Mindfulness is not: "mindfulness"

When Jon Kabat-Zinn wanted to give his stress reduction program a name, he searched for an "umbrella term”. He looked for a word that referred to the meditation tradition from which his practice originated. A term that also would not evoke too much resistance. He chose “mindfulness".

Mindfulness stands for a quality of attention we cultivate, not only in meditation but also in everyday life. By using it as an "umbrella term”, mindfulness now also stands for a way of practicing. Mindfulness is the application of meditation techniques in a variety of contexts, in the hospital, in school, in the corporate world ... In this way it has become a tradition in itself.

Mindfulness is thus used in two different senses: as a quality of attention and as a way of practicing. Mixing up these two meanings can lead to great confusion. When I use the word mindfulness in this series of texts, I am talking about mindfulness as a practice.

January 2017

This text is part of a series about misunderstandings regarding mindfulness.
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