Why mindfulness makes me nauseous
Why mindfulness makes me nauseous – The Commodification of Meditation
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Welcome, the theme for this month is: Why mindfulness makes me nauseous – The Commodification of Meditation.
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The Commodification of Meditation.
I was not yet born when Eastern spirituality and meditation first made its way to the West, not even when the Theosophical Society tried to co-opt Krishnamurti or the Beatles hooked up with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
I was however alive and meditating before meditation was corporatised – before smartphones entered our hands and took over our minds (soon followed by meditation apps to help us deal with the anxiety produced by using smartphones) and well before it was trendy to meditate at work to be a more effective worker and “do more with less”. I was meditating well before corporations taught employees mindfulness to deal with a toxic work culture or to cope with the existential dread of serving a corrupt system. Thank goodness at the time there were no Instagram influencers posing in meditative postures to sell products, including themselves.
My early encounters with meditation had more to do with transcending the power of material desires than magnetising fancy cars and millions of dollars through the law of attraction. Tantra was about inner union, not sex. Yoga was a spiritual practice, not a fitness routine. The contemplative practices of Christian mysticism were just as intriguing as those from Eastern traditions.
I meditated with Buddhist, Hindu, Sufi and Christian masters and mystics. I participated in meditative rituals and ceremonies with Indigenous elders across the globe. None of them spoke about using meditation to optimise a busy schedule or to manage the anxiety caused by conforming to a world gone mad.
The purpose of meditation was to experience my true nature and a connection to all. To awaken my compassion for all living beings, to help me live more simply, with inner congruence and virtue. To embrace the suffering of being human and in embracing this suffering become a better, more loving human being. To access levels of consciousness free of mental junk so I could see more clearly.
Then, I met someone who became my mentor and teacher in the practice of being my better self, who guided me for over a decade, until his death in 2010. He taught me to live my life as a meditation.
Meditation is about embodying my soul in its best qualities. Observing the dance of the ego and mind to ensure it remains a servant of the soul, not a substitute for it. When I practise well, meditation helps me to stay strong in having the courage to act with compassion and truth even when perceived self-interest may have me do otherwise.
The “mindfulness and meditation” that has been commodified and co-opted by our unhealthy, narcissistic culture is not meditation. It is increasingly used to help an individual to tolerate and self-soothe in unsoulful and sometimes even soul-destroying conditions and ways of thinking, not to liberate from these. It is used like a drug to numb, not to awaken. The commodifiers have co-opted a combination of techniques loosely based on ancient breathing and mental training without the ethical, soulful underpinnings that made these truly useful. Meditative living, with soulful underpinnings is not only useful for individual evolution, but should have a positive impact on the broader eco-systems in which the individual lives.
If you had told me thirty years ago, (when I first fell in love with meditative living) that meditation would gain in popularity, I would have celebrated. Instead, I mourn. I mourn because people sit in a meditative posture but don’t practise meditative living. They observe their thoughts but don’t transform them or question why they are there. They “use” meditation but don’t practise it.
If all those who used meditation apps or practised corporatised mindfulness truly meditated and in doing so pierced the veil of their limited reality, we would see a revolution. It is likely our approach to consumption would transform dramatically. The systems of our world would have to become more just and compassionate or fall. New systems would rise in their place. Our planet and all living beings would be treasured and protected. Wealth would be redistributed.
My hope lies in discernment. In the ability of human beings to eventually see through illusion and crave the real. Of the yearning in each human soul to be whole.
In the Academy, Self-Authoring provides the opportunity to develop inner congruence and clarity for what you stand for in your life and to understand and experience transforming your mind and living from your truth.
It invites you to embody qualities of being which awaken meditative and soulful living.
Self-Transforming (available to participants who complete Self-Authoring) takes you deep into an experience of meditation – living your life as a meditation. In Self-Transforming you learn to cultivate extraordinary levels of vitality, lead effectively through challenge and create positive momentum in the broader world.
If you’d like to find out more email us at experience@newmillenniumleader.com.
Events
New Millennium Leader is offering experiences based on themes in these digests and requests from our community. Events are recorded for those who register and are unable to attend on the day. The workshop Overcoming the Immunity to Change will not be recorded due to the personal nature of topics discussed.
Academy members – please look out for an email with further details. Your admission is complimentary as part of your membership.
If you are not yet an Academy member you can pay a small fee to attend. As a bonus – if you join the Academy in the month after the event your payment will be refunded to you.
Written Word Insights
Expanding Reality – Nature is the second in a series of three articles sharing insights from my recent reality-expanding 7-week adventure in Europe and the UK. Instead of Eat, Pray, Love (although I experienced all these too) I call the articles, Work, Study, Nature.
Book Recommendations on our theme: Why mindfulness makes me nauseous – The Commodification of Meditation.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
This book is a reflection on life that engages critical thinking as you explore a spectrum of philosophies and ways of living.
The Cloud of Unknowing and other works by Unknown
A deep exploration of the Christian contemplative experience that moves beyond theory and into practice. In my experience the Christian mystical contemplative tradition outlines a very useful approach to meditation.
Part of the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita is a reflection on how to live and liberate ourselves from attachments.
Have you read Leadership for the New Millennium yet? In this book we explore meditation as the process of coming into the present moment in time by quieting the mind and experiencing our true nature. The book explores meditation in the context of self-leadership and a broader philosophy and ethos.
The book is available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook (narrated by me).
I would love to hear your thoughts and reflections on this month’s digest. Please email me at alison@alisoncameron.com.
Thank you so much for reading.
Sending you lots of love,
Alison
