Formal and informal mindfulness: two ways to practice

Formal and informal mindfulness: two ways to practice

In this two-minute video, meditation teacher Christian Wolf explains what “formal” and “unofficial” mean when it comes to mindfulness.

If you’ve heard the term “formal mindfulness” or “unofficial mindfulness,” you might have been left scratching your head. Isn’t mindfulness just mindfulness? Yes, that’s right – it still allows you to refer to different types of practices.

In this short video, meditation teacher and author Christian Wolf offers a simple definition of formal and informal mindfulness. Among each of these terms is a number of ways to return to the present moment. As Sharon Salzberg writes in his book Real Happiness, “Mindfulness is not difficult. We need to remember that.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbopliiegu

What is formal mindfulness practice?

Formal practice is what we call practice of all sorts, and we spend the time at that moment trying not to do anything other than this particular practice or meditation. (Formal mindfulness meditation usually includes clear structures or frameworks such as steps to follow, beginnings and ends, and/or techniques that are integral parts of practice.) It can be when you do a five-minute breathing meditation, or when you do a body scan, or formal walking meditation. One of these examples is “formal” meditation.

The idea of ​​formal practice is that you are really focusing on the object of meditation in the interim. Your focus can be on the sensation of breath coming and going into your body, the sounds of your feet on the floor, or the movements of walking.

Formal Mindfulness Examples

For formal practices for beginners, try these guided meditations.

What is an informal mindfulness practice?

On the other hand, informal practice is to give the same quality of excellent attention to anything you already do, such as poor cats, opening a car door or brushing your teeth. It’s a real idea that you bring all your attention and all your senses to this particular moment.

Careful recognition through informal practice doesn’t take any extra time. Looking at it from this perspective, there is an opportunity to practice mindfulness in every moment of awakening.

An example of unofficial mindfulness

See below for some ideas on how to easily integrate informal mindfulness into your daily activities.

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