What is the relationship between mindfulness and meditation?

To put it simply, the two are intertwined but not completely equivalent - meditation is the general term for a large class of practices that consciously regulate attention, while mindfulness is a mental state that anchors the present moment consciously and without judgment. It can be used as a core technology in meditation practice, or it can exist independently of the meditation scene.

Many people equate the two. In fact, it is the most popular category of "mindfulness meditation" in recent years, which deeply binds the two concepts. For example, you often do body scans and breathing observation meditations. Follow the guidance throughout the process to bring your attention back to the current feelings. When your mind wanders, you don't blame yourself for "why you are not paying attention." The core method used here is mindfulness. This kind of practice naturally belongs to mindfulness meditation.

There have always been different views on the boundaries between the two in academic circles and practitioner circles. One school of thought narrows mindfulness to a subset of meditation, believing that only stable awareness maintained in specialized meditation practices is considered mindfulness, and occasional daily concentration is not considered mindfulness.； The other school is closer to the original definition of Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). They believe that mindfulness is a state that can be mobilized at any time. You don’t have to sit and close your eyes. When you eat, you carefully feel the softness, hardness, sourness and sweetness of each bite of food. You don’t wander around in your mind about the plan you will hand in later. When you are crowded in the subway, focus on the real feeling of your feet on the ground to relieve the irritability caused by congestion. These moments when you are not meditating are also mindfulness exercises.

I was confused when I first started. I always felt that I had to sit upright and close my eyes for 20 minutes every day to practice mindfulness. It wasn’t until I worked on a project for three days in a row and my brain was about to shut down during a meeting. I held the thermos cup and subconsciously felt the temperature of the wall of the cup reaching the palm of my hand. In a few seconds, I brought back my thoughts that had wandered far away. It was then that I truly realized that mindfulness can be used in life beyond the framework of meditation. Of course, I also know many friends who have practiced traditional meditation for more than ten years. They feel that there is no concentration foundation laid by fixed meditation practice. The so-called daily mindfulness is only a temporary diversion of attention and cannot achieve the effect of continuous awareness. Both opinions are supported by a large amount of practical data, and it is impossible to say who is right and who is wrong.

In fact, to use an easy-to-understand analogy, the relationship between the two is a bit like running and fat burning: you can achieve your fat burning goal through running, but fat burning does not only rely on running. You can also burn fat by walking, doing housework, or even sitting and shaking your legs.； On the other hand, running is not necessarily all about burning fat. Some people run to practice cardiopulmonary and explosive strength, which has nothing to do with burning fat. Similarly, you can practice mindfulness through meditation, but mindfulness is not only achieved through meditation, and meditation is not all mindfulness-oriented. For example, many traditional meditations require deliberately visualizing specific pictures and reciting scriptures. The core goal is not to anchor non-judgmental awareness in the present, and naturally has nothing to do with mindfulness.