Jim Green is a British writer whose work connects mental health, meditation, poetry, and sport. A lifelong cricket enthusiast, he has worked with local and national mental-health organizations and developed material for the BBC, the Open University, Mind, and Meditatio. His writing draws on experience supporting people facing psychological and emotional difficulties, as well as his own longstanding meditation practice.
His books include Giving Up Without Giving Up: Meditation and Depressions, published by Bloomsbury in 2019, and The Zen of Ben: Cricket in the Moment, published by Pitch in 2026. The later book brings his interest in contemplative traditions to the career and leadership of Ben Stokes. It combines discussion of international cricket with questions about attention, risk, freedom, and the meaning people attach to success.
Jim Green Books
| Book | Year | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Giving Up Without Giving Up | 2019 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Zen of Ben | 2026 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
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Green is an oblate of the World Community for Christian Meditation. His poetry has received recognition in the BBC Proms, George Crabbe, and Café Writers competitions. His published author biography identifies Norfolk and Ceredigion as his home locations. A London launch for The Zen of Ben in September 2026 brought together his sporting and contemplative interests, with former England captain and psychoanalyst Mike Brearley joining the event.
Cricket Books
The Zen of Ben: Cricket in the Moment: Green examines Ben Stokes and the attacking approach associated with England’s recent Test cricket, connecting sporting performance with Zen and other wisdom traditions. The account includes the 2025 India series and the subsequent Ashes as settings for questions about fear, failure, and decision-making. Psychology, cultural history, and personal reflection accompany its consideration of how a team responds to uncertainty. Published in 2026.
The cricket narrative pays attention to the emotional demands of elite competition, including reflections on Stokes, his teammates, and Graham Thorpe. Contributions from Brearley and broadcaster Jonathan Agnew connect the discussion with people who have experienced the game from different positions. Green also introduces Zen stories and the history of its reception in the West, alongside references to the Bhagavad Gita and Tao Te Ching. These strands support an investigation of how playing a game can raise broader questions about achievement and the fear of losing.
Other Books
Giving Up Without Giving Up: Meditation and Depressions: Drawing on Buddhist and Christian contemplative traditions, Green explores the relationship between meditation and experiences described as depression. Personal loss and his mental-health work inform a discussion of suffering, identity, and recovery. The book questions assumptions about how distress is understood and describes meditation as an accompanying practice, while examining the language and history surrounding depression in modern society. Published in 2019.
Green’s earlier book establishes several concerns that reappear in his cricket writing: how people respond when their expectations collapse, what it means to remain present during difficulty, and how spiritual practice relates to ordinary experience. The emphasis comes from his own contemplative background and work with distress. Its account of recovery also reflects his interest in questioning familiar descriptions of success and failure, a subject he later considers through the uncertainties of competitive sport. The discussion includes the development of depression as a modern description of suffering and the consequences of identifying a person with that description. Green draws on two contemplative traditions while considering how language affects the experience of distress.