Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.
Though it has its roots in Buddhist meditation, a secular practice of mindfulness has entered the American mainstream in recent years, in part through the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program.

A focus on the present moment without judgment, has proven bene!ts for health and happiness.

Engaging in daily mindfulness workouts can help you assume this mental mode more often in your daily life. The following 10- to 15-minute mindfulness exercise is designed to train two types of attention: concentrative focus, a narrowing of your attention, and open monitoring, a broad awareness of sensations and surroundings.
Here's what to do:

• Sit in an upright, stable position, hands resting on your thighs or cradled together.
• Lower or close your eyes, whichever is more comfortable for you.
• Attend to your breath, following its movement throughout your body.
• Notice the sensations around your belly as air "ows into and out of your nose or mouth. You have been breathing all day-all of your life-and in this moment, you are simply noticing your breath.
• Select one area of your body affected by your breathing and focus your attention there. Control your focus, not the breathing itself.
• When you notice your mind wandering-and it will-bring your attention back to your breath.
• After !ve to 10 minutes, switch from focusing to monitoring. Think of your mind as a vast open sky and your thoughts, feelings and sensations as passing clouds.
• Feel your whole body move with your breath. Be receptive to your sensations, noticing what arises in the moment. Be attentive to the changing quality of experience- sounds, aromas, the caress of a breeze ... thoughts.
• After about !ve more minutes, lift your gaze or open your eyes.

Glossary:
Meditation - A formal practice which helps train the mind to be more aware and present.

Mindfulness - A more general approach of being aware of our experience in the present moment -- without judging it -- which the practice of meditation can help us to develop.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) - An eight-week course that trains participants to be mindful and to relate better to stress, pain and other difficulties.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) - Similar to MBSR but with elements developed more specifically for people with a tendency to suffer from depression.

Links:
Stress in health
Mindfulness Notes:
Mindfulness Definition | Greater Good - UC Berkeley
Search for more
Being in the Now, Amishi P. Jha, Scientific American Mind, March/April 2013