Mindfulness

Meaning and definitions

There is a multiplicity of definitions, which has limited the comparibility of research outcomes. Mindfulness can be defined as a practice (e.g. a set of skills and techniques), a mental state, or as a trait. While often defined as "present-centered awareness" or "bare attention", these qualifications have been questioned and criticized, as mindfulness in Buddhism also involves discernment and ethical judgment. To give an adequate introduction to these aspects, first the Buddhist background is treated, and then the psychological scientific approaches.

Buddhism

Secular mindfulness is derived from Buddhist meditation techniques; the word 'mindfulness' translates the terms sati and smriti. These have multiple meanings, centering on memory and the remembrance of the dharma; present-centered awareness, and ethical correct behavior and self-restrainment.

Remembrance of the dharmas

The Pali word sati, which is commonly translated as 'mindfulness', carries the connotation of memory. Early Buddhist texts describe the concept not only as awareness of sense perceptions but also as recollection of the Buddha's teachings and past events:

Sati is required not only to fully take in the moment to be remembered, but also to bring this moment back to mind at a later time. [...] This twofold character of sati can also be found in some verses in the Sutta Nipāta, which instruct the listener to set out with sati, subsequent to an instruction given by the Buddha. In these instances sati seems to combine both present moment awareness and remembering what the Buddha had taught.

In the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta the term sati means to remember the dharmas, whereby the true nature of phenomena can be seen. Sharf refers to the Milindapañha, which said that the arising of sati calls to mind the wholesome dhammas such as the four foundations of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight. According to Rupert Gethin,

[sati] should be understood as what allows awareness of the full range and extent of dhammas; sati is an awareness of things in relation to things, and hence an awareness of their relative value. Applied to the satipaṭṭhānas, presumably what this means is that sati is what causes the practitioner of yoga to "remember" that any feeling he may experience exists in relation to a whole variety or world of feelings that may be skillful or unskillful, with faults or faultless, relatively inferior or refined, dark or pure."

Bare attention and ethical correct behavior

Sharf notes that the original meaning of sati has little to do with "bare attention", the popular contemporary interpretation of sati, "since it entails, among other things, the proper discrimination of the moral valence of phenomena as they arise."

Georges Dreyfus has also expressed unease with the description of mindfulness as "bare attention" or "nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness", stressing that mindfulness in a Buddhist context also means "remembering", which indicates that the function of mindfulness also includes the retention of information. Robert H. Sharf notes that Buddhist practice is aimed at the attainment of "correct view", not just "bare attention".

Jay L. Garfield, quoting Shantideva and other sources, stresses that mindfulness is constituted by the union of two functions, calling to mind and vigilantly retaining in mind. He demonstrates that there is a direct connection between the practice of mindfulness and the cultivation of morality—at least in the context of Buddhism, from which modern interpretations of mindfulness are stemming.

Contemporary Buddhist definitions

According to American Buddhist monk Ven Bhante Vimalaramsi's book A Guide to Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation, the term "mindfulness" is often interpreted differently than what was originally formulated by the Buddha. In the context of Buddhism, he offers the following definition:

Mindfulness means to remember to observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to another. The first part of Mindfulness is to remember to watch the mind and remember to return to your object of meditation when you have wandered off. The second part of Mindfulness is to observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to another.

In Thich Nhat Hanh's lineage, mindfulness is closely intertwined with the concept of interbeing, the notion that all things are interconnected. This school of thought emphasizes awareness of the present moment and ethical living, reflecting the interconnected nature of existence. Thích Nhất Hạnh defined mindfulness as "the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening."

Shinzen Young says a person is mindful when they have mindful awareness, and defines that to be when "concentration power, sensory clarity, and equanimity [are] working together." John Yates (Culadasa) defines mindfulness to be "the optimal interaction between attention and peripheral awareness", where he distinguishes attention and peripheral awareness as two distinct modes in which one may be conscious of things.

Psychology

Methodological concerns

Various scholars have criticized how mindfulness has been defined or represented in recent Western psychology publications. In psychology, mindfulness has a more limited meaning than in Buddhism. These modern understandings depart significantly from the accounts of mindfulness in early Buddhist texts and authoritative commentaries in the Theravada and Indian Mahayana traditions.

Purser & Milillo note that scholars and psychologists have tended to a narrow interpretation of mindfulness, restricted to "the cognitive capacities of attention and awareness", selectively focusing on "the role of attention as the key component of mindfulness". Adam Valerio has argued that conflict between academic disciplines over how mindfulness is defined, understood, and popularly presented may be indicative of a personal, institutional, or paradigmatic battle for ownership over mindfulness, one where academics, researchers, and other writers are invested as individuals in much the same way as religious communities.

Skill (practice), state, trait

Mindfulness is a multivalent term, as it can be defined as a trait, a mental state, and as a practice or skill:

1. A trait, a dispositional characteristic (a relatively long-lasting trait), a person's tendency to more frequently enter into and more easily abide in mindful states;
2. A state, an outcome (a state of awareness resulting from mindfulness training), being in a state of present-moment awareness;
3. A skill or practice (mindfulness meditation practice itself), to reach a mindful state.

Several questionnaires approach mindfulness as a state, while other mindfulness measures have been developed which are based on self-reporting of trait-like constructs.

