What is the relationship between mindfulness and meditation?

In current public perception and the context of mainstream clinical psychology, mindfulness is the most popular practice method under the meditation system. However, in different practice traditions and application scenarios, the boundaries between the two are actually quite blurred. There is no absolute unified conclusion in the academic circles and practice circles.

Friends who are new to this type of practice have most likely had similar experiences. Sign up for an introductory meditation experience class. The 10-minute practice taught by the teacher is to sit down, close your eyes, focus on the touch of your breath, and gently pull back when your mind wanders, without judging yourself for being distracted again - this is the most typical "mindfulness meditation", and it is also the easiest scene for everyone to bind the two. After all, meditation itself is a broader concept, like a large storage box containing various practice methods. It includes all practices that actively regulate attention and enter specific states of consciousness, from traditional practices thousands of years ago to modern clinical applications. Practices such as concentration, compassion, and visualization can be classified into this box. Mindfulness is just a branch of it that takes "anchoring the present moment without judgment" as its core goal, and it is also the one that ordinary people use most nowadays.

But as you practice for a long time, you will find that more and more people use mindfulness and meditation separately. I know a friend who is an Internet product manager. He has no patience to sit down and practice meditation for 10 minutes. Instead, he learned the methods of "mindful dishwashing" and "mindful commuting" from bloggers. When cooking and wiping the stove every day, he deliberately focuses on the temperature of the cold water that his hands touch and the friction of the rag against the tiles, so as not to let his mind wander to the demands of going online tomorrow. There are many bugs that have not been corrected. He always says, "This is a mindfulness practice, not just sitting there and meditating in a daze." This is also the view of many applied researchers: Mindfulness has long been separated from the limitations of meditation, which requires setting aside time, finding a quiet scene, or even assuming a specific sitting posture. It has become a habit of awareness that can be embedded in all daily actions, and has long gone beyond the scope of meditation.

Of course, there are also researchers who adhere to the traditional definition who do not agree with this separation. In their view, the so-called "mindful dishwashing" is essentially a type of informal meditation. As long as it is an exercise that actively mobilizes attention and adjusts the state of consciousness, whether the scene is on a futon or beside a sink, it does not break out of the larger framework of meditation. Separating mindfulness from meditation is nothing more than a communication strategy to lower the threshold for public acceptance.

I have been practicing for more than four years, and I seldom struggle with the relationship between the two. When I am anxious to catch up on a project and my heart beats fast, I sit on the fire escape for 3 minutes and count my breaths. I would say that I do a short meditation.； When eating takeout, you deliberately don’t check your phone. You chew one bite at a time until you taste the sweetness of the rice before swallowing. I would call this eating with mindfulness. For ordinary practitioners, no matter what the name is, it is a good method to take you out of the messy thoughts and take a breath. Digging for definitions is a bad idea.