Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to what is happening right now, inside and around you, on purpose and without judging it. It can be trained through short practices and brought into ordinary moments such as eating, walking or working. Courses based on it can help with stress, anxiety and recurrent depression, though effects are usually modest.
Last updated: 23 October 2026
Reading time: about 45 minutes
How we wrote this guide
We based this guide on peer-reviewed research, including large meta-analyses, the UK MYRIAD schools trial and studies of adverse effects, plus official guidance from NICE and the NHS in the UK. For history and definitions, we used Jon Kabat-Zinn’s own writing, scholarship on the early Buddhist texts, and the organisations that train and register mindfulness teachers in the UK, the US, Australia and the Netherlands. Every claim links to its source, and the full list is at the end. We checked every video, podcast, book, course, app and account link in October 2026. This guide is general information, not medical advice.
⚠️ Before you start: who should be careful
- Mindfulness is not a replacement for treatment. If you have depression, anxiety or another mental health condition, keep taking any medicines and talk to your doctor or care team before stopping or changing anything.
- It can sometimes feel worse before it feels better. Turning towards your thoughts and body can bring up difficult feelings or memories. One study of an eight-week mindfulness course found that over a third of participants had at least one practice-related effect that affected their day-to-day functioning, and 6% to 14% had lasting bad effects (Britton et al., 2021).
- Take extra care if you have a history of trauma, psychosis, bipolar disorder or severe depression, or if you are going through a crisis right now. Learn with a qualified teacher who asks about your health first, keep practices short, and keep your eyes open if that feels safer.
- Stop or change the practice if you feel panicky, detached from yourself or your surroundings, or overwhelmed. Moving, opening your eyes or noticing your feet on the floor can help you settle.
- If you are in crisis, contact a crisis line now. USA: call or text 988 (988 Lifeline). Canada: call or text 9-8-8 (988.ca). UK and Ireland: Samaritans on 116 123 (Samaritans). Australia: Lifeline on 13 11 14 (Lifeline). India: Tele-MANAS on 14416 (Tele-MANAS). Elsewhere: find a free local line at findahelpline.com. In an emergency, call your local emergency number (for example 911, 999, 112 or 000).
Quick answer: what is mindfulness and does it work?
- It’s a quality of attention, not just a type of meditation. Mindfulness means noticing your thoughts, feelings, body sensations and surroundings as they happen, with curiosity rather than criticism (NHS).
- You can practise it formally or informally. Formal practice means setting aside time for exercises such as a body scan. Informal practice means bringing the same attention to everyday activities like washing up or walking to work.
- The best-known courses are MBSR and MBCT, two eight-week group programmes developed in the US and UK.
- NICE recommends MBCT as an option to help prevent relapse for people who have recovered from depression but are at higher risk of it coming back, and lists group mindfulness among the treatments for less severe depression (NICE NG222).
- The benefits are real but modest. Large reviews find small to moderate improvements in anxiety, depression and stress, usually no better than other active treatments such as exercise or therapy (Goyal et al., 2014; Galante et al., 2021).
- It isn’t for everyone. The UK’s biggest schools trial found that classroom mindfulness lessons were no better than usual teaching (Kuyken et al., 2022), and some people have unpleasant effects.
Contents
- What is mindfulness?
- Where mindfulness comes from
- MBSR and MBCT: the eight-week courses
- The attitudes of mindfulness
- Formal and informal practice
- How to practise mindfulness: step by step
- Six practices to try
- Bringing mindfulness into everyday life
- Mindfulness at work
- Mindfulness in schools and for children
- Does mindfulness work? The honest evidence
- Criticisms: “McMindfulness” and the hype
- Is mindfulness safe?
- How to learn mindfulness, wherever you live
- Mindfulness apps
- Key teachers and researchers
- Books
- Watch, listen and follow
- Frequently asked questions
- Key takeaways
- Sources
What Is Mindfulness?
The most widely quoted definition comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn, the scientist who created Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). In his 1994 book Wherever You Go, There You Are, he wrote that “mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). In a 2003 academic paper he offered a fuller working definition: “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003).
Each part of that definition matters:
- On purpose. Mindfulness is something you choose to do. Most of the time our attention is pulled around by habit, worry and our phones. Mindfulness means deliberately placing it somewhere.
- In the present moment. The mind spends a lot of time replaying the past or rehearsing the future. Mindfulness brings attention back to what is happening now: this breath, this step, this conversation.
- Without judging. This doesn’t mean you stop having opinions. It means noticing the running commentary (“this is boring”, “I’m doing it wrong”) as just more thoughts, rather than getting caught up in them.
The NHS describes mindfulness in plain terms as “paying attention to what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment”, including reconnecting with our bodies and noticing our thoughts and feelings as they happen (NHS). Oxford Mindfulness, a not-for-profit organisation that works with the University of Oxford, adds that this noticing is done “in a spirit of friendliness and curiosity” (Oxford Mindfulness).
Psychologists have tried to pin the idea down more precisely so they can measure it. An influential group led by Scott Bishop proposed two parts: self-regulation of attention, keeping attention on what is happening now and bringing it back when it wanders, and an orientation of curiosity, openness and acceptance towards whatever you notice (Bishop et al., 2004). In other words, mindfulness is both where you put your attention and how you hold it.
Mindfulness vs Meditation
People often use “mindfulness” and “meditation” as if they meant the same thing, but they don’t.
- Mindfulness is a quality of attention that you can bring to anything: a cup of tea, a difficult meeting, a walk in the park, an argument with your teenager.
- Meditation is a set of formal practices for training the mind. Mindfulness meditation is one kind, but there are many others, such as mantra meditation, loving-kindness and visualisation.
Meditation is one of the main ways people train mindfulness, in the same way that going to the gym is one way to build fitness. But the point of mindfulness training is what happens in the rest of your day. As the NHS puts it, you can practise mindfulness anywhere, and it can be especially useful when you realise you’ve spent several minutes “reliving past problems or pre-living future worries” (NHS).