Definitions

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the pioneering figure in the introduction of mindfulness-based approaches into healthcare and psychological science, described mindfulness as "the awareness that emerges through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment."

Yet, Kabat-Zinn has also stated that the word was meant to cover both the intentional application of awareness and "as an umbrella term that subsumes all of the other elements of the Eightfold Noble Path, and indeed, of the dharma itself, at least in implicit form".

Williams et al. (2007) define mindfulness as " the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to things as they are".

Bishop et al. (2004), based upon a consensus among clinical psychologists, propose a two-component model of mindfulness, consisting of self-regulated attention, and a particular orientation toward one's experiences characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance.

According to Chems-Maarif et al. (2025), psychological definitions "emphasize (a) present-centered awareness and bare attention, and (b) attitudes of acceptance and non-judgment."

The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley describes mindfulness as "maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens. [It] involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them [...] our thoughts tune into what we're sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.."

Alvear et al. (2022) investigated lay (non-academic) theories of mindfulness,identifying seven themes, namely attention/awareness, a non-evaluative attitude, a strategy, a state, personal development, theoretical analyses, and "a lack of understanding of mindfulness".

Present-moment awareness and bare attention

According to Shonin and Van Gordon, "The practice of mindfulness is fundamentally concerned with becoming more aware of the present moment". Chems-Maarif et al. (2025) note that "Being in the present moment is seen as an important feature in the development of mindfulness in Buddhism", and present-centered awareness and bare attention are also central in the psychological understanding of mindfulness, but they also note that "[o]ther scholars challenge the notion that present-moment focus is at the core of mindfulness, criticizing it as a popular view in contemporary mindfulness definitions, labeled "here-and-now-ism"."

Chems-Maarif et al. (2025) also note that "the present-centeredness of awareness and bare attention remains slightly unclear", and that "awareness of the present moment is a vast concept that may need further elucidation as to what it entails." This may be accomplished by clarifying the objects of attention, "connect[ing] the here-and-now to tangible dimensions of experience".

Phenomenologically, the "present moment" may be seen as a constantly changing flux of arising and passing experiences consisting of "constantly changing sensory perceptions and mental events".

Chems-Maarif et al. (2025) note that an emphasis on present-moment awareness does not align with the association of sati with memory and remembrance, invoking the Buddhist teachings to aid right living. Mindfulness, then, is rather being present, and incorporates " clear comprehension and insight into the nature of phenomena".

"Bare attention", which is "attention that is devoid of further processing", a notion popularized by Nyanaponika Thera in the 1960s, who described bare attention (or awareness) as "a bare registering of the facts observed, without reacting to them by deed, speech or mental comment which may be one of self-reference (like, dislike, etc.), judgement or refection." Chems-Maarif et al. (2025) also note that "present-centered awareness works to counteract cognitive elaborations on what manifests itself in experience". Yet, "bare attention" has also been interpreted in a more limited, as strictly involving the "bare cognizing of an object". This "bare cognizing" is actually better covered with the term manasikara, whereas mindfulness (sati) has a distinct quality of deliberately paying attention to one's experiences, and "discerning skillful from unskillful actions" and "abandon[ing] unwholesome states [and] cultivate wholesome [states]", and "not drift[ing] away from discerning wholesome from unwholesome mental states".

In the contemporary Vipassana practice, the aim is not so much as to focus on 'the present', but to direct awareness toward the constantly changing stream of experience and to cultivate self-knowledge and wisdom regarding the nature of human experience, developing an understanding that all phenomena and perceptions are without an essence (anatta), impermanent (anicca), and unsatisfactory (dukkha).

Domains of attention

The Satipatthana Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 10, delineates four "foundations of mindfulness" or "frames of reference," on which he contemplates or focusses after leaving behind the worldly life: kāyā (body), vedanā (sensations/feelings aroused by perception), cittā (mind/consciousness), and dhammas (elements of the Buddhist teachings).

Chems-Maarif et al. (2025), based on a narrative-review of Buddhist and psychological scientific sources, reject "dharma" and it's underlying soteriological scheme as an object of attention, instead proposing four scopes of mindfulness, namely body sensations, affective valence, cognitive and emotional phenomena, and the external environment.

Bigman-Peer & Yovel (2024) distinguish two interconnected domains of experience, namely external sensory experiences "such as such as sights, sounds, smells or bodily sensations", and internal mental experiences, "thoughts, memories, concepts, which entail a conceptual system that is based on general knowledge and previous experiences".

Acceptance and non-reactivity

According to Chems-Maarif et al. (2025), "non-judgment and acceptance can be viewed as the core of the "how" of mindfulness". Related terms are curiosity, openness, receptivity, and non-attachment, which can be summized as "the equanimous attitude".

The Greater Good Science Center explains that acceptance involves paying attention to our thoughts and feelings "without judging them" and without "rehashing the past or imagining the future." Likewise, Chems-Maarif et al. (2025) state that acceptance consists of "observing judgments for what they are (i.e., thoughts) and allowing them to be without further elaboration". They further state that "acceptance means being receptive and open, to take in all experiences without avoiding, resisting, or judging them".

