Throughout this course, we'll be introducing you to several different mindfulness and meditation experiences. Oftentimes, people use mindfulness and meditation interchangeably. And they do have similar properties. They both prevent mind wandering. They help create greater relaxation and focus. And they both shut off what's known as the default mode network in our brains.

That's the part of the brain that fires up whenever we're not doing a cognitive task. And it's really important because it allows us to think about the past the future, to put ourselves in somebody else's shoes and understand their perspective. However, we don't want that going on all the time. And that's where both mindfulness and meditation come in. A good way to think of mindfulness is think of it as awareness. for meditation, think of it as stillness.

You can be mindful Or aware walking down the street hearing the birds watching people go by, without meditating. With meditation, it's often a process. So you might set aside a certain time, a certain place. And use mindful tools to get you to what's known as that no mind state where you're fully relaxed and fully, not thinking about things that are going on around you. So again, think of mindfulness as awareness and meditation as stillness. You can be mindful without meditating, but you can't be meditating without being mindful.

There are many different types of meditations and mindfulness experiences out there. So I want to break down the three most common categories that I use to kind of simplify how to approach them. And the reason this is important is because for You, you might find that one method just doesn't work for you, but another does. So I encourage you to mix it up a little bit. The first category would be your single point of focus. This is where your mindful meditation comes in.

And it could be simply focusing on your breath, focusing on a candle, focusing on a word. So you're really bringing your attention to one thing and holding it there. The second type would be open monitoring. That's where you're observing your thoughts without judgment, and just noticing what's coming up and not being attached to them. And the third type is more of your effective or intentional practice. That's where your prayers, your loving kindness, meditations, your affirmations and visualizations come in, because you're very consciously directing your thought.

Now, don't get too hung up on the differences between your affirmation and visualization. We're going to guide you through some different experiences so that you can get a better understanding of how they work. However, you're going to find that in these three approaches, whether it's single point of focus, open monitoring, or you're intentional, that sometimes a meditation can include elements of all three