Omtropy

A recent article in the Guardian explains that:

 

"The idea behind mindfulness is straightforward. Jon Kabat-Zinn calls it "paying attention on purpose, moment by moment, without judging". Practitioners argue that the brain's habit of reliving past stresses and worrying about potential future problems can become an obstacle to mental health.

Mindfulness encourages people to get those critical thoughts about the past and future into perspective so they no longer dominate. Instead, people are given tools to help them become anchored more in the present, and to focus more on the sensations of the world from moment to moment. That is achieved through meditation techniques such as the body scan – a practice where participants are "invited" to focus on the sensations of their own body. Thoughts that pop up during the exercise are acknowledged and "observed kindly" before the mind is refocused back to the sensations of the body.

Other practices focus on breathing and on linking stresses and mental distractions to physical sensations in the body such as tense shoulders, clenched hands or shallow breath. It sounds simple, but it's not. It takes hard work and lots of practice."