Mindfulness & Meditation

Mindfulness and Meditation

Last updated: May 2026

In this free online Harvard course, you’ll learn how to better sense the world around you and gain tools for embracing self-awareness.

Lessening the mental toll of a heart attack

A mindfulness-based cognitive therapy may help patients with the PTSD that can sometimes come after a heart attack.

Supporting the mental health of caregivers

Family caregivers of loved ones with dementia often have high rates of depression and anxiety. Harvard researchers were able to lower those rates and increase mental wellbeing using mentalizing imagery therapy.

Backed by science

The scientific investigation of mindfulness is in its infancy. Still, the emerging body of research suggests that mindfulness could be an important tool for individual wellness and holds promise as a path toward improving public health.

Harvard Medical School faculty will discuss the neu颅roscience of meditation and mindfulness.

High blood pressure

A Harvard Medical School study sheds light on the molecular .

Focused attention

Research shows that meditators have more sustained gamma oscillations in the brain, which are .

Stress and anxiety

Studies show that meditation can .

Test your knowledge of meditation

Matthew Sacchet, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Meditation Research Program, helped develop a quiz on the scientific discoveries around advanced meditation.

Mindfulness mentors

Mindfulness is the simple process of noticing new things about the familiar. When we notice actively, we become sensitive to perspective and change.鈥�

Ellen Langer, professor of psychology

Grant Jones

As part of his dissertation, Grant produced music-based mindfulness interventions as a method of decreasing stress and anxiety in Black and disadvantaged communities.

Amanda Baker

As director of Mass General鈥檚 Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders, Amanda is examining mindfulness-based stress reduction as an aid for the mental health crisis.

Tengyur Rinpoche

Harvard Divinity School alum and teacher in the Buddhist Ministry Initiative Tengyur offers a holistic model for resilience, education, and social wellbeing.

Meditation in Fractured Times

Jack Petranker

At a Harvard Divinity School event, Jack Petranker, director of the Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages, explored strategies for times when our minds and lives are fragmented and even basic concentration is challenging.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health

The center aims to explore the growing body of research and approaches to improve health and wellbeing through mindfulness.

Bringing the practice to your profession

Workplace exhaustion

How the concept of industrial fatigue went from a condition of the body to one of the mind.

Addressing physician burnout

Mindfulness techniques can help doctors balance patients, clerical duties, and the unexpected.

Reimagining teaching

A mindfulness practice can help teachers nurture a greater sense of community and deepen student learning.

Mindfulness in the military

Addressing the physical, mental, and emotional state of a soldier can help mitigate stress and PTSD.

Alleviating stress for lawyers

Being aware of emotions and unhelpful thoughts and feelings are critical when practicing law.

Helping to improve higher education

Mindfulness can help higher ed students and faculty regain perspective and rekindle curiosity.

Starting your mindfulness practice

The best time to start being mindful of yourself and your surroundings is now.

1. Sit

Sit on a straight-backed chair or comfortably on the floor.

2. Focus

Focus on your breath and pay attention to things such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.

3. Expand

Once you鈥檝e narrowed your concentration in this way, begin to widen your focus. Become aware of sounds, sensations, and ideas.

4. Embrace

Embrace and consider each thought or sensation without judging it good or bad. If your mind starts to race, return your focus to your breathing. Then expand your awareness again.

鈥淢indful eating,鈥� , offers myriad health benefits, according to Harvard Chan School鈥檚 Lilian Cheung.

The human brain evolved with a 鈥渘egativity bias,鈥� says Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Metta McGarvey. Happily, and maintain serenity.

When faced with uncertainty, many of us start spiraling鈥攎entally replaying past mistakes or projecting into imagined futures. Rue Wilson, Harvard staff psychologist, offers .

Harvard Chan School’s Tyler VanderWeele explores how 鈥攊t鈥檚 good mental health.

Stress is an evolutionary cycle in which you perceive a threat, react, and then ideally relax when the threat has passed. But , which make it harder to let your body and mind know that the coast is clear.

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