Trait vs State Mindfulness
State mindfulness occurs when you are practicing meditation (e.g. sitting and doing breathwork practices) whereas trait mindfulness occurs when the individual transfers their mindfulness awareness skills cultivated during their meditation practice into their everyday lives (e.g. noticing the water droplet on your skin when you shower, feeling your feet touch your shoes touching the floor as you stand or walk, or returning to the present moment conversation or environment without getting lost in “thinking thoughts” or feeling all consumed by your emotions).
Why is this distinction important?
The benefits from mindfulness such as decreased stress or increased equanimity, self-compassion, and self-acceptance to name a few, result from trait mindfulness.
In other words, mindfulness’ benefits come from practicing meditation (state mindfulness) which eventually turns into increased trait mindfulness. It is a dose-dependent relationship so the more frequent and longer the duration of your meditation practice leads to increased benefits as the feelings one experiences during a meditation (e.g. clarity, feeling grounded, awareness of sensations, cognitions, and mood, letting go of attachment and being present in the moment without judgment and with open mindedness and compassion) transfers into the individual’s everyday life (trait mindfulness).
I like to remind my clients that working on their mental health is like any other cultivated skill or practice, you cannot learn and implement changes into your life and expect them to last unless you continue to practice and maintain them. If you stop practicing, then the benefits will gradually diminish as well. Sustained wellness is truly about a shift in perspective, behavior, and lifestyle. It is of value to me to emphasis again that long-lasting change means actually changing. Meditation is a practice to help with that change yet it does take a continual return to sitting and closing one’s eyes and focusing on the anchor of the breath, over and over again. There are many techniques and philosophies about the “right” and “wrong” methods, or the “most effective” methods to change. But I believe that showing up whether that be to meditation or another practice that’s aimed at improving your health and wellness is what helps shift ourselves from where we are to where we want to be. And I find that the reward is worth that sustained effort.