Mindfulness vs Vedic meditation…What’s the deal?

I met with a student the other day and like most conversations we got into chats on Meditation and how, in her words, ‘game changing’ it is. From her own experience, Meditation has been coming up in conversations she is regularly having with friends, around what the difference is between mindfulness, using an app for Meditation and Vedic Meditation. She went on to say that before learning Vedic she practised and used the popular “Headspace” meditation app to get her daily dose of relaxation. She enjoyed the app, but after some time she felt like she wanted a more sacred practice and to explore more deeply… I then suggested learning Vedic meditation – and once this came into her world, her experience changed exponentially. 

“When people ask me whether I prefer Mindfulness over Vedic meditation I tell them this… as a beginner, I really enjoyed using Headspace, I felt calmer, my thoughts were more organised and overall I felt more relaxed but it felt like another thing to track – using an app, calculating minutes meditated, looking for new tracks to listen to. Although it was a great starting point for those wanting to get a feel for what meditation can be like – I wanted a practice I could do on my own, without the need for a device. Once I learned Vedic meditation, it completely changed my life, never before had I truly sat with myself in silence and transcended like that – it’s become essential to my life”.

There are many styles of meditation out there. Many of which are notable and will positively impact the mind and body, but what is the difference between the very popular mindfulness meditation and Vedic meditation specifically? 

Mindfulness meditation has its roots in Buddhism. This practice of “present moment awareness” consists of concentration and thought observation to bring the mind under control. 

Mindfulness encourages the cultivation of nonjudgmental, moment-to-moment awareness both during the practice and in everyday life. 

This technique was designed for monks whose spiritual path required that they withdraw from society to live in the mountains, spending their days in silence, solitude and mindfulness for hours on end. 

The goal of mindfulness is to bring you into the present moment, hence the name “mind-ful(l) – ness”. Research has found that regular practice generates a stronger awareness and focus in life and is also a path to enlightenment. 

Vedic meditation is derived from “The Veda” an ancient body of knowledge from which yoga and Ayurveda also derive. 

Vedic meditation is described in the Veda as being designed for the “householder”. A householder is someone like you and I who engages in everyday life, goes to work, has a family and experiences the day to day pressures that an active life brings. 

Vedic meditation has been designed for busy people who interact with the world to develop more vitality, energy, connection and joy. 

The key difference between Mindfulness and Vedic meditation is that in the Vedic practice we transcend, which means to go beyond the thinking process to the source of thought and our innate creative essence, where we arrive at an experience of “pure awareness” and we do this by using a vibrational sound called a “mantra” which charms the mind to effortlessly and automatically move to a more relaxed state. 

Where mindfulness returns the attention to an awareness of ‘what is’ (via the breath, body or other objects), VM uses a unique mantra which acts as the most effective vehicle for transcending. This process liberates rather than trains the mind, allowing it to settle effortlessly into a silence more profound than the present moment. 

My advice to those interested in learning any style of meditation would be to determine what you want out of the practice and then the right practice will find you. Go with what you feel attracted to over what your mind thinks is best. 

My intention for a meditation practice was to deepen the connection to my authentic self and to find freedom from the incessant and limiting thoughts in my mind. I found both of these gifts in Vedic meditation and now have the experience of sharing them with every new student I meet. 

For more reading on this topic, I highly recommend “The Power of Vital Force – Fuel your energy, purpose and performance with the ancient secret of breath and meditation” by Rajshree Patel or give me a call to dive deeper. 

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