We are pleased to announce that rights have been acquired by mental health and wellbeing publisher, Trigger Publishing, for Vanessa Potter’s new title Finding My Right Mind: One Woman’s Experiment to put Meditation to the Test. World English Language rights were sold to publisher Jo Lal by Caroline Hardman. Paperback publication is set for February 2021.

When Vanessa Potter woke up one day to find herself blind and paralysed, shewas stunned to discover it was meditation, not drugs, which saved her mind. 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 more to learn, she embarked on her own consciousness road-trip, exploring the major schools of meditation, along with hypnotherapy and psychedelics. Finding My Right Mind sees Vanessa put ten meditation techniques to the test over the course of two years. Determined to objectively record her journey, Vanessa’s brain activity was measured by neuroscientists from the University of Cambridge during her inner exploration.

Offering a detailed snapshot of each practice, she provides an unusually voyeuristic glimpse into how powerful meditation can be. After 300 hours of meditation, the scientists and Vanessa reveal if meditation lived up to its hype and provided the key to contentment.

Finding My Right Mind is a unique take on citizen science, delving beneath the surface of meditation to reveal the fascinating world of the mind and possibilities within. Unlike other meditation titles, this book explores not only how to meditate, but what happens when we try.

Jo Lal said: “This is a fascinating, accessible and informative exploration into meditation and other mind training techniques. What sets it apart is the collaboration between Vanessa and scientists at Cambridge University to explore what happens to our brains when we meditate.”

Before becoming a self-experimenting science communicator, Vanessa Potter spent 16 years as an award-winning broadcast producer working within the London advertising industry. In October 2012 she was struck down by a severe illness called Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder. Following her recovery, she collaborated with neuroscientists at Cambridge University, to design an interactive immersive exhibition, based on her therapeutic use of meditation, and gave a TEDx talk about her experiences in Ghent in 2016. She documented her illness and recovery in her memoir, Patient H69: The Story of My Second Sight, which was published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2017 and won The Times best memoir of 2017. She’s the recipient of an Inspiring Woman award, and has written pieces for Mosaic Science, The Telegraph and Marie-Claire.

See the full Bookbrunch article here.