What Is MBIR™️?

MBIR™️ (Mindfulness-Based Inner RePatterning™️) is a therapeutic approach developed by Tania A Prince that uses present-moment awareness to identify and work with patterns of internal response. Rather than relying primarily on analysing or retelling past experiences, MBIR™️ works experientially with what is happening within the person in the present, including emotional, physiological, cognitive and behavioural responses. The approach supports changes in established patterns while placing particular importance on safety, nervous-system state and the person’s own internal processing.

At the heart of MBIR™️ is an important principle: change does not always require repeatedly going into the story of what happened.

People can understand why they feel or behave in a particular way and yet still find themselves caught in the same patterns. A person may logically know that a situation is safe, for example, while experiencing an internal response that suggests something very different. Someone may consciously want to move forward while another response seems to hold them back.

MBIR™️ works with these patterns as they are experienced in the present.

Rather than assuming that change depends upon repeatedly analysing the past, MBIR™️ brings attention to what is happening within the person now and provides a structured way of working with that experience.

What Does MBIR™️ Mean?

MBIR™️ stands for Mindfulness-Based Inner RePatterning™️.

Each part of the name reflects something important about the approach.

Mindfulness-Based refers to the use of present-moment awareness. Rather than immediately becoming caught in the story surrounding an experience, attention can be brought to what is happening internally as it occurs.

Inner reflects the focus on the person’s internal experience. This can include emotions, physical sensations, thoughts, images, perceptions, internal conflict and changes in state.

RePatterning refers to working with established patterns of response rather than simply attempting to control their outward expression.

Together, these principles form the foundation of MBIR™️.

What Are Patterns of Internal Response?

Throughout life, we develop patterns.

Some are conscious. Many are not.

Experiences can influence how we respond emotionally, physiologically, cognitively and behaviourally. A response that developed for a very good reason at one point in someone’s life may continue even when the circumstances that originally gave rise to it have changed.

A person may consciously know they are safe while experiencing anxiety. They may want to take an opportunity but find themselves pulling back. They may react strongly to a seemingly minor situation or find themselves shutting down, disconnecting or becoming overwhelmed without fully understanding why.

These responses are not necessarily deliberate choices.

They may reflect established patterns of internal response.

MBIR™️ does not begin from the assumption that these patterns need to be fought, suppressed or overridden. Instead, they can be noticed and worked with.

Present-Moment Awareness Is Central to MBIR™️

Present-moment awareness is fundamental to MBIR™️.

When people experience an uncomfortable emotion, thought or sensation, their natural response may be to try to get rid of it. They might distract themselves, reason with it, suppress it or become absorbed in the story surrounding it.

MBIR™️ offers another possibility.

Attention is brought to what is happening within the person’s experience now.

That might include a physical sensation, an emotion, a thought, an image, an internal response or a subtle change in state.

This is not simply observing an experience for the sake of observing it.

Within MBIR™️, present-moment awareness provides access to information about the pattern that is occurring.

Instead of immediately asking, “Why am I feeling this?”, we can also become curious about:

“What is happening within me right now?”

That distinction is central to the MBIR™️ approach.

MBIR™️ Works Experientially

MBIR™️ is an experiential approach.

Intellectual understanding can be extremely valuable, but understanding why something happens does not necessarily change the response itself.

Someone may understand exactly where their anxiety originated and still experience anxiety. They may recognise intellectually that a fear is no longer relevant and continue to feel afraid. They may understand why they behave in a particular way while repeatedly finding themselves doing the same thing.

MBIR™️ therefore works with the experience as it is occurring.

Attention may be given to changes in sensations, emotions, thoughts, imagery, perceptions and overall state as the process unfolds.

These responses provide information and help guide the therapeutic process.

The practitioner does not need to decide in advance what the person should experience. The person’s own internal responses become part of the feedback through which the work develops.

MBIR™️ and the Nervous System

The nervous system continually responds to information from both inside and outside the body, much of it outside conscious awareness.

When threat is perceived, protective responses can occur. Depending upon the person and circumstances, this might involve mobilisation, anxiety, agitation, anger, withdrawal, freezing, shutdown or other changes in state.

These responses can sometimes continue even when the circumstances that originally triggered them are no longer present.