This guide focuses on mindfulness as a way of paying attention and living, including the structured courses built around it. Our separate meditation guide covers the wider world of meditation styles and traditions.
A Different Idea: Ellen Langer’s Mindfulness
There is a second, separate meaning of “mindfulness” in psychology. Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer has studied it for about 40 years, and for her it has nothing to do with meditation. She describes mindfulness as the simple act of “noticing new things”: when you actively notice what is new or different about a familiar situation, you stop running on autopilot and realise you didn’t know it as well as you thought (Harvard Gazette, 2018).
Langer’s version is about staying open to new information, seeing more than one perspective and questioning rigid assumptions. It sits well alongside the Kabat-Zinn approach. Both are ways of waking up from habit, one through training attention and the other through deliberately looking for what is fresh.
▶ Ellen Langer: Mindfulness over matter – PopTech. Langer explains her non-meditative, “noticing new things” idea of mindfulness and some of her best-known experiments.
Where Mindfulness Comes From
The Buddhist roots. The English word “mindfulness” is a translation of the Pali word sati (Sanskrit smṛti). Its everyday meaning is close to “remembering” or “bearing in mind”, which is why some teachers describe mindfulness as remembering to come back to the present. The scholar Rupert Gethin traces the first use of “mindfulness” for sati to the British scholar T. W. Rhys Davids in 1881 (Gethin, 2011).
In early Buddhism, sati is one of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path (“right mindfulness”). The key text is the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the discourse on the establishing of mindfulness. It describes four areas to pay attention to: the body (including the breath and posture), feelings (whether an experience is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral), the mind (states such as anger or calm) and dhammas, often translated as mental qualities or the patterns of experience (Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, MN 10). You can still see these four areas in modern practices like the body scan and noticing the “feeling tone” of experiences.
From monasteries to the West. In the 20th century, Asian teachers and Western students brought these practices to Europe and North America. Kabat-Zinn’s 2003 paper cites the monk Nyanaponika Thera’s 1962 book, which called mindfulness “the heart” of Buddhist meditation (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). The Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh popularised everyday mindfulness, such as mindful washing up, walking and breathing, through books like The Miracle of Mindfulness and his Plum Village community in France (Open Library).
The secular turn. In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn, who had trained as a molecular biologist at MIT, founded a clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. There, he taught hospital patients an eight-week course that became Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) (Kabat-Zinn; UMass Memorial Health). He deliberately presented the practices without Buddhist language. He argued that mindfulness, “being about attention, is also of necessity universal. There is nothing particularly Buddhist about it” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003).
In the 1990s, three psychologists, John Teasdale, Mark Williams and Zindel Segal, combined MBSR with cognitive therapy to create Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for people at risk of repeated depression (Teasdale et al., 2000).
Mindfulness in UK public life. In October 2015, the UK Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group published the Mindful Nation UK report. It followed a 12-month inquiry with eight hearings in Parliament and made recommendations for health, education, the workplace and the criminal justice system (The Mindfulness Initiative). Today, mindfulness courses are offered in some NHS services, universities, schools, prisons and workplaces.
Not everyone welcomes this journey. Some Buddhist teachers and scholars worry that stripping mindfulness of its ethical framework turns it into a productivity tool. We cover that debate in Criticisms: “McMindfulness” and the hype.
MBSR and MBCT: The Eight-Week Courses
Most of the research on mindfulness is about two structured group courses. They are often called mindfulness-based programmes. Both last eight weeks, combine guided practice with discussion, and ask you to practise at home every day.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
MBSR is the original programme, created by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979. The UMass Memorial Health Center for Mindfulness, where it began, describes the current course as (UMass Memorial Health):
- an orientation session before the course starts
- 8 weekly classes of about 2.5 hours
- one all-day class, usually at a weekend between weeks 6 and 7
- daily home practice of about 45 to 60 minutes
Core practices include the body scan, mindful eating, sitting meditation, gentle mindful movement (based on yoga) and walking meditation. MBSR is for anyone dealing with stress, pain or illness, and doesn’t target a particular condition. Kabat-Zinn’s book Full Catastrophe Living is the foundation of the MBSR curriculum (Kabat-Zinn).
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
MBCT was designed specifically for people who have had depression several times and are currently well. It is based on a simple idea. When someone who has been depressed feels a little low, the dip can trigger old patterns of negative thinking and brooding that spiral back into depression. MBCT teaches people to notice these patterns early and step out of them, by relating to thoughts as “mental events” rather than facts (Teasdale et al., 2000).
MBCT keeps the structure and most of the practices of MBSR, and adds elements of cognitive therapy, such as learning about depression and making a plan for spotting warning signs. It also teaches the three-step breathing space, a short practice for using mindfulness in difficult moments (see the six practices).
NICE, which advises the NHS in England, recommends MBCT in two ways (NICE NG222):
- To prevent relapse. For people who have recovered from depression but are at higher risk of relapse, NICE says to consider group CBT or MBCT, either instead of continuing antidepressants or alongside them. It suggests a course that “usually consists of 8 sessions over 2 to 3 months”, with the option of extra sessions over the next year.
- For less severe depression. NICE lists “group mindfulness and meditation” among the treatment options, using a programme such as MBCT designed specifically for depression, usually with 8 sessions and 8 to 15 people in the group.
Whether MBCT is offered on the NHS varies by area. Ask your GP, or contact your local NHS Talking Therapies service, to find out what’s available near you.
Other mindfulness-based programmes
Many other courses have grown out of MBSR and MBCT. The UK teacher register run by the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA) lists teachers of programmes including MBSR, MBCT, MBCT for Life (also known as Mindfulness for Life, a version for the general public), the Mindfulness-Based Living Course and Breathworks courses (BAMBA). Oxford Mindfulness says MBCT for Life grew out of MBCT to support well-being for everyone, not just people with depression (Oxford Mindfulness).
▶ Mindfulness – Prof Mark Williams Lecture – OxfordMindfulness. A lecture by one of the co-founders of MBCT on how mindfulness works and how it helps prevent depression.
