Mindfulness 25 Ways to Live in the Moment Through Art by Christophe Andre
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The font is large and friendly, each chapter has the moving picture discussed and close ups of details reproduced in colour, information technology feels indulgent and comforting to read.
Having finished it I experience I could read it once more, maybe this time dipping in and out reading chapters out of order, as I feel this is a book to share - to purchase and to
A kindly book which explores mindfulness meditation through discussing paintings, or rather the paintings are springboards into taking almost mindfulness and meditation.The font is big and friendly, each chapter has the motion picture discussed and shut ups of details reproduced in color, it feels indulgent and comforting to read.
Having finished it I feel I could read it again, perhaps this time dipping in and out reading capacity out of order, equally I feel this is a book to share - to purchase and to give away, to lend out and promise never to have returned to me.
Prelude: Presence, not emptiness Rembrant : Philosopher in Meditation
1. Condign enlightened: an attitude of mind
Live in the present moment Claude Monet; the Magpie
breathe Louis Dumoulin; Carp Banners in Kyoto
Inhabit your body Watteau; Pierrot formerly known as Gilles
Close your eyes and listen Claude Monet; train in the countryside
Observe your thoughts Peter Doig; Reflection
Make infinite for your emotions Cranach the elder; Melancholy
Use your attending to expand your awareness Bosch; The Conjurer
Be simply present georges de La Tour; The Penitent Magdalen
2. Living with the eyes of the mind wide open up: A philosophy of everyday life
See ordinary things Edward Hopper; Gas
see the invisible Jean-Baptise Chardin; glass of water and java pot
See what is important Paul Signac,; opus 217, against the enamel of a background rhythmic with beats and angels, tones and tints
Act and don't deed Gustave Cailebotte; the floor planers
sharpen your mind Holbein; portrait of Thomas More
Understand and accept what is Antonello da Messina;The Virgin Advertise
3. Passing through storms: the Present moment as refuge
Escape your mental prisons Samuel van Hoogstratten, Man at a window
let go Pierre Puvis de Chavannes; Promise
stay present to the earth Breughel the Elder; the fall of Icarus
Move forward even when y'all are hurt Andrew Wyeth; christina's world
Accept mystery Fra Angelico; Christ mocked in the presence of he Virgin and Saint Dominic
see happiness gently emerge Turner; approach to Venice
4. opening and awakening: The greatest of journeys
work Antonello da Messina; St.Jerome in his study
contemplate casper david friedrich; wanderer over the ocean of fog
love Rembrandt; Simeon in the Temple
Experience the expansion and dissolution of the cocky Magritte; The Pleasance Principle
Taking flying:universal awareness van Ruysdael; view of Haarlem with bleaching grounds
I got this volume at the same time as aesop's fables and some other one which I take forgotten, this was back in the fall or early wintertime of last twelvemonth - I am tiresome in getting round to reading books - my greed for acquiring them and hoarding them is greater than my capacity for reading them (view spoiler)[ merely is a pile of books more comfy than a pile of golden treasure for sleeping, is there a dragon which can enlighten me? (view spoiler)[ but presumably the attraction of sleeping on a pile of golden is non purely ergonomic, perhaps it is a symptom of the dragon'southward anxiety or their inability to acquire more practical storage solutions? (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)], any how these three books I bought with a gift voucher from the ferocious warrior woman - consumer of bricks and mortar bookshops, some how through the pure evil of her website she dispatched the books through her Prime number service rather than my favoured all together in one package that takes longer to go far. The prime number service was inevitably inconvenient for me every bit each particular arrived separately and I had what felt like a long and frantic search through the website trying to deregister from the Prime before I was billed for a service that I had never wanted in the showtime identify. The multiple arrivals meant I had to spend many hours over multiple days waiting near the door then equally not to miss the deliveries - the stress of it all haunts me nonetheless!
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I dear the way the author shows the states aspects of the paintings oft not axiomatic on the surface, like Wyeth's "Christina'southward Earth," which is not just a rural idyll--when you look closer, you come up to understand you're seeing struggle, and heroism, a paralyzed woman who even so went out every day, crawling considering she refused to utilise a wheelchair or crutches. A lesson in activity. Exercise we go forward in life, even when we are wounded, even when nosotros're grieving?
