The 4 types of Mindfulness and their characteristics
Mindfulness or Mindfulness is an ancient practice that has gained popularity in recent years in the West, mainly because of the benefits it provides for people's emotional health and for their performance both in the work, educational or sports environment.
At present, Mindfulness is used for different purposes, and although it is more of a philosophy of life, behavioral science professionals have used it. adapted to this discipline to help people manage some problematic situations that arise in their lives, such as stress, depression or anxiety.
However, as we will see, there is not just one way to practice this, but several: We therefore speak of types of Mindfulness and not just Mindfulness.
- If you want to know more about Mindfulness, you can visit this article: "What is Mindfulness? The 7 answers to your questions”
The Need for Mindfulness Today
And it is that in a world as fast as this one, in which new technologies advance frantically, mindfulness becomes as necessary as the air we breathe. Many people live on autopilot, stressed, anxious, and not even knowing who they are. They live far from the present, far from themselves. Your mind jumps around continuously, scattering your thoughts and emotions.
There are many individuals who have serious difficulties to connect with themselves, because they live immersed in a culture that encourages individualism and materialism, and in which talking about emotions such as sadness, fear or uncertainty is practically prohibited and frowned upon. You have to be happy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year... something that is impossible.
Fortunately, Mindfulness brings us back to the present (to our present), far from our unrealistic expectations, those that cause us so much suffering. Mindfulness helps us to stop, to focus, to find ourselves again with the person we are and the one we frequently forget.
Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is not a fleeting fad, and there are many investigations that have provided data regarding how this practice helps us live better. Among the benefits of this practice we can find:
- Reduce stress
- Improve self-awareness
- Improves emotional balance
- Helps you sleep better
- Improves mood
- Increase concentration
- Promotes creativity
- Prevent depression
- Helps control anxiety
- Develop Emotional Intelligence
- Improve interpersonal relationships
If you want to delve into these benefits, in our article “Mindfulness: 8 benefits of mindfulness”We delve into the profitability of this experience.
Types of Mindfulness
Over the years, specific Mindfulness programs have been created to tackle particular problems. But, What types of Mindfulness are there? What are their characteristics? In the following lines we discover it:
Different types of programs
Although mindfulness is a philosophy of life, a methodology to face life situations in a more adaptive way, it is possible to classify it according to the objective.
1. MBSR or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program
The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program was created by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979. As the name suggests, the MBSR aims to reduce the stress level of the practitioner and, as a consequence, their psychological well-being.
Research that has been done to test the effects of this program on people's emotional health shows that it is one of the most effective treatments for reducing stress. This 8-session program has also been shown to be effective in treating pain.
2. MBCT (or Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy.
MBCT (Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) is a Mindfulness program that is used to treat different disorders, such as depression or anxiety. Like the previous one, this is an 8 session program.
It was created by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale who decided establish a treatment for emotional stress, anxiety and relapses in patients with depression. Therefore, it is a psychotherapeutic program that combines Mindfulness meditation with the acquisition of practical skills that characterize cognitive therapy, such as detecting patterns of thought that lead to depressive states or anxious.
3. Full Emotional Intelligence (PINEP)
PINEP is a program to improve people's psychological health thanks to the combination of Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence practices. Thanks to this program, the participants become more aware and emotionally intelligent, able to manage their emotions in the different situations of their daily life.
The goal is to increase personal well-being and increase the capacity for positive appreciation towards oneself and their environment. PINEP practitioners improve their interpersonal relationships, achieve a higher level of empathy, increase their concentration, they empower in the face of their problems and in life, they manage to clarify their vital objectives and enjoy a greater balance emotional.
Types of Mindfulness meditation
Meditation is an important part of Mindfulness practice. Mainly Mindfulness uses these types of meditation
1. Breath-centered meditation
One of the simplest and most useful meditation is breath-centered meditation, which refers to focusing attention on how air enters through the nostrils. This is the object of attention that, thanks to its simplicity, can be used anywhere and at any time. For example, if we are at work and want to be in the here and now, we can practice one minute breathing.
2. Body scanner
The Body Scanner or body scan is a type of meditation in which the object of attention is the body itself, from head to toe.
3. Kind Love Meditation
A meditative practice that encourages positive feelings of love, compassion, and caring, both towards oneself and towards others.
4. Vipassana meditation
This type of meditation is also called mental observation. Aims to label the thoughts, emotions and feelings that appear through the mind while we meditate.
- You can learn more about this type of meditation in this article: "The 8 types of meditation and their characteristics”
