The difference between mindfulness and meditation therapy

Many people think that mindfulness is a branch of meditation. In fact, the two are completely different dimensions - mindfulness is a clinically proven cognitive behavioral psychological intervention technology, while meditation is the collective name for a large category of physical and mental practices including religious practice, spiritual exploration, and daily physical and mental adjustment. The core goals, operational logic, and applicable boundaries of the two are essentially different.

Hey, to be honest, I have met more than one visitor who said that he had practiced meditation for three months with the blogger of a certain book, sitting for half an hour every day, but his hands were shaking and insomnia as soon as he came to report. After asking, I found out that the traditional meditation he practiced was to clear his mind and pursue "forgetting things and myself", which was completely used in the wrong place. The visitor was an Internet operator. At that time, he already had symptoms of moderate anxiety. Once he calmed down, his mind was filled with unfulfilled KPIs and unfinished partners. The more he forced himself to "clear his mind," the more anxious he became. Sitting for half an hour was equivalent to talking about his own thoughts for half an hour, which made the internal consumption more serious. Later, I taught him a 30-second mindfulness anchoring method: if he suddenly feels flustered before a meeting, squeeze the mug in his hand and feel the temperature of the ceramic, the concave and convex patterns on the cup wall, and smell the burnt aroma of the coffee. Regardless of the work content that is still in his mind, just know "I am feeling the touch of the cup now." He tried it once and said, as if he suddenly "floated" out of the chaotic thoughts for a second, and the feeling of panic was instantly relieved.

You see, this is the core difference: most of the goals of traditional meditation are "inward exploration." Whether it is the pursuit of emptiness, spiritual awakening, or spiritual enlightenment, the essence is to jump out of the daily state of consciousness and touch the deeper self.； But the goal of mindfulness therapy has been very clear since the day it was born - to help you deal with current emotional distress. You don't need to clear your mind or pursue any special state. As long as you can "be aware of the present moment without judgment", you have completed the practice. Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which are commonly used in hospitals and consultation rooms today, are clinical techniques that Dr. Kabat-Zinn extracted from the Vipassana meditation of Theravada Buddhism in the 1970s by stripping off the religious attributes and refining them separately. That’s why there is a saying that “mindfulness is a secularized version of meditation.”

Oh, by the way, there is another point that is particularly confusing: many people think that to practice mindfulness, you need to close your eyes and find a quiet place, but this is not true. Most meditations have clear requirements for the location. You must be quiet, cross-legged, and preferably have a scented candle or something. The duration must be at least 10 minutes, and may even last several hours. ； But how can mindfulness be so particular? You can feel the force of your feet on the ground while squeezing in the subway, quietly touch the fabric of your cuffs when you are scolded by your boss during a weekly meeting, or even chew three mouthfuls of rice to feel the sweetness of the rice while eating takeout. These are all effective mindfulness exercises. If our thoughts are compared to cars running wildly on the highway, then traditional meditation is more like finding a closed racing track, letting these cars slow down slowly, stop in an orderly manner, and even finally turn off the car to feel the emptiness without cars. ； Mindfulness is more like standing on the side of the highway and clearly seeing every car passing by. There is no need to stop it or chase it. You just know that you are a person standing on the side of the road, not a passenger being led around in the car.

Of course, different circles have completely different opinions on the relationship between the two. Many people who practice traditional meditation feel that the mindfulness currently used in clinical practice is a "castrated" version of meditation, which takes away the core spiritual exploration and self-cultivation, leaving only an empty shelf for regulating attention. ； However, the consensus in the clinical psychology community is that it is precisely because of the separation of religious and spiritual attributes that mindfulness therapy can become an evidence-based intervention technology. It has been included in the medical insurance reimbursement catalogs of many countries around the world, helping more ordinary people who have no religious beliefs and are just suffering from emotional distress. Both of these statements are actually correct, but they come from different standpoints. I previously participated in mindfulness training in a Chinese-German class, and the teacher repeatedly emphasized in the first class: "We are doing clinical intervention, not leading people to practice. Don't make mindfulness training so mysterious that it is a good technique that can help clients solve their current pain." ”

When I do cases myself, I usually don’t take the initiative to recommend a certain product to the client. I first ask about the needs first. If you are just under a lot of stress and want to find a long-term relaxation habit, I would recommend him to try different types of meditation. Those who like to be quiet can practice sitting, and those who like to move can practice walking meditation or even mindfulness yoga. ； But if you have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder or depression and are currently experiencing an attack, then I will definitely teach him a short and quick mindfulness anchoring technique to help him cope with the current panic attack and rumination, and then talk about other things when the state is stable. A while ago, a Zen practitioner came to me and said that he often had emotional breakdowns while meditating. My advice to him was to stop long-term meditation practices and use mindfulness techniques to stabilize his emotional state. Otherwise, it would be easy to be overwhelmed by unprocessed trauma in a deep meditation state, which would lead to problems.

After all, these two are not in a competitive relationship, and there is no need to compete. If you have the purpose of spiritual practice and self-exploration, then choose a meditation genre that suits you and practice it slowly. ； If you just want to deal with the emotions that are flying around you at the moment and don’t want to make so many complicated rules, then mindfulness is definitely the most cost-effective option. The only thing to remind you is that if you already have a serious emotional disorder, don't practice blindly by following short videos. Find a qualified counselor or doctor to guide you, which is better than anything else.