How mindfulness and meditation are the same

Mindfulness itself is a de-religious branch derived from the huge training system of meditation. There is no absolute boundary barrier between the two for ordinary practitioners. It is actually very simple to achieve the same somatosensory practice and core effects. As long as you grasp the core logic of "anchoring attention and cultivating non-judgmental awareness", there is no need to worry about the difference in terms.

Of course, some people will definitely disagree with this statement. Newbie enthusiasts will say that to meditate, you have to sit with your eyes closed and empty your mind. Mindfulness can be practiced while walking and eating. They are completely different things.； Some people who are deeply involved in traditional meditation practice will emphasize that the scope of meditation is too broad, including visualization, mantra recitation, compassion practice and many other directions. Many training paths are completely contrary to the core logic of mindfulness of "only paying attention to the present moment, without making additional associations", and it is impossible to confuse them. Of course, these opinions are reasonable.

It's interesting to say that I signed up for a 21-day offline meditation camp before. At that time, I still couldn't understand these two concepts. The first seven days of practice were all "breathing concentration meditation": sit cross-legged on a futon, close your eyes and focus on the breath touch at the tip of your nose. When your mind wanders, gently pull it back, and you are not allowed to judge yourself for wandering. On the eighth day, the teacher led me to walking meditation, requiring me to walk very slowly. All my attention should be on the feeling of the heels landing, the soles of the feet spreading, and the toes lifting. If any distracting thoughts come to my mind, I would pull back to my feet. Don’t blame yourself for not paying attention. It wasn’t until I finished practicing that I realized, isn’t this what everyone often calls daily mindfulness practice? Between those ten minutes of walking meditation and the sitting breathing meditation practiced the week before, except for the different postures, there was no difference in my body sensations and the logic of attention mobilization throughout the process. Would you call it mindfulness or meditation? What's the difference?

Oh, by the way, there is a more interesting example around me. My friend was anxious and insomniac some time ago, and the psychiatrist asked him to do 10 minutes of mindful breathing before going to bed every day. He was too lazy to find a tutorial, so he searched for an audio of "sleep meditation" and followed it.

I have checked several cognitive neuroscience papers before, which can also support this feeling: the brain areas activated by standardized mindfulness practice and mainstream concentration meditation training are highly overlapped. Long-term practice can enhance the executive control function of the prefrontal cortex and reduce the overactivity of the amygdala. To put it bluntly, it can help people stabilize their emotions and reduce meaningless internal friction. From the perspective of physiological feedback, there is not much difference.

To use an inappropriate analogy, if meditation is compared to an entire fruit stall, then mindfulness is the most sold Red Fuji apple. If your appeal is to eat crispy and sweet apples, then getting a Red Fuji is completely the same thing as "buying an apple" as you said. You don't even need to know that it is called a Red Fuji, just eat it.； But if you want to buy durian or mango, of course they are completely different from apples. If you really dig into the academic definitions and religious origins, you can certainly find a lot of differences between the two, but for the vast majority of ordinary practitioners who just want to adjust their state and relieve anxiety, there is no need to be more precise in terms of nouns. When practicing, grasp the core of "not judging your mind and anchoring your attention in the present". Whether you are sitting or standing, whether you call it mindfulness or meditation, the effect will not be bad. It is a mental training with the same root. How can there be so many black and white boundaries?