Mindfulness allows you to be fully aware of something while meditation allows you to be aware of absolutely nothing. It is very common for mindfulness and meditation to be used interchangeably. Although, this should not be the case. Mindfulness is a form of meditation, but meditation is not a form of mindfulness.
Meditation
Meditation feels different for each practitioner, and every session is different. Meditation has the potential to improve your mental and physical health if you are able to practice regularly. Meditation usually begins with sitting in a quiet place while you close your eyes and let yourself relax. You also should focus on your heartbeat and your breath. This may sound so simple, but the benefits will amaze you. By doing this you are able to become aware, calm, and focused.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully aware of where you are and what you are doing. Every single person has the ability to perform mindfulness, you just have to be mindful of it. You can be seated, walking, standing, or moving while practicing mindfulness. The basics of mindfulness is to just pay attention to what is exactly going on so that you can fully process the information instead of just going through the motions.
Mindfulness can be used at any given time at any given place. All you have to do is become fully aware of yourself and your surroundings, while meditation is typically specifying many different types of self-reflective practices. These meditation practices can include things like heart focused practice, mantra and breath work, and moving meditations. Something that meditation and mindfulness both have in common is that they have been studied and shown to shift the stress response and relieve pain through promoting presence, acceptance, and much more.
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