The Attitudes of Mindfulness
Mindfulness isn’t just about what you pay attention to. It’s also about the attitude you bring. In Full Catastrophe Living, Kabat-Zinn describes seven “attitudinal foundations” that are taught alongside the practices in MBSR (Kabat-Zinn, 1990):
- Non-judging. Noticing the stream of “good”, “bad” and “boring” labels the mind puts on everything, and stepping back from them like an impartial witness. You don’t have to stop judging, just notice it.
- Patience. Letting things unfold in their own time, including your own progress. You can’t rush a butterfly out of its chrysalis.
- Beginner’s mind. Seeing things as if for the first time: your breath, your partner’s face, the walk to the bus stop.
- Trust. Trusting your own experience and feelings, rather than trying to copy a teacher or match an ideal of how meditation “should” feel.
- Non-striving. Practising without trying to get somewhere or feel something in particular. Paradoxically, letting go of the goal is often what lets change happen.
- Acceptance. Seeing things as they actually are right now. Acceptance isn’t the same as resignation or liking everything. It’s the starting point for wise action.
- Letting go. Not clinging to pleasant experiences or pushing away unpleasant ones, and noticing what “holding on” feels like.
Oxford Mindfulness now teaches a longer list that also includes befriending, compassion, appreciation, gratitude and generosity (Oxford Mindfulness). The common thread is kindness: mindfulness is meant to be warm and friendly, not cold and clinical.
Formal and Informal Practice
Mindfulness courses teach two kinds of practice, and both matter.
Formal practice means setting aside time to train attention, much as you would set aside time to exercise. Examples include:
- the body scan
- mindful breathing or sitting practice
- mindful movement, such as gentle stretching or yoga
- walking meditation
On the original MBSR course, people are asked to do about 45 to 60 minutes of home practice a day for eight weeks (UMass Memorial Health). If you’re starting on your own, 10 minutes a day is a realistic place to begin.
Informal practice means bringing the same quality of attention to everyday life. You don’t need any extra time; you simply do what you’re already doing with full attention. For example:
- feeling the warmth of the water and the smell of the soap when you wash your hands
- tasting the first few mouthfuls of a meal before you reach for your phone
- noticing your feet, the air and the sounds around you as you walk to the shops
- really listening when someone speaks, rather than planning your reply
- noticing the tension in your shoulders while you wait for a kettle to boil
The NHS suggests picking a regular time, such as your morning journey or a lunchtime walk, and trying new things, such as sitting in a different seat in meetings, so you notice the world afresh (NHS).
Why both? Formal practice is like going to the gym: it builds the “muscle” of attention in a controlled setting. Informal practice is where you use that muscle in real life. Many teachers say the formal practice makes it much easier to remember to be mindful during the day, and the informal practice is where most of the benefit shows up.
How to Practise Mindfulness: Step by Step
This is a simple 10-minute mindful breathing practice, the basic exercise behind most mindfulness training. It uses the breath as an “anchor” for your attention. The aim is not to empty your mind or feel calm, but to notice when your attention has wandered and gently bring it back. That moment of noticing is the practice.
▶ Guided Meditation – OxfordMindfulness. A short guided practice, just over three minutes long, from Oxford Mindfulness. Oxford Mindfulness also offers paid courses.
- Choose a time and place. Pick a time when you’re unlikely to be interrupted, such as first thing in the morning. Silence your phone and set a gentle timer for 10 minutes.
- Settle into a posture. Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your back upright but not stiff, or sit on a cushion. Rest your hands in your lap. Close your eyes or lower your gaze to the floor.
- Notice your body. Take a minute to feel where your body touches the chair and the floor. Notice any areas of tension, without trying to change them.
- Find the breath. Bring your attention to the physical sensations of breathing, wherever you feel them most clearly: the air at your nostrils, your chest rising and falling, or your belly moving. Let your breath follow its own rhythm; there’s no need to control it.
- Stay with the sensations. Follow each in-breath and each out-breath as best you can, noticing the small pauses in between. Some people find it helps to say “in” and “out” silently.
- Notice when your mind wanders. Sooner or later, and usually very soon, you’ll find yourself thinking about something else. This is completely normal. It is not a mistake.
- Gently come back. When you notice you’ve drifted, briefly note where your mind went (“planning”, “worrying”, “remembering”), then kindly bring your attention back to the breath. You may need to do this dozens of times.
- Be kind to yourself. If you notice self-criticism (“I’m rubbish at this”), see it as just another thought and return to the breath. Each return is like one repetition at the gym.
- Widen your attention. For the last minute or so, expand your awareness to include your whole body sitting and breathing, and the sounds around you.
- Finish slowly. When the timer goes, open your eyes, notice how you feel without judging it, and take that awareness into the next thing you do.
Making it a habit. Linking practice to something you already do every day, such as after your first cup of tea or before you open your laptop, makes it easier to remember. Little and often tends to work better than a long session once a week. If 10 minutes feels too long, start with three. If sitting still is difficult, try the walking practice below. The NHS notes that some people find an over-busy mind easier to work with through gentle yoga or walking (NHS).
Six Practices to Try
These are the core practices taught on most mindfulness courses. Free guided recordings of several of them are available from Oxford Mindfulness, the Bangor University Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice and the authors of Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World.
1. The Body Scan
The body scan is usually the first formal practice on an MBSR or MBCT course (UMass Memorial Health). You lie on your back or sit comfortably and slowly move your attention through the body, usually from the toes of one foot to the top of the head, noticing whatever sensations are there: warmth, tingling, pressure, numbness or nothing much at all. You aren’t trying to relax, although many people do. You’re practising noticing sensations directly, without adding a story to them. Course versions often last 30 to 45 minutes, but shorter 10-minute versions work well too. If you fall asleep, that’s fine; try sitting up or practising earlier in the day.
2. Mindful Breathing
This is the practice described step by step above. It is the simplest way to train attention, and you can do it for a few breaths at a time anywhere: on a train, in a queue or before a difficult phone call.
3. STOP
STOP is a quick check-in for busy moments, created by psychologist Elisha Goldstein (Mindful):
- S – Stop. Pause what you’re doing for a moment.
