The relationship between mindfulness and meditation

The two are neither completely equivalent nor strictly subordinate - mindfulness is a mental state/psychological trait of "consciously focusing on the present moment without judgment", while meditation is one of the most commonly used and systematic ways to train mindfulness.； In different cultural, religious, and academic contexts, the boundaries and affiliations between the two will change, and there is no single standard answer. To use an inappropriate analogy, mindfulness is like your body’s muscle endurance, and meditation is like going to the gym to practice strength. You can also improve your endurance by walking more and climbing stairs every day, but training in the gym is a more systematic and efficient way. ； Of course, there are also some gym classes that focus on flexibility and have nothing to do with endurance, just like many meditation schools that have nothing to do with mindfulness.

Let’s talk about a little thing that just happened this morning: when I was queuing at Line 10, I was rubbed by someone’s ice cream on my arm. It was sticky and cold. My first reaction was to frown, and my throat was filled with anger. Suddenly I paused and clearly realized, “Oh, I’m a little angry now. The touch on my arm is really uncomfortable.” So I didn’t blurt out a complaint. Instead, I took out a piece of paper and wiped it. The other person apologized and said it was okay. At this time, I neither sat cross-legged and meditated nor closed my eyes. I was even in a hurry for fear of being late, but in those few seconds I was in a state of mindfulness. You see, it is possible to have mindfulness without meditation.

If you ask a master who practices Southern Vipassana, you will most likely get a different answer. In the traditional Buddhist meditation system, "mindfulness" is an integral part of the Eightfold Path, specifically referring to the practice of the four foundations of mindfulness (contemplating the body, contemplating feelings, contemplating the mind, and contemplating the Dharma). It is itself a subcategory of meditation (meditation). At this time, mindfulness is a subset of meditation. If the context is different, the relationship will change. There is no need to stick to a certain definition to be absolutely correct.

Nowadays, when many people mention meditation, they automatically equate it with mindfulness. In fact, this is completely a misunderstanding. I participated in a meditation workshop last month that focused on "emotional healing." The teacher guided everyone to visualize the old house of their childhood and look back at emotional stuck points in the past. The focus of the entire process was on past memories, and there was no need to "focus on the present without judgment." This is meditation, but it has nothing to do with mindfulness. There is also the Transcendental Meditation that everyone often hears about. Its core is to recite specific mantras repeatedly. It pursues a transcendent state of consciousness and is not a mindfulness-oriented meditation.

Many new friends around me always ask me, when I sit in meditation, my mind is full of things. Sometimes I think about what to order, and sometimes I think about the plan that I didn't finish last week. Is my practice in vain? In fact, it’s not true. The core of mindfulness meditation is not “completely free of distracting thoughts”. Rather, every time you notice that your mind is wandering, the action of bringing your attention back to the present moment (such as breathing, or the touch of your butt touching the cushion) is training your mindfulness ability. I have been practicing for almost two years. The most obvious change is not how long I can relax during meditation. It is that I didn’t realize that I was getting emotional until I was halfway through an argument with someone. Now I may notice the first signs of anger and avoid saying hurtful words in accordance with my emotions. This is a manifestation of the improvement of mindfulness traits.

There are now differences in the relationship between the two in the psychology community. The team at the Oxford University Mindfulness Center prefers that "mindfulness is the result of meditation training." The core of their Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Therapy (MBSR) are 8 weeks of formal meditation practice. They believe that only systematic meditation training can steadily improve people's mindfulness traits and can be used to assist in the treatment of depression, anxiety and other emotional problems.； However, many applied psychology studies have confirmed that even if there is no formal meditation practice, just deliberately doing small exercises of "mindful eating" and "mindful walking" in daily life - such as not checking your mobile phone while eating, carefully feeling the softness, hardness and taste of each mouthful of food, and feeling the touch of contact between feet, shoe soles and the ground when walking, can significantly improve the level of mindfulness and improve anxiety.

To be honest, there is really no need to worry about the relationship between the two and who includes whom. The definitions are all determined by people, and usefulness is the most important thing. If you can sit still and spend 10 minutes a day doing mindfulness meditation, that would be great. ； If you really don’t have the patience, taste the pearls carefully when drinking milk tea, and feel the temperature of the wind blowing on your face when blowing the evening breeze. In essence, you are dealing with mindfulness. There are so many black and white rules.