The primary focus during Mindfulness Meditation is on your breathing. However, your goal is to maintain a calm, non-judgmental awareness, while allowing thoughts, feelings, and sensations to come and go without getting embroiled in them. When thoughts or feelings do come up in your mind during this exercise, don't ignore them or suppress them, yet neither do you analyze or judge their content. Rather, you simply note any thoughts as they occur and observe them intentionally but non-judgmentally, moment by moment, as merely events in the field of your awareness.

This calm, accepting awareness is called the "Core Self", better known as your "Essence". The following meditation is said to be the meditation taught 2500 years ago by Buddha.

Sit comfortably, allowing your eyes to rest comfortably, gazing softly downward, not focused on anything in particular.

Now focus your attention on your breathing. Turn your attention to your belly, and feel it rise on the in-breath and fall or recede on the out-breath. Notice the sensation of the breath, as it whispers across the skin just below your nostrils, and above the upper lip. Feel the sensation as you breathe. Don't change your breathing pattern. Just observe it as it is, without feeling a need to change anything. Simply just notice.

Keep your focus on your breathing. Everytime your mind wanders off, note what it was that took you away and then gently guide your attention back to your belly, feeling your breath as it goes in and comes back out.

Simply acknowledge and accept any thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, or sounds that arise, and permit them to pass on by you without judging or becoming embroiled with them.

When you notice your attention has gotten engaged in thoughts, emotions, or sensations, bring you focus back to your breathing once more and continue.

Now close your eyes and once again focus your attention on your breathing. As thoughts, emotions, sounds, sensations of any kind arise, acknowledge and accept them, allowing them to pass on by without judging or getting involved with them.

This meditation can teach you how to maintain a calm inner awareness, balance & clarity in the midst of any situation.