This takes practice. Attention is trained through meditation. With various exercises you can learn to direct your attention to the here and now and not be pulled along by all the feelings and thoughts that can come up.
Mindfulness is a way of living
By practising often, you learn to apply mindfulness during meditation and also in daily life.
Noting
An example of a mindful exercise is noting. In noting you direct your attention to your breathing, for example. You can do this by counting your breaths in your mind. When you get to ten, you start again from one.
Each time you notice that your attention has wandered off through a thought or a feeling, you name this in your mind. Without judgement. Then you calmly direct your attention to your breathing again.
Practising mindfulness
There are different ways. The classic picture is perhaps that you sit on the floor with your legs crossed and your eyes closed, meditating for hours. But there are many other ways to practise mindfulness:
- You can do a short meditation of a few minutes. You can meditate sitting on a chair or on the floor. You can also apply mindfulness techniques while eating, walking, cleaning or cycling.
- You can meditate on your own.
- There is also guided meditation, in which someone else brings structure and helps you do the exercises.
- There are mindfulness exercises that can help in stressful moments, that prepare you for going to sleep, or that get you ready in the morning to start a new day.
The core of all these forms of mindfulness and meditation is that you consciously direct your attention to the here and now.
Body scan
Another exercise is the body scan. In your mind you slowly go through your body, from your toes to the top of your head, to feel consciously how you are.
Effects of mindfulness
Scientific studies of the effects of mindfulness on health and mental health show positive results: it can reduce stress, help you deal better with difficult emotions and improve your attention.
Some facts:
- Mindfulness can also help with psychosis susceptibility.
- Mindfulness does not mean that you no longer experience stress, have difficult feelings or have thoughts.
- People who live mindfully can also get angry, be anxious, or be drawn into an inner dialogue.
More calm, compassion and empathy
What mindfulness brings you is that you can bear feelings and thoughts better and can therefore deal with them from more distance. This gives you more choice in how you want to react to a situation. It can help you to have more calm, compassion and empathy, towards yourself and towards others.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
There is also a form of therapy that uses mindfulness: mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Here the practice of mindfulness is combined with techniques from cognitive therapy.
MBCT often consists of a number of meetings in which you learn mindfulness techniques, get homework and follow a day of silence. MBCT can help with depression and with chronic physical pain, among other things. See also acceptance and commitment therapy.
Learning mindfulness
You can learn mindfulness in different ways. There are many self-help books, recordings and apps. Well-known apps are Headspace, Insight Timer, Buddhify and Calm. Courses are given in many places; ask your care provider what is available where you live.
Prof. dr. Jim van Os, Chair Division Neuroscience, Utrecht University Medical Centre. Jim works at the interface of ‘hard’ brain science, health services research, art and subjective experiences of people with ‘lived experience’ in mental healthcare.
Jim has been appearing on the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science list of ‘most influential scientific minds of our time’ since 2014. In 2014 he published his book ‘Beyond DSM-5‘, and in 2016 the book ‘Good Mental Health Care’. In 2026 he published 'Wat psychisch lijden is'.
Want to read more?
Blogs by Jim van Os can be read here
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