Transcendental meditation is probably the trance like one you have in mind, and that's very different from the far more established Buddhist practice of "mindfu

Transcendental meditation is probably the trance like one you have in mind, and that's very different from the far more established Buddhist practice of "mindfulness" which is traditionally practiced via meditation. Transcendental meditation is just repeating a nonsense phrase over and over. Both practices typically have you sit still for 15 minutes, but that's where the similarities end. Mindfulness practice encompasses cultivating awareness of internal states, so the HALT thing can be seen as a limited form of that. The meditation aspect is typically used more to practice non-reactivity, body awareness, and to understand the temporary nature of things. For example, in one practice you sit still and make a mental note of all the sounds you hear. You hear them start and end, consider the qualities of the sound (loud, rhythmic, high pitch, etc) and you notice your reaction to them (do you get startled when the ice maker goes off? Are the sounds of birds calming?). You allow yourself to welcome new sounds into your perception, and try not to linger or dwell on old ones when they're gone. Obviously it's not directly practical to most things, but the idea is that you learn to feel alright with the temporary nature of things, pleasant or unpleasant, and can then apply that to your own emotions or other external situations.