Mindfulness, as introduced to clinical contexts by Jon Kabat-Zinn, is the deliberate, non-judgmental observation of present-moment experience — thought, sensation, emotion — without requiring it to be other than it is. The Sutras describe this capacity as the cultivation of the sākṣin, the witness: the aspect of awareness that can observe citta's movements without being swept away by them. Decades of research confirm that this practice reduces suffering across a remarkable range of conditions.
Each step builds on the last.