Bigman-Peer & Yovel (2024) note that mindfulness enhances self-control and self-regulation, which "enables individuals to observe their experiences as they unfold without reacting to them automatically", and that practitioners strive "to avoid allowing the mind to wander into chains of associations that are disengaged from the present moment". Mindfulness "facilitates decentering — a greater psychological distance — from one's thoughts and emotions", which "liberates awareness from rigidly structured narratives concerning the self and the world, and promotes the ability to make fexible and adaptive choices in responding to various situations", enabling practitioners "to reduce the emotional and somatic arousal that may be associated with a concrete processing mode".

Historical development

Buddhism

Mindfulness as a modern, Western practice is founded on Zen and modern Vipassanā, and involves the training of sati, which means "moment to moment awareness of present events", but also "remembering to be aware of something".

Early Buddhism

Sati is one of the seven factors of enlightenment. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali: sammā-sati, Sanskrit samyak-smṛti) is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path. Mindfulness is an antidote to delusion and is considered as a 'power' (Pali: bala) which contributes to the attainment of Nibbana. This faculty becomes a power in particular when it is coupled with clear comprehension of whatever is taking place. Nirvana is a state of being in which greed, hatred and delusion (Pali: moha) have been overcome and abandoned, and are absent from the mind.

According to Thomas William Rhys Davids, the doctrine of mindfulness is "perhaps the most important" after the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. T.W. Rhys Davids viewed the teachings of Gotama Buddha as a rational technique for self-actualization and rejected a few parts of it, mainly the doctrine of rebirth, as residual superstitions.

According to Paul Williams, referring to Erich Frauwallner, mindfulness provided the way in Early Buddhism to liberation, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths." According to Vetter, Jhanas may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.

According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā (foundations of mindfulness) have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations, but to the awareness of four different aspects of raising mindfulness:

• the six sense-bases which one needs to be aware of (kāyānupassanā);
• contemplation on vedanās, which arise with the contact between the senses and their objects (vedanānupassanā);
• the altered states of mind to which this practice leads (cittānupassanā);
• the development from the five hindrances to the seven factors of enlightenment (dhammānupassanā).

Western predecessors

Stoicism

The Greek philosophical school of Stoicism founded by Zeno of Citium included practices resembling those of mindfulness, such as visualization exercises. In his Discourses, Stoic philosopher Epictetus addresses in particular the concept of attention (prosoche), an idea also found in Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. By cultivating it over time, this skill would prevent the practitioner from becoming unattentive and moved by instinct rather than according to reason.

Christianity

Mindfulness traditions are also found in some Christian spiritual traditions. In his Rules for Eating, St. Ignatius of Loyola teaches, "let him guard against all his soul being intent on what he is eating, and in eating let him not go hurriedly, through appetite, but be master of himself, as well in the manner of eating as in the quantity which he eats." He might have been inspired by Epictetus' Enchiridion.

In addition, Jesus himself, in his Sermon on the Mount, said, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." —Matthew 6:34 (NIV)

Transcendentalism

Mindfulness practitioner Jon Kabat-Zinn refers to Thoreau as a predecessor of the interest in mindfulness, together with other eminent Transcendentalists such as Emerson and Whitman:

The collective experience of sages, yogis, and Zen masters offers a view of the world which is complementary to the predominantly reductionist and materialistic one currently dominating Western thought and institutions. But this view is neither particularly "Eastern" nor mystical. Thoreau saw the same problem with our ordinary mind state in New England in 1846 and wrote with great passion about its unfortunate consequences.

Mutual syncretism

Influence of Transcendentalism

The forms of Asian religion and spirituality which were introduced in the west were themselves influenced by Transcendentalism and other 19th-century manifestations of Western esotericism. Transcendentalism was closely connected to the Unitarian Church, which in India collaborated with Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) and his Brahmo Samaj. He found that Unitarianism came closest to true Christianity, and had a strong sympathy for the Unitarians. This influence worked through on Vivekananda, whose modern but idiosyncratic interpretation of Hinduism became widely popular in the west.

Vipassana

Vipassana meditation, presented as a centuries-old meditation system, was a 19th-century reinvention, which gained popularity in south-east Asia due to the accessibility of the Buddhist sutras through English translations from the Pali Text Society. It was brought to western attention in the 19th century by the Theosophical Society. Vipassanā-meditation has gained popularity in the west through the modern Buddhist vipassana movement, modeled after Theravāda Buddhism meditation practices, which employs vipassanā and ānāpāna meditation as its primary techniques and places emphasis on the teachings of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. Crucial actors were Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzburg, and Jacqueline Schwartz, who established the Insight Meditation Society in 1976, representing a lineage of a contemporary form of meditation developed by Ledi Sayadaw and Mahasi Sayadaw.

Zen-Buddhism

Zen Buddhism first gained popularity in the west through the writings of D.T. Suzuki, who attempted to present a modern interpretation of Zen, adjusted to western tastes. According to Harrington and Dunne, Suzuki had a pioneering influence on western humanist and existentialist psychotherapists with his efforts "to transform aspects of Zen Buddhism into a resource for new, existentialist forms of psychoanalytic psychotherapy." Those psychotherapists confronted existential challenges in their patients, who "were uniquely burdened by the drive to conform, produce, and consume at all costs, even as they were haunted by the specter of atomic devastation." They needed a new approach, less oriented to therapy as a cure for illness, but more as "a way of addressing the supposed root causes of patients' spiritual emptiness, anxiety, and alienation." Suzuki was an easily accessible source for an alternate approach, as he was deeply steeped and educated in western philosophical and psycho-analytic thought, and presented his view on Zen in a way that was recognisable for westerners. While enthusiastically received by a number of psycho-analysts, including Erich Fromm, there was also criticism, most notably from Scaligero and from Ernst Becker.

