Mindfulness

EPFL provides its entire community with practices aimed at strengthening inner balance.

We live under the pressure of performance, competitivity and mental overload. Our attention is permanently hijacked by the digital world. The various crisis and the ecological challenges add anxiety and painful sensations of isolation.

What to do?

Stop- Feel Observe – Rest in the present moment

This mental health training produces a large variety of benefits

What do I need ?

Nothing, you have everything with you at all times.

Breath, bodily sensations, five senses

No prerequisites and no need to change clothes.
No previous mindfulness experience required.
Practicing regularly is essential to reap the benefits of your practice.

Theme of Practices 2025–2026

This academic year, we are cultivating our capacity for resilience based on the work of scientists Tayyab Rashid, Jane Gillham, and Afroze Anjum, who published the Strengths-Based Resilience Program (SBR Program) in the summer of 2024.

We are training ourselves to step out of autopilot mode in order to develop cognitive precision and flexibility, and to tend the garden of our thoughts and emotions to nourish the best of our inner life.

Where and when?

Free of charge in the framework of the MyBreak sessions offered by EPFL:
Tuesdays 12:30-13:00 and/or 13:00-13:30
Room CH B2 355 or on line
→ Register
Or on subscription: Mindfulness Course at the UNIL+EPFL Sport Health Service (SSUE)
Wednesdays 17:30-18:30
This class is included in the SSUE yoga and slow-fit membership. However, it can be taken outside of these memberships and is suitable for relieving stress and mental overload.

For further info: [email protected]

What do I get from this mindfulness practice?

To read:

Elliott Ash, Daniel Sgroi, Anthony Tuckwell, Shi Zhuo: Mindfulness Reduces Information Avoidance, Economics Letters, Volume 224, Mars 2023.
Also on this study, the ETHZ news of May 5, 2023: Mindful meditation helps us make better decisions
Daniel Goleman, Ellen Langer, Susan David, Christina Congleton: Mindfulness (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series), Harvard Business Review Press, 2017.

FAQ

Two specialists provide guidance on the path to mindfulness

At EPFL, Monique Borcard-Sacco and Xavier Gravend-Tirole use different approaches to mindfulness but share the same goal: to improve people’s mental health and well-being.