As yoga studios and meditation centers pop up on nearly every city block and mindfulness practices make their way into some of the biggest corporations in the country -- including Google, Apple and, yes, even AOL -- mindfulness has become a buzzword both in and out of health circles. And we now have the research to back it up: The extensive physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness -- including stress relief, increased focus and improved sleep -- are becoming increasingly well-documented.


But what do we really mean when we talk about being mindful and engaging in the practice of mindfulness meditation? In simple terms, mindfulness is the deliberate and targeted awareness of the present moment. It is frequently practiced and cultivated through meditation, but it also extends beyond that practice. Still, there are a wealth of misconceptions around mindfulness, from the idea that it's a religion to the notion that it involves sitting cross-legged and emptying the mind of negative thoughts. Click through the slideshow below for six common myths about mindfulness -- and why they're wrong.






  • Mindfulness Is A Religion


    Although the practice of mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism, it is neither an exclusively Buddhist practice nor a religion of its own. It does not involve prayer or a belief system, and instead simply focuses on being aware of the present moment. “The first thing that people often think is that mindfulness is a religion in its own right,” Dr. Danny Penman, co-author of <a href="http://franticworld.com/" target="_blank">"Mindfulness: Finding Peace In A Frantic World,"</a> says. “But you’re not praying when you’re meditating, you’re just trying to calm the mind. It’s a wonderful way of trying to get in touch with yourself, really.”




  • Mindfulness Meditation Is Difficult & Time-Consuming


    The mindfulness practice that works is the one that you commit to doing regularly, whether it's a moment of pause before bed, a daily yoga routine or a commitment to mindful walking. You don't have to spend a lot of time or money to become more mindful. "It's actually very straightforward, but what it does take is the application: You need to work at it and devote 10 [to] 20 minutes to it each day," Penman says. "Literally every second of mindfulness is beneficial."




  • Mindfulness Requires A Structured Practice


    People tend to think of meditation as something you do while you're sitting cross-legged, with your hands on your knees, in a serene environment, for long periods of time. But just as becoming more mindful doesn't necessarily require meditation, there are many ways of meditating that don't adhere to the traditional "quiet and seated" model. "You can meditate more or less anywhere -- in a morning train, walking, and in an extremely noisy meditation," Penman says. He recommends the <a href="http://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/" target="_blank">"Sounds and Thoughts meditation,"</a> a short practice that involves concentrating on the array of sounds that are constantly hitting your ears. "The cacophony of noise reflects what's going on in our minds all the time -- the constant turmoil of thoughts that are always going through our minds," he says.




  • You Can Be 'Bad' At Meditation


    Mindfulness, at its core, is about experiencing the present moment with pure awareness -- and without imposing value judgments on it. Initially, a mindfulness meditation practice can feel challenging because it is natural to have a hard time silencing your thoughts. But this doesn't make you "bad" at meditation -- it's simply an important part of the process of becoming more mindful. "Eventually you realize that your mind is just a bubbling cauldron of random thoughts -- that's an incredibly important insight," Penman says. "It's important to realize that you cannot fail at meditation, you cannot fail at mindfulness."




  • Mindfulness Is Just A Trend


    Mindfulness may seem to be particularly in vogue among stressed-out urbanites, but the practice is thousands of years old and came to the West in the 1950s, according to Penman. And it's safe to say that mindfulness isn't going anywhere: We are increasingly seeing research that shows the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/mindfulness-meditation-brain_n_2680087.html" target="_blank">extensive health benefits</a> of the practice. "What's driving its resurgence over the past five or 10 years is the huge body of scientific research that proves its effectiveness," Penman says. "It's not so much a trend as the mainstream catching up with it."




  • Mindfulness Means Getting Rid Of Negative Thoughts


    Mindfulness is all about getting <em>space</em> from your thoughts -- not getting rid of them. "It's very important to accept your thoughts for what they are -- mental events -- rather than being some kind of objective truth about the world," Penman says. "The mere act of accepting your thoughts is incredibly powerful because it just gives you a sliver of space between you and your thought patterns. That's tremendously liberating."




  • Can Being More 'Mindful' Change Your Life?


    Studies have found that mindfulness can relieve stress and may even protect against mental illness. Author and meditation expert Jay Michaelson joins Josh to discuss the benefits of mindfulness.