La atención centrada o focalizada
La atención abierta
El mindfulness centrado en la fortaleza psicológica del amor y la compasión
The scientific research on meditation is extensive and growing. It includes hundreds of studies on the effects of meditation on physical health, brain functioning, stress reduction and mental health. There are also many studies looking at the effects of meditation on positive emotions, insight and compassion.
A recent review in Frontiers in Psychology (2015) found that meditation may have a positive impact on attentional bias, decision-making biases and behavioral inhibition/inhibition balance disorder (BID/ID). This review also highlights how research findings have not yet been fully integrated into clinical practice.
Another recent review (2017) found that mindfulness-based interventions were associated with improvements in attentional control (i.e., attentional focus), working memory (e.g., memory capacity), emotion regulation and self-reported stress levels compared to controls receiving no intervention or waitlist control conditions.
The many forms of meditation have been around for centuries. That's because they're effective. They work in the same way that exercise does — by creating a new pathway in your brain.
Meditation can help you create this pathway by making you aware of the present moment and improving your ability to focus on your breathing, or other activities. As you practice meditation, the pathways in your brain become stronger and more efficient at processing information from the outside world.
While there are many types of meditation techniques, there are three main kinds: Transcendental Meditation (TM), Vipassana (insight) meditation and Kundalini yoga meditation.
Transcendental Meditation is based on the belief that all experience is connected through consciousness; it's about being present for every moment instead of going over things in your mind or worrying about them. TM practitioners focus on one syllable per minute while holding their breath, usually repeating "ohm" or "om" while sitting quietly with closed eyes during an eight-hour session twice a day (preferably early in the morning).