Mindfulness is a practice of “non-judgmental present moment awareness”. Where we give our full, undiluted attention to “this moment”. It sounds simple. But there much more to it.

There are a few definitions worth reading outside of this but it’s probably easiest to start with the fact that we are all born ‘mindful’ and very much aware of the present moment and the world we live in.

We continue to be mindful to lesser or greater degrees in our lives ongoing and this is influenced by the mental noise, distractions, societal and cultural experiences we have growing up. It’s fair to say we may stop ‘paying attention’ to our present moment experience most days and this is likely normal for 99.9% of us.

By practicing mindfulness, we intentionally ‘notice’ our experience of the present moment, without judging the thoughts, sensations, feelings or emotions that arise as a result. And the tools we use are meditation practice and every day sights, sounds, thoughts and life experiences.

Practice means the ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ ways we bring mindful awareness to our present moment experience.

An example of formal practice would be a 20 or 30 minute meditation sitting or lying down, or however you are comfortable.

An example of informal practice ‘informal’ could be any number of activities where you intentionally ‘notice’ your experience, e.g., brushing your teeth, showering, walking, writing or eating.

Compassion literal meaning is “to suffer with” another. When you are confronted with someone’s pain or suffering and you feel genuinely motivated to relieve that suffering. So feeling empathy towards another + a desire to help. Self-compassion is extending that same intent and care towards ourselves, when we fail, feel inadequate or make a mistake.

As we increasingly bring awareness to our present moment experience through mindfulness, we encounter many happy and welcome thoughts, feelings and emotions. But there are difficult ones too and we can feel some resistance towards these. Compassion towards ourselves and others, brings kindness and a sense of common humanity to these experiences, allowing us to be with whatever we encounter and build emotional resilience.

Mindfulness is not the same as ‘therapy’, although it well known to have a wide range of therapeutic and evidence based health benefits for those who practice it in their lives. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is an adaptation of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and the approaches share roughly 80% of programme content in common. The two differ specifically on the cognitive behavioural therapy exercises.