Another Zen-influence was Thích Nhất Hạnh, a "reform-minded modernist Buddhist" Vietnamese monk who studied in the USA in the early 1960s, exiled to France in 1967, and started teaching Zen-meditation to westerners in the 1970s. Thích Nhất Hạnh belonged to the Vietnamese Thiền tradition, which is also influenced by Theravada Buddhism.

Psychology and secular mindfulness

According to Laura Buchholz, "Herbert Benson, MD, founder of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is often credited with bringing mindfulness into the realm of Western medicine. His 1975 book The Relaxation Response outlined techniques to combat the harmful effects of stress with relaxation methods similar to meditation." Mindfulness was integrated into health-programs and psychotherapy by the pioneering work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, Zindel Segal, and Mark Williams.

Jon Kabat-Zinn and MBSR

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the key figure in the development and popularisation of MBSR. Trained as a molecular biologist, he was introduced in 1966 to meditation when he attended a lecture by Philip Kapleau on Zen at MIT where Kabat-Zinn was a student, and subsequently participated in sesshins led by Kapleau, studied with Seung Sahn, practiced insight meditation at the Insight Meditation Society, and also practiced hatha yoga.

In 1979, during a vipassana-retreat at the IMS, he had a comprehensive "vision" of how "the essence of meditation" could be shared "with those who would never be able to hear it through words and forms that were being used at meditation centers" and could be implementated in secular contexts, which would "spark new fields of scientific and clinical investigation and would spread to hospitals and medical centres and clinics across the country around the world, and provide right livelihood for thosands of practitioners".

The same year, in 1979, Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts to treat the chronically ill. This program sparked the application of mindfulness ideas and practices in Medicine for the treatment of a variety of conditions in both healthy and unhealthy people. MBSR and similar programs are now widely applied in schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and other environments.

One of MBSR's techniques—the "body scan"—was derived from a meditation practice ("sweeping") of the Burmese U Ba Khin tradition, as taught by S. N. Goenka in his Vipassana retreats, which he began in 1976. The body scan method has since been widely adapted to secular settings, independent of religious or cultural contexts.

Kabat-Zinn was also influenced by the book The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James which suggests that religions point toward the same experience, and which 1960s counterculture figures interpreted as meaning that the same universal, experiential truth could be reached in different ways, including via non-religious activities.

Popularization, "mindfulness movement"

Mindfulness is gaining a growing popularity as a practice in daily life, apart from Buddhist insight meditation and its application in clinical psychology, and can be practiced outside a formal setting. The terminology used by scholars of religion, scientists, journalists, and popular media writers to describe this movement of mindfulness "popularization," and the many new contexts of mindfulness practice which have cropped up, has regularly evolved over the past 20 years, with some criticisms arising.

The global Covid-19 pandemic (2020-2022) has contributed to this popularization, when people moved from real-life meditation sessions to the applications on their smart devices. Modern applications are adapting to the needs of their users by using AI technology, involving professional psychologists and offering many different mindfulness approaches to serve a wider audience, such as among athletes.

Practice

Buddhism

Theravada and contemporary vipassana-meditation

In a Buddhist context the keeping of moral precepts is an essential preparatory stage for mindfulness or meditation. The aim of mindfulness, according to Buddhadasa, is to stop the arising of disturbing thoughts and emotions, which arise from sense-contact.

In modern vipassana-meditation, as propagated by the Vipassana movement, sati aids vipassana, insight into the true nature of reality, namely the three marks of existence, the impermanence of and the suffering of every conditioned thing that exists, and non-self. With this insight, the practitioner becomes a so-called Sotāpanna, a "stream-enterer", the first stage on the path to liberation.

Vipassana is practiced in tandem with Samatha, and also plays a central role in other Buddhist traditions. According to the contemporary Theravada orthodoxy, Samatha is used as a preparation for Vipassanā, pacifying the mind and strengthening the concentration in order to allow the work of insight, which leads to liberation.

Vipassana also includes reflections on causation and other Buddhist teachings, and insight in how thoughts and feelings arise following input from the senses.

Anapanasati, satipaṭṭhāna, and vipassana

Anapanasati is mindfulness of breathing. "Sati" means mindfulness; "ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation. Anapanasati means to feel the sensations caused by the movements of the breath in the body. The Anapanasati Sutta gives an exposition on this practice.

Satipaṭṭhāna is the establishment of mindfulness in one's day-to-day life, maintaining as much as possible a calm awareness of one's body, feelings, mind, and dhammas. The practice of mindfulness supports analysis resulting in the arising of wisdom (Pali: paññā, Sanskrit: prajñā).

Samprajaña, apramāda and atappa

In contemporary Theravada practice, "mindfulness" also includes samprajaña, meaning "clear comprehension" and apramāda meaning "vigilance". All three terms are sometimes (confusingly) translated as "mindfulness", but they all have specific shades of meaning.

In a publicly available correspondence between Bhikkhu Bodhi and B. Alan Wallace, Bodhi has described Ven. Nyanaponika Thera's views on "right mindfulness" and sampajañña as follows:

He held that in the proper practice of right mindfulness, sati has to be integrated with sampajañña, clear comprehension, and it is only when these two work together that right mindfulness can fulfill its intended purpose.

