Mindfulness and relaxation are two mind-body practices with similar features that are often referred to interchangeably. But have you ever wondered, are mindfulness and relaxation the same thing? Both are popular approaches to creating calm and are used regularly by many. While mindfulness and relaxation do share certain similarities, they have some important and unique differences too. Each technique has its own approach to relieving tension and can lead to different outcomes for mind and body. So, what similarities do they share, what’s the difference and most importantly - which one should you use?
What it means to be mindful
Mindfulness meditation is a 2500-year-old practice grounded in Eastern philosophy, particularly Buddhism. All mindfulness practices involve setting an intention to focus your attention on a specific object of awareness that exists in the present. Your focus could be on something internal such as your breath, your body, your thoughts or something external such as a sight or sound. The practise of mindfulness involves maintaining and gently redirecting your attention towards your chosen object whenever your attention wanders away. During this process, a mindful approach involves noticing moment to moment experiences with openness and curiosity, not trying to change or suppress any sensations or experiences that may transpire.
Ready to relax
The relaxation response was a term coined by Dr Herbert Benson, a Harvard Medical School researcher and founder of the Mind-Body Medical institute, in the 1970’s. The relaxation response explains your capacity to activate a state in your body where blood flow to the brain increases, organs operate comfortably and chemicals are released that are conducive to feeling calm.
When you’re relaxed, your parasympathetic nervous system (a.k.a. Rest and digest system) dominates, and your sympathetic nervous system (a.k.a. Fight or flight response) has to take a back seat. For this reason, I like to think of the relaxation response as the magical off-switch for stress.
To stress, or not to stress?
When you experience a moment of stress thanks to a perceived threat, your sympathetic nervous system is activated and the stress response is automatically triggered. A cascade of hormones is instantly released including cortisol and adrenaline. The hormones flooding your body create physical reactions such as raised heart rate and blood pressure, increased blood sugar, faster breathing, and more blood flow to your muscles - all preparing you to fight or flee, fast!
In contrast, when you decide there’s no threat, the parasympathetic nervous system blocks the stress response, and the relaxation response begins. Heart rate and blood pressure decreases, you breathe more slowly and with no stress around - the body can rest, reset and heal.
The beneficial response can be elicited when you engage in a range of mind-body practices, including both relaxation and mindfulness practices. Techniques such as focusing on the breath counting or repeating a mantra, using guided imagery or progressive muscle relaxation can all activate a state of relaxation.
As well as intentionally trying to increase calm and decrease stress with these kinds of strategies, everyday activities can also generate a relaxed state. Whenever you devote your attention to an activity that leads to the relaxation response being stimulated, this can be considered a relaxation technique. For example, this could be gardening, cooking or drawing for you, perhaps it’s dancing, cleaning or reading for someone else. We each have our own way to offset stress.
Something similar
There are a number of similarities between mindfulness and relaxation practices. For starters, research shows that they both evoke the relaxation response. This leads to positive health benefits thanks to each one switching stress off, making either technique useful for reducing stress, anxiety, depression and pain. There are lots of popular mind-body practices, such as yoga, that include elements of both mindfulness and relaxation and are known to be great for your health and wellbeing.
As relaxation techniques require a focus on experiences happening in the present, they incorporate an element of mindfulness and can, therefore, be used to deepen your capacity to be mindful. Mindfulness allows you to notice in an open and curious way what is happening in the present, for example, whether an experience such as scrolling social media or baking a cake is in fact relaxing or not. So the two approaches complement each other and their commonalities can be used to your advantage. But differences remain and it is up to you to consider when each approach might be most appropriate.
Spot the difference
There are differences in how mindfulness and relaxation work and therefore the way they improve your wellbeing. One distinctive element of mindfulness training is how it teaches you to accept, rather than change or avoid pain, difficulties and discomfort once you become aware of it. This raised awareness and open and non-reactive approach has psychological benefits that can reduce suffering and increase your wellbeing. It is achieved using a very different pathway than activating the relaxation response to achieve a state of calm, this is however a helpful byproduct. A number of mindfulness-based approaches have been well-researched and are now widely used with clinical populations to change behaviour and improve wellbeing, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Relaxation techniques, on the other hand, are more focussed on activating the relaxation response to reduce physical or psychological distress or tension.
Think of it like this - one method is teaching you to be present with whatever is going on - good or bad - and relieves tension through accepting what is happening moment to moment. This mindful approach allows you to choose how to respond rather than react to the situation, even if it’s a stressful one, in a way that creates greater calm. The alternative method requires you to focus your attention on something soothing or pleasant - this melts away the stress as you send your focus elsewhere and signal your mind and body to relax. A soak in the bath, reading a good book or cleaning the house can all lead you to leave your worries behind and feel better for it. So these two approaches achieve a similar result in different ways: mindfulness essentially teaches the skill of acceptance, while relaxation uses strategies to change your state. Both are effective and useful pathways to reaching a more peaceful place.
So, what works best?
To conclude, mindfulness and relaxation are two approaches that are comparable and can be used in a complimentary way, yet are distinctly different. When it comes to answering the all important question - which one is best - my response is that both approaches are useful, sometimes they can overlap, each one is effective and neither one is better. As these techniques work in similar yet different ways, they can potentially lead to different outcomes. So it’s up to you to determine which approach would be most useful for you, or whether a combination of both is the best way for you to create more calm.
Discover mindfulness
In my new book I share more on how to build your mindfulness skills so you can switch off stress, create more calm and be kinder to yourself. I share simple mindfulness meditation practices and smart strategies to help you live life more mindfully, and feel more relaxed too. There’s plenty of quick and easy exercises to integrate more mindful moments into your day that have transformed my life for the better - and I know can work wonders in helping you to live calmer and happier too.
Are you ready to #discovermindfulness?