I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.

In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?

Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.

A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by

their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The Long History of Heroism

with me, Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds.

Hello and thank you for downloading this edition of the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Farhanna Heather and today I'm bringing you a program from our archives.

Let me take you away from the stresses of your life.

And journey back to 1979, when John Kabat-Zinn opened the mindfulness-based stress reduction clinic

at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and so became one of the first scientists to popularize the use

of traditional meditation techniques to tackle the stresses of modern life.

Mindfulness really is, is an ancient form of meditation practice that's often spoken of as the

heart of Buddhist meditation. It's the awareness

that arises from paying attention on purpose in the present moment and non-judgmentally. Because it's

about paying attention and the awareness that arises from it, it's universal. Mindfulness has now

become so mainstream it's prescribed in hospitals and courses

are taught in schools. But when scientist John Kabat-Zinn began meditating as a young man,

the practice was considered the product of 1960s counterculture and was seen as a fringe

alternative pursuit. Nobody had really heard the word mindfulness.

And meditation was thought of as, you know, seriously weird, un-American, all sorts of things.

So the climate was not the way it is now.

...