The Politics of Mindfulness. A Response to 'Mindfulness, Democracy, Education'

Mindfulness is rapidly becoming a mainstream educational intervention. A growing number of schools, colleges, and universities are incorporating mindfulness into the curriculum, and while there is a substantial body of research literature in psychology attesting to the mental and physical benefits of mindfulness, critics of the movement have suggested that mindfulness lacks social and political dimensions. In this article, a response to "Mindfulness, Democracy, and Education," the author shows why this line of criticism is misguided. Far from being self-centered, asocial, and apolitical, the practice of mindfulness is intrinsically political.