When Vanessa Potter woke up one day to find herself blind and paralysed, she was stunned to discover that it was rudimentary meditation techniques and not drugs that aided her arduous recovery. The fact that an imaginary place – a mental sanctuary – evoked such positive healing left her with enormous respect for the power of her mind and a deep curiosity to understand it more.

Yet, despite this startling epiphany, after her recovery Vanessa found herself thrust back into the everyday stresses of modern life, never seeming to get anything done and spending much of her life in a dizzying haze. Convinced she had much more to learn, she wondered if lifting the lid on her own consciousness would show her the key to contentment, and came up with a plan to rigorously explore different schools of mediation in turn, under expert guidance from teachers and gurus.

It’s not every day a harassed mother decides to run her ownscience experiment from home and manages to persuade Cambridge neuroscientists to help her. This unconventional partnership allowed scientists to watch her inner exploration inaction. It is only after 200 hours meditating that they finally reveal if she successfully trained her mind.

Praise

‘Meditation is everywhere! We are told that it could be the answer for coping with a busy life, feeling more relaxed and even sleeping better. In this fascinating book, Potter embarks on the most incredible journey, providing personal reflection on different meditative techniques and her ability to communicate them clearly is exceptional. As to whether she finds the answers she is looking for, I highly recommend that you read this book’
Professor Alice Gregory, author of Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave

‘Finding My Right Mind is a fascinating and disarmingly honest account of one woman’s journey to discover what meditation can do to calm, comfort and heal us’
Beth Kempton, author of Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life

‘A fascinating whistle-stop read through 10 different forms of meditation, Vanessa Potter explores how we can all learn to be our very best, for ourselves, our families and our loved ones. It doesn’t matter what you think you may know about meditation, consciousness or yourself, there is much to be learnt here’
Isabel Losada, bestselling author