Mindfulness VS Meditation: 7 Key Differences

The position mindfulness and meditation are often utilized interchangeably, but they’re not nan same. So what’s nan difference? Is mindfulness nan aforesaid arsenic meditation?

There’s a disagreement successful nan technological organization astir accurately defining meditation and mindfulness. Articulating nan distinctions betwixt these concepts require reasoning beyond nan proverbial box. The process is akin to knitting a blanket. You commencement pinch a tangled messiness of yarn. Before it’s imaginable to weave it into its intended, recognizable form, you must soft retired nan knots and kinks into a workable media.

Thankfully, there’s a elemental measurement to untangle nan mindfulness vs. meditation debate. It starts pinch nan mind-body connection.

Mindfulness VS Meditation

What Is nan Mind?

A neuroscience professor, Shonté Jovan Taylor, taught this definition:

“The mind is nan intangible, limitless root that regulates nan travel of accusation and power wrong nan tangible brain.”

By this mentation of nan mind and without diving heavy into a chat of nan taste and belief origins of mindfulness, we tin construe mindfulness arsenic involving some nan ethereal realms of conscious and unconscious consciousness and nan building and usability of nan beingness brain.

Mindfulness arsenic a Mind-Body Integration

Now that we’ve established this, really tin we decipher betwixt mindfulness and meditation? A 2020 insubstantial published successful nan Global Advances successful Health and Medicine breaks it down nicely.

The researchers explicate nan differences successful position of mind-body medicine, presenting beyond nan modular binary concepts to create 3 categories:

1. Meditation – mindfulness meditation, loving-kindness meditation, transcendental meditation
2. Relaxation Practices – diaphragmatic breathing, progressive musculus relaxation, guided imagery
3. Meditative Movement Practices – yoga, tai chi, dancing, walking, cleaning

Looking astatine these examples, we tin spot that each impact an action. Similarly, Positive Psychology describes meditation arsenic a believe aliases exercise– an action meant to change aliases heighten one’s authorities of mind. In contrast, mindfulness is simply a value – a measurement of relating to oneself and one’s environment.

We tin besides spot that mindfulness is only mentioned successful nan shape of ‘mindfulness meditation.’ This operation of these position tin beryllium confusing astatine first glance. But it helps america make a captious study upfront.

Mindfulness is an constituent of meditation, but it’s besides progressive successful non-meditative practices. It helps nutrient nan galore intelligence and beingness benefits of meditation and relaxation, and it tin besides beryllium cultivated done nan enactment of meditation.

Meditation is an Activity, Mindfulness is simply a State of Being

Understanding these differences betwixt relaxation, meditation, and mindfulness tin thief you find nan believe champion suited to you. If you want to measurement into much calmness, clarity, and self-actualization, location are respective methods to take from.

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a pioneer successful modern mindfulness believe and creator of nan Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, describes 7 cardinal attitudes of mindfulness. It’s important to retrieve that these tin beryllium applied to meditation practices, but they are not restricted solely to meditation. Here are those attitudes, arsenic good arsenic options for circumstantial exercises to thief you get started pinch your mindfulness and/or meditation practice.

1. Non-Judging

Mindfulness requires attraction to our soul dialogue. It moves america to disrupt our antagonistic thought patterns. In fact, benefit-finding enhances our coping processes. This mindful attraction to shifting our self-judging thoughts helps america create much consistently affirmative and adaptive thoughts.

Exercise: Establish Self-Accepting Thoughts

What is thing you thin to opportunity you dislike astir yourself? It could beryllium a beingness aspect, thing astir your personality, aliases moreover an irksome habit. Write it retired connected a portion of paper. Then constitute retired 1 measurement this could beryllium viewed arsenic a affirmative quirk aliases strength.

2. Patience

Defined arsenic “the capacity to judge aliases tolerate delay, trouble, aliases suffering without getting angry aliases upset,” patience is simply a kindness that requires mindfulness to embody. Our civilization of instant entree to conscionable astir thing undermines our attempts astatine processing patience. We tin buy, watch, and eat immoderate we want, beautiful overmuch whenever we want it, astatine nan click of a button.

Exercise: Delay Gratification

Here, we employment mindfulness to announcement what we want and past defy nan impulse to instantly indulge ourselves. We person to beryllium alert of nan thoughts and emotions that travel arsenic a result, and this tin beryllium uncomfortable.

The bully news is that cultivating patience only requires a fewer minutes of our day. Even 5 minutes of waiting for a point we crave builds our tolerance and, arsenic a result, our patience.

3. Trust

Tying into different constituent of patience is trust. Going deeper than surface-level gratification, we must besides admit and judge uncomfortable circumstances. We must spot that these are successful our champion interest, a manifestation of nan Universe moving successful our favor.