Zen

The aim of Soto-zazen is just sitting, that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.

Secular mindfulness

Mindfulness practice involves the process of developing the skill of bringing one's attention to whatever is happening in the present moment. Mindfulness is usually developed through meditation or sustained practice. According to Steven F. Hick, mindfulness practice involves both formal and informal meditation practices, and nonmeditation-based exercises. Formal mindfulness, or meditation, is the practice of sustaining attention on body, breath or sensations, or whatever arises in each moment. Informal mindfulness is the application of mindful attention in everyday life. Nonmeditation-based exercises are specifically used in dialectical behavior therapy and in acceptance and commitment therapy.

Watching the breath, body-scan and other techniques

There are several exercises designed to develop mindfulness meditation, which may be aided by guided meditations "to get the hang of it".

• One method is to sit in a straight-backed chair or sit cross-legged on the floor, or a cushion, close one's eyes and bring attention to either the sensations of breathing in the proximity of one's nostrils or to the movements of the abdomen when breathing in and out. In this meditation practice, one does not try to control one's breathing, but attempts to simply be aware of one's natural breathing process/rhythm. When engaged in this practice, the mind will often run off to other thoughts and associations, if this happens, one passively notices that the mind has wandered, and in an accepting, but non-judgmental way, returns to focusing on breathing.
• In body-scan meditation the attention is directed at various areas of the body and noting body sensations that happen in the present moment.
• One could also focus on sounds, sensations, thoughts, feelings and actions that happen in the present. In this regard, a famous exercise, introduced by Kabat-Zinn in his MBSR program, is the mindful tasting of a raisin, in which a raisin is being tasted and eaten mindfully. By enabling reconnection with internal hunger and satiety cues, mindful eating has been suggested to be a means of maintaining healthy and conscious eating patterns.
• Other approaches include practicing yoga asanas while attending to movements and body sensations, and walking meditation.

Timings

Meditators are recommended to start with short periods of 10 minutes or so of meditation practice per day. As one practices regularly, it becomes easier to keep the attention focused on breathing.

Secular applications

According to Jon Kabat-Zinn the practice of mindfulness may be beneficial to many people in Western society who might be unwilling to adopt Buddhist traditions or vocabulary. Western researchers and clinicians who have introduced mindfulness practice into mental health treatment programs usually teach these skills independently of the religious and cultural traditions of their origins. Programs based on MBSR and similar models have been widely adopted in schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and other environments.

Therapy programs

Mindfulness-based stress reduction

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a mindfulness-based program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, which uses a combination of mindfulness meditation, body awareness, and yoga to help people become more mindful. While MBSR has its roots in spiritual teachings, the program itself is secular.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to aid in preventing the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with Major depressive disorder (MDD). It uses traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods and adds in newer psychological strategies such as mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Cognitive methods can include educating the participant about depression. Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation focus on becoming aware of all incoming thoughts and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them.

Like CBT, MBCT functions on the theory that when individuals who have historically had depression become distressed, they return to automatic cognitive processes that can trigger a depressive episode. The goal of MBCT is to interrupt these automatic processes and teach the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli, and instead accepting and observing them without judgment. This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when automatic processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more of a reflection. Research supports the effects of MBCT in people who have been depressed three or more times and demonstrates reduced relapse rates by 50%.

Acceptance and commitment therapy

Acceptance and commitment therapy or (ACT) (typically pronounced as the word "act") is a form of clinical behavior analysis (CBA) used in psychotherapy. It is a psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. The approach was originally called comprehensive distancing. It was developed in the late 1980s by Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson, and Kirk Strosahl. It was popularised in the early 2000s by Dr. Russ Harris with The Happiness Trap (2007).

Dialectical behavior therapy

Mindfulness is a "core" exercise used in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a psychosocial treatment Marsha M. Linehan developed for treating people with borderline personality disorder. DBT is dialectic, says Linehan, in the sense of "the reconciliation of opposites in a continual process of synthesis." As a practitioner of Buddhist meditation techniques, Linehan says:

This emphasis in DBT on a balance of acceptance and change owes much to my experiences in studying meditation and Eastern spirituality. The DBT tenets of observing, mindfulness, and avoidance of judgment are all derived from the study and practice of Zen meditations.

Mode deactivation therapy

Mode deactivation therapy (MDT) is a treatment methodology that is derived from the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy and incorporates elements of Acceptance and commitment therapy, Dialectical behavior therapy, and mindfulness techniques. Mindfulness techniques such as simple breathing exercises are applied to assist the client in awareness and non-judgmental acceptance of unpleasant and distressing thoughts and feelings as they occur in the present moment. Mode Deactivation Therapy was developed and is established as an effective treatment for adolescents with problem behaviors and complex trauma-related psychological problems, according to recent publications by Jack A. Apsche and Joan Swart.

Other programs

The Japanese psychiatrist Shoma Morita, who trained in Zen meditation, developed Morita therapy upon principles of mindfulness and non-attachment.

Internal Family Systems Model (IFS), developed by Richard C. Schwartz, emphasizes the importance of both therapist and client engaging in therapy from the Self, which is the IFS term for one's "spiritual center". The Self is curious about whatever arises in one's present experience and open and accepting toward all manifestations.

Mindfulness relaxation uses breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.

