What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation?

The most straightforward distinction is that meditation is a large category that includes dozens of mental training schools, and mindfulness is one of the most widely used branches in the field of clinical psychology in recent years.； However, there are also many veteran practitioners who have practiced Vipassana for 20 or 30 years, as well as psychologists who have conducted evidence-based research, who believe that mindfulness is an underlying mental method extracted from the ancient meditation system. It has long been separated from the boundaries of a specific religion or school and cannot be completely regarded as a subordinate category of meditation.

It's a bit convoluted. To use a less rigorous analogy, it's a bit like the relationship between "fruit" and "Red Fuji apples" that everyone often talks about. However, some people think that after decades of improvement and promotion, Red Fuji has completely independent planting standards and application scenarios, and there is no need to be classified into ordinary apples.

I have been practicing on and off for almost 6 years. The most intuitive difference is actually the difference in training orientation. The practice goal of most traditional meditation schools is to "enter a certain state", such as trance in meditation, chakra dredging in some spiritual schools, or "completely clearing the mind" as many novices think. Most practices have fixed postures, scene requirements, and even specific objects of visualization. But the core requirement of mindfulness has nothing to do with "emptying". What it requires is "non-judgmental awareness" - it doesn't matter if your mind wanders about what to eat for lunch, or the bad thing about yesterday's quarrel with a colleague suddenly pops up. As long as you realize "Oh, my mind is wandering now", don't scold yourself for being so unfocused, and just gently bring your attention back to the anchor point of the moment. The anchor point can be your breath, or the texture of the cup in your hand, and you don't even need to cross your legs.

I used to lead my colleagues in the company to do short exercises in the office. During the lunch break, everyone would lean on the back of the chair and feel the touch of the feet on the ground and the pressure of the back against the chair. It only takes 5 minutes. Many people say that it is more relaxing than lying down for 20 minutes. This kind of scattered exercise that does not require a specific scene is a typical mindfulness training, but you will rarely hear people call this fragmented exercise "meditation".

There are indeed many differences between academic circles and practitioners. The last time I attended a salon in the psychology industry, two teachers who have been teaching meditation for more than ten years argued about this matter for nearly 20 minutes. Some people think that mindfulness is a commercialized and dereligious variant of traditional meditation. In essence, it still does not escape the category of meditation.； Some people also feel that there is now a complete process of standardized MBSR mindfulness-based stress reduction and MBCT mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and there are clear clinical intervention effect data. It is no longer the same thing as the original spiritual and religious meditation, and can completely exist as an independent mental training system.

In fact, for us ordinary practitioners, there is really no need to worry about classification. Whether it is finding a quiet place to sit cross-legged and meditating for 20 minutes, or using mindfulness for 10 seconds to regain your attention while fishing at work, as long as it can help you reduce the internal friction of regretting the past and worrying about the future, it is a good method for you.