Mindfulness helps america pat into this, allowing america to recognize that what is meant for america will be. It conscionable mightiness not get successful nan mode aliases timeline we expect.

Exercise: Find nan Message successful nan Mess

Make abstraction to attack life’s seeming catastrophes pinch curiosity. Often, erstwhile things don’t activity retired according to our plans, it’s a aureate learning opportunity.

Journal your honest, contemplative answers to these questions astir immoderate unwanted situation:

• What tin I study from this experience?
• Is this showing maine nan way to a amended replacement I hadn’t considered before?

4. Have a Beginner’s Mind

In his book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, writer Shunryu Suzuki states,

“In nan beginner’s mind location are galore possibilities, but successful nan expert’s location are few.”

Keeping ourselves unfastened and receptive to caller possibilities prevents america from getting stuck successful a rut of “the measurement it’s ever been.” Releasing that mindset enhances our imaginable for processing caller skills, fostering empathy, and cultivating an enjoyable and well-rounded life.

Exercise: Practice Seeing Everything arsenic Though It’s for nan First Time

From nan position of neuroscience, 1 measurement to execute this is by overcoming unconscious biases. At nan apical of nan list, successful this context, is confirmation bias – our innate inclination to activity retired grounds that supports our existing views, starring our preexisting beliefs to power which accusation we salary attraction to.

When you announcement yourself jumping to conclusions, effort asking nan pursuing questions:

• Do I genuinely understand this rumor successful full?
• What if my thoughts astir this are wrong?

Take nan clip to research your answers honestly. This workout helps america return power of our captious reasoning skills, training ourselves to embody nan beginner’s mind approach.

5. Non-Striving

Living successful a extremity and outcome-driven nine tin make this cognition consciousness other challenging. Often, we default to engaging successful activities pinch nan sole volition of reaching a destination pinch little-to-no respect for each nan ways we could beryllium savoring nan process of getting there.

This not only makes acceptance of ourselves and our advancement conditional, but it besides prevents america from noticing nan aureate nuggets of existent happiness successful our lives.

Exercise: Learn to Enjoy nan Journey

One instrumentality we tin usage to believe detachment from outcomes is guided meditation. It’s easy to entree a assortment of these done a speedy hunt online.

Another method is to simply salary attraction to nan small things on nan measurement successful our journey.

• What elements consciousness nosy and fulfilling?
• Which actions would you proceed moreover if location was nary “pay off” for having engaged successful them?

This mindful attack helps america create an enjoyment of nan practice, embracing each individual infinitesimal arsenic as meaningful and valuable.

6. Acceptance

We must spot things arsenic they are. Often this tin trigger an affectional consequence successful us. Acceptance intends learning to respond to our emotions without judging aliases trying to power nan experience. We must defy our inclination to “should” each complete ourselves and our lives.

This conception is benignant of a mashup of erstwhile attitudes. When we attraction connected really we deliberation things “should” be, we are fundamentally succumbing to:

• Judgment vs. Non-Judging
• Frustration vs. Patience
• Doubt vs. Trust
• Agitation vs. Non-Striving

Exercise: Expand Your Emotional Awareness

Developing affectional consciousness helps america turn affectional intelligence. Both are basal for fostering acceptance.

Again, a meditation believe dedicated to noticing our emotions tin help. Likewise, taking a elemental mindfulness attack to improving emotional intelligence tin beryllium highly effective.

7. Letting Go

As mentioned before, releasing our expectations of really things “should be” tin beryllium difficult. This comes into play successful nan discourse of mindfulness vs. meditation, arsenic well. Sometimes, nan specified thought of sitting perfectly still and managing our thoughts puts our anxious minds into overdrive.

Exercise: Release Relaxation-Induced Anxiety

Many group struggle to beryllium still for extended periods, buckle nether nan unit of rigid aliases general protocols, aliases consciousness worry erstwhile attempting to instrumentality a meditation practice.

For anyone who tin relate, nan top gift of mindfulness is nan expertise to embody it pinch nary request to adhere to rigid constraints aliases expectations often associated pinch meditation.

Which Should I Choose, Mindfulness aliases Meditation?

Ultimately, nan reply is up to you.

Remember that, essentially, meditation is 1 of galore methods which cultivate mindfulness. We don’t person to beryllium formally trained, clinically supported, aliases immersed successful disciplined believe to bask nan perks of mindfulness.

Though mindfulness tin thief america deepen a meditation practice, we tin cultivate mindfulness without meditation.

There are galore options disposable without nan statement of mindfulness vs. meditation, and each are worthy exploring, nary matter your preference.

Featured photograph credit: Keegan Houser via unsplash.com