We are glad to announce that Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John's highly anticipated pocketbook, First Aid Kit for the Mind: Breaking the Cycle of Habitual Behaviours, is now available! This concise guide is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand and overcome habitual behaviours through the application of trauma-informed mindfulness techniques.

First Aid Kit for the Mind offers a straightforward approach to handling the challenging moments life often presents. It is packed with guided meditations, reflective exercises, and easy-to-adopt practices that help to re-regulate the body, come back to the breath and soothe and ground back in immediate experience. From there, it is possible to identify unhelpful stories and ways of thinking, interrupt destructive patterns and bring kindness and groundedness to our experience.

Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John is a celebrated Buddhist author and speaker whose expertise spans a range of subjects including trauma recovery and mindfulness. A teacher and Order Member in the Triratna Buddhist Community, with a background as an international correspondent and a deep engagement in conflict resolution and recovery therapies, Vimalasara brings a wealth of personal and professional experience to their writings. Their books include Detox Your Heart: Meditations for Emotional Trauma, Eight Step Recovery: Using the Buddha’s Teachings to Overcome Addiction, and more recently I’m Still Your Negro: An Homage to James Baldwin.

This is what leading Buddhist magazine Lion’s Roar had to say about the book:

“Trauma-informed Buddhist teacher Valerie Mason-John’s First Aid Kit for the Mind: Breaking the Cycle of Habitual Behaviors (Windhorse Publications) is a book centered on mind-body practice, which asks, “What should we do when we are hurting?” Mason-John demonstrates how to come home to our bodies both when we’re distressed and when we are at ease, so that we can have our own emergency medical technician of the mind to help us identify and work through the shame we feel when what we’ve tried in life hasn’t worked. Drawing on Buddhism, mindfulness, the performing arts, psychology, and physiology, they use mnemonics to help readers remember the practice. This short book offers more than a Band-Aid approach to covering over a scar; it is a tool for self-diagnosis and a salve for the weary-hearted.”

We invite you to explore this insightful guide that promises not just to educate but also to provide practical pathways to healing and freedom. Thank you for your continued support, and we hope you find this resource beneficial.