What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation?

At present, the most common consensus among practitioners is that mindfulness was originally one of the many branches of meditation, but the terms "meditation" and "mindfulness" often referred to in the public context actually refer to two practices with completely different goals and paths.

The first online camp I signed up for when I first started practicing was the "Deep Relaxation Meditation Class". I followed the instructions every day and lay down flat, anchored my attention on my breathing, and quickly brought my thoughts back when my mind wandered. The goal was very clear: to eliminate the anxiety caused by working overtime, and it would be best if I could lie down for 10 minutes and fall asleep. At that time, I thought that all meditation-related exercises were aimed at "relaxing" and "clearing the mind." It was not until I later learned mindfulness from a teacher with practical experience that I discovered that this was not the case at all.

The 10-minute lunch break meditation and sleep aid meditation we usually get are mostly "stop" exercises in essence. The core is to let you fix your attention on a single object, whether it is breathing, white noise or the sound of a guide. As long as you hold down the thoughts that are flying around, the whole person will enter a calm or even empty state. The purpose is achieved. It is a bit like temporarily pressing the pause button for the brain that is running at full capacity.

But mindfulness is different. When Professor Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical School separated mindfulness from the traditional practice system and promoted it in a secular way, the core requirement he gave was to "be aware of the present moment with purpose and without judgment." It is an exercise of "observation" and never requires you to relax or have no distracting thoughts. To use the most daily analogy, it is the same as eating an orange. When you are doing ordinary meditation exercises, if you suddenly think of the unfinished weekly report, you will most likely snap yourself "Why are you distracted again?" and force your attention back to the sour and sweet taste of the orange. ； But when you do mindfulness exercises, you notice "Oh, I am thinking about the weekly newspaper now", and you will not criticize yourself for not paying attention. Instead, you will be more aware: "Oh, I feel a little worried when I think about the weekly newspaper, and my shoulders are quietly tense." Then you can naturally bring your attention back to the orange. Even if you are very irritable at the moment, you can stay with the awareness and this irritability without forcing it down.

Of course, not everyone agrees with this division. Many scholars who do cognitive neuroscience research believe that the application of mindfulness has completely jumped out of the category of traditional meditation. It includes mindfulness meditation practiced while sitting, mindfulness walking and eating mindfully integrated into daily life, and even mindfulness leadership used in enterprises and mindfulness stress reduction therapy used in psychological counseling. It is already an independent and practical system, and there is no need to classify it as a branch of meditation. However, many practitioners who are deeply involved in traditional meditation feel that the "mindfulness" that is so popular on the market is actually a secularized version of the Buddhist Four Mindfulness Foundations. It is originally the core practice method of traditional meditation, and it would be a bit deliberate to insist on splitting it up.

At this point, someone may ask, what should a novice choose if he wants to practice? In fact, it all depends on your needs. If you have been under so much stress recently that you have been having insomnia every day, your mind is racing with thoughts and you can’t stop, and you just want to calm down quickly and take a breather, then you can start with ordinary relaxation meditation. The threshold is low and the results are quick. You can feel the changes in your sleep quality after practicing for a week. If you always feel that you are led by your emotions, and you are prone to inner conflict when encountering small things, then trying mindfulness practice will be more symptomatic. I used to have a friend who was in operations. She always quarreled with the products she was connecting to, and after the quarrel, she would be upset for half the day and delay her work. After practicing mindfulness for more than three months, she suddenly noticed when she was about to get angry last time when she had to argue with the product. When she said, "Oh, my heart is beating fast now, my throat is tight, and I'm about to start saying hurtful words." At that moment of awareness, she didn't throw away the harsh words. Instead, she took a sip of water and said to the other person, "I'm a little emotional right now. Let's wait for 5 minutes before talking." Afterwards, the two of them smoothed over their needs smoothly without harming each other. This is the most practical use of mindfulness.

To be honest, there is no need to worry too much about the boundary between the two. Ordinary meditation is like turning off the background of your phone to clear the memory. It can temporarily stop you from being stuck and run more smoothly.； Mindfulness is like installing a real-time reminder butler for you. You don't need to turn off the background on a regular basis. You can just see which program is secretly consuming power. If you see it, it will not consume your energy casually.