Most of us find life stressful at times, particularly when afflicted by illness or faced with difficulties. We tend to be impatient, and lost in the past or project into the future rather than being in the present. We also tend to resist or react to things by denying, commenting, or judging them rather than accepting and understanding them. This reaction creates more stress. We do not fully live our life if we are not entirely in touch with our present life experience.

     Meditation is a form of mental training. Most meditation techniques involve mental concentration, rendering the mind calm and peaceful. They require formal periods of sitting practice in which the mind is trained to focus on a single physical (a candle, colored, disk, or sound) or mental object (a mantra: a phrase or word). Usually the practitioner aims at reaching deeply concentrated (absorbed) states of mind to achieve certain benefits or special mental capacities. Mindfulness, on the other hand, can be practiced both formally in sitting or walking meditation and informally during all daily activities. It does not require deep states of mental concentration in order to be beneficial. The practitioner usually avoids holding on to a single object, except in the beginning of the meditation when some stillness of mind is needed.

     Mindfulness meditation explores life as it is occurring in the present moment, without holding on to pleasant experiences or resisting unpleasant ones. By paying non-judging attention to every aspect of life that is being experienced, whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, one develops insights into its ever changing, unsatisfactory and impersonal nature. One therefore faces worldly conditions of ups and downs with more equanimity, encountering less stress and confusion, more joy, and inner peace. This form of meditation is traditionally practiced in Buddhist monasteries or meditation centers in South Asia. It is usually adapted in the West as silent retreats lasting typically ten days and practiced by people of diverse backgrounds. Its' secular or "generic" form has been taught in western clinical settings as eight-week course named Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or MBSR, initially established by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts. MBSR also includes Yoga and other relaxation techniques. There are numerous medical publications reporting various medical and non-medical benefits of this practice for chronic pain, stress, anxiety, depression etc... including studies in cancer patients and healthy volunteers showing improvement of their quality of life and immune function.