Education

In the USA, mindfulness practices are becoming more common within educational institutions including Elementary and Secondary schools. The applications of mindfulness in schools are aimed at calming and relaxation, to build compassion and empathy for others, and to reduce anxiety and stress in students. Based on a broad meta-analytical review, Zenner et al. (2014) concluded that the application of mindfulness practice shows an improvement of students' attention and focus, emotional regulation, creativity, and problem solving skills. A 2026 systematic review found that in school and community settings, mindfulness programs produced small, mostly short-term improvements that varied by age. This identified modestly fewer behavior problems in 3 to 8-year-olds, better attention in 9 to 14-year-olds, and slightly lower anxiety and depression in 15 to 18-year-olds.

Available research reveals a relationship between mindfulness, attention, the reducement of anxiety, and "improvements in behavioral regulation, metacognition, and overall executive functions". Yet, Johnson et al. (2016) concluded that "no improvements were demonstrated on any outcome measured either immediately post-intervention or at three-month follow-up".

Business

Mindfulness training appears to be getting popular in the business world, and many large corporations have been incorporating mindfulness practices into their culture. For example, companies such as Google, Apple, Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Mayo Clinic, and the U.S. Army offer mindfulness coaching, meditation breaks and other resources to their employees to improve workplace functioning.

The introduction of mindfulness in corporate settings still remains in early stages and its potential long-term impact requires further assessment. Mindfulness has been found to result in better employee well-being, lower levels of frustration, lower absenteeism and burnout as well as an improved overall work environment.

Law

Legal and law enforcement organizations are also showing interest in mindfulness:

• Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation hosted a workshop on "Mindfulness in the Law & Alternative Dispute Resolution."
• Many law firms offer mindfulness classes.

Prison-programs

Mindfulness has been taught in prisons, reducing hostility and mood disturbance among inmates, and improving their self-esteem. Additional studies indicate that mindfulness interventions can result in significant reductions in anger, reductions in substance use, increased relaxation capacity, self-regulation and optimism.

Government

Many government organizations offer mindfulness training. Coping Strategies is an example of a program utilized by United States Armed Forces personnel. The British Parliament organized a mindfulness-session for its members in 2014, led by Ruby Wax.

Sport

Mindfulness is gaining popularity in sports, with mindfulness practices being integrated as parts of teams routines.

Scientific research

Mindfulness has gained increasing empirical attention since 1970 and has been studied extensively for different patient populations. Meta analyses indicate its beneficial effects for healthy adults, for adolescents and for children.

Increase in mindfulness

Meta-analyses have shown that mindfulness-based interventions (such as structured mindfulness training programs) lead to greater increases in measured mindfulness, typically assessed using validated trait- and state-mindfulness scales, compared with active control conditions.

Mental health

Studies have shown a positive relationship between trait mindfulness and psychological health. In an overview, Keng, Smoski, and Robins (2021) state that "Trait mindfulness has been associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, agreeableness, conscientiousness, vitality, self esteem, empathy, sense of autonomy, competence, optimism, and pleasant affect." Xiao et al. (2020) found links between dispositional mindfulness and prosocial behavior.

Meta-analyses indicate positive behavioral and mental health-related outcomes for different health problems, including ADHD, and drugs and alcohol abuse. Mindfulness appears to be a beneficial intervention for children with special needs and their caregivers, including autism treatment. The practice of mindfulness appears to provide therapeutic benefits to people with psychiatric disorders, including moderate benefits to those with psychosis.

Studies indicate that rumination and worry contribute to a variety of mental disorders. Mindfulness-based interventions can enhance trait mindfulness and reduce both rumination and worry. Mindfulness practices have been said to enable individuals to respond more effectively to stressful situations by helping them strike the balance between over-identification and suppression of their emotional experiences by finding the middle point which is recognition and acceptance.

Mindfulness practices have also been associated with the development of psychological resilience. Regular mindfulness meditation can help individuals facing trauma or chronic stress to regulate emotions, reduce rumination, and strengthen adaptive coping mechanisms. Further, the practice of mindfulness may be a preventive strategy to halt the development of mental-health problems. It is also a viable treatment option for people with insomnia, an effective intervention for healthy aging, and has also been used to improve athletic performance,

Studies have shown that mindfulness meditation contributes to a more coherent and healthy sense of self and identity, with regard to aspects such as sense of responsibility, authenticity, compassion, self-acceptance and character.

While some studies have questioned the effects of mindfulness on prosocial behaviours, review articles on this subject generally indicate that mindfulness promotes prosocial behaviour although more longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this.

Physical health

Meta-analyses also indicate positive physical health-related outcomes for different health problems, including weight management, heart disease, sleep disorders, cancer care, multiple sclerosis, and other health-related conditions. The practice of mindfulness has also been used as a strategy for managing dermatological conditions and as a useful intervention during early pregnancy. Recent studies have also demonstrated that mindfulness meditation significantly attenuates physical pain through multiple, unique mechanisms.

Meditation also may allow one to modulate pain. When exposed to pain from heating, the brain scans of the mindfulness meditation participants (by use of functional magnetic resonance imaging) showed their brains notice the pain equally, however it does not get converted to a perceived pain signal. As such they experienced up to 40–50% less pain.