- T – Take a breath. Take a few breaths and feel them coming in and going out.
- O – Observe. Notice what’s going on: your thoughts (remembering that thoughts aren’t facts), your emotions and how they show up in your body, and your posture.
- P – Proceed. Carry on with something that supports you right now, such as talking to a friend, stretching your shoulders or making a cup of tea.
Goldstein suggests using everyday cues, such as waking up, stopping at a red light or sitting down to check email, as reminders to STOP.
4. The Three-Step Breathing Space
The three-minute breathing space is a “mini-meditation” taught on MBCT courses and in the book Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World. Its authors describe it as a bridge between longer formal practices and everyday life (Frantic World). It is often described as an hourglass shape, wide then narrow then wide:
- Become aware (about a minute). Sit upright and ask yourself, “What am I experiencing right now?” Notice your thoughts, feelings and body sensations, and acknowledge them, even if they’re unpleasant.
- Gather (about a minute). Narrow your attention to the sensations of breathing, following each breath in and out.
- Expand (about a minute). Widen your attention to include your whole body, your posture and your facial expression, as if the whole body were breathing.
Many people use it several times a day, and especially when they notice stress building.
5. Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is part of the very first session of MBSR (UMass Memorial Health). It’s traditionally done with a single raisin, but any small piece of food will do:
- Look at it as if you’d never seen one before: its colour, shape and texture.
- Feel it between your fingers, and notice its weight.
- Smell it, noticing what happens in your mouth and stomach.
- Place it on your tongue without chewing, and notice the sensations.
- Chew slowly, noticing the flavours and how they change.
- Swallow, and notice any aftertaste.
Most people are surprised by how much they normally miss. You can bring the same attention to the first few bites of any meal, or try eating one meal a week without a screen.
6. Mindful Walking
Walking practice is useful if sitting still feels hard, or if you have a restless or anxious mind. On a formal walking practice, you walk slowly back and forth over a short distance, perhaps 10 steps, paying close attention to the feeling of each foot lifting, moving and touching the ground. When your attention wanders, bring it back to your feet. Informally, you can walk at normal speed and notice the movement of your body, the air on your skin and the sights and sounds around you. Oxford Mindfulness offers a free guided mindful walking practice.
Bringing Mindfulness Into Everyday Life
The real test of mindfulness is whether you can be a little more present, and a little less reactive, in ordinary life. These are some simple ways to build it into your day:
- Use “anchors”. Choose one routine activity, such as brushing your teeth, your first sip of coffee or climbing the stairs, and do it with full attention every day. The NHS gives the example of noticing the feel of a banister as you walk upstairs (NHS).
- Name what’s happening. Silently labelling thoughts and feelings, such as “here’s the thought that I might fail” or “this is anxiety”, can help you step back from them (NHS).
- Notice the autopilot. Many of us drive home, eat lunch or scroll for an hour with hardly any awareness. Simply noticing “I was on autopilot” is a moment of mindfulness.
- Listen fully. In conversation, notice when you start planning what to say, and come back to listening.
- Single-task. Do one thing at a time: just eat, just walk, just read. Notice the pull to multitask.
- Pause before reacting. When you feel a strong urge, such as to snap back, send an angry email or reach for a snack, try one or two mindful breaths first. Psychiatrist Judson Brewer’s research on habits uses this kind of curious noticing of cravings.
- Notice what is pleasant. Mindfulness isn’t only for difficult moments. Noticing small good things, like sunlight, a bird singing or a friendly face, helps balance the mind’s natural bias towards problems.
- Be gentle with yourself. You will forget to be mindful most of the time. That’s normal. Each time you remember is a fresh start.
▶ A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit – Judson Brewer, TED. Psychiatrist Judson Brewer explains how getting curious about cravings, rather than fighting them, can help break habits such as smoking and stress eating.
Mindfulness at Work
Mindfulness has become one of the most popular workplace well-being offers, from large companies to the NHS and the civil service.
What NICE says. NICE’s 2022 guideline on mental wellbeing at work recommends that employers “offer all employees (or help them to access) mindfulness, yoga or meditation on an ongoing basis”, in a group, online or both. For employees who want further support, it recommends offering CBT sessions, mindfulness training or stress management training (NICE NG212).
What the research shows. A meta-analysis of 23 randomised trials of workplace mindfulness training found benefits for stress, anxiety, psychological distress, well-being and sleep, with moderate effect sizes for stress and distress. However, the authors couldn’t draw conclusions about burnout (results were mixed), depression (because of publication bias) or work performance (not enough data) (Bartlett et al., 2019).
Practical ways to use mindfulness at work:
- Arrive before you start. Take three breaths before you open your inbox or join a call.
- Use transitions. Do a STOP or breathing space between meetings, rather than rushing straight into the next one.
- One tab at a time. Notice the urge to switch tasks, and come back to the one in front of you.
- Mindful meetings. Some teams start with a minute of silence to let people arrive.
- Notice stress signals early. Tight shoulders, a clenched jaw or shallow breathing can be cues to pause.
- Take a real lunch break. Eat away from your desk, and walk mindfully if you can.
A word of caution. Mindfulness can help people cope with pressure, but it can’t fix an unmanageable workload, poor management or bullying. NICE’s guideline puts mindfulness alongside, not instead of, organisation-wide action on work-related stress (NICE NG212). If your employer offers mindfulness instead of dealing with the causes of stress, that is a fair criticism (see “McMindfulness”).
For deep, focused work, you may also find Cal Newport’s official site, from the author of Deep Work, useful.
Mindfulness in Schools and for Children
What the MYRIAD trial found
The most important study of mindfulness in UK schools is the MYRIAD trial, a large, high-quality trial led by researchers at the University of Oxford and funded by the Wellcome Trust. It randomly assigned 85 secondary schools across the UK either to teach a 10-lesson school mindfulness course or to carry on with their usual social and emotional teaching. More than 8,000 students aged 11 to 14 took part (Kuyken et al., 2022).
