What is the relationship between mindfulness and meditation

To put it simply, mindfulness is one of the most commonly used core techniques of meditation. It can also break away from the formal form of meditation and become a state of consciousness integrated into daily life. The two overlap but are not completely equivalent.

When I first came into contact with mind-body exercises, I often confused the two. I thought that mindfulness meditation of sitting cross-legged and closing your eyes was all. Until I went to an eight-week class of MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), and the teacher asked us to hold a pill in the first class. The raisins were touched slowly, smelled slowly, and chewed slowly. The whole 12-minute process did not require sitting position, nor did it say to "empty space." It just allowed us to be aware of every current feeling. It was then that we suddenly realized that mindfulness does not need to be tied to the form of "meditation" at all.

To use an analogy, meditation is more like a very tolerant big box, which contains hundreds of different practice paths, some focusing on breathing, some guiding you to visualize specific pictures, some practicing compassion, and some reciting specific mantras like transcendental meditation. Mindfulness is just the most popular type of content in this box in recent years, and not all meditation needs to use mindfulness.

There are actually different voices in the industry regarding the boundary between the two. Many practitioners who are deeply involved in the Southern or Tibetan meditation system will feel that mindfulness must be based on the long-term practice of formal meditation. Those who advocate "brushing your teeth with mindfulness and walking with mindfulness" are commercial simplifications without the foundation of formal meditation. The so-called daily awareness cannot be maintained for more than a few seconds, and is essentially self-comfort; but consultants who do clinical applications Most of them think that for ordinary clients with anxiety and stress problems, they should start with daily mindfulness practice without taking time out. The threshold is too low, and the effect may not be better than sitting for half an hour and mind wandering. Many clients from the Internet industry that I have met have slowly reduced the time to fall asleep from 1 hour to 15 minutes by noticing the feeling of the wind blowing on their faces and the hardness of their feet on the ground while commuting every day. They have never tried formal meditation practice at all.

In fact, for ordinary people, there is no need to worry about these definitional disputes. You can treat mindfulness as an introductory method of meditation, or treat daily non-judgmental awareness as a separate mindfulness practice. As long as it can help you get back to the present from the messy thoughts in your mind reviewing the past and worrying about the future, it is a good method for you. There is no need to argue with others over a concept.