Opening up to oneself implies leaving the mind to turn towards the heart and the emotions. It requires an understanding of our often critical and limiting inner speech and automatic thoughts. This allows for inner peace, strength, serenity, a better perception/ awareness of yourself and others. By opening up to yourself, you also open up to others and to all the wonders and possibilities that life has to offer.

Meditating is a good way to learn to connect and listen to yourself.

The definition of mindfulness

►Awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.

Jon Kabat Zinn

►Mindfulness consists of being present to the experience of the moment that we live, without filter (we accept what comes), without judgment (we do not seek if it is good or bad, desirable or not), and without expectation (we don’t want anything specific to happen). That’s all. But with this attitude, everything is different.

Christophe André

In fact, it is about being fully aware of the current experience and living in the present moment. Without knowing it, we may have experienced this,  when watching a sunset, a spectacular full moon, or any other experience of similar intensity.

The origin of mindfulness

Mindfulness was born in 1979 in the United States. Jon Kabat Zinn, a Doctor in Molecular Biology, a follower of Yoga and Meditation, is the founder of this practice. He brought together the wisdom and psychology of Buddhism with Western Science and Psychology. This is how the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a secular practice, is designed and practiced within the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Massachusetts in the United States. Many scientific studies have been conducted which have confirmed the positive effects of this program on the physical and mental health of practitioners. Since then, the teaching of MBSR has spread all over the world and one can benefit from these positive effects in different establishments.

How does the practice of mindfulness help us?

The way of interpreting our living conditions, experienced events and our way of thinking can create rumination, emotions and then stress.

Mindfulness helps change our attitude to problems more than the situations themselves.

With patience and perseverance, we learn to ask ourselves to observe and accept our thoughts, our bodily sensations and our emotions.

In mindfulness, we learn to respond consciously and appropriately instead of reacting unconsciously and automatically to events. Thus, the restless mind calms down and our vision clears up.

Mindfulness helps us focus our attention on the present moment: being here and now. Paying attention to the sensations of the body is the best way to direct us to the present moment.