This helps explain an important distinction:

Knowing you are safe and experiencing safety are not necessarily the same thing.

A person may logically understand that there is no immediate danger while their physiological response tells a very different story.

Trying to reason the response away may therefore have limited effect.

MBIR™️ recognises the importance of the person’s internal state and provides ways of working with the response being experienced rather than relying entirely upon conscious reasoning.

Safety Is Fundamental to MBIR™️

Safety is a core principle of MBIR™️.

Therapeutic change is not simply about accessing increasingly difficult material or generating stronger emotional reactions.

More distress does not necessarily mean more therapeutic progress.

In some circumstances, pushing someone further into distress may make it more difficult for them to process what is happening.

MBIR™️ therefore pays particular attention to the person’s state throughout the therapeutic process.

One of the important resources within the MBIR™️ methodology is the MBIR™️ Safe State.

The Safe State is not simply positive thinking or imagining that everything is fine. It provides a resource that can be accessed and incorporated into the therapeutic process while working with challenging internal experiences.

This creates a different starting point from approaches that assume someone needs to remain immersed in distress for meaningful change to occur.

MBIR™️ Does Not Always Require Retelling the Past

One of the distinctive features of MBIR™️ is that detailed disclosure of past experiences is not always necessary.

People sometimes assume that therapy requires them to explain everything that happened, perhaps repeatedly and in considerable detail.

There are circumstances in which talking about past experiences can be valuable. However, detailed retelling is not automatically necessary for therapeutic work to take place.

Because MBIR™️ works with the internal response occurring in the present, it may be possible to work with an experience without the practitioner knowing every detail of the events behind it.

This can be particularly useful when something is difficult to discuss, memories are unclear or the person simply does not want to disclose particular information.

The focus remains on what is happening within the person and how their experience changes during the process.

Working With Parts in MBIR™️

Sometimes people experience apparently conflicting internal responses.

Someone may consciously want something while another aspect of them appears to resist it.

They might say:

“I really want to move forward, but something stops me.”

Or:

“Part of me wants this, but another part doesn’t.”

MBIR™️ does not automatically regard this apparent resistance as an obstacle that needs to be removed.

The response may serve, or may once have served, an important protective function.

The MBIR™️ Parts Model provides a structured way of working with these internal responses.

Rather than attempting to defeat or overpower a part, MBIR™️ allows the underlying response to be explored respectfully.

This can involve becoming curious about what the part is attempting to achieve, prevent or protect.

When the concerns underlying an internal conflict can be addressed, different possibilities may become available.

The Person’s Own Internal Processing Is Important

The role of an MBIR™️ practitioner is not to impose an interpretation upon the person.

The practitioner facilitates a process.

This requires careful observation, sensory acuity, effective communication and the ability to notice changes in the person’s state.

Sometimes words are useful.

Sometimes silence is useful.

The practitioner does not need to fill every moment with questions, explanations or suggestions. Giving space can allow the person’s own internal processing to occur.

For this reason, learning MBIR™️ involves considerably more than memorising a sequence of steps.

Practitioner skill includes knowing what to notice, when to intervene, when not to intervene and how to respond to the information emerging during the process.

What Can MBIR™️ Be Used For?

MBIR™️ provides a framework for working with patterns that have emotional, physiological, cognitive or behavioural components.

These can include patterns associated with stress, anxiety, difficult emotional responses, internal conflict, limiting beliefs, past experiences and situations in which someone repeatedly finds themselves responding in ways they consciously wish to change.

MBIR™️ does not assume that every difficulty has one simple cause.

Human responses are complex, and two people can respond very differently to apparently similar experiences.

Rather than imposing a predetermined explanation, MBIR™️ provides a structured methodology for working with the person’s experience as it presents itself.

MBIR™️ and Trauma

Trauma is an important area in which the principles of MBIR™️ can be applied.

MBIR™️ does not conceptualise trauma as though it were simply a substance stored somewhere in the body that has to be expelled.

During threatening or overwhelming experiences, protective physiological responses can occur. The nervous system may mobilise through fight or flight, or the person may move towards freeze, shutdown or collapse.

The way the system subsequently responds can influence how later situations are experienced.

MBIR™️ works carefully with these responses, with particular attention to safety, state and regulation.

The aim is not to overwhelm someone in order to create a therapeutic breakthrough.

