UNITED STATES, March 19, 2016 (New York Times by David Gelles): The other morning, I woke up and brewed a cup of Mindful Lotus tea ($6 for 20 bags). On the subway, I loaded the Headspace app on my iPhone and followed a guided mindfulness exercise ($13 a month for premium content). Later in the day, I dropped by Mndfl, a meditation studio in Greenwich Village ($20 for a 45-minute class). These days it seems as if everyone is peddling mindfulness, a popular form of meditation.
Consumer offerings are prolific, too. There are more than two dozen mindfulness apps for smartphones, some offering $400 lifetime subscriptions. On the face of it, that should be good news all around. After all, where’s the harm in having folks slow down, get in touch with their feelings and be kind? As a sporadic meditator myself, I know firsthand that mindfulness can relieve stress, improve focus and promote well-being.
But with so many cashing in on the meditation craze, it’s hard not to wonder whether something essential is being lost. If mindfulness can be bought as easily as a pair of Lululemon yoga pants, can it truly be a transformative practice that eases the troubled mind? It doesn’t mean mindfulness can’t still be beneficial. Yoga may have changed over the years, but plenty of authentic teachers and ashrams can still be found. The same dynamic will most likely play out with mindfulness, too. Strange variations on mindfulness will proliferate, while pockets of traditional teachings endure.