Book review: Dermot Whelan brings his everyman appeal to meditation in Mind Full
Dermot Whelan writes about how he came to believe in the power of meditation
LIKE Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin’s Me and My Mate Jeffrey, which sought to get people talking openly about living with depression and anxiety, if Mind Full helps those in need of a break from anxiety, career woes, or stress, then Dermot Whelan can consider it a success. Indeed it’s no surprise to see Bressie blurbing the cover: “Makes meditation accessible. Dermot is hilarious.” You’ll know Whelan from his titular Today FM show with Dave (no surname necessary). Here, he seeks to bring his everyman appeal to the practice of meditation, first telling his life story and how he came to believe in its power. That’s very much an and-then-this-happened part of the story, the “experimental” and “strange” breakfast show he bafflingly fell into suddenly becoming the biggest in Dublin. His rise on radio and in standup continues until he suffers a panic attack in an ambulance on the way to a comedy festival in 2007.
The second part of the book is a bit of a curiosity, Dermot offering up the various forms of meditation one can try, with the prompts literally spelled out. For a teaser or the full experience, you can listen to his guidance on his website. There’s a chapter on giving up alcohol for the year and then an FAQs section. It’s a jumble.
