Hold that thought

The steps seem simple enough - sniffing a bunch of mint or freshly brewed coffee, gazing at a bottle, listening to bell chimes, savouring a raisin. All are designed to engage the senses in an effort to attain mindfulness, a state of being mentally alert yet relaxed at the same time.

With exercises and concepts derived from Asian spiritual traditions, mindfulness can come across like so much New Age psychobabble. But the psychotherapeutic technique is now being embraced in areas from education and corporate training to marriage counselling.

'Mindfulness changes [people's] outlook on life,' says Doris Cheung Sheung-ying, a social worker with the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society. Couples locked in matrimonial disputes, stressed-out employees and harassed parents have benefited from its classes on mindfulness.

'Instead of allowing their thoughts to keep returning to painful or traumatic events of the past, they learn to relax and accept the negative experiences as part of their existence.'

A meditation-based practice, mindfulness teaches people to focus on their present experience, training their skills of concentration and heightening awareness of each sensation as it unfolds - in short, being in the moment.

Mindfulness meditation was first introduced by molecular biologist Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979. Having studied with Buddhist and Zen masters, Kabat-Zinn was inspired to adapt their meditative exercises for secular use as a stress-reduction technique.

Sceptics dismissed it as hippie hogwash, but over the years mindfulness training has gained a large following worldwide as neuroscience studies showed its effectiveness in helping people manage chronic pain, depression and anxiety.