High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Mindfulness is calm awareness of one's body functions, feelings, content of consciousness, or consciousness itself. Mindfulness plays a central role in the teaching of the Buddha where it is affirmed that "correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali:samm?-sati; Sanskrit samyak-sm?ti) is the critical factor in the path to liberation and subsequent enlightenment. It is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path, the practice of which supports analysis resulting in the development of wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñ?). The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the foremost early texts dealing with mindfulness. A key innovative teaching of the Buddha was that meditative absorption should be combined with the practice of vipassana. For more on the concept in early Buddhism, also see sampajañña. Mindfulness techniques are increasingly being employed in Western psychology to help alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions: see Mindfulness (psychology).
