“Given the burgeoning interest in mindfulness across the world, an unsettling question asserts itself: is mindfulness ethical? The answer, it seems to me, is not necessarily. At least not in the way that mindfulness is frequently taught and practiced in the West. Which is unfortunate…” Tim Lomas
There seems to be more work being done now on the limitations of mindfulness as a fix for it all whilst having it all. This article from Psychology Today. Here is the key nugget:
“Unfortunately, many people in the West engage in secular ‘de-contextualised’ forms of mindfulness, as found in many contemporary mindfulness-based interventions. That doesn’t mean that such interventions are not valuable of course, or indeed that people who take these are not ethical. However, by taking mindfulness out of its original Buddhist context – which aimed towards powerful personal transformation and liberation – the power of these programmes is arguably diminished. This issue has been recognised by Jon Kabat-Zinn himself, despite – or perhaps because of – his key role in bringing mindfulness to the West by developing secularised modes of delivery, such as his seminal Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme. While of course still upholding the value of such programmes, he commented that ‘the rush to define mindfulness within Western psychology may wind up denaturing it in fundamental ways,’ and as such there is ‘the potential for something priceless to be lost’ (Williams & Kabat-Zinn, 2011, p.4).”
It is worth taking time to look into the nature of any ‘techniques’ you try to find stillness.
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