Mindfulness: Just the Latest Fad?
Mindfulness has stormed into the mainstream over the last few years – often in increasingly bizarre ways. You can buy Mindful Mayo from Whole Foods, paint your bedroom with a pot of Mindful Grey paint, drink excruciatingly expensive Mindful Tea, all whilst wearing your brand-new Mindful Motion leggings from Lululemon. Is there actually any benefit to this, or are we just being consumed by the latest capitalist fad?
With most of its roots in Buddhism, mindfulness had a long history as one of many components of Buddhist teachings before they were threatened by colonialism. Reforms of Buddhism began to develop in some places in an attempt to protect the culture and protest against the Christian missionaries sent from Europe. These combined traditional practices with the scientific, philosophical, and rational ideals that were gaining popularity at the time, and laid part of the groundwork for these forms of Buddhism to spread to the West.
As awareness, practice, and knowledge of Buddhism grew, aspects such as mindfulness also began to be incorporated (in an increasingly secular way) into psychological therapies for mental illnesses and chronic health conditions. From there, it has exploded into the global phenomenon we see today.
Put simply, mindfulness is an awareness and observation of both your mind and body’s sensations. There is a focus on existing fully in the present moment in order to gain clarity and insight. Many people, from those for whom mindfulness forms an intrinsic part of their culture, to those who use it as a secular tool to improve their wellbeing, report significant benefits. These include coping better with everyday stress, helping them to be happier in the way they live their life, and being a crucial part of recovery from illness. In no way do I want to diminish these experiences, but we need to have a serious look at how the ‘Western World’ has embraced a highly commercialised form of mindfulness as a cure-all to life’s difficulties.
Convincing scientific evidence behind the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness is lacking, with much of it contentious due to small sample sizes and problematic methodologies. Although some trials have suggested there are potentials for modest benefits, these are not yet anywhere near enough to justify the hype we are currently seeing. This is especially concerning when it comes to healthcare, with some people being given mindfulness-based interventions as their only treatment option, even when this is not what they want or what they feel will help them. With NHS mental health services already failing many patients – a result of consistent underfunding and discriminative practices – it has become yet another way that vulnerable people are not getting the help they need.
While the positive effects of mindfulness do exist, it cannot be assumed that it works for everyone, especially when people are in a crisis. This is especially true when the ‘support’ provided is often in the form of someone on the end of a crisis phone line telling you to “just be mindful”. Or, if you’re lucky, spending an hour every week or two sessions as part of a ‘mindfulness group’, without touching on any of the issues that brought people to the group in the first place.
Another worrying trend is the rise in mindfulness ‘therapists’. These can be people with as little as eight weeks of training – clearly not enough time to understand the complexities of mindfulness or the people who may inadvertently seek their help. All too often, these faux-therapists reflect the stereotypical Instagram influencer and consist mainly of white women doing yoga in front of beautiful beachside sunrises. This can be relatively harmless, but when these accounts start giving out health ‘advice’, people can be put at risk. The extent to which their advice just so happens to endorse whatever new and expensive product they turn out to be promoting, whether that be a wellness retreat, yoga regime, or new book of ‘mindful recipes’, raises even more questions over the legitimacy of this advice.
It has become incredibly easy for people to capitalise on the potential health benefits of mindfulness, leading to the explosion of food, clothes, accessories, and more that claim to be ‘mindful’, yet have no scientific backing behind them. This is a booming industry that encompasses many sectors of the economy and thrives off people’s insecurities. In 2020, a year where the world seems to resemble the fiery pits of hell, people are even more vulnerable to look for anything and everything that promises to improve their life. It is all too easy for people and corporations to take advantage of this.
Many large companies, from tech giants like Apple and Google to global banks like Goldman-Sachs – and even the US Army – are teaching their employees mindfulness. Got some personal issues that are affecting your work? Mindfulness. Is your job making you anxious? Mindfulness. Is working for an organisation that is embedded in capitalism, committing atrocities around the world, or profiting from the suffering of others making you feel low? Mindfulness.
This falsely implies that the problem is a failure of the individual to cope, rather than the problematic and harmful system they are a part of. It asks the individuals to adjust to this corporatized society, rather than looking at how the social issues surrounding the stressor could be improved. This is at odds with the traditional practice of mindfulness – commercialisation has stripped back the ethics, morality, and compassion that are supposed to accompany it.
Mindfulness should not just be something that the Western world can dip in and out of as it pleases, in yet another form of cultural appropriation. The hollowness and insincerity of much of the mindfulness movement also dismiss the narratives of the people to who it has actually benefitted, whether that be as a part of their culture or from dedicating themselves to a mindfulness-based therapy that works for them. The continual promotion of so-called ‘mindful’ commodities and experiences undermines these legitimate benefits and detracts from the positives that mindfulness may have to offer.
It is clear, though, that no matter what advantages some individuals may be able to gain from it, mindfulness should not be presented or used as a plaster to cover the deep wounds of society. Mindfulness does not, and never will, work for everyone, and it is irresponsible to continue to promote it in the current manner. As with many things, it is the large corporations that reap the benefits and some of the most vulnerable in our society who are most likely to suffer from the consequences.
Written by Anna Stark
I’m a London-based healthcare student with lived experiences of mental illness and cancer. Usually busy trying to keep my plants alive. IG/twitter: @annastxrk