Miksang Photography: see, feel, enjoy

Discover the magic of everyday beauty from inner calm and confidence





 

20+

Years of practice and education in Shambhala Buddhism & Dharma art

12+

Years Certified Miksang Instructor for the Netherlands and Europe

220+

Conducted Miksang Academy Retreats and Masterclasses

My camera as a permission slip to be awake, present and Now

Being surprised by the beauty of the ordinary in my everyday life - this really makes me happy. My passion lies in the journey of experiencing pure creativity and the power of pure expression. I take pictures because seeing fresh and pure photographic expression gives me a deep fulfillment. Especially when the picture shows the freshness when I felt that first spark, of suddenly seeing something out of the blue.


The art of photography makes me even happier as it can serve as a medium for empowerment to be awake and fully present and connected in the now. Sharing these photographic moments is my contribution to beautify our shared world. It is an honor to pass on my Miksang Method of this young art discipline to you, to inspire you and support your process of pure perception and clarified seeing, so you can enjoy the natural poetry of the art of Miksang Photography as much as I do.

The Best of Three Worlds

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Meditation

Meditation in Action you learn to look free from judgements, assumptions, interpretations and associations.
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Photographic Art

Contemplative Photography is seeing from the heart and taking pictures from the stillness within brings natural beauty.
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Mindfulness in Action

Being Mindful is listening mindfully to your visual intuition and following up with your camera as mindfulness-in-action.

Miksang Photography helps dissolve the veil of thoughts

Miksang Photography offers, with your camera as a medium, creative possibilities to live your life more fully. A life with the warmth of appreciation and heartfelt connection in the now. When you unglue yourself from the stickiness of overthinking about the challenges and difficulties you inevitably encounter in life, you are able to crystallize more inner space and calmness. From this open space, free of overthinking, you can look uninhibited, free from the blockages of mental filters and see the same world anew. When you are able to relax the push and pull of what you do and don't want to photograph, you will experience the joy of seeing things as they are.


Your seemingly ongoing stream of thoughts are like clouds drifting and gathering, obscuring the sun. It comes from a joyful state of mind to remember that the sun and its light are always present! You don't have to recreate the sun and its light, you simply can dissolve the clouds.


Miksang Photography offers a training in gentle focussing and decisive genuine photographic expression. So you become available to the ordinary beauty of your unique daily world. Slow down and simultaneously empower yourself from your source of creativity with your mind, heart and eyes aligned.

From the TV series: Buddha in the polder

With English subtltles or German subtitles: choose you language under 'settings.'

Miksang Academy Program

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Miksang 1

Introduction into Seeing From The Heart

3-day program: upcoming 2024

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Miksang 2

True Connection &
Fields of Perception

3-day program

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Miksang 3

Moments &
Visual Haiku

3-day program

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Miksang Retreat in France

New dates for 2024/2025 coming soon!

Feel what you see and crystallize awake eyes, a still mind and open heart on the same axis

The purpose of mindful photography with the Miksang approach is to develop feeling what you see. You pause, stop and let it in. Learning to trust what you feel, and relax thinking about what you see, searching for what you want to see or are supposed to see.


Miksang is a playful journey of both dismantling the layers of habitual thinking and overthinking and activating pure perception resulting in purified heartfelt seeing. Getting to know the full Miksang toolkit will help you easily take distance - at least 1.5 meters ;-) - from the clouds of your thoughts and beliefs. So you are less often swept along uncontrolled by the stream of random thoughts and beliefs you think every day. When lifting this veil, dissolving the clouds, you discover the ordinary beauty that is present in your everyday life. The sun always shines.

Do you experience daily restlessness and stress?

Miksang Photography offers deep relaxation and joyful self-empowerment for anyone who experiences feelings of stress in the daily multitude of all kinds of stimuli. Navigating the best way through might feel like a constant challenge. I have noticed that people with high sensitivity (HSP) also recognize themselves in the daily overload.
Many students have shifted from focusing on everyday stress to wonder and ever-present beauty of the ordinary, experiencing relief and joy. Being able to choose seeing the same world anew with fresh eyes, enjoying photography as a way to connect fully to now-moments. Developing the confidence in playful and poetic manner to drop mental shields, so the naturally present brightness of the world as it is can come in. 

Essential Miksang experiences

Slowing down & learning pure photography
In these days I learned to slow down and walk with an open mind, discovering and noticing what strikes me. And then photographing this as purely as possible, filling the whole frame. Peaceful and just lovely.
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Yvonne
Seeing from my heart
Again, as it turns out, it starts and ends with yourself. I rediscovered my peacefulness and was touched by everything that is already present around me. My enthusiasm to photograph the simplicity of beauty has returned and even deepened. Great set up of the daily classes, study material and online talks. I enjoyed the immersion and time for reflection. Four days in a row may seem like a long time, but it immediately set me right on track.
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Conny
I feel touched...
I tremendously enjoyed our days together in the Miksang training. Coming to a full stop and standing still for a flash of perception, expressing what has stopped me, so many beautiful images around us, Hèlen's view of Miksang, and the many rounds of 'human camera'...
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Caroline

What can Miksang Photography do for you?

The world around us - TV, media, the many possibilities on the Internet to absorb news and intellectual knowledge and the many social platforms - are not helpful in becoming centered and calm. The temptation and ongoing invitation to go out with your attention and activate your thinking mind even more can create feelings of frustration and fragmentation. When frustration reaches a peak, you may often find yourself caught in reasoning thinking. Thinking you need to achieve something else with willpower, or getting rid of it by ignoring. - a lot of unconscious push and pull.

At the same time Miksang offers a window to improve your photos in a simple manner. In addition to more easily photographing and handling your camera, and actually becoming friends you also learn to keep photographic technology simple and effective, not needing to run away from it or running towards it ;-)

Sensing, seeing and photographing can possibly bring out the best in you and bring great benefits for you. 

  • Reduced stress
  • Letting go of frustration
  • Improving your concentration
  • Helping you to perceive more clearly 
  • Finding balance in feeling and thinking
  • Learning to be connected consciously in the present moment
  • Renewed and authentic inspiration
  • Enjoying the present moment right now

Fun Fact

"Scientists have recently determined that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain—unless it is done with play, in which case, it takes between 10 and 20 repetitions!"
Dr. Karyn Purvis
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"With a creative practice you'll find a universal joy"

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

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