The psychological habit of repeatedly dwelling on stressful thoughts appears to intensify the physiological effects of the stressor (as a result of the continual activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) with the potential to lead to physical-health-related clinical manifestations. Studies indicate that mindfulness meditation, which brings about reductions in rumination, may alter these biological clinical pathways. Further, research indicates that mindfulness may favorably influence the immune system as well as inflammation, which can consequently impact physical health, especially considering that inflammation has been linked to the development of several chronic health conditions. Other studies support these findings.

Mindfulness meditation may prevent or delay the onset of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

Research suggests that the practice of mindfulness could influence genetic expression leading to a reduced risk of inflammation-related diseases and favourable changes in biomarkers.

Neurological studies - functional and structural changes

The effects of mindfulness on the brain have been studied using neuroimaging techniques, physiological measures and behavioral tests.

Mindfulness-induced emotional and behavioral changes have been found to be related to functional and structural changes in the brain. Ruther et al. (2026) found that 'Mindfulness-based stress reduction' appears to influence brain function more than structure, with consistent enhancement of activity and connectivity in networks that support emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and attention.

Neurological research suggests that mindfulness influences components of attention regulation, body awareness and emotional regulation.

Grey matter concentrations in brain regions that regulate emotion, self-referential processing, learning and memory processes have shown changes in density following MBSR.

Neuroimaging techniques suggest that mindfulness practices are associated with "changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, temporo-parietal junction, fronto-limbic network and default mode network structures."

MBSR practice has been associated with improvement of the immune system which could explain the correlation between stress reduction and increased quality of life. Part of these changes are a result of the thickening of the prefrontal cortex (executive functioning) and hippocampus (learning and memorisation ability), the shrinking of the amygdala (emotion and stress response) and the strengthening of the connections between brain cells. Long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. Further, a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes.

Simon and Engström (2015) suggest that the default mode network of the brain can be used as a potential biomarker for monitoring the therapeutic benefits of meditation.

Contributing factors

Mindfulness may be dose-dependent, increasing with greater practice experience. Bergomi et al. (2015) found that "mindfulness is particularly associated with continued practice in the present, rather than with accumulated practice over years."

Suelmann et al. (2018) found that mindfulness was associated with the intention to be mindful; with feeling good; and with not being hurried or very busy. Goting et al. (2016) found that causality probably reciprocal: feeling good increases mindfulness, and mindfulness increases feeling good.

Shapiro et al. (2006) suggest that hrough reperceiving, which takes place after the mindful-practice itself, there is a shift in perspective, permitting disassociation from thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, and allowing one to exist with them instead of being defined by them.

Lack of support for beneficial effects

Goyal et al. (2014), an often-cited meta-analysis on meditation research, found insufficient evidence of any effect of meditation programs on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, and weight, but found that there is moderate evidence that meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and pain. However, this study included a highly heterogeneous group of meditation styles (i.e., it did not focus exclusively on mindfulness meditation), which is a significant limitation of this study. Additionally, while mindfulness is well known to have positive psychological effects among individuals diagnosed with various types of cancers, the evidence is unclear regarding its effectiveness in men with prostate cancer.

Adverse effects

Meditation in general (of which mindfulness is just one type) has been correlated with unpleasant experiences in some individuals, in a number of studies. These studies, however, examined a range of meditation practices rather than focusing exclusively on mindfulness meditation, and some had important methodological limitations, including cross-sectional designs, self-selected samples, reliance on self-reports, and the absence of non-intervention control groups when relevant. Other studies have specifically investigated potential adverse effects associated with mindfulness meditation, as described below.

A 2022 study of more than 2,400 participants, using health records from 2,155 MBSR participants and data from 274 participants in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), assessed harm relative to what would have occurred without treatment and found no evidence that MBSR increased psychological or physical harm, with some measures additionally suggesting that MBSR may protect against multiple forms of harm.

Similarly, a 2024 randomized trial of 708 patients with chronic pain found that mindfulness-based interventions did not increase psychological or physical harm compared with usual care, with participants receiving mindfulness-based interventions showing significantly lower rates of deterioration across the outcomes assessed.

A 2024 prospective matched-control study of 136 participants (89 retreat participants and 47 matched controls) found that, although unpleasant experiences were common, they occurred at similar rates among participants in intensive six-day mindfulness meditation retreats and matched controls in daily life. Experiences associated with the retreats were primarily pleasant, and at two-week follow-up, the overall impact of reported experiences was rated as more beneficial than adverse.

Another study examined potential risk factors for sudden unusual mental or somatic experiences, termed “emergent phenomena” (EP), and for subsequent suffering, using survey data from 3,133 adults. Using logistic regression, the researchers found that the strongest practice-related risk factors associated with moderate-or-greater suffering following EP were having attempted divine, magical, or occult practices, past psychedelic use, and contemplation of mysteries. In contrast, specific mindfulness meditation techniques were not associated with an increased likelihood of suffering following EP. This study also found that mindfulness meditation techniques are not associated with negative experiences.

A 2026 meta-analysis using individual participant data from nine randomized clinical trials involving 1,258 adults with recurrent major depressive disorder in remission or partial remission, published in JAMA Network Open, found no evidence that MBCT increased the odds of depressive symptom worsening compared with control conditions. with some research additionally suggesting that mindfulness meditation may even protect against multiple forms of harm.

