If you’ve heard the terms “formal mindfulness” or “informal mindfulness,” you might have been left scratching your head. Isn’t mindfulness just mindfulness? Yes, it is—and it can still refer to different kinds of practices.
In this short video, meditation teacher and author Christiane Wolf offers simple definitions of formal and informal mindfulness. Within each of these terms, there’s an abundance of ways to come home to the present moment. As Sharon Salzberg wrote in her book Real Happiness: “Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.”
What Is Formal Mindfulness Practice?
Formal practice is what we call every type of practice where you really take the time to do nothing but this particular practice or meditation at that moment. (Formal mindfulness meditation usually includes a clear structure or framework, such as steps to follow, a beginning and an end, and/or techniques that are an integral part of the practice.) That could be when you do a five-minute breathing meditation, or it could be when you do a body scan, or when you do formal walking meditation. Any of these examples would be “formal” meditation.
The idea with formal practice is that you’re really only focusing on your given object of meditation during that time. Your focus could be on the sensations of the breath going in and out of the body, the sound of your feet on the floor, or the movements of walking.
Examples of Formal Mindfulness
For some beginner-friendly formal practices, try these guided meditations:
- A Five-Minute Meditation to Develop Better Focus
- Loving-Kindness Meditation for Beginners (3 guided meditations)
- A Simple Practice for Regulating Stress in the Body
- 12 Minute Meditation: A Mindful.org Podcast (also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts)
What Is Informal Mindfulness Practice?
Informal practice, on the other hand, is about bringing the same quality of kind, open attention to whatever you’re already doing in your day, whether it’s petting your cat, opening your car door, or brushing your teeth. It’s really the idea that you bring all your attention and all your senses to this particular moment.
Being mindfully aware through informal practice does not take any extra time. If you see it from this point of view, then suddenly you have an opportunity to practice mindfulness in every moment that you are awake—and, of course, in every moment that you remember.
Examples of Informal Mindfulness
For a few ideas for how to easily integrate informal mindfulness into your day-to-day activities, check out the following:
