Meditation was an aspect of the practice of <answer>the yogis</answer> in the centuries preceding the Buddha. The Buddha built upon <answer>the yogis</answer>' concern with introspection and developed their meditative techniques, but rejected their theories of liberation. In Buddhism, mindfulness and clear awareness are to be developed at all times; in pre-Buddhist yogic practices there is no such injunction. A yogi in the Brahmanical tradition is not to practice while defecating, for example, while a Buddhist monastic should do so.
Meditation was an aspect of the practice of who?
the yogis