As mindfulness becomes more prevalent in western societies, it’s understandable that its popularity as a practice for reducing stress and improving mental health is attracting greater scrutiny. In a recent article on Transformation, Ron Purser argues that mainstream mindfulness needs to move beyond a focus on individual wellbeing towards more collective and systemic responses to the personal, social and ecological challenges we face.
As founding members of a community of practice called the Mindfulness and Social Change Network, we’ve been engaging with these debates for some time. Before training as mindfulness teachers, we spent our careers working in the development, humanitarian and sustainability sectors and found our mindfulness practice to be invaluable in our personal and working lives. With a foot in both camps, we were excited about the contribution that mindfulness could make to bring about positive social change, but also how social and environmental perspectives on suffering and wellbeing could inform mindfulness teaching and practice.
It turned out we weren’t the only ones thinking along these lines. In 2014, we started making connections with other mindfulness practitioners, trainers, change makers and researchers and have since grown organically into a thriving community of practice with over 200 members in more than 20 countries. Through online discussions, webinars and events, we provide an accessible forum for inquiry, debate and collaboration that addresses both the opportunities and the risks at the intersection of mindfulness and social change. While there’s a range of views in the network on the validity of current critiques of mainstream mindfulness, we share a commitment to developing approaches that appreciate the interdependence of individual and social change.
