Mindfulness as a quality of attention is like the oxygen in the air. We can't live without it, but fortunately we don't need to know anything about chemistry to be able to breathe. However, when it comes to mindfulness as a practice, it's different. This practice adapts to the context in which it is taught and to the target group. Eight weeks of daily three-quarter-hour practice has proven to be accessible and useful for many, but for some, it may be too demanding.
Thank you for highlighting how important the context of practice is--its setting, goals, intended audience, trainer's qualifications, and so on. Practices are not context-neutral. Nor are they value-free. Some involved in the debate over the relation of mindfulness and Buddhist ethics seemed to be arguing from an abstracted view of mindfulness as a technology that is not located in the lives of actual people, whether trainers, hospital administrators, insurance executives, those seeming assistance, or their families and friends. Context may not be everything, but it is much like location in real estate.
Exactly! To quote Jon Kabat-Zinn: “The intention and approach behind MBSR were never meant to exploit, fragment, or decontextualize the dharma, but rather to recontextualize it....” When I teach professionals who want to incorporate mindfulness in their work, the first question I invite them to reflect on always is: “In what context do you teach mindfulness, to whom, and what qualifies you to do so?”
Thank you for highlighting how important the context of practice is--its setting, goals, intended audience, trainer's qualifications, and so on. Practices are not context-neutral. Nor are they value-free. Some involved in the debate over the relation of mindfulness and Buddhist ethics seemed to be arguing from an abstracted view of mindfulness as a technology that is not located in the lives of actual people, whether trainers, hospital administrators, insurance executives, those seeming assistance, or their families and friends. Context may not be everything, but it is much like location in real estate.
Exactly! To quote Jon Kabat-Zinn: “The intention and approach behind MBSR were never meant to exploit, fragment, or decontextualize the dharma, but rather to recontextualize it....” When I teach professionals who want to incorporate mindfulness in their work, the first question I invite them to reflect on always is: “In what context do you teach mindfulness, to whom, and what qualifies you to do so?”