Which Mindfulness-based Program to choose?

Regardless of the program you choose, all Mindfulness-based Programs will address the following aspects:

  • understanding the mind’s natural tendency to be scattered and to wander; how to train attention to create choices about where and how we place attention, and how this can fundamentally shape our experience.
  • exploring different ways of being and knowing; recognising how much of our experience is shaped by thought; that other more experiential and observing modes are also available to us, and how we can learn to use them to help us flourish over time.
  • recognizing the difference between reacting and responding; developing ways to create the space to make choices between them, and exploring how this understanding can shape our experience and the quality of our lives.

A local Mindfulness-based Teacher is best suited to listen to your needs and advise about the program best suited for you.
Here are some of the most well-researched programs.

Secular Mindfulness training started in 1979, when Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts to treat chronically ill patients. This program sparked the application of mindfulness ideas and practices in medicine for the treatment of a variety of conditions in both healthy and unhealthy people; many options have been developed to suit particular needs.

MBSR – Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction program, started in 1979. It was specifically addressing the needs of patients in a medical setting who experienced chronic pain connected to all sorts of diseases and ailments.

Nowadays, a variety of mindfulness-based programs is available tailored to specific health conditions and contexts, all honouring the essence of the original MBSR-format developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

MBCT –  Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (/Training), started in 1992. It was specifically addressing the need to prevent depression and relapsing into depression.
The original MBCT program was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, John Teasdale,  and was further developed at Bangor University and University of Oxford.

Nowadays, a variety of MBP’s is available tailored to specific mental health conditions and contexts, as well as to supporting a life lived in health and significance.
For example, please look at the programs acknowledged by
IPA – the International Panel for the acknowledgement of  evidence-based mindfulness-based programs.

If you are a developer of a mindfulness-based program and are seeking recognition for the program you created, you are invited to connect with the IPA – the International Panel for the acknowledgement of  MBB’s, more information of the IPA-process and contact address.