Meditation vs Mindfulness: What's the Difference and Which Should You Try?
Meditation and mindfulness are not the same thing, though they are closely related, and the two terms are frequently used interchangeably, which can cause genuine confusion. The simplest way to understand the distinction: mindfulness is a quality of attention, and meditation is the formal practice through which that quality is trained. You can be mindful while washing up, walking through Forest Hill, or eating lunch. Meditation is what you do when you sit down, close your eyes, and deliberately practise. Understanding this distinction is the foundation for building a practice that actually works — and choosing the right approach for what you're trying to achieve.
What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the capacity to pay attention to the present moment, to what is actually happening right now, in your body, your senses, and your surroundings — without judging it, analysing it, or immediately trying to change it. It is a mode of awareness that human beings are naturally capable of but rarely inhabit consistently, because the mind has a strong tendency to drift into memory, planning, fantasy, or worry.
Mindfulness as a clinical concept was developed and popularised in the West by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts in the late 1970s. His Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme drew on Buddhist meditation traditions and translated them into a secular, evidence-based format. Mindfulness is now recommended by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) as a component of treatment for recurrent depression, and is widely used in NHS psychological therapies.
Importantly, mindfulness is not limited to a cushion. It can be practised:
While eating — paying full attention to taste, texture, and sensation
While walking — noticing each footstep, the ground beneath you, the air on your skin
While listening — giving someone your complete, undivided attention
While doing routine tasks — bringing curiosity to the ordinary
This is sometimes called "informal mindfulness practice" — and it is a genuine and valuable complement to seated meditation.
What Is Meditation?
Meditation is the formal, intentional practice of training the mind. It typically involves setting aside time, adopting a comfortable posture, and directing attention according to a specific technique — to the breath, to body sensation, to a visualisation, to a sound or mantra, or to awareness itself.
While mindfulness is one quality that meditation cultivates, not all meditation is mindfulness-based. There are many distinct forms of meditation, each with different mechanisms and emphases:
Breath awareness — focuses on the natural rhythm of the breath; the most accessible entry point for calming a busy mind
Body scan — moves systematic attention through the body; best for releasing tension and reconnecting with physical sensation
Mindfulness meditation — trains present-moment non-judgmental awareness; widely used for stress, anxiety, depression, and focus
Chakra meditation — works with the body's energy centres (chakras — Sanskrit for wheel or disc) to restore balance; particularly effective for emotional regulation and stress relief
Loving-kindness (Metta) — cultivates compassion for self and others; most useful for anxiety, self-criticism, and relationship difficulties
Transcendental Meditation (TM) — uses silent mantra repetition to produce deep rest and reduce stress
Yoga Nidra — guides the practitioner to the threshold between waking and sleep; ideal for exhaustion and burnout
Visualisation — uses guided mental imagery for anxiety, performance, and healing
What all of these share is the intentional training of attention — the repeated act of noticing where the mind has gone and choosing where to direct it. This is the core skill that meditation develops, and it is the same skill that makes informal mindfulness practice possible in daily life.
How Do Meditation and Mindfulness Work Together?
The relationship between meditation and mindfulness is best understood as tool and skill. Meditation is the tool — the structured, regular practice. Mindfulness is the skill that the tool develops.
Think of it like physical fitness. Going to the gym (meditation) builds strength, cardiovascular capacity, and flexibility (mindfulness) that then shows up in the rest of your life — carrying shopping, climbing stairs, playing with your children. You don't need to be at the gym to benefit from what it has given you.
In the same way, a regular seated meditation practice trains the quality of attention that then becomes available in every area of life. The person who meditates daily becomes more capable of:
Noticing when they're stressed before it escalates
Pausing before reacting in a difficult situation
Being genuinely present in a conversation
Returning to the present moment after worry or distraction
Observing their own thoughts without being ruled by them
This is why meditation teachers often say that the real practice begins when you get up from the cushion. The formal session is the training ground; daily life is where the training is applied.
Which Should You Start With — Meditation or Mindfulness?
For most people, formal meditation practice is the more reliable starting point — for a simple reason: it is easier to build a skill in a controlled, dedicated environment before applying it in the unpredictable complexity of daily life.
Informal mindfulness is genuinely valuable, but it relies on a capacity for present-moment attention that must first be developed. Trying to be mindful throughout the day without any formal practice is a bit like trying to run a half-marathon without ever having trained — theoretically possible, but more likely to be frustrating than fruitful.
