If you recall my metaphor for the mind as an MP3 player, this is where we can consider mindfulness as keeping that “play” button continuously engaged. We’re not rewinding or fast-forwarding. Instead, we’re pressing the “play” button in order to be in the here and now and experience the moment-to-moment unfolding of our lives.
Mindfulness is a very powerful tool and concept that’s important to understand. The way I’ve defined it is as a mental mode, a way of making the mind. And this is done by paying attention to present-moment experience without elaborating or telling a story about it, or having reactivity around it. Mindfulness is keeping the mind present, on “play,” and having curiosity and full engagement with what’s going on right now.
As I’ve mentioned before, in my lab, we think about mindfulness not simply as a concept: we consider mindfulness training a cognitive training tool. To understand this more fully, we need to understand what the workout is—what the exercises are—that make it cognitive training. So today I want to review one foundational mindfulness practice with you: mindful breathing. This is what we call a focused-attention practice.
Breathe In, Breathe OutSo, let me just describe…