A big issue right at present is how to live when the earth seems to be imploding around us. How to live with the weight of grief. Several of these lessons address our power to feel happiness in the very midst of grief--not one big matter, but corners of happiness which are to be savored--not clung to, because they come and go, but noticed.
Using Turner's "Approach to Venice" every bit his entry point, Andre says. "Why should happiness always be a affair of beingness carefree and unaware? Why should it not also be found where it's needed, on the tragic side of life? In mindfulness we train ourselves to notice everything, pains and pleasures alike, and to bear and make space for complicated, subtle, disconcerting experiences. ..." Information technology's that making infinite which I constitute the about valuable part of the book. That mindfulness meditation and the mindful heed tin can't solve our problems or make the bad things in life go away--but what they can practise is help us brand space for other things besides those tragedies.
It's something I practise when I'one thousand taking notes and I run out of space on my paper--I draw a line tightly around what I've written, and observe that in that location is actually still a lot of space on the page. Mindfulness meditation--or fifty-fifty simply considering some of the lessons of mindfulness presented in the book--makes space for more life, more of a range of emotion.
Says Andre: "Mindfulness teaches us just that, as happiness is inseparable from unhappiness and life is jump to confront us with tragedy and disarray, information technology's better not to dream of perfect, permanent happiness, but to learn to savor it in snippets. Nosotros can make space for it despite our troubles and worries, among them rather than waiting for them to pass.... Nosotros must preserve our little moments of happiness, even in adversity--in fact specially in adversity. It is and then that they are at their virtually touching, magnificent and indispensable."
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Living in mindfulness means paying regular, calm attending to the present moment.
With precision and directly education, CA illustrates his lessons with reproductions of lesser known masterpieces from painters worldwide. This alone would make this book outstanding, but the lucid poetry of his observations are fifty-fifty more relevant, especially for those who have been overwhelmed by more than mystical approac
In the preface to this gorgeous and profound guide to mindfulness is a most wonderful definition:Living in mindfulness means paying regular, at-home attention to the nowadays moment.
With precision and direct didactics, CA illustrates his lessons with reproductions of lesser known masterpieces from painters worldwide. This alone would make this book outstanding, but the lucid verse of his observations are even more relevant, especially for those who accept been overwhelmed by more than mystical approaches or asunder by clinical presentation designed to raise our awareness.
image: 
Do not exist afraid of death. Remember that life on earth is short, fragile,pointless...what is of import and essential lies elsewhere. p91
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I realize but how wrong I was after r
To learn how to manage my depression and anxiety better, I have been reading near meditation and mindfulness. There was a fourth dimension when I thought meditation was airheaded. I thought to myself, "I have so many things to do, sitting and closing my optics won't help me." I also idea that meditation was difficult and there are hard and fast rules to information technology, almost like there is some discipline or seriousness to it. I used to roll my eyes at the seemingly flowery language.I realize just how incorrect I was after reading Thich Nhat Hanh'south guides to mindfulness and meditation: The Phenomenon of Mindfulness and Peace is Every Footstep, both of which I highly, highly recommend. Hanh discusses how we in the Western earth can incorporate mindfulness in our everyday lives. It turns out, you don't have to sit cross legged or shut your eyes. In fact, it's a lot easier than that. You just pay attention to your senses and take in everything around you lot. Eventually, your mind turns a page from your ruminations and worries to the real earth. It'southward non a course of escape, but something that psychologists call "grounding". I can verify from my own personal feel that information technology is tremendously calming, and it does aid.
I plant this book to be tremendously informative and helpful in terms of helping me sympathise mindfulness farther and how I can hands do it day to solar day.
Some lessons I learned from Andre were:
1. Y'all don't have to fight your emotions or negative thoughts when beingness mindful. In fact, it is futile, and resisting them gives them more strength. Acknowledge them and turn your attention to your senses.
2. There is no goal to mindfulness except to be present. Simply focus on the activity and see where it leads you.
three. Mindfulness or meditation isn't emptiness in the heed. It is making contact with the world.
four. Animate is a constant resource. Animate doesn't change reality, but information technology does modify how we experience it. It preserves our ability to act.
5. Similarly, mindfulness doesn't solve our problems or our negative thoughts or emotions, simply it does help us from being consumed and overwhelmed by information technology entirely.
six. The problem isn't and so much the content of our thoughts as our relationship to them. We must continuously remind ourselves that we are not our thoughts. Doing and then, we take a step back.
seven. Emotions aren't weeds. They are a function of our mental environmental, as Andre puts it. Allow emotions in, and they will get out eventually. It reminds me of Rumi's poem, Guest House.
