First person methodologies on the study of consciousness have a great relevance in Francisco Varela's thought which this essay aims to highlight. Firstly, describing some philosopher’s remarks on the irreducible character of consciousness, followed by a presentation of three ways to access it in the first person mode: introspection, phenomenology, and some Madhyamika Buddhist practices; subsequently, through an enquiry into the implementation of these methods and their validity and finally, reflecting on some existential and theoretical consequences these practices have for cognitive sciences and the philosophy of the mind.