Meditation and mindfulness are two great ways to reduce anxiety and give your brain a break. Though the two are similar in their goals and the terms interchangeable, meditation and mindfulness practices are a bit different.

Meditation comes in many different forms. In simplicity, meditation uses a common prayer, a spiritual chant or song, a simple word or phrase to focus your attention on. As you recite, for example, a prayer over and over for a period of time (a couple minutes or longer), you are allowing your brain to tune into the words of the prayer only and letting all the other “noises” drift away. The noise is often your own voice distracting you with pop up thoughts and worries. Meditation allows you to turn that noise down for a period of time and give your brain and yourself a break from it by redirecting your attention back to the prayer. Saying the rosary is a great way to do prayer meditation!

Mindfulness is your awareness of something. Many mindfulness exercises involve doing something with your full attention. For example, mindful walking is focusing entirely on each step that you are taking. How does my foot feel when it lands on the ground? How do my calf muscles feel when I am pushing forward? What are my knees doing when I am taking steps? What are my arms doing? My shoulders? What sounds do I hear? Do I smell anything? How does the air feel on my skin? As you ask yourself each question, you tune in with your complete attention to the answer. You can do mindful eating, mindful breathing, mindful listening, etc. Granted, there are many ways to do meditation and mindfulness. This is just a quick and simplified definition of the two.