01 Nov Contemporary Mindfulness
In 2014, an author wanted to title her book Shortcuts to Enlightenment but saw that “mindfulness” was the current buzzword and that Shortcuts to Mindfulness might sell better. She was right. Mindfulness had gone mainstream.
For millennia, mindfulness had been a Buddhist meditation practice that was a non-Western, non-White tradition (Ng & Purser, 2015) grounded in a strong ethical code. It was believed to take years, perhaps a lifetime to master – there were no “shortcuts.” Now white people had gotten ahold of it and turned it into a tool for optimum performance.
Studies of programs teaching mindfulness have shown successful results for chronic pain, anxiety, and in prison populations with psychiatric outpatients and incarcerated youth (Himelstein et al., 2011). These studies reported an increase in self-management, a buffer against stress, and a form of harm reduction (Purser, 2014). The military has spent millions to implement mindfulness training for its soldiers as part of its attempts to prevent PTSD.
Although the secularization of mindfulness has its plusses in the increase in self-regulation skills for the individuals who practice it, the divorcing of mindfulness from its ethical and spiritual context has had negative consequences. Teaching soldiers and corporate employees to have “nonjudgmental awareness” blinds them to the fact that the environment they are in maybe fraught with unethical behaviors and mindsets. The fact that many are individuals ill from stress is positioned as the individual’s problem, not that the military may be fighting and unjust war or that the corporation may be unethical and oppressive. The burden of psychological stress has been shifted to the individual instead of cultivating awareness of what in the present reality is causing suffering (Purser & Ng, 2015). For the price of a mindfulness program, the corporation receives employee pacification and complacency.
From a somatic perspective, what is missing in all this is embodied mindfulness. The mainstream mindfulness fad is a cognitive practice. This can be helpful for people, but it cuts them off from the wisdom of the body. The body has its own morality and will tell the truth about too much stress, discomfort, and not-right action. Embodied mindfulness is essential for relating holistically to each other. The most disturbing thing about the “Mindfulness Revolution” is that it has made the term almost meaningless.
References
Auman, C. (2014). Shortcuts to mindfulness: 100 ways to personal and spiritual growth. Green Tara Press
Himelstein, S., Hastings, A., Shapiro, S., Heery, M., (2011). Mindfulness training for self-regulation and stress with incarcerated youth: a pilot study. The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Ng, E. & Purser, R. (2015). White privilege and the mindfulness movement.
Purser, R. E., (2014). The militarization of mindfulness.
Purser, R. & Ng. E. (2015). Corporate mindfulness is bullsh*t: Zen or no Zen, you’re working harder and being paid less.
© 2023 Catherine Auman
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