The result was clear: after one year, there was no evidence that the mindfulness lessons were better than usual teaching for students’ risk of depression, social, emotional and behavioural functioning, or well-being. On the positive side, no harms caused by the course were seen, and the course was likely to be cost-effective. The researchers concluded that the findings “do not support the superiority” of school-based mindfulness training over usual teaching, and called for more work on “what works, for whom and how” (Kuyken et al., 2022).
It’s worth noting that the trial was led by mindfulness researchers, including the director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, who reported this as a competing interest. That makes their honest reporting of a null result all the more notable.
What does this mean? MYRIAD doesn’t show that mindfulness is useless for young people. It shows that teaching a short, universal course to whole classes, many of whom may not want it, didn’t improve mental health on average. An earlier meta-analysis of 33 randomised trials found small benefits for children and teenagers. When it looked only at the 17 trials with active comparison groups, benefits remained for mindfulness, depression and anxiety or stress (Dunning et al., 2019). Mindfulness may work better when young people choose it, when teachers practise it themselves, or for older students. More research is needed.
Mindfulness for children at home
If you’d like to try mindfulness with your children, keep it short, playful and optional:
- Breathing buddies. Younger children lie down with a soft toy on their tummy and watch it rise and fall as they breathe.
- Five senses. Ask them to name five things they can see, four they can hear, three they can touch, two they can smell and one they can taste.
- Mindful listening. Ring a bell or chime and ask them to raise a hand when they can no longer hear the sound.
- Slow snack. Try the raisin exercise with a piece of fruit or chocolate.
- Weather report. Ask, “What’s the weather like inside you today: sunny, cloudy, stormy?” This helps children notice and name feelings.
- Walking like a cat. Walk as slowly and quietly as possible, feeling each foot touch the ground.
Practise yourself first. Children learn more from a calmer parent than from instructions. Never force it; if a child finds it boring or uncomfortable, stop. If your child is struggling with their mental health, speak to your doctor or school first.
Courses for schools
The Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP), a UK charity, has trained teachers to deliver mindfulness in schools since 2009. Its curricula include dots (ages 3 to 6), Paws b (ages 7 to 11) and .b (ages 11 to 18). MiSP suggests teachers first take an eight-week mindfulness course for themselves before training to teach (Mindfulness in Schools Project). In the light of MYRIAD, schools should treat mindfulness as one option among many for well-being, not a cure-all.
▶ Mindfulness in Schools: Richard Burnett at TEDxWhitechapel – TEDx Talks. Richard Burnett, a co-founder of the Mindfulness in Schools Project, talks about teaching mindfulness to teenagers.
Does Mindfulness Work? The Honest Evidence
There are thousands of studies on mindfulness. Many are small or poorly designed, so it’s best to rely on large reviews that combine many trials, and on large, well-run trials. Here is what they show.
Stress, anxiety and depression
- A major 2014 review in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at 47 trials with 3,515 people, all comparing meditation programmes with an active control. It found moderate evidence that mindfulness meditation programmes improved anxiety, depression and pain, with small effects (effect sizes of about 0.3 to 0.4 at eight weeks). There was only low evidence for improvements in stress and distress, and low or insufficient evidence of any effect on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating, sleep and weight. The programmes were not better than active treatments such as medicines, exercise or other behavioural therapies (Goyal et al., 2014).
- A 2021 review of mindfulness courses for people without a diagnosed condition pooled 136 trials with 11,605 people. Compared with doing nothing, courses reduced anxiety, depression and distress and improved well-being. Compared with general (non-specific) activities, mindfulness only clearly did better for depression, and there was no good evidence that it beat other specific well-being practices. When higher-risk trials were removed, only the benefit for distress remained clear, and trials in the US showed smaller effects (Galante et al., 2021).
- For people with mental health conditions, a 2018 meta-analysis of 142 groups including 12,005 people found that mindfulness-based programmes were better than no treatment and better than many other active comparisons. They performed about as well as established evidence-based treatments, with the most consistent support for depression, pain, smoking and addictions (Goldberg et al., 2018).
Preventing depression from coming back
This is where the evidence is strongest, and why NICE recommends MBCT.
- The first MBCT trial included 145 people who had recovered from depression. Over 60 weeks, MBCT significantly reduced the risk of relapse for people who had had three or more previous episodes (77% of the group), but not for those who had had only two (Teasdale et al., 2000).
- A 2016 analysis that pooled the raw data from 9 trials (1,258 people) found that people who did MBCT had a 31% lower risk of relapse over 60 weeks than those who didn’t (hazard ratio 0.69), and a 21% lower risk compared with other active treatments, including antidepressants (hazard ratio 0.79). MBCT seemed to help more for people who still had more symptoms at the start (Kuyken et al., 2016).
- The UK PREVENT trial compared MBCT plus support to come off antidepressants with staying on antidepressants, in 424 people from 95 GP practices. Over two years, relapse rates were similar in both groups. MBCT wasn’t better than medication, but it offered an alternative for people who wanted to reduce or stop their antidepressants with support (Kuyken et al., 2015).
If you take antidepressants, don’t stop them without talking to your doctor. Stopping suddenly can cause withdrawal symptoms and raises the risk of relapse.
Children and schools
See the MYRIAD trial: a large UK trial found classroom mindfulness was no better than usual teaching, while smaller trials suggest small benefits (Kuyken et al., 2022; Dunning et al., 2019).
Brain changes and other claims
You may read that mindfulness “rewires the brain”, boosts immunity or makes you more productive. Be cautious. A group of 15 researchers, including several leading mindfulness scientists, warned in 2018 that “misinformation and poor methodology” in mindfulness research may lead people to be “harmed, misled, and disappointed”. They highlighted problems such as the difficulty of defining mindfulness, weak research methods, under-studied adverse effects and over-interpreted brain-imaging findings (Van Dam et al., 2018).
