That’s a term we’ve all heard tossed around a lot lately. It has been marketed to us through apps, websites, and online courses that purport to reduce stress, calm the nervous system, and, in some far-fetched claims, even cure cancer (though there are no scientifically documented cases to back this). In the midst of all this noise and some unscrupulous people trying to make a fast buck off you, it is easy to misunderstand the actual practice itself. So that begs the question – what exactly is mindfulness?

A quick online search will tell the reader that mindfulness is “The practice of being fully present and aware of your current situation. That definition is only partially correct. Practised correctly, mindfulness is more of a lifestyle than a practice. It is the ability to be completely focused on the task at hand, in the moment, and free from distractions – which is particularly challenging in today’s day and age, given the trappings of the modern-day “attention economy”.

Social media, which is an integral part of our lives today, is designed to distract us by employing algorithms fine-tuned to play to our emotions and keep us engaged. And being emotion-free is a very basic requirement for cultivating a mindfulness practice. Thus, while this word is tossed around everywhere, having an actual mindfulness practice in today’s day and age is much easier said than done.

Where mindfulness differs from Raj yoga-based meditations is the object of the meditations. Mindfulness does not require the practitioner to focus their attention on any one particular thing. Mindfulness just requires clearing the mind when meditating and being focused on the task at hand when operating out in the world. Raj yoga, on the other hand, prescribes an intense focus on the self, on the chakras, the breath, and the body. But these differences are minute, and the end result of both mindfulness and Raj Yoga is a realised individual or yogini.