From Mindfulness to Heartfulness Transforming Self and Society with Compassion

Open Mind, Open Heart


Millions have found mindfulness to be a powerful practice for reducing stress, enhancing attention, and instilling tranquility. But it can offer so much more—it can transform you, make you more fully awake, alive, and aware of your connection to all beings. In Japanese, the character that best expresses mindfulness, 念, consists of two parts—the top part, 今, meaning “now,” and the bottom part, 心, meaning “heart.” Using stories from his own life as the son of an Irish father and a Japanese mother, a professor in Japan and America, a psychotherapist, a father, and a husband, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu describes eight “heartfulness” principles that help us realize that the deepest expression of an enlightened mind is found in our relation to others.

Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu is a Stanford University psychologist with a doctorate from Harvard University and training in yoga, meditation, and Chinese medicine. His previous books include Multicultural Encounters and When Half Is Whole, as well as the Japanese bestseller The Stanford University Mindfulness Classroom.