Introduction to Mindfulness_349810_bookemon_ebook.pdf Coaching and Practising Mindfulness | Page 75

Mindfulness Based
Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Unlike cognitive therapy, the mindfulness approach makes no
attempt to change the content of negative thinking.
MBCT encourages participants to change their relationship to their
own thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, so that they have an
opportunity to discover that these are fleeting events in the mind and
the body which they can choose to engage with – or not.
Repeated practice in noticing and observing with interest and
compassion helps participants to realize that their thoughts, emotions
and sensations are just thoughts, emotions, and sensations, rather
than ‘truth’ or ‘me.’
The participant learns to see more clearly the patterns of the mind,
and to recognize when his/her mood is beginning to dip without
adding to the problem by falling into analysis and rumination.
MBCT helps break the old association between negative mood and
the negative thinking it would normally trigger.
Participants develop the capacity to allow distressing emotions,
thoughts, and sensations to come and go, without feeling that they
have to suppress them, run away from them, or do battle with them.
The goal is that they learn to stay in touch with the present moment,
without being driven to dwell on the past or worry about the future.

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