The Essence of Mindfulness

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.

This is the definition of Jon Kabat-Zinn, a scientist, author, and meditation teacher who is credited with bringing mindfulness into mainstream Western medicine and society.

While elements of mindfulness can actually be found in all religious traditions (to differing degrees), mindfulness is historically rooted in Buddhism. What makes mindfulness so great is that the practice of mindfulness itself can be extracted from the Buddhist religion so that it is acceptable to anyone, regardless of their faith. Shinzen Young, a mindfulness teacher known for his innovative approach, describes this in the following video and offers his own definition of mindfulness:

"Mindfulness, as I like to define it, is a three-fold attentional skill-set, involving the gradual development in a natural way of concentration power, sensory clarity, and equanimity. It turns out, that when you develop this skill-set to a critical degree, which by the way, anyone can develop with time, practice, and competent instruction... ordinary experience becomes utterly extraordinary. It becomes spiritualized."

Later in the video, Shinzen Young discusses mindfulness and science:

"The mindfulness framework is very harmonious with science. In fact, it's basically like science. The nuts and bolts of science is to track how much of what, when, and where, interacting in what ways and changing at what rates. Those of you that have a background in science, technology, or engineering know what I am talking about... Well it turns out that the nuts and bolts of mindfulness are essentially identical except applied to sensory experience. How much of what, when, and where, interacting in what ways and changing at what rates in regards to your experience of self and the world. So the mindfulness fits very well with modern science and it is amenable to study through the methods of neuroscience because we can extract from the doctrinal background, we can extract from the cultural baggage, and we have something that is not only compatible with, but actually potentiates the scientific point of view."

Take a listen!