Explore these simple exercises as steps toward the practice of mindfulness meditation, or vipassana. The goal of mindfulness meditation is to cultivate awareness, insight, and intentionality. Through this practice, we strive to become an active and nonjudgmental observer of our present experience, while we remain, at once, a participant.
Instead of tuning out most stimuli, as we often do, we want to cultivate awareness. Instead of processing thoughts and feelings automatically, we want to cultivate insight. And instead of reacting to experiences impulsively, we want to cultivate intentionality. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn calls mindfulness "the direct opposite of taking life for granted."