The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MM)

Meditation is an umbrella term that encompasses many different types of meditation. In general, most meditations focus on the expansion of consciousness, typically through heightened nonjudgmental awareness of the mind, body, and environment. One is simply required to acknowledge a thought for what it is, not to analyze or attempt to change it (Jain, Shapiro, Swanick, Roesch, Mills, Bell, Schwartz, 2007; Schoormans & Nyklíček, 2011; Van Hoof & Baas, 2013). In its essence Mindfulness Meditation (MM) values observation over reaction (Jain, 2007). Being mindful is about being aware; being aware of thoughts, bodily, sensations, and the environment in a nonjudgmental way. However, there is no “goal” for MM other than the expansion of consciousness

Such findings have repeated in studies that focus on college populations (Burns et al., 2011; Bergen-Cico et al, 2013; Oman et al., 2008; Shearer et al., 2016). Oman and colleagues conducted randomized control trial that compared MBSR to a similar stress reduction program: Easwaran’s Eight-Point Program (EPP) (2008). Both programs central aspects are focused attention and reflection, the time taken to disseminate was also the same: 8 weekly meetings of 90 minutes. Their study used a college population; they had 44 students that were mostly freshman (66%) and mostly female (80%) and largely European American (73%). The study did not find a difference between the types of meditation but did find that there was a significant decrease in in perceived stress, a slight decrease in rumination, and a significant increase in forgiveness with effects maintained at follow up. The significant decrease in perceived stress is of particular interest because college students can’t necessarily decrease the number of stress-inducing factors in their lives but they can change their perception of the stress. A change in perceived stress can indicate effective coping through the reappraising the stress, use of resources, and increased focused attention (Oman et al.,