has its own unique characteristics, and yet, underneath it all, there are always the same themes concerning the human condition and the human story that transcend all cultural orientations.

My approach to teaching meditation is to do so in the most accessible and easily understandable way, so that literally anyone can do it. Ive taught artists and academics, housewives and hipsters, judges and janitors, lawyers and labourers, psychologists and scientists, bankers and billionaires, athletes and addicts. Ive even had the rare privilege of teaching royalty! In each case, everyone is ultimately looking for the same things. The key, I always say, lies in how they go about finding them.

A lot of people have preconceived notions of what a meditation teacher might look or sound like, and I dont quite fit that stereotype. I dont wear robes and I dont speak in flowery, cryptic language. I dont live in a cave, an ashram, or on a mountain top, and I dont do denial. I live in a flat in south London and Im very much of the pleasures of this world.

But I do know my stuff. Ive studied and come to comprehend all the fundamental principles behind the ancient practice I teach, and I understand the science the physics, the neuroscience, the biology that backs it all up. I can show you how and why meditation works, and thats what I want to do in this book.

Ill also explain why meditation is so relevant to the way we live now. Were a long way from the Indian Himalaya, where this technique was originally developed thousands of years ago, but it can and does make an enormous difference to modern, Western lives. And theres an incredible level of convergence between the ancient wisdom behind this form of meditation and current scientific understanding.

One of the most important lessons I learned on my journey to becoming a teacher was that the greatest and most powerful techniques are often the simplest. The form of meditation I teach is just that. It can be done by anyone, anywhere, at any time, and provides the perfect antidote to the enormous levels of stress and over-stimulation that we in the Western world experience every day. I know and the research backs it up that meditation helps: with mental health, physical health, relationships, work, creativity and spirituality.

For many people, a simple technique for enriching daily life with greater calm, clarity and capability is enough. Others have a desire to take a deeper dive into the ancient knowledge base. Both of these paths can be taken using the tools I teach, which have been handed down from master to student for thousands of years.

For me, the individual challenges we face, and indeed the wider global ones, always come back to the fundamental quality of consciousness. Theres a quote from the genius that was Albert Einstein that, when I first read it, elicited the most profound Eureka! moment of my life. He said: You cannot solve problems from the same state of consciousness that created them.

That very wise epithet confirmed my intuitive sense that teaching meditation was the most powerful way I could help bring about meaningful change in the world by expanding peoples states of consciousness (Ill talk more about exactly what that means later on) and thereby enabling them to see the challenges they face in life from a much more enlightened perspective. By helping people find a sense of purpose, peace, inspiration and fulfilment, expanding their empathy, compassion, co-operation and creativity, I give them the tools to engage with the world in a far more effective way.

This, above all, is why I believe meditation is so important. The power to effect momentous change whether that be within our own lives or in the larger, more universal sense is available to each and every one of us, and Id like to show you how to find and harness it.