Discovery

Session Summary

A conversation at the 2025 Mindful Leader Summit led by Tim Shriver, PhD—Chairman of Special Olympics; Co