Mindfulness without the Bells and Beads

Chapter 3(Some of) The Science of Mindfulness

One thing I have discovered over the years delivering keynotes and training on mindfulness around the world is that some people want to make sure someone in a white lab coat has confirmed the validity of mindfulness before they will try it. It's not that they are singling out mindfulness; whether it is a specific diet plan, an exercise regime, or a mindfulness practice, some people just want to know the science before they will make the investment in time and effort. I can understand that position in today's busy world with marketers constantly trying to get you to do the latest amazing thing that is going to solve all your problems. Also, I personally love science and enjoy reading the latest studies on a number of topics, but what's more compelling to me regarding the decision to add a new practice to my life is whether or not it has withstood the test of time. Mindfulness, across all the contemplative traditions that have used it, certainly meets that criterion. Additionally, having sat through statistics classes at Harvard and seeing how easily they can be manipulated, learning about practices such as “p-hacking,”¹ used to manipulate research findings, and reading about the replication crisis in social science and psychology research, I never automatically take research at face value these days. I'm inclined to try things myself and see if they work for me. Trust but verify.

There have been entire books diving deep into the ...