A practical starting sequence:
Begin with a daily seated practice — even five to ten minutes of breath awareness each morning (see our beginner's guide to meditation for exactly how to do this)
Choose one daily activity to practise mindfully — eating breakfast, your commute, or the first cup of tea of the day
Gradually extend both — longer seated sessions, more moments of informal mindfulness through the day
Deepen the formal practice with a guided course, a teacher, or new techniques when the basics feel established
This is precisely the progression that Gillian Evans' six-week Cultivating Presence course at The Honor Oak Wellness Rooms is designed to support — moving from simple breath awareness into deeper somatic and chakra meditation practices in a structured, community-supported environment.
Are There Any Differences in What They're Good For?
Both meditation and mindfulness are effective for stress and anxiety — and the research doesn't cleanly separate them, since most clinical programmes (MBSR, MBCT) combine both. That said, there are some practical distinctions worth knowing:
For acute stress relief (feeling overwhelmed right now): a short formal meditation practice — even five minutes of slow breathing — produces faster physiological results than informal mindfulness
For building emotional resilience over time, a consistent formal meditation practice is more effective than informal mindfulness alone, because it creates the neurological changes that make resilience possible
For integrating wellbeing into everyday life: informal mindfulness is the vehicle — it brings the quality of attention developed in meditation into every ordinary moment
For sleep: formal meditation practices (breath awareness, body scan, yoga nidra) are more effective than informal mindfulness for directly improving sleep onset and quality
For a full exploration of how meditation specifically supports sleep, see our post on meditation for sleep.
Want to Explore Both at The Honor Oak Wellness Rooms?
Gillian Evans teaches meditation and mindfulness-based practices at The Honor Oak Wellness Rooms in Forest Hill, SE23. Her six-week Cultivating Presence course is a natural starting point — it introduces formal meditation in a structured, supportive group setting and provides the foundations for both seated practice and everyday mindfulness. Visit our courses page for dates and booking.
If you'd like to speak with us first, get in touch at info@honoroakwellnessrooms.com or call 0208 314 5535.
View our courses and book your place →
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the difference between meditation and mindfulness? Mindfulness is a quality of attention — the capacity to be present in the current moment without judgment. Meditation is the formal practice through which that quality is trained. All seated meditation involves mindfulness, but mindfulness can also be practised informally throughout the day (while eating, walking, or having a conversation). Most people find it easier to develop mindfulness through regular formal meditation before extending it into daily life.
Q: Can I practise mindfulness without doing formal meditation? Yes — informal mindfulness (bringing deliberate, non-judgmental attention to everyday activities) is a genuine practice in its own right. However, most practitioners and researchers agree that informal mindfulness is more effective and sustainable when it is supported by a regular formal meditation practice. The formal practice builds the capacity for attention, making informal mindfulness easier and more natural.
Q: Is mindfulness the same as meditation apps like Headspace or Calm? Most meditation apps teach mindfulness-based techniques — primarily breath awareness and body scan practices drawn from the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) tradition. They are a reasonable introduction to both mindfulness and meditation. However, they represent only a small portion of the broader meditation landscape, and many people find that working with a teacher — particularly in a group setting — yields deeper, more lasting results than using a solo app.
Q: Is mindfulness a religious practice? Mindfulness, as it is most commonly taught in Western clinical and wellness contexts, is secular. It draws on techniques from Buddhist meditation traditions but has been separated from their religious context and adapted for evidence-based therapeutic use. Formal meditation traditions vary — some are secular, some are spiritual, some are explicitly religious. Gillian's courses at The Honor Oak Wellness Rooms are non-religious and accessible to people of all backgrounds and belief systems.
Q: What is MBCT, and how does it differ from general mindfulness? Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a structured eight-week clinical programme that combines mindfulness meditation with elements of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). It was developed specifically to prevent relapse in people with recurrent depression, and is recommended by NICE for this purpose. It is a more clinical and structured intervention than general mindfulness or meditation courses, and is typically delivered by a trained therapist. If you have a history of recurrent depression, speak with your GP about whether MBCT is appropriate for you.
Q: Which is better for anxiety — meditation or mindfulness? Both are effective for anxiety, and they are most powerful in combination. Formal meditation practice produces the physiological changes (lower cortisol, reduced amygdala reactivity) that reduce baseline anxiety over time. Informal mindfulness gives you a tool to work with anxious thoughts and sensations in the moment — noticing them, observing them without reactivity, and returning to the present. For a deeper exploration of how meditation addresses stress and anxiety, see our post on meditation for stress and anxiety.
Gillian Evans is a meditation teacher and yoga instructor at The Honor Oak Wellness Rooms, 82 Brockley Rise, London SE23 1LN. She runs regular meditation courses and classes at the Rooms, introducing both formal meditation practice and everyday mindfulness to students of all levels. Follow her work at @drgillianevans.