8. When we end fighting to accept our environs and have them, we become gratuitous. Yous don't have to like where you are or be happy about it. Simply acknowledging it all will help.
There are many, many more lessons I wrote down that filled several pages of my notebook. I would recommend this book to everyone. Information technology is entirely worth your time.
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I bask art, but am not in any way schooled in art, so delving into these beautiful, and sometimes weird, paintings and having them woven so seamlessly into four structures with themes such as Breathe, Accept Mystery, Conte
Staggeringly lovely volume that takes a deep and delicious look at mindfulness through art. The author, French psychiatrist Christophe Andre, is a poignantly beautiful writer. The chapters all middle around 1 piece of art and how that piece speaks to Andre in different themes.I enjoy art, just am not in any fashion schooled in art, so delving into these beautiful, and sometimes weird, paintings and having them woven so seamlessly into 4 structures with themes such as Breathe, Have Mystery, Contemplate, Act and Don't Act was a delightful adventure.
My simply disappointment is that it was non longer. I could perpetually devour a book like this. And it is just the kind of book you can pick upwards and flip to whatever page and have a moment of mindful contemplation with the fine art and the author and the message.
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This is the kind of book on mindfulness that is just made for me. I dearest how each affiliate is structured: mindful analysis of a painting, quote, exploration of a mindfulness do, and a summary of the overall lesson. All of the chapters are pretty short and follow the same construction. The fine art is exclusively western, which was kind of a bore only it's nonetheless a really great way to explore the concept.
This also satisfies task 24 of my Volume R
This rating/review is based on an ARC from the publisher.This is the kind of book on mindfulness that is just made for me. I love how each chapter is structured: mindful analysis of a painting, quote, exploration of a mindfulness do, and a summary of the overall lesson. All of the capacity are pretty short and follow the same structure. The art is exclusively western, which was kind of a bore but it's notwithstanding a really slap-up mode to explore the concept.
This also satisfies task 24 of my Book Riot Read Harder Challenge! A self-comeback book (can exist traditionally or not-traditionally considered "self-comeback")!
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My ii main criticisms are the same criticism
Christophe André's Looking At Mindfulness offers a creative opening to mindfulness meditation through the appreciation of 25 paintings from the European tradition, only four of which are from the 20th century. I was inspired by this book to offer a serial of my own commentary on most of the 25 through the @mindfulnessyogasangha Instagram account though I often had to mitigate against André's tendency toward the transcendent mysticism and theological.My 2 main criticisms are the same criticism I have for the overall general thrust of the contemporary Mindfulness Motion. The outset is the tendency of reducing mindfulness to merely "bare attention" and "living in the nowadays moment." Despite what Eckart Tolle says, there is no reified "Now" to "be in." And mindfulness, from the Pali sati which means "remembering" or "retention" involves a more than horizontal, relational movement than the atomistic exhortation to focus on the present moment implies.
The other criticism is the flinching from the radical notion of "not-cocky" (anatta) and the substitution of mindfulnesss, awareness, or the Listen (normally with caps) every bit a subtle atman which André as well falls into doing.
Over again, that said, it'southward a beautiful book and it may aid usa to look at other works of art every bit objects of meditation and for what they can tell united states about presence.
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Live and let be. Emotions and external manifestations will Not become the death of me. impermanence, nothingness, complexity of all things makes diverting attending to information technology immaterial.
Walking in a clear h2o beach creates cloudy eddys. If you wanted to see your anxiety again, pushing the clouds will non make information technology and so. You lot will only create a bigger eddy. The just solution is to terminate and let the sand settle. It is the same with painful life experi
mindfulness through art history (in portraits and poetry)Alive and let be. Emotions and external manifestations will Not become the death of me. impermanence, nothingness, complication of all things makes diverting attention to information technology immaterial.
Walking in a clear water beach creates cloudy eddys. If you lot wanted to meet your anxiety over again, pushing the clouds will not make information technology so. You will only create a bigger eddy. The just solution is to stop and allow the sand settle. It is the same with painful life experiences. And it is the same with pleasant experiences.
Just like a rainbow is a reflection through a cloud, only visible through the specific angle, perception is the same.
Mindfulness-practiced awareness of jiff, each muscle response to it, the thoughts passing through your mind without ane idea consuming information technology and forcing activity. Breathing gives usa that ledge to sit on in the deep end of our puddle of emotion. Nosotros chance regain our intellectual bearings earlier diving back in.
Dissever yourself from your thoughts. Expand and dissolve of cocky. Live beyond the explanation of words, accepting the flow of life and self. Go out the immaterial body behind. Distinction betwixt self and not-self becomes: crushing, even irrelevant.
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Disclaimer: I read the English translation, so it's very possible that the original French is, maybe, much better.
I think this was falsely advertised every bit something that delves into the lessons that timeless pieces of art can teach us nearly pe
Very poorly written, over-simplified and condescending, as if the author is talking to a group of young children that can't empathise basic concepts of mindfulness, such as "living in the nowadays." What groundbreaking advice! (That's me beingness sarcastic).Disclaimer: I read the English translation, and so it's very possible that the original French is, perchance, much better.
I retrieve this was falsely advertised as something that delves into the lessons that timeless pieces of fine art can teach the states almost perception. I was expecting in-depth analyses of famous paintings, a kind of crash-course on art history and how valuable these pieces are to the states fifty-fifty today, for what they attempt to reveal to united states of america. Instead, this book is a rather mediocre advertisement for meditation. I believe your time would be better spent reading How to do Naught by Jenny Odell, a contempo favourite of mine. I also think John Berger's Ways of Seeing might be more than impactful, though I've yet to read it.
This book reads like a glorified blog post. At that place's zippo new here.
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Some were helpful and timely for this year, such as opening up awareness of the positives so the negatives aren't taking upwardly all the caput space.
A good ane to read slowly and consider the activities.
Some were helpful and timely for this year, such equally opening up sensation of the positives so the negatives aren't taking up all the head infinite.
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I loved this volume. It's lovely and very thought-provoking. Deep thinkers and art lovers will east
A student asks his teacher, "Master how long will I take to meditate to achieve serenity?" Afterwards a long silence the master replies, "Thirty years." The educatee looks stricken. "Er… That'due south a very long time. What if I brand twice the effort? What if I piece of work actually hard, 24-hour interval and night, and don't do annihilation else?" The teacher remains silent for A very long time and so says, "and so it will take you 50 years."I loved this volume. Information technology's lovely and very thought-provoking. Deep thinkers and art lovers will enjoy it.
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In that location are far likewise many words of wisdom to put down. But hither are a few:
"Mindfulness helps us appoint in deportment that matter to usa. So it helps us detach ourselves from enslavement to the result of these deportment."
I oasis't done a thing today.
Why? Take y'all not lived?
That is not simply the most basic of your employments, it is the most glorious…
Montaigne, Essays
Nosotros must say, "I tin only dubiousness." Only this is not religion in God. P. 219
Learning just to be present despite suffering is non a form of masochism. Information technology doesn't mean that we similar to suffer, information technology just means excepting that these things can happen in our lives, and being a little bit prepared.
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Sadly, it feels like there's defeatism in Buddhism/Mindfulness, which comes through in the book. Promise of continuance and immortality is in Christ, which is left out.
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There's a wealth of data bachelor on the topic, but I establish that much of information technology is well-nigh mindfulness meditation. Although I understand the benefits of meditation, when nosotros did it in yoga class, I plant it very difficult. I felt it would be well-nigh helpful to me to get a ameliorate k
I start heard well-nigh mindfulness over 10 years ago. I found it fascinating, but never bothered to seriously apply it in my own life. While choosing my "one word" for 2019, I decided this would be the year for mindfulness.There'due south a wealth of information bachelor on the topic, but I found that much of it is about mindfulness meditation. Although I understand the benefits of meditation, when we did it in yoga grade, I constitute information technology very difficult. I felt it would be near helpful to me to become a better grasp of mindfulness itself before I venture into meditation again.
With that in mind, I searched the library catalogue and found Looking at Mindfulness by Christophe André. It appealed to me considering information technology wasn't strictly a "how to" volume. Instead, André comments on 25 paintings, describing beautifully the connection between what we meet and what we feel.
Had it not been a library book, I probably would have highlighted passages that jumped out for me. It's a good thing that wasn't the case, considering I'g pretty certain there would be more than text highlighted than non! It's and so well-written that information technology's difficult to believe it's a translation from the original French, and André'southward commentary is supplemented by quotes from many swell thinkers over the ages.
I've never studied art appreciation, and so the pictures helped me get a deeper understanding not only of mindfulness, but of art itself. In add-on to being displayed in full, there are cropped versions of each painting, which aid the reader to notice and reflect on the details (an important part of mindfulness!). As an added benefit, I believe this process will help me to decide which details to include when taking photographs. It was also a great reminder that a single image may take many cropping possibilities!
Although I read it cover to embrace (with a intermission to read a novel), this book really needs to exist studied slowly, a chapter at a time, or even a section of a chapter at a time, in order to fully absorb the information. I rarely buy a book I've already read, just this will be an exception, because once is not enough.
What's ironic is the original championship is "Méditer, Jour Après Jour" and I likely wouldn't have read it had they gone with a literal translation!
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By breathing and being in silence peo Christopher André'due south Looking at Mindfulness is a primer of xx-five lessons on mindfulness. With pictures to supplement the text André explained how people could be aware of their bodies and surround and non be like robots. Advice is given apropos how to turn off and adjust to the multiple stimuli of movie, television set, radio, and the Cyberspace. These media only corrupt minds and cause them to be unable to concentrate on what actually matters most in life.
By breathing and being in silence people will become aware of their true selves and savour the precious moments of their lives. By being still and reflective they will come live. Such exercise they should make a function of their daily lives. The benefits of these meditations volition give them a sense of purpose, will release them from stress, and help them to live compassionately.
Merely these objectives have to be skillful consistently. It's truthful they could begin at any time in 1'south life, whether it'due south just waking upward in the morning, preparing for work, at the job during the day, at home at night, or earlier going to bed. So when people are faced with difficulties like having problems at piece of work, conflicts, marital issues, are suffering, or nether stress, being mindful could definitely bring release and ease the pain.
Yet mindfulness isn't a panacea for every problem. It will but let a practitioner to approach the good and bad experiences of life realistically. They volition exist able to entertain and deal with the conflicting realities of their problems. With breathing and being nevertheless they will be able to sympathize to minimize these conflicts. Information technology isn't guaranteed that they will eventually feel ameliorate, but they volition be amend able to empathise their bug. For as André wrote that hurtful situations might last merely for a time with mindful practice. So the tenets of this book are descriptive, easy to read, and supplemented with quotes from psychologists, pyscho-analysts, and religious thinkers from the Christian and Buddhist traditions
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Definitely a book to come up back to again and again and highly recommended to those who wish to at-home their minds. ...more than
It's a quiet and uncomplicated book, wonderful for those new to mindfulness exercise and those who would similar this kind of reminder of why they already practise and how to deepen this work.
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"Mindfulness helps united states of america to get aware of all this hidden pollution of our minds, and protect ourselves against it. It enables us to restore our capacity for introspection and reconnect with ourselves, rather than sustaining ourselves with a abiding baste-feed of external orders, distractio
Christophe André takes a reader through a wonderful introduction to the idea of mindfulness using beautiful examples of art as guideposts. Loved this book. Highly recommend to anyone interested in the subject area."Mindfulness helps usa to become aware of all this hidden pollution of our minds, and protect ourselves confronting it. It enables us to restore our capacity for introspection and reconnect with ourselves, rather than sustaining ourselves with a constant drip-feed of external orders, distractions and activations." - p. 131
...more than A truly beautiful volume that literally takes you into a painting in every affiliate, zooming into aspects of a picture show past blowing upwardly a modest corner onto an entire folio. The reflections enquire you to hear the sounds in scenes, question what could be behind the small door in the corner, imagine what the space around the painter behind u.s.a. would be like.
A wonderful book to visit through a season.
How about this jewel.....At a mindfulness retreat our teacher had usa stand in a circle. He asked us to take a step forrard. After a few seconds of silence he then said"Now try not to have taken that step." And with that he demonstrated the futility of regret.
A combination of art, philosophy and applied psychological approaches surrounding the rising domain of mindfulness.
Must read for whoever practices internal locus of command.
25 lessons in mindfulness, presented in a multidisciplinary way, targeting personal development. A book that should be in anyone'south library.
A combination of art, philosophy and practical psychological approaches surrounding the rising domain of mindfulness.
Must read for whoever practices internal locus of control.
25 lessons in mindfulness, presented in a multidisciplinary manner, targeting personal development. ...more
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