Mindfulness reconsidered

Mind the Gaps: Are Conclusions About Mindfulness Entirely Conclusive?

“…Smriti and sati also connote memory or a remembering (Brazier, 2013). Grossman and Van Dam (2011) emphasized the active nature of sati by suggesting that “ to be mindful” (p. 220; emphasis added) is a more accurate translation of this term.…”

“…Grossman and Van Dam (2011) emphasized the active nature of sati by suggesting that “ to be mindful” (p. 220; emphasis added) is a more accurate translation of this term. Brazier (2013) echoed this sentiment: “When our parents told us to be mindful of our manners … they meant to remember and apply them” (p. 118; emphasis added). In contrast, Kabat‐Zinn's (1994) introduction and popularization of MBIs in the West (Chiesa & Malinowski, 2011) have largely neglected the remembered or contextual foundation (e.g., Buddhist ethics) of the term mindfulness (Hickey, 2010).…”

“…Kabat‐Zinn (1994), using mindfulness‐based techniques in an intentionally secularized fashion (i.e., ethically neutral), defined mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, non‐judgmentally” (p. 4). However, some theorists take exception to this definition, contending that it creates a disembodied term bound to a perpetual present (e.g., Barker, 2013) or a culture of “here‐and‐now‐ism” (Brazier, 2013, p. 119).…”

“…Indeed, in such a climate of positive expectation, Ng (1999) suggested that “there may be social pressures upon the individual to experience and report benefits” (p. 203). Such fervor may have arrested a more balanced and temperate investigation of mindfulness (Brazier, 2013), and the existing evidence may be of questionable validity given a lack of conceptual and operational agreement as well as research designs of varying rigor (Chiesa & Malinowski, 2011; Goyal et al, 2014 Although the mindfulness literature undeniably suffers from the standard criticisms of modern scientific inquiry—methodological concerns, inadequate sample diversity, insufficient multicultural sensitivity, and so forth (e.g., Hickey, 2010)—this article primarily presents gaps more unique to the mindfulness literature…”

Clearing the Muddled Path of Traditional and Contemporary Mindfulness: a Response to Monteiro, Musten, and Compson

“…This framing has some merit, as the concerns raised have been the subject of much debate and attention in both the popular press and Buddhist blogosphere, such as Purser and Loy's (2013) "Beyond McMindfulness," North's (2014) op-ed piece "The Mindfulness Backlash" in the New York Times, Thompson (2014), "The Mindfulness Wars, " Whitaker's (2013) "2013 as the year of mindfulness: Critics and defenders," and Roca's (2014) "The Dark Night of the Soul." In addition, numerous Buddhist teachers and religious studies scholars have weighed in on the medicalization and psychologization of mindfulness, considering how such reinterpretations alter the meaning, function and ends of such secular practices (Bazzano 2013;Brazier 2013;Buswell and Lopez 2014;Cohen 2010;Lopez 2012;Samuel 2014;Stanley 2013;Thanissaro 2012;Wallace 2007). In addition to analyzing and describing the trend towards the decontextualization of mindfulness and the role it plays within an integrated Buddhist path of liberation, a number of scholars have also described, perhaps more importantly, how contemporary mindfulness applications have undergone a refashioning and make over in order to accommodate the needs of Western society deeply rooted in individualism, consumer capitalism, along with its pragmatic demands for tangible and worldly benefits (McMahan 2008;Schedneck 2013;Stanley 2013;Wilson 2014).…”