Others, here in the comments, have ably stated that this is not an accurate description of mindfulness. I fully agree. However there are two specific points I'd like to address:
--First, one cannot 'live in the future.' One can spend ones time -- in the present-- expecting and hoping for a future pleasant to live in, but still be, ineluctably, in the present. The Buddha would have called this 'grasping,' and would have said that it is a recipe for suffering as the inevitable unpleasantness of some future event would, in contrast to expectations, cause dismay. Such dismay is not caused by the unpleasantness but by the expectations and, in fact, would not be present if one had not made the expectations.
-- Secondly, Meditation does not cause depression or anxiety. There are some people in this world who are so out of touch with their emotional and their physical being that any attempt to meditate brings up long suppressed feelings. In his book, 'Full Catastrophe Living,' Jon Kabatt-Zinn tells of a woman who attended his stress reduction clinics who was 'triggered' during a body scan when Kabatt-Zinn used the term 'area of the genitals.' She had so blocked out a sexual assault that when she deliberately turned to mindfully scanning parts of her body, the memories came flooding back. This is why it is important for people to seek out a trained and compassionate mindfulness instructor.
Furthermore, as stated, since some people are truly out of touch with their physical selves they, therefore, may not be breathing correctly. The physical biology of anxiety is a function of the breathing and it is impossible to be overwhelmed by anxiety if one is breathing correctly... conversely it is very hard to breathe correctly if one is consumed by anxiety. To focus on the breath, if you've never been taught to breathe correctly and have a lifelong history of shallow or high breathing, is an invitation to anxiety. The general rule of meditation is to focus on the breath without manipulating it. While this is a good rule for people who know how to breathe, for those who have a history of improper breathing techniques the opposite should be counseled, at least at first: they should practice deep deliberate belly breathing until it becomes more natural to them. It's a bit of a conundrum, since people who breathe incorrectly or poorly don't know their doing it. Again, another reason beginner mediatators should seek out a wise and gentle meditation instructor.
