Many of us live fast paced lives – surrounded by a lot of noise, movement and constant stimulus. We live with a lot of expectations towards ourselves, pressure at work, ambitions in our social life… This can be exciting and beautiful, and it can also be stressful, tiring and emotionally draining.

Mindfulness helps us to become familiar with, be present with, interested in and curious about the mind. It’s an inquiry into the patterns that are present in our thinking and the habits that are present in our interactions with other people, so that we can get a clearer view on how our mind influences all aspects of our life. Then we can make better choices in life and respond to challenging situations in a more skilful way. We live with less stress and anxiety and more clarity, appreciation and contentment.

The roots of mindfulness lie in the Buddhist tradition. The basis for Buddhist philosophy is the acknowledgement that life is inherently stressful and things shift all the time. We don’t need to take this personally – these are simply characteristics of life.

There’s nothing innately religious about this philosophy and it forms the basis for widespread secular practices East and West.

Mindfulness helps us to