My name is Maria Opidowicz
I teach how not to miss out on your life due to stress and everyday haste. I chose this path because among many skills that I got equipped with by the education system, one important was missing – the skill to be in charge of my own attention. Thanks to mindfulness, I learned this skill. Additionally, I gained the ability to cope with the overwhelming amount of thoughts in my head and emotions which often made my life difficult.
I got certified as a mindfulness trainer in 2018 at Mindful Academy and since then have been running MBSR courses, mindfulness workshops, sessions and retreats.
Why do I teach mindfulness?
Back in my teenage years, I already had a huge need to achieve a distance towards life and the challenges I faced every day. I knew, or rather, I felt intuitively that there was a way to live with more ease and freedom, and meditation turned out to be that solution.
I started meditating in 2010 which for me was a moment of hard knocks and struggles but also breakthroughs and new discoveries. After a month of meditating, I felt how stress – my omnipresent companion, started slowly fading out giving way to more joy, creativity and courage. My ability to concentrate and my work efficiency increased significantly. Thanks to mediation, I discovered I could do more and better because I had built a closer relationship with myself. I found out that it doesn’t always pay off to listen to all the thoughts generated by our mind. I learned how a shift in my attitude and interpretation of reality can in a flash change my emotional state.
I have been meditating regularly since 2010 and I can firmly state that mindfulness and meditation is the most valuable skill I have ever leant. Thanks to it, I started to get interested in the mechanisms and dynamics that run my life. I have taken part in over 100 hours of workshops and training related to psychology an self-develeopment.
Mindfulness practice is my constant companion in my inner quest to discover myself. When I slowly inhale and then exhale, I come back to my body. I calm down my mind and I feel how mindfulness becomes a mirror in which I can see my true self.
My MISSION
I want to show you how much meditation, this simple practice, can chnge your life as it changed mine and millions of people around the world.
I want you to see how in today’s world, overloaded with information, haste and distraction, you can find solace and peace in yourself. I want to prove that meditation does not equal Buddhism, that it is not singing mantras and burning incense nor is it withdrawing from life. It’s the opposite – getting immersed in the smells, flavours, sensations and it’s experiencing life to its fullest. I want to show you that slower means more intense.
…more about me
I am an English teacher as well. I have been teaching English for 13 years, I taught in Spain , UK and Poland where I worked at Jagiellonian University for 9 years. In 2020 I met my partner who is Swedish and now I live in between Sweden and Poland. I love spending time in nature, hiking, running and just resting. I also play tennis and dance 5 Rhythms.
I’ll be happy to be your companion in your mindfulness journey and in our shared practice 🙂
Certified Meditation Teacher and MBSR Trainer