Making sense of mindfulness

At a recent reception, we encountered a “mindfulness guru”. Yes, that is the job title on his business card — one bearing the logo of a huge multinational software company. His job is to teach the company’s stressed-out employees the “art of mindfulness”, which has been described as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally” and “knowing what is on your mind”.

Mindfulness seems to be everywhere nowadays. Companies like Apple, Sony, Ikea and Google now include mindfulness or meditation in their employee benefit packages, in the hope of cultivating a happier, healthier, more productive workforce. Even some hospitals offer mindfulness meditation sessions to patients and employees. And a Google search for the word yields about 67 million hits.

Extravagant claims for mindfulness have been made. Its advocates assert that it can improve a number of conditions, including anxiety depression, stress, and even drug addiction, while boosting productivity. But can mindfulness deliver on its many promises?

To be sure, there is a scientific basis for mindfulness. But the science does not vindicate any particular lifestyle or thought pattern, because the basis is breathing. Located deep within the brainstem is a tiny cluster of neurons, the pre-Bötzinger complex, that links respiration to feelings of relaxation, attention, excitement and anxiety. Called the “pacemaker for breathing”, it communicates the activity in the brain’s respiratory control center to the structure responsible for generating arousal throughout the brain. Thanks to this region of the brain, slow, smooth, rhythmic breathing can induce a state of calm.

But today’s prevailing version of mindfulness extends beyond breathing to guide the way practitioners think. Over the last 30 years, many studies, including meta-analyses, have claimed to show that when this type of mindfulness is practiced regularly, people experience positive changes in their sense of well-being, their relationships, their ability to concentrate, their experience of physical and emotional pain, and their capacity to enjoy life.

But today’s prevailing version of mindfulness extends beyond breathing to guide the way practitioners think.