I forgot- also it is very much similar to the movement in the US for those of you who like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalism would be the American specific version perhaps of mindfulness in the mid 1800s-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Thought

William James is the father of modern psychology:

Psychologist and philosopher William James labelled New Thought "the religion of healthy-mindedness" in his study on religion and science, The Varieties of Religious Experience.^[1][2]

MDB

From: Burke, Mack <Mack_Burke@baylor.edu>
Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2024 at 12:18 PM
To: project.diverse@lists.it.utsa.edu <project.diverse@lists.it.utsa.edu>, project.leer@lists.it.utsa.edu <project.leer@lists.it.utsa.edu>
Subject: [Project.diverse] mindfulness a culturally appropriate practice?

So here is a cultural question for all of you- Is mindfulness a culturally appropriate/responsive  practice? There is some evidence for it as being effective- but that is different question than cultural relevance- It comes from Buddhist practices originally- a bit like Yoga comes from India- but now is integrated in all kinds of different ways in education and psychology (e.g., mindfulness-based positive behavior support?). I am not sure it has much roots in African or Hispanic cultures…and perhaps on the Catholic side there is spiritual exercises that are very similar to mindfulness...and the Greek stoics practiced something similar I believe. Psychology certainly westernizes and decontextualizes it as a practice…

MDB

Ps- the study is actually pretty cool though for those of you into group research.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01549/full#B40

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga