Introduction to Mindfulness

Introduction to Mindfulness

For a few decades now, the term “mindfulness” has become part of our psychological vocabulary, much like other terms such as stress or meditation, often associated with it. However, this generalization has led, as it often does, to a certain lack of precision in its use and the consequent emergence of errors and confusion.

For this reason, we believe it is convenient to provide an initial approach to mindfulness in this article with the intention of guiding readers to decide if it may be useful for them or if they prefer to seek some other form of psychological and emotional work.

Origin

To begin with, it’s worth mentioning that the system was created by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who in 1979 opened a stress reduction clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Subsequently, in 1988, he created the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) system, which aimed to reduce stress and pain and increase general well-being. Initially, the program was aimed at patients who had to cope with feelings of fear, pain, guilt, anger, frustration, rejection, etc. And it was based, in part, on the discoveries about the benefits of Eastern meditation made by American psychologists such as Keith Wallace, Daniel Goleman, or Richard J. Davidson from the 1970s onwards.

Definition

The great novelty of this method is that it is based on the ancient Buddhist practice of mindfulness meditation, from which religious and moral aspects have been dispensed.

In this sense, the most well-known and widely spread definition by Kabat-Zinn, its creator, states that “Mindfulness is the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally, to the unfolding of our experience.”

Therefore, we could say that mindfulness is a form of mental training based on meditation whose objective is the development of attention capacity. This, to be useful and valuable, must meet a series of requirements:

It must be focused on a specific object. Avoid making judgments. Foster qualities of curiosity, openness, and patience. Be located and centered in the present moment. Aim to contemplate the contents and mental states that arise. Be used with the intention that the subject becomes increasingly compassionate, loving, less judgmental. Therefore, it would be about achieving a balance between a mind that works frantically and one that does so too loosely. That state would consist of something that we could define as focused relaxation.

To achieve this, it is necessary to train the ability to step back and observe experience without identifying with thoughts or fluctuations of emotions. One must only observe what happens knowing that what is happening is not us, it is not our identity.

Practice

In practice, we can indicate, very succinctly, that the main techniques used by mindfulness are:

breath awareness, systematic scanning of bodily sensations, physical exercises to work on, mindfully attending to thoughts and feelings that arise moment by moment. In addition, this system distinguishes between formal practice, which consists of using the techniques and tools we have just mentioned in controlled time and space. And, on the other hand, there is the informal practice, which is the application of the same in daily life in daily activities to act in them with attention and concentration to be more aware.

Benefits

The practice of mindfulness has the following proven physical, mental, and emotional benefits over its 30 years of application.

Reduction of stress and anxiety. Decrease in negative and obsessive thoughts. Minimization of depression symptoms. Increased overall relaxation state. Improvement of sleep quality. Reduction of inflammatory processes associated with degenerative or autoimmune diseases. Increase in energy and vitality. Additionally, one of the great advantages of mindfulness is that it constitutes a remedy that, once learned, can be practiced individually, almost at any time and place, and at a low cost.

Given everything said so far, we would like to recommend that you try this system to give it a chance, and the best way we can think of doing this is to remember these words from the wise Sufi poet Rumi:

Perform a daily practice.

The loyalty you profess to it

will become a ring on your door.

Keep calling, because inner happiness

will eventually open a window

to see who is coming.