Evidence at a glance
| What | What the evidence says | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Preventing relapse in recurrent depression (MBCT) | Reduces relapse compared with usual care; about as good as antidepressants | Moderate to good |
| Anxiety and depression symptoms | Small to moderate improvements; similar to other active treatments | Moderate |
| Stress and distress (general public) | Improves compared with doing nothing; less clear compared with other activities | Low to moderate |
| Chronic pain | Small improvements | Moderate |
| Workplace stress | Improves stress, anxiety and well-being; unclear for burnout and performance | Low to moderate |
| Whole-class school programmes | No better than usual teaching in the largest UK trial | Good (no effect) |
| Sleep, attention, weight | Little or insufficient evidence | Low |
Criticisms: “McMindfulness” and the Hype
Mindfulness has passionate critics as well as fans, and their points are worth taking seriously.
“McMindfulness”. The academic Ronald Purser popularised this term in his 2019 book McMindfulness. As he explains, the word itself was coined by the Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist Miles Neale (Purser, 2019). Purser’s main arguments are:
- It turns social problems into personal ones. If you’re stressed by low pay, long hours or insecure work, being told to breathe more mindfully puts the burden on you, not on the causes.
- It’s been commercialised. Mindfulness is sold as a product, through apps, courses and corporate packages, often stripped of the ethics and wisdom of its Buddhist roots.
- It can encourage passive acceptance. Purser argues that some workplace mindfulness encourages people to accept things as they are rather than to change them.
Supporters respond that MBSR and MBCT were never meant to replace social change, that many teachers emphasise kindness and ethics, and that reducing someone’s suffering is worthwhile even if it doesn’t fix everything. Both sides agree that mindfulness is not a substitute for fair working conditions or good mental health services.
The hype problem. As the “Mind the Hype” paper put it, mindfulness has gone from a fringe research topic to “an occasional replacement for psychotherapy, tool of corporate well-being, widely implemented educational practice”, and the evidence hasn’t always kept up (Van Dam et al., 2018). When you see a headline claim about mindfulness, ask how big the study was, what it was compared with, and who funded it.
▶ Ruby Wax on Mindfulness – The School of Life. The comedian and mental health campaigner Ruby Wax talks about mindfulness, in a short film from The School of Life.
Is Mindfulness Safe?
For most people, mindfulness is safe, but it isn’t risk-free, and this has often been played down.
- Unpleasant experiences are common, and usually short-lived. In a study of 96 people who completed an eight-week MBCT course, 83% reported at least one meditation-related side effect. These had a negative effect on day-to-day functioning for 37%, and lasting bad effects for 6% to 14%, often involving feeling over-aroused or detached. The authors concluded that this was at “similar rates to other psychological treatments” (Britton et al., 2021).
- Adverse events are under-reported. A review of 83 studies with 6,703 people found an overall rate of adverse events of about 8%, most commonly anxiety, depression and changes in thinking. It also found that these can happen in people with no previous mental health problems (Farias et al., 2020).
- Experienced meditators can have serious difficulties too. Interviews with Western Buddhist meditators identified 59 kinds of challenging experience, across areas including thinking, perception, emotions, the body and the sense of self, with distress and impairment ranging from minimal and short-lived to severe and long-lasting (Lindahl et al., 2017).
- The NHS says that many people find mindfulness helpful, “but it’s not right for everyone. Some people find that it does not help them or that it can make them feel worse” (NHS).
How to practise safely:
- Learn from a qualified teacher, especially if you have mental health difficulties. Good courses ask about your health before you join, and may suggest waiting or trying a more specialist course (Oxford Mindfulness).
- Start small. Short practices of 5 to 10 minutes are less likely to cause problems than long retreats.
- Keep your eyes open and stay connected to your surroundings if closing your eyes feels unsafe.
- Use the body as an anchor. If the breath makes you anxious, focus on your hands or feet instead.
- It’s OK to stop. You don’t have to “push through” distress.
- Get help if difficulties persist. If unpleasant effects last after you stop practising, talk to your doctor. Cheetah House, a US organisation whose team includes Willoughby Britton, offers resources and support for meditators experiencing adverse effects.
▶ Harmful Side Effects of Meditation – Dr. Willoughby Britton – The FitMind Podcast. Brown University researcher Willoughby Britton discusses what her research has found about difficult and harmful meditation experiences.
How to Learn Mindfulness, Wherever You Live
You can learn the basics from a book or app, but many people find an eight-week course with a trained teacher makes a big difference: you get guidance, a group to practise with and someone to ask when things get difficult.
In England: through the NHS
If you’ve had depression before and want to stay well, ask your GP whether MBCT is available locally. NICE recommends it as an option for people at higher risk of relapse (NICE NG222). You can also contact your local NHS Talking Therapies service, but what’s offered varies by area.
In the United States and Canada
There is no single national route. Mindfulness-based courses are offered by university centres, hospitals and independent teachers, and teacher registers are voluntary. If you have had depression, ask your doctor or a licensed therapist whether they offer mindfulness-based therapy such as MBCT, and check their licence with your state or provincial regulator. The International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA), based in California, describes itself as offering teacher credentialing, accreditation of teacher training programmes and a directory of credentialed teachers.
In Australia and the Netherlands
- Australia: the Mindfulness Training Institute Australia & New Zealand (MTIA) keeps a list of certified and registered teachers by state. Under Medicare’s Better Access initiative, people with a GP Mental Health Treatment Plan can claim rebates for up to 10 individual and 10 group sessions of psychological therapy a year (Australian Department of Health). Ask a psychologist whether they offer mindfulness-based therapy and whether the sessions qualify.
- Netherlands: the Mindfulness Register, run by the Dutch association of mindfulness-based trainers (VMBN), is an independent quality register of trainers trained in MBSR, MBCT or MBCL. You can search it by name or place (the site is in Dutch).
Training and research centres
- Oxford Mindfulness Foundation runs public courses, including MBCT and its MBCT for Life course, and trains mindfulness teachers. It also offers free guided meditations.
- Bangor University Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice in Wales offers short courses, an online master’s programme in contemplative approaches and free audio practices.
- The UMass Center for Mindfulness (where MBSR began) and the Brown University Mindfulness Center in the US offer online MBSR and MBCT courses and teacher training that you can often join online from other countries, including the UK (UMass Memorial Health).
