One of the most well-known and utilized tools in meditation and yoga is the practice of self-observation without judgment, or mindfulness. Swami Kripalu called self-observation without judgment \”the highest form of spiritual practice.\” Likewise, if you go to any yoga or meditation class you\’re likely to hear words like mindfulness and nonjudgmental awareness repeated throughout the class. But what do these terms really mean?
Mindfulness meditation has been defined by Jon-Kabat Zinn as \”the ability to pay total attention to the present moment with a nonjudgmental awareness of the inner and/or outer experiences.\” Kripalu Yoga teacher Shobhan Richard Faulds describes self-observation without judgment as \”restraining the mind\’s tendency to grasp what is pleasant and push away what is painful — and produce a flowing state of choice-less awareness that enables you to remain intimate with what\’s going on inside you.\”