According to Salguero, medieval Chinese Buddhist texts suggest that “the best way to address the ill effects of meditation is to modify one’s meditation and continue practicing.” A number of Western Buddhist teachers and leaders, have also asserted that proper instruction from a legitimate, genuinely insightful teacher prevents negative experiences in meditation from escalating into adverse or harmful effects. Studies also indicate that people who experience adverse effects as fleeting emotions (i.e., seeing them as a passing phase) without identifying with these experiences are able to overcome distress. Further, balancing concentration practices with open-monitoring practices, incorporating loving-kindness meditation, and even adding physical activity may help prevent any negative experiences from escalating into harmful effects. It has been proposed that a lack of understanding of the theoretical basis of meditation may also play a major causal role in the development of adverse effects. Other studies on adverse effects have found that participants who experience these effects are just as glad to have practiced meditation as those who do not, and that they continue to view meditation as a valuable activity that supports their mental wellbeing.

Concerns and criticism

Methodological concerns

The methodological quality of some of the studies is poor. Recent reviews have described many of these issues.

Many of the above cited review studies also indicate the necessity for more high-quality research in this field such as conducting intervention studies using larger sample sizes, the use of more randomized controlled studies and the need for providing more methodological details in reported studies. The majority of studies also either measure mindfulness as a trait, and in research that use mindfulness interventions in clinical practice, the lack of true randomisation poses a problem for understanding the true effectiveness of mindfulness. Experimental methods using randomised samples, though, suggest that mindfulness as a state or temporary practice can influence felt emotions such as disgust and promote abstract decision-making. There are also a few review studies that have found little difference between mindfulness interventions and control groups, though they did also indicate that their intervention group was treated too briefly for the research to be conclusive. In some domains, such as sport, a lack of internal validity across studies prevents any strong claims being made about the effects of mindfulness. These studies also list the need for more robust research investigations. Several issues pertaining to the assessment of mindfulness have also been identified including the current use of self-report questionnaires. Potential for bias also exists to the extent that researchers in the field are also practitioners and possibly subject to pressures to publish positive or significant results.

McMindfulness

The popularization of mindfulness as a "commodity" has been criticized, being termed "McMindfulness" by some critics. Ronald Purser discusses that there is certainly a beneficial aspect to mindfulness, such as reducing stress, however, the issue is the "product they are selling and how its been packaged." According to Harrington and Dunne, critics argue that "Mindfulness [...] was never supposed to be about weight loss, better sex, helping children perform better in school, helping employees be more productive in the workplace, or even improving the functioning of anxious, depressed people. It was never supposed to be a merchandized commodity to be bought and sold." According to John Safran, the popularity of mindfulness is the result of a marketing strategy: "McMindfulness is the marketing of a constructed dream; an idealized lifestyle; an identity makeover." The psychologist Thomas Joiner says that modern mindfulness meditation has been "corrupted" for commercial gain by self-help celebrities, and suggests that it encourages unhealthy narcissistic and self-obsessed mindsets.

According to Monteiro, Muster, and Compson, secular mindfulness has been criticized for treating mindfulness apart from the rest of the Buddhist path. They describe the criticism that attention practiced without this ethical context can amount to "wrong mindfulness" and can be used for harmful purposes. The article also gives the response that ethics can be present in mindfulness based programs without being taught separately, including through the conduct of the teacher, though whether implicit ethics are sufficient is unresolved.

According to Purser and Loy, mindfulness is not being used as a means to awaken to insight in the "unwholesome roots of greed, ill will and delusion," but reshaped into a "banal, therapeutic, self-help technique" that has the opposite effect of reinforcing those passions. While mindfulness is marketed as a means to reduce stress, in a Buddhist context it is part of an all-embracing ethical program to foster "wise action, social harmony, and compassion." Purser explains that ultimately mindfulness is being stripped from its original Buddhist roots, losing its emphasis on ethical training and liberation from attachment, and is instead presented mainly as a therapeutic self-help method. Others have similarly noted that while secular mindfulness can provide benefits such as stress reduction and psychological relief, these benefits should not be equated with the more profound transformation described in Buddhist teachings. The privatization of mindfulness neglects the societal and organizational causes of stress and discomfort, instead propagating adaptation to these circumstances. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, "[A]bsent a sharp social critique, Buddhist practices could easily be used to justify and stabilize the status quo, becoming a reinforcement of consumer capitalism." The popularity of this new brand of mindfulness has resulted in the commercialization of meditation through self-help books, guided meditation classes, and mindfulness retreats.

Mindfulness is said to be a $4bn industry. More than 60,000 books for sale on Amazon have a variant of "mindfulness" in their title, touting the benefits of Mindful Parenting, Mindful Eating, Mindful Teaching, Mindful Therapy, Mindful Leadership, Mindful Finance, a Mindful Nation, and Mindful Dog Owners, to name just a few.

Buddhist commentators have criticized the movement as being presented as equivalent to Buddhist practice, while in reality it is very possibly denatured with undesirable consequences, such as being ungrounded in the traditional reflective morality and therefore, astray from traditional Buddhist ethics. Criticisms suggest it to be either de-moralized or re-moralized into clinically based ethics. The conflict is often presented with concern to the teacher's credentials and qualifications, rather than the student's actual practice. Reformed Buddhist-influenced practices are being standardized and manualized in a distinct separation from Buddhism - which is seen as a religion based in monastic temples - and expressed as "mindfulness" in a new psychology ethic, practiced in modern meditation centers.