Finding a qualified teacher
Teacher registers are voluntary and differ by country. In the UK, anyone can call themselves a mindfulness teacher. The British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA) is the UK’s main professional body. It keeps a register of teachers who meet its professional standards, and a directory of courses (BAMBA). BAMBA’s good practice guidelines say teachers should have completed at least 12 months of supervised training, including at least five days of extended (retreat-style) practice, and should keep up ongoing supervision and professional development (BAMBA).
Questions to ask a teacher before you book:
- Are you on a recognised teacher register (such as BAMBA in the UK, IMTA, MTIA or the Dutch Mindfulness Register)? Where did you train?
- Which course is this (for example, MBSR, MBCT or MBCT for Life), and how many sessions are there?
- Do you ask about my health and any mental health history before I join?
- How do you support people who find the practices difficult?
- How big is the group, and what does the course cost in total?
An eight-week course usually involves a weekly session of around two to two and a half hours, plus daily home practice, so check you can commit the time before you start.
For schools and teachers
The Mindfulness in Schools Project trains school staff to teach its curricula for pupils aged 3 to 18, and runs mindfulness courses for school staff themselves.
Free ways to start
- Free guided practices from Oxford Mindfulness and Frantic World.
- The NHS mindfulness page, with simple everyday tips.
- A free app such as Medito or Insight Timer (see below).
Mindfulness Apps
We checked these on the UK App Store in October 2026. All are free to download; most offer a subscription for full access. An app is a good way to build a habit, but it isn’t the same as a course with a teacher if you’re dealing with depression or anxiety.
- Headspace. One of the best-known apps, with structured beginner courses, short everyday exercises and sleep content.
- Calm. Guided meditations, sleep stories and music, with a strong focus on sleep and relaxation.
- Insight Timer. A huge library of free guided meditations from thousands of teachers, including British teachers such as Mark Williams and Vidyamala Burch, plus a simple meditation timer.
- Medito. Run by a non-profit and completely free, with no adverts or subscriptions.
- Oxford Mindfulness. Guided practices from the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation.
- Healthy Minds Program. A well-being training programme based on research by neuroscientist Richard Davidson and his team.
- Happier Meditation (formerly Ten Percent Happier). More than 500 guided meditations from a range of teachers, for stress, anxiety and sleep.
- Waking Up. Sam Harris’s app, which combines meditation with talks on philosophy and the mind.
- Smiling Mind. A “mental fitness” app with mindfulness programmes for building well-being habits.
- Plum Village. Free guided meditations and talks from the community founded by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Key Teachers and Researchers
We don’t currently have Self Help Supermarket expert profiles for the people below.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
The founder of MBSR. He founded a clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979 to teach mindfulness to patients, and his definition of mindfulness is widely quoted. His books include Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, There You Are (Kabat-Zinn, n.d.).
Mark Williams, John Teasdale and Zindel Segal
The three psychologists who developed MBCT for preventing relapse in depression and ran its first trial (Teasdale et al., 2000). Williams later co-wrote the bestselling Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World with Danny Penman.
Willem Kuyken
A clinical psychologist who led the PREVENT and MYRIAD trials and the 2016 analysis of MBCT trials, and who has directed the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (Kuyken et al., 2022).
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Vietnamese Zen teacher and founder of the Plum Village community in France, whose book The Miracle of Mindfulness teaches mindfulness in everyday tasks, from washing the dishes to answering the phone.
Ellen Langer
A Harvard psychologist who has studied a different, non-meditative kind of mindfulness, actively noticing new things, for about 40 years (Harvard Gazette). See her approach above.
Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman
Co-authors of Mindfulness for Health, a mindfulness programme for people living with pain and illness. Burch co-founded Breathworks, a UK mindfulness organisation known for its Mindfulness-Based Pain Management course.
Tara Brach
A US psychologist and meditation teacher whose book Radical Acceptance combines mindfulness with self-compassion.
Judson Brewer
A psychiatrist and researcher who studies how mindfulness can help people change habits such as smoking and stress eating.
Willoughby Britton
A researcher at Brown University whose work on meditation-related difficulties has helped make the risks of mindfulness better known (Britton et al., 2021).
Ronald Purser
An academic and author of McMindfulness, the best-known critique of corporate and commercial mindfulness (Purser, 2019).
Books
We checked all of these titles on Open Library.
Getting started
- Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. A practical eight-week programme based on MBCT, with guided audio.
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Short, readable chapters on bringing mindfulness into everyday life.
- The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh. A short classic on everyday mindfulness, written as a letter.
- A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax. A funny, practical introduction for busy, stressed people.
Courses in a book
- Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. The full MBSR programme, explained by its founder.
- The Mindful Way Through Depression by Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal and Jon Kabat-Zinn. MBCT for people who have experienced depression.
- Mindfulness for Health by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman. Mindfulness for pain, illness and stress.
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale. The professional manual for MBCT.
Children, self-compassion and different approaches
- Sitting Still Like a Frog by Eline Snel. Simple mindfulness exercises for children aged about 5 to 12 and their parents.
- Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach. Mindfulness and self-compassion for people who are hard on themselves.
- Mindfulness by Ellen Langer. Langer’s non-meditative approach to noticing and thinking flexibly.
Roots and critique
- Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization by Anālayo. A detailed study of the Buddhist discourse on mindfulness, for readers who want to go deeper.
- McMindfulness by Ronald Purser. A sharp critique of commercial and corporate mindfulness.
Watch, Listen and Follow
We checked all of these links in October 2026. Many of the teachers and organisations below also sell courses, books or memberships.
Videos
- Jon Kabat-Zinn: What is Mindfulness? – Greater Good Science Center.
- The Science of Mindfulness – Oxford Mindfulness.
- Guided Meditation – Oxford Mindfulness.
- Mindfulness as a Foundation for Health | Thich Nhat Hanh | Talks at Google – Talks at Google.
- A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit | Judson Brewer | TED – TED.
