What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation?

For those who practice mind and body exercises all year round, the most essential difference between the two is actually the relationship between inclusion and being included - meditation is the collective name for all practices that actively regulate attention, while mindfulness is the most popular and widely used type of meditation practice at the moment. However, as mindfulness has rapidly emerged from the traditional context in recent years, there have been different voices in the practitioner circle regarding the boundaries between the two.

When I first came into contact with these things, I often used the two words interchangeably. It wasn’t until I took offline classes with the teacher for three months that I slowly figured out the actual physical differences. For example, during the project review meeting last week, the plan I worked on for three nights was criticized by the partner as useless. At that time, my knuckles holding the pen turned white, and all I could think about was "He knows nothing" and "At worst, I won't take on this project." I was so angry that my temples jumped. Suddenly, I paused and clearly realized, "I am now I'm very angry, my chest feels tight, I've already started to settle the old debts that I was criticized for in the past." I neither followed this emotion nor judged myself "Why can't I calm down over such a trivial matter?" I just quietly watched the anger coming out, and in a few seconds, most of the tension in my chest was relieved. This is a miniature mindfulness exercise. You don’t need to find a quiet place, you don’t need to close your eyes and cross your legs, and even the colleague sitting next to you didn’t notice that you just did the exercise.

So what does meditation feel like? I just had a 40-minute meditation retreat in the yoga studio last Saturday. Everyone took off their shoes and sat on the futon, with the blinds drawn and a little light sandalwood burning. The teacher gently guided me from adjusting the abdominal breathing to scanning the body's feelings inch by inch. There were several times in the middle when I was distracted and thought about the manuscript I was due in the afternoon, and then I gently brought my attention back to my breathing. During the whole session, the stiffness in my shoulders and neck that had been accumulated for a week was relieved a lot. This type of practice, which has a fixed field, fixed duration, and even specific practice goals, all fall into the category of meditation. And if the core requirement of this practice is to "be aware of the present moment without judgment," then it also falls under the category of mindfulness meditation.

Of course, not everyone agrees with the "inclusive relationship" statement. I know many friends who are deeply involved in the traditional Vipassana system, and I feel that the mindfulness currently popular on the market is completely a secular simplified version of traditional meditation that has stripped away the deep core. There is no need to talk about the difference separately. It is still a branch of meditation, just like you would never ask "What is the difference between Americano and coffee?" On the other hand, several psychiatrists who practice mindfulness-based cognitive therapy that I have contacted feel that the boundary between the two should have been drawn long ago: traditional meditation has some religious or spiritual attributes, and there are many requirements for advanced practice, but mindfulness has long been completely separated from these contexts, without any threshold, no It requires a fixed ritual. When you eat, you carefully taste the saltiness and freshness of each bite. When you walk, you feel the touch of the soles of your feet and the ground. Even if you are aware of your breathing while waiting in line for milk tea, it is considered mindfulness. It is completely different from meditation, which requires special time and purpose to enter the state.

I have been practicing for almost four years, and to be honest, I still don’t bother to define the two. My dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure a while ago. The doctor said he was too anxious and always thinking about things that hadn't happened yet. I taught him not to hold his phone and listen to the news every time he went downstairs for a walk, but to step carefully every step of the way, feel the temperature of the wind on his face, and smell the roasted sweet potatoes sold on the roadside. After practicing for half a month, he said that he rarely lay down and thought about things until he had insomnia. He also asked me if this was mindfulness or meditation. I smiled and said it doesn't matter what it is called if it feels comfortable and useful.