For some people, the word mindfulness immediately conjures an image of sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, trying desperately not to think.

Which is unfortunate, because mindfulness can be both simpler and broader than that.

At its heart, mindfulness is about deliberately bringing attention to what is happening now.

Sometimes that is meditation.

But it might also be breathing.

Walking.

Yoga.

Stretching.

Running without headphones.

Drinking your morning coffee without simultaneously reading your email.

Or noticing that your mind has travelled ten steps ahead of your body and gently bringing your attention back to where you actually are.

In lives increasingly characterised by stimulation, distraction and cognitive load, that ability matters.

Attention is trainable

Most of us spend significant portions of our day being pulled between competing demands.

A notification arrives while we're writing.

We check an email during a meeting.

We walk somewhere while thinking about the conversation we've just had.

We finish one task while mentally rehearsing the next three.

Mindfulness interrupts that pattern by asking us to practise something deceptively difficult:

Be here.

A growing body of research suggests mindfulness-based interventions can support psychological wellbeing, while physical activity independently has strong associations with better mental health. (Breedvelt et al., 2026) Recent evidence also suggests interventions combining psychological practices with exercise can be particularly beneficial for wellbeing.

This doesn't mean mindfulness is a cure-all.

It means it is one useful practice among several that can help us build lives in which our attention isn't permanently being dictated by whatever demands it next.

Find a practice that works for you

Meditation remains one of the clearest ways to intentionally practise mindfulness.

And it doesn't require an hour.

Five or ten minutes spent noticing the breath, observing thoughts and repeatedly returning attention to the present is still practice.

But meditation isn't the only door in.

For some people, mindful movement is easier.

Yoga naturally combines movement, breath and attention. A brisk walk can become a mindfulness practice when you deliberately notice your pace, breathing, surroundings and physical sensations rather than filling the space with another podcast.

Stretching can do the same.

So can controlled breathing.

The common ingredient isn't the activity itself.

It's attention with intention.

Thriving requires moments in which nothing is being optimised

There is a temptation, particularly in high-performance cultures, to turn mindfulness into another productivity tool.

Meditate so you can concentrate harder.

Walk so you can return and produce more.

Breathe so you can perform better.

And yes, these practices can support performance.

But thriving is bigger than performance.

Sometimes the value of a walk is the walk.

Sometimes ten minutes of breathing is valuable because for ten minutes you're not solving anything.

Sometimes yoga is simply an opportunity to inhabit your body rather than manage your life from your head.

There is good evidence that leisure-time physical activity is associated with better mental health and wellbeing. (Domain-specific physical activity and mental health, 2026) Perhaps importantly, the same relationship isn't seen uniformly across every kind of physical activity. Context matters.

So does intention.

Thriving isn't a permanent state of happiness, calm or balance.

It is having practices that repeatedly reconnect us with ourselves, our bodies, other people and the life happening around us.

You don't need to become someone who “does mindfulness.”

You might simply begin by creating a few moments each day in which you deliberately notice where you are.

And actually be there.

References

Breedvelt, J. J. F., et al. (2026). Psychological and lifestyle interventions for improving
mental wellbeing: A systematic review and network meta-analysis. Nature Human Behaviour.

Pascoe, M. C., et al. (2024). Yoga as an intervention for stress: A meta-analysis. Journal of Health Psychology.

Zainal, N. H., & Newman, M. G. (2024). Mindfulness enhances cognitive functioning: A meta-analysis of 111 randomized controlled trials. Health Psychology Review.

Domain-specific physical activity and mental health: A systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis. (2026).