The current cover of Time magazine features a blissed-out and beautiful blonde, captioned with the text “The Mindful Revolution.”
The images are cliché, but the Time cover story is but the latest in a long line of significant — possibly historic — changes in how Americans regard contemplative practice. It recounts the fascinating evolution of mindfulness meditation, which in its Western form, is largely about learning to “pay attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” (Those are the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of Western mindfulness’s leading teachers.) It tells how mindfulness has moved from Buddhist religious practice, to “spirituality,” to a ubiquitous, secular technology of mind — and a $4 billion industry. And it follows the writer, presenting herself as a kind of hapless every-person, as she discovers firsthand how a few basic meditative skills can help her relax.
Read Full Article »