Intense emotional expression is not, by itself, evidence that effective therapeutic change is occurring.

Is MBIR™️ the Same as Mindfulness?

No.

Mindfulness is an important component of MBIR™️, but MBIR™️ is not simply mindfulness practice.

Mindfulness can help someone become more aware of thoughts, feelings, sensations and present-moment experience.

MBIR™️ uses present-moment awareness within a broader therapeutic methodology for identifying and working with established patterns of internal response.

This is why RePatterning is an important part of the name.

Awareness provides access to what is occurring, but the purpose of MBIR™️ is not simply to observe an existing pattern indefinitely. It provides a framework through which the pattern can be worked with and change can become possible.

Is MBIR™️ a Form of EFT?

No. MBIR™️ is a distinct therapeutic approach.

Its creator, Tania A Prince, has an extensive professional background in EFT and is an EFT Founding Master and EFT International Accredited Master Trainer of Trainers. However, MBIR™️ is not another name for EFT and should not be understood simply as a form of tapping.

MBIR™️ has its own principles, processes, practitioner methodology, training pathway and professional framework.

This distinction is particularly important because therapeutic approaches can share influences or principles without being the same methodology.

Who Created MBIR™️?

MBIR™️ was created by Tania A Prince.

The methodology developed through decades of therapeutic practice, training and exploration of how people create and change internal patterns.

Tania has worked therapeutically for more than three decades and has trained therapists and practitioners internationally. Her professional background includes extensive experience and training in EFT, NLP, hypnotherapy and approaches to therapeutic change.

She is an EFT Founding Master, one of only 29 people worldwide to receive that designation, and an EFT International Accredited Master Trainer of Trainers.

The approach was originally known as Inner RePatterning. As the methodology developed and its mindfulness-based foundation became more explicitly represented in its name, it became Mindfulness-Based Inner RePatterning™️, abbreviated to MBIR™️.

Today, MBIR™️ is a structured therapeutic methodology with its own practitioner training, certification pathways, ethical principles, professional standards and governance through MBIR International.

The MBIR™️ Approach to Change

People often expend enormous effort trying to change themselves.

They tell themselves not to worry. They try to think positively. They attempt not to react. They suppress uncomfortable feelings or force themselves through situations despite what is happening internally.

Sometimes these strategies can be useful.

But sometimes they create an additional struggle: the struggle against the person’s own response.

MBIR™️ approaches that response differently.

Instead of beginning with:

“How do I make this response go away?”

MBIR™️ encourages curiosity about:

“What is happening within me right now?”

The response is no longer simply something that needs to be fought or suppressed.

It becomes information.

Through present-moment awareness, that information can be noticed and worked with while maintaining attention to safety, state and the person’s own internal processing.

A simple way of understanding the process is:

Present-Moment Awareness → Notice the Internal Response → Work With the Pattern → Allow Internal Processing → Change

This does not mean that change always occurs in a simple linear sequence. Human processing is more complex than that. The sequence provides a way of understanding the underlying orientation of the MBIR™️ approach.

Learning More About MBIR™️

MBIR™️ is both a therapeutic approach and a professional practitioner methodology.

For someone interested in experiencing MBIR™️, the next step may be to learn more about how the approach works or to find an appropriately trained MBIR™️ practitioner.

For therapists and practitioners, MBIR™️ training provides a structured pathway for learning the methodology and developing the practical skills needed to use it professionally.

This article is part of the MBIR™️ article series. Other articles explore specific aspects of the methodology in greater depth, including how MBIR™️ works, MBIR™️ and the nervous system, the MBIR™️ Safe State, the MBIR™️ Parts Model, MBIR™️ and trauma, the role of mindfulness within MBIR™️, and practitioner training.

About Tania A Prince

Tania A Prince is the creator of MBIR™️ (Mindfulness-Based Inner RePatterning™️).

She has worked therapeutically for more than three decades and has extensive experience training therapists and practitioners internationally.

Tania is an EFT Founding Master and an EFT International Accredited Master Trainer of Trainers. Her professional background also includes extensive training and experience in NLP and hypnotherapy.

Through MBIR International, she has developed the training, certification, ethical principles, professional standards and governance framework supporting the professional development and practice of MBIR™️.