In the past century and especially since the late 1950’s,  terms such as “mindfulness” and “meditation” have become exponentially popular in the Western Hemisphere.

Along with the increase in popularity, there’s been an increase in the debate of the correct usage of the terms -often times being used interchangeably- and according to some, being mistakenly used.

The way we see it:

We’re a bit more flexible and would like to invite you to go past the world level and into the essence of whatever term or usage of the term works for you.

Nonetheless, we wanted to give you the information we’re aware of and researched so you can make your own informed decision on the topic.  

Using “mindfulness” and “meditation” interchangeably often works, and even using them differently to how they were originally intended is becoming the norm, because in a way it makes sense.

That’s why at times, being flexible with terminology and going along with what’s commonly being used may be necessary.

For example, according to the dictionary, mindfulness is “the quality or state of being aware or conscious of something”.

And, according to the same online dictionary, (from a simple Google search) meditation is “focusing one’s mind on something for religious or spiritual reasons or for relaxing”.

In terms of usage, we’ve noticed that “mindfulness” is more of a synonym for “consciousness”. This term seems to address the way in which something is done.  

When something is done with awareness, we say it’s done “mindfully”: mindful eating, mindful living, even mindful meditation.

“Meditation”, on the other hand, is used as a specific method to achieve a state of awareness: I need to meditate to clear my head and feel relaxed.

So in our very humble opinion, and to go along with the grammar and also with the common usage of the terms, “mindfulness” would be the broader term while “meditation” is a specific method used to achieve more awareness or more “mindfulness”. So it can’t always be used interchangeably, and at times it can.

For example:

We can say someone lives a “mindful” or conscious (adjective) life.  

They “meditate” (verb) or focus their mind and use “meditation” (noun) or a specific technique to direct the mind to achieve a state of “mindfulness” (noun) or awareness.

So in this case, taking into account what is commonly used, MINDFULNESS would be the broader term most people can relate to while MEDITATION is a specific technique many people have heard is great but may or may not practice.

The Way Others See it:

More “traditional” meditators have a very different perspective. They clearly differentiate both terms and also have a completely different approach.  For them, meditation is the broader of the terms.

According to an article published on Medical Daily:

… the main difference between the two: Meditation is a large umbrella term that encompasses the practice of reaching ultimate consciousness and concentration, to acknowledge the mind and, in a way, self-regulate it. It can involve a lot of techniques or practices to reach this heightened level of consciousness — including compassion, love, patience, and of course, mindfulness. So mindfulness is a type of meditation, alongside tantra, yoga, sexuality, silence, breathing, and emptiness.

“Mindfulness is a form of meditation,” Lodro Rinzler, a meditation author and teacher, as well as founder of MNDFL, told Medical Daily. “There are many forms of meditation, including contemplation and visualization, but mindfulness is the type where you bring your full mind to an object.” Being mindful of your breath, for example, is a common form of mindfulness during meditation. Following your breath improves your awareness of being in the present. This is called mindfulness meditation, known as shamatha…

The Way that Works for YOU?

Although we respect the above points of view, and included them for your awareness, for us, using MINDFULNESS as the broader term will come in handy, especially when we delve into exploring the TYPES OF MEDITATION.

This is especially true since all types of meditation we’ve come across so far, during our twenty-five plus (25) years of experience with a variety of meditations, from transcendental meditation to guided meditations to breathwork, to moving meditations, to practicing very personal spiritual practices called “spiritual exercises” with our own spiritual teachers,we’ve experienced that every single “type” of “meditation” has had a focal point on which to place- even if just temporarily- our attention or consciousness.

So far, there hasn’t been a single practice where we can successfully say someone has “placed their full mind into an object” because that’s virtually impossible.

The job of the mind is to keep you alert.  

It’s like a two-year old at the park!

Sure, it can “behave” for a while but to actually expect the mind to be “fully immersed” or “quieted” is virtually impossible.

This is why many people feel like failures at the art of meditating:  They’ve bought into the idea that the mind CAN be quieted and  CAN be fully brought into an object and that they SHOULD be able to successfully achieve this.  

Yet, no matter how much they try, they will find themselves failing every single time!

You see meditating is not really about “quieting” the mind because the only time it can be quiet is if you’re not alive. It’s about DIRECTING IT or FOCUSING IT!

In addition, if the mind were able to be completely focused on one thing, completely disregarding all others, by definition it wouldn’t be doing its job which is to be conscious and aware and alert of the many levels involved in the complex human consciousness.

We acknowledge the mind can be FOCUSED but never fully quieted or controled.  It can relax and experience peace yet it needs to be able to do its job which is to question, to keep us alert, to stay aware.

Focus:

So whether it’s in the inner realms or on the physical-level, to start out any of the meditation practice, we start out by placing a focus on something specific.

Therefore, having “mindfulness” be its own category of meditation doesn’t make much sense to us, even though we completely appreciate the traditionalists points of views.

Again, we invite you to choose whatever term works for you and not get caught up in the word-level.

Mindfulness- a safe term:

Mindfulness seems to be a safe term often used by many people because they find it less intrusive and therefore a term with which they can relate more easily.

Regardless of your personal religious, spiritual or even secular beliefs, there seems to be nothing intrusive about “mindfulness” or “consciousness” or “awareness”.

On the contrary, living in a conscious, loving or mindful way is a very PRACTICAL approach to living a more successful and fulfilling life.

This is one of the reasons we often talk about The Genius Spot as gathering leaders of the “mindful” revolution.

Many of us have been witnessing spirituality, loving and awareness becoming the new norm for many people ranging from high-achieving business owners to modern entrepreneurs, housewives, baby-boomers, millennials, committed professionals, spiritual junkies, and even children.

We love this!  

To us, being mindful or  aware is a synonym for being loving.  

The more aware people are, the more space they seem to have for loving and the less room they seem to have for (at the very least) self-judgment.

Being “aware” or mindful or even “spiritual” is no longer reserved for the select few, nor does it conflict with our “unique” and intimate religious beliefs.

It seems we’re entering a time where we’re realizing that going within, whether as a sacred spiritual practice or as a way to achieve results in the world, be more productive or stay more relaxed, is practical, beneficial and more readily available to any of us than we thought.

They say the best secrets are kept in plain sight, and we would agree this is the case with practices such as meditation and mindfulness.