Mindfulness means paying attention to what is happening inside your mind and body. It’s about noticing your thoughts and how you feel, without judging them.

Sometimes our brains say mean things. People who feel anxious or sad often have thoughts like “I’m not good enough” or “Something bad will happen.” These thoughts can make us feel even worse.

When we practice mindfulness, we start to notice those thoughts instead of believing them right away. We also learn to notice how our body feels. Are we tense? Are we breathing fast? Are we holding our breath?

Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of your automatic thoughts. These automatic thoughts are part of the constant mental chatter that shapes how you feel. For people living with anxiety or depression, these thoughts are often negative. They involve self-doubt, self-criticism, black-and-white thinking, or sweeping generalizations about oneself or others.

Tragically, these thought patterns often lack curiosity; the kind of open-minded, reflective thinking that comes from the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for decision-making and insight. Trauma and adverse life experiences can dull our curiosity about the world, making us withdraw even further from those around us.

This mind-body connection is also central to practices like yoga, where students are often guided to pay attention to their breath while moving through poses. Noticing your breath, how deep or shallow it is, or whether you’ve unintentionally stopped breathing can offer valuable insight into your emotional state. In moments of anxiety, mindfulness of breath can bring us back into our bodies and offer a sense of calm and control.