The biggest centre for mindfulness studies in the UK is at Bangor University. It's quite a focus of activity and research. There are seven teachers who run training courses for professionals and the general public, as well as hosting the annual international conference on mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a series of practices which help people to be more present, awake and aware in the here and now. Most of us are off in the past or worrying about the future, but only in the present can we be truly alive and aware of what's going on and therefore good at making decisions of what's necessary in the moment.

It's an important psychological intervention for those who are faced with difficulties, making them more steady in difficult times and more skilful, resourceful and wise in choices made.

The concept of mindfulness first came to everyone's attention when Prof Mark Williams of Cambridge University ran a depression study 10 years ago, using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. It was absolutely ground breaking - it was able to offer those who'd suffer depression a 50 per cent chance of not relapsing. The more you have depression, the more you're likely to have it again - mindfulness can stop this pattern from repeating itself. There's a huge amount of excitement about it in the fields of psychology and oncology.

A very quick example of mindfulness would be to sit in a chair and place your feet flat on the floor. Become aware of the points of contact between your feet and the floor. Once you've got the sense the weight of your feet on the floor, move up your legs and be aware of the contact of your body with the chair - the sense of the body's weight pressing down on it. It's a very settling thing to do and will help you feel more present in the here and now, more grounded.

I help run the mindfulness centre at Bangor University, as well as working with cancer patients at Ysbyty Gwynedd and with teachers and volunteers in South Africa. I'm looking at the use of mindfulness with people affected by HIV/Aids.

I lived in Africa for a year in 1997 and as my awareness of the HIV/Aids situation grew, so did my concerns. So I went out there again last year and looked at whether mindfulness would have something to offer this dreadful situation.

I am involved with Woza Moya, a community project run by Zulu women volunteers who visit their neighbours and friends who have HIV/Aids, taking them basic equipment and resources and even food.

I've got funding to go out again this year to find ways in which we can offer mindfulness techniques in this situation. In the UK it's taught through an eight-week course, where the participants can return home to practise techniques. But in Africa people live in such poverty coming to such a course and going home to listen to a CD when many don't have electricity wouldn't be possible. So we need to adapt what we can offer.

I ran a workshop for the volunteers and I got such positive feedback. This time I'm going to spend more time with them, understand more about village life and the difficulties as experienced by them. I'll then be in a better position to tailor mindfulness to them.

Last May, Morus Williams (of hairdressers Ceri a Morus) and I went on a sponsored walk round Pen Llŷn and raised £2,232 which paid for 11 volunteers to work for three months. This means they were able to make 1,000 visits.