- Ruby Wax on Mindfulness – The School of Life.
- Mindfulness in Schools: Richard Burnett at TEDxWhitechapel – TEDx Talks.
- Harmful Side Effects of Meditation – Dr. Willoughby Britton – The FitMind Podcast. A look at the risks.
▶ Jon Kabat-Zinn: What is Mindfulness? – Greater Good Science Center. The founder of MBSR explains what he means by mindfulness.
Podcasts
- The Oxford Mindfulness Podcast – conversations about mindfulness research and practice from the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation.
- Mark Williams – Deeper Mindfulness – an Oxford Mindfulness Podcast episode with the co-developer of MBCT (December 2023).
- Jon Kabat-Zinn: Mindfulness 101 – Oprah’s Super Soul.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn – The Heart of Mindfulness – Mind & Life.
- 12 Minute Meditation – short guided practices from Mindful.org.
- McMindfulness: Robert Wright and Ronald Purser – a debate about the critique (August 2019).
- Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson – psychology, mindfulness and well-being.
Accounts to Follow
- Jon Kabat-Zinn: X
- Oxford Mindfulness Foundation: YouTube · Instagram
- Mindfulness in Schools Project: Instagram
- The Mindfulness Initiative: Instagram · X
- Breathworks: Instagram
- Mindful (Mindful.org): X
- Brown Mindfulness Center: X
- Danny Penman: X
- Ruby Wax: X
- Judson Brewer: X
Frequently Asked Questions About Mindfulness
What is mindfulness in simple terms?
Mindfulness means paying attention to what’s happening right now, in your mind, your body and around you, on purpose and without judging it. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who founded MBSR, defines it as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment”.
Is mindfulness the same as meditation?
Not quite. Meditation is a set of practices, and mindfulness meditation is one type. Mindfulness itself is a quality of attention that you can bring to anything, from washing up to a difficult conversation. Formal meditation is one of the main ways to train it.
Does mindfulness actually work?
For some things, yes, but the effects are usually modest. Large reviews find small to moderate improvements in anxiety, depression, stress and pain, usually similar to other active treatments such as exercise or therapy. The best evidence is for MBCT, which reduces the risk of depression coming back in people who’ve had it several times.
How long does it take for mindfulness to work?
Most courses last eight weeks, and research usually measures results at the end of that time. Some people feel calmer after a single session, but the benefits of mindfulness generally build gradually with regular practice.
How long should I practise each day?
On an MBSR course, home practice is about 45 to 60 minutes a day, but there’s no magic number. If you’re starting on your own, 10 minutes a day is a realistic goal, and even a few mindful breaths during the day count. Regular short practice is better than occasional long sessions.
Is mindfulness available through public healthcare, such as the NHS?
Sometimes. In the UK, NICE recommends MBCT as an option for people who have recovered from depression but are at risk of relapse, and group mindfulness is listed as an option for less severe depression. Availability varies by area, so ask your doctor or contact your local NHS Talking Therapies service. Elsewhere, access depends on your health system or insurance, so ask your doctor or a licensed therapist what is available.
What is the difference between MBSR and MBCT?
Both are eight-week group courses. MBSR was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 for people with stress, pain and illness. MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, who published the first trial of it in 2000. It combines MBSR with ideas from cognitive therapy, specifically to help people who’ve had depression stay well.
Can mindfulness be harmful?
It can, for a minority of people. Unpleasant effects such as anxiety, low mood or feeling detached are fairly common and usually short-lived, but a small number of people have lasting difficulties. Take extra care if you have a history of trauma, psychosis, bipolar disorder or severe depression, learn with a qualified teacher, and stop if you feel overwhelmed.
Is mindfulness religious?
Mindfulness comes from Buddhism, but the courses used in healthcare, such as MBSR and MBCT, are secular. You don’t need to hold any beliefs to practise. Some people prefer to explore its Buddhist roots, and others practise it as a purely psychological skill.
Can I do mindfulness if my mind is always busy?
Yes. Everyone’s mind wanders, and noticing when yours has wandered is the practice, not a sign you’re failing. If sitting still is hard, try walking practice, mindful movement or very short practices such as STOP.
Does mindfulness work for anxiety?
It can help. Reviews show small to moderate reductions in anxiety symptoms. For an anxiety disorder, though, the treatments with the strongest evidence are talking therapies such as CBT, so speak to your doctor or a licensed therapist (in England, NHS Talking Therapies).
Is mindfulness good for children?
It can be helpful, but the evidence is mixed. The UK’s large MYRIAD trial found that 10 classroom lessons were no better than usual teaching for students’ mental health, while smaller studies show small benefits. Keep it short, playful and optional.
Which mindfulness app is best?
There’s no single best app. Headspace and Calm are the best known; Insight Timer has a large free library; and Medito is entirely free. Pick one whose voice and style you like, and use it regularly.
How do I find a good mindfulness teacher?
Look for a teacher on a recognised register, such as BAMBA in the UK, MTIA in Australia and New Zealand, the Mindfulness Register in the Netherlands or the IMTA directory, or a course from an established university centre such as Oxford Mindfulness, Bangor, UMass or Brown. Ask about their training, whether they check your health before you join, and how they support people who struggle.
Key Takeaways
- Mindfulness is a quality of attention: noticing what’s happening now, on purpose and without judging it.
- It comes from Buddhism but has been adapted into secular courses, most famously MBSR and MBCT.
- You can practise formally (body scan, breathing, walking) and informally (eating, washing up, listening).
- The strongest evidence is for MBCT to prevent depression returning, which NICE recommends.
- Benefits for stress, anxiety and low mood are real but modest, and usually similar to other active treatments.
- Classroom mindfulness was no better than usual teaching in the UK’s largest schools trial.
- Mindfulness isn’t risk-free, so start gently and learn with a qualified teacher if you have mental health difficulties.
- Critics warn against hype and “McMindfulness”: it isn’t a cure-all or a substitute for tackling the causes of stress.
- Start small: 10 minutes a day, or a few mindful breaths, is enough to begin.
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Sources
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