The difference between mindfulness and meditation

The two are involved in the relationship between inclusion and being included - meditation is the collective name for all attention training exercises, with hundreds of branches. Mindfulness is one of the most widely used branches among the many schools of meditation. It originated from the Vipassana meditation of Theravada Buddhism. It was later transformed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a doctor of molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and became an effective psychological intervention technology verified by evidence-based medicine.

Two years ago, when I led a team to conduct an emotional adjustment camp for working people, in the first class, I met a girl who worked in Internet operations. She raised her hand and said that she had just bought a meditation class on the APP last week and practiced counting breaths. Our introductory mindfulness exercises that day also included counting breaths. She directly asked, "Isn't this just cutting leeks by another name?" ”

In fact, she is not the only one who is confused. Many content on the market does use the two concepts interchangeably, and people in different circles have completely different definitions of the two. If you ask the seniors in the traditional practice circle, they will most likely tell you the difference between "stop" and "view": in their eyes, most of the exercises called "meditation" focus on the "stop" part - requiring you to anchor your attention on a single target, such as breathing, mandala mantras, or a certain visual picture. When distracting thoughts appear, you will bring your attention back, and ultimately pursue the "emptiness" state of the mind. ； The more "observational" part of mindfulness does not require you to eliminate thoughts. It just allows you to stand in the position of a "spectator" and watch thoughts come and go, without following or judging, and clearly knowing "I am thinking about things, but I am not my thoughts."

In the fields of clinical psychology and public health, the definition standards are different. Kabat-Zinn's standard definition of mindfulness is "the purposeful and non-judgmental maintenance of attention in the present experience." Its biggest feature is "no scene restrictions" - you don't have to change into loose clothes, find a quiet room, sit cross-legged, feel the touch of your feet on the ground when squeezing in the subway, feel the pressure of your butt next to the chair when you are tired of a meeting, or even taste the sweetness of a bite of rice when eating takeout. These are all mindfulness exercises. However, when “meditation” is mentioned in this field, most of it refers to formal practices that require dedicated time and completion in a relatively quiet environment. It includes not only mindfulness meditation, but also other schools such as transcendental meditation and loving-kindness meditation.

There has been a debate in the industry for quite some time now about whether to strictly distinguish between the two terms. Most academic researchers feel that it is necessary to draw a clear line, otherwise it will easily mislead beginners: I had a client complain to me before, saying that he became more and more anxious after practicing meditation for half a month. When I asked him, I found out that the tutorial he followed said "good meditation requires a completely empty mind." However, most practitioners who provide public science popularization and implementation services feel that there is no need to worry about the name: for most ordinary people who just want to relieve stress and have a good night's sleep, whether you call it mindfulness or meditation, it can help them relax and reduce internal friction.

I have been practicing for nearly 6 years. At first, like many people, I argued with people about the definition, saying that this was meditation and not mindfulness. Later, I got distracted while cooking and chopping carrots. My mind was filled with the unfinished project report last week. I almost cut my finger with the knife, and I suddenly came back to consciousness. Seconds later, I suddenly felt the crispness of the knife cutting through the carrots, the coolness of the water flowing over my wrist, and the steaming sound of the boiling water next to me. At that moment, I didn’t even remember whether I was practicing mindfulness or meditation. I just felt that my whole body fell back to the present moment from the chaotic thoughts, and it was very comfortable.

To use a loose analogy, meditation is more like a strength class that you go to the gym to take. You take time and find a venue to train your attention muscles.； And mindfulness is more like a method you use unconsciously when you move express delivery or climb stairs after you develop strength. You don't need to find a special scene, you can use it at any time.

To be honest, if you just want to find a way to relieve stress, there is no need to worry about the difference between the two. Just find something you are comfortable practicing with. If you are planning to do relevant research or want to practice systematically, it is not too late to explore the differences between different schools. After all, no matter what the name is, what can help you live in the present moment are useful exercises.