Meditation is an umbrella term for a wide selection of practices. Beneath this umbrella, practices include (but usually are not limited to) loving-kindness meditation, mindfulness meditation, mantra meditation, and affirmation meditation.
Some meditations involve a mix of practices, which might result in confusion about what’s what. Two sorts of meditation which might be often combined but which might be distinct practices are affirmation meditation and mindfulness meditation. In this text, we explore the similarities and differences between these two practices.
Whether you’re a private meditation practitioner or meditation teacher, with the ability to differentiate between practices is useful. As a practitioner, it helps you be intentional about what you’re practicing and why. As a teacher, it helps you to realize clarity around what you offer to your students. Let’s dive in to find how these practices differ and the way they overlap.
Affirmations vs. Mindfulness: Key Differences
Let’s start by taking a take a look at the core principles of those two distinct practices.
First, we’ve got affirmation meditation. An affirmation (inside the context of meditation) is a positive statement that reinforces something we wish to feel, embody, or imagine. Examples include:
Affirmation meditation uses a number of positive statements as the main focus of our practice. Often, the technique is to repeat these statements internally and to feel their energy inside each mind and body. The goal? To hardwire these positive beliefs into who we’re, cultivating a positive mindset.
Alternatively, mindfulness is about non-judgmental, moment-to-moment awareness. It’s not about attempting to feel a certain way. Reasonably, it’s about opening to what is true here, without delay – with care and curiosity.
Mindfulness meditation is a proper practice of sitting with ‘what’s’. It’s about cultivating caring, curious awareness of any aspect of our experience – akin to respiration, the physical body, our thoughts, or our emotions. The goal? To strengthen our capability to reside in the current moment.
Once we examine the core principles, practice, and goals of every meditation outlined above, we will start to know the difference. Affirmation meditation is about cultivating or affirming a positive thought or experience, whereas mindfulness is about cultivating awareness of our experience is – without delay.
Though affirmation meditation may be used to reaffirm what’s already present, it’s most frequently future-oriented. It has us asking: Where do I need to go? Who do I need to be? What do I need to embody?
In mindfulness meditation, we may turn into aware of future-oriented thoughts, but we don’t take motion on them. We notice whatever is here. We notice as things come and as things go, remaining anchored in the current moment.
The Overlapping Ground: Similarities
While these two practices are fundamentally different of their purpose and technique, there are a number of similarities. Consider the next points of overlap between mindfulness meditation and affirmation meditation:
Combining Affirmations and Mindfulness
Many individuals who meditate feel drawn towards each affirmations and mindfulness – and that’s great! These two techniques may be interwoven beautifully, helping us to be each fully attuned to this moment and work with our dreams of the long run.
Listed here are 3 ways to mix affirmations and mindfulness:
1. Affirmations within the Body
As you’re repeating an affirmation, get interested in the way it lands in your body. What do you notice? Are there any body parts that tug at your attention? Are there parts of your body where the affirmation feels deeply true? Others where there may be uncertainty? Hold whatever you observe with care and curiosity.
2. Affirm the Present
Affirmations don’t must be future-focused. They’ll remind us of what’s already present and true for us. For instance, you would possibly work with a mindful affirmation akin to:
3. Mindfulness of Room to Grow
A 3rd approach to incorporate mindfulness and affirmations is to begin with the previous before moving to the latter. In other words, use mindfulness meditation to bring caring curiosity to recurring thought patterns. Note the thought patterns that don’t serve your growth and wellbeing. For a short time in formal mindfulness meditation, don’t try to vary them. Allow them to be. Then, select an affirmation that might aid you to ‘try on’ a positive thought to counter the limiting one.
As an illustration, for those who notice that you simply’re often doubting your ability to beat challenges, hold this recognition in your awareness with care and curiosity. Then, you would possibly work with an affirmation akin to “I’m resilient and may overcome all obstacles.”
Common Misconceptions About Mindfulness and Affirmations
When practicing either mindfulness or positive affirmations, it is useful to concentrate on common misconceptions related to each practices. These are three of them:
Summing Up
As you proceed down a meditative path (or as you look to start one), understanding the differences and similarities between mindfulness and affirmations can aid you be more intentional about your practice. For those who teach meditation, this awareness can aid you to steer others with greater clarity and precision.
Keep in mind that there’s no right or flawed practice to commit to. What matters is that you simply are practicing techniques that serve you and people around you. Your practice of preference may change extra time – or you possibly can weave your favorite practices together. Let your journey be as unique as you might be – and versatile to the unfolding road ahead.
