Mindfulness Meditation
So much of life happens on autopilot. You arrive somewhere and can’t remember the drive. You finish a meal you barely tasted. Your mind is already in tomorrow, or still caught in yesterday.
Mindfulness is a way of coming back. To your breath, your body and this moment, just as it is.
What is it?
01Mindfulness means paying attention to what’s happening right now, with curiosity and kindness, rather than judgement.
In mindfulness meditation, you choose something to rest your attention on, often the breath. When your mind wanders (and it will, sometimes to the fridge, sometimes to a conversation from three years ago), you notice where it went and gently bring it back.
That moment of noticing and returning is the whole practice. You haven’t failed. You’ve just done one repetition.
Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist meditation. In the late 1970s, Jon Kabat-Zinn brought it into hospitals through his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, and it’s now one of the most widely taught forms of meditation in the world.
What may it help with?
02People often come to mindfulness when their mind feels busy, loud or hard to switch off.
Why can’t I stop overthinking? Why do I feel like I’m always somewhere else? Why does stress follow me everywhere?
Mindfulness is commonly explored for anxiety, low mood, stress and overwhelm, and for feeling more present in everyday life.
It’s also been built into structured programs, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and into therapies such as ACT and DBT.
Tags: Anxiety · Depression · Stress · Overwhelm
How does it work?
03Mindfulness gently trains your attention, the way walking trains your legs.
- Noticing. You begin to notice thoughts, feelings and sensations as they arise, instead of only realising later.
- Stepping back. Over time, a thought becomes something you can watch, rather than something you have to obey. “I’m useless” becomes “I’m noticing a thought that I’m useless.”
- Coming back. Each time you return to the breath, you practise leaving the spiral a little earlier.
- Being kind. You meet whatever you find with acceptance. Even a wandering mind. Especially a wandering mind.
Nothing has to be fixed or emptied. The aim isn’t to stop thinking. It’s to change your relationship with your thoughts, so they have a little less hold over you.
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are
What does the evidence say?
04Mindfulness is one of the most researched forms of meditation, and it’s widely used by psychologists, doctors and mental health services.
For anxiety, a 2023 trial compared an eight-week mindfulness course (MBSR) with escitalopram, a medication commonly prescribed for anxiety. Both helped about as much as each other, and far fewer people in the mindfulness group reported side effects. [1]
For depression, people who had experienced depression more than once and took part in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy were less likely to have it return over the following year or so, including compared with people who had other treatments. [2]
For everyday wellbeing, a 2021 review of 136 trials, involving more than 11,000 people, found mindfulness programs generally eased anxiety, low mood and stress, and improved wellbeing, compared with doing nothing. They didn’t stand out as clearly better than other active approaches, which is a reminder there are many good paths, and mindfulness is one of them. [3]
None of this means mindfulness suits everyone. For many people, though, it becomes a quiet, steady practice they come back to for years.
How to practise
05Try this: five minutes of mindful breathing
- Sit comfortably, with your feet on the floor and your back supported. Close your eyes, or let your gaze rest softly on the floor in front of you.
- Take a few natural breaths. Notice where you feel the breath most clearly: your nose, your chest or your belly.
- Rest your attention there. Feel the breath come in, and feel it go out. There’s no need to change it.
- When your mind wanders, and it will, notice where it went. You might gently say “thinking” or “planning”. Then bring your attention back to the breath.
- Repeat, as many times as you need. Every return counts.
- When you’re ready, widen your attention to the sounds around you and the feeling of your body in the chair. Slowly open your eyes.
You can also practise mindfulness without sitting still at all: while washing up, drinking your morning coffee or walking to the car. Simply notice what you see, hear, smell and feel, and come back each time your mind drifts.
Finding a guided version
Guided mindfulness meditations are easy to find online. Search for “guided mindfulness meditation” and try a few. Voices, accents and pacing vary a lot, so if one doesn’t feel right, try another. Many people start with five or ten minutes and build from there.
If you’d like more structure, eight-week MBSR and MBCT courses are offered in person and online. You’ll find MBSR in The Library.
Considerations
06Start small. Five minutes done often is more helpful than an hour done once. Consistency matters more than length.
Be gentle with a busy mind. Some days your mind will be busy the whole time. That’s still practice.
Keep your eyes open if you prefer. Closing your eyes is optional. Some people feel safer and more grounded with a soft, downward gaze.
Notice if it stirs things up. For some people, especially after trauma, turning inward can bring difficult feelings closer. If that happens, open your eyes, feel your feet on the floor, and try shorter or moving practices instead. Practising with a trauma-informed teacher can help.
It’s a support, not a test. There’s no right way to feel afterwards. Calm, restless, emotional or simply the same. All are okay.
You’ve read about it. Now what can you actually do?
You don’t need to have the perfect plan. Choose the next step that feels most useful for where you are right now.
Always speak with a qualified health professional before starting something new. If you are struggling right now, find immediate support.
Want to keep exploring?
Recommended articles, books, podcasts and lived experiences related to this topic.
Explore the LibraryRelated Tools
This is educational information. It is not a recommendation that this approach is right for you. Always speak with a qualified health professional.
