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Coaching, NLP and Mindfulness in Norway
Johansen explains that the aim of mindfulness is to live a better life.
From Buddhist monk to mindfulness coach and author 25 years ago, halfway through a backpacking trip to experience the world, Viggo Johansen’s meeting with the Dalai Lama made him stop in his tracks and led him to become a Buddhist monk for four years. Today, he teaches people how to practise the art of mindfulness in order to live a better life. By Line Elise Svanevik
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Photos: Jon Marius Nilsson
Johansen runs several types of mindfulness courses across Norway and Italy, ranging from one day to one year in length. He also holds talks and runs mindfulness workshops for businesses and organisations, which he believes helps teach the important skill of self-management. Johansen was not aiming to go on a life-changing journey when he set out to see the world as a 21-year-old but, somewhere in India, he found himself in the middle of the small mountain village Dharamsala during the Tibetan new year. 58 |
Issue 101
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June 2017
“It was February when we arrived, but the Tibetan calendar is different so they were celebrating the new year through their ancient traditions of renewal rituals. The Dalai Lama held talks for the Tibetan people during the week we were there, and we stumbled upon the series of talks that was presented in the Tibetan language. It was translated into English, so we sat down with our Walkmans and listened,” he explains. This was the first time Johansen had heard about mindfulness and people’s ability to develop their own conscious-
ness directly through the systematic practice of mindfulness and meditation. “For me, this was a completely different way to see people and their very existence,” explains Johansen. “It really hit home and, six months later, I moved to India to become a Buddhist monk.” Johansen feels that his years in India were very much a study in psychology and philosophy. “It’s very strange to think that I did what I did back then, because I wasn’t running away from anything – I had a very good life in Norway,” he explains.
Traditional mindfulness Although some believe that mindfulness has become a bit of a buzzword, used for living in the present moment in a very busy world, originally, mindfulness belonged to a wisdom tradition. “It wasn’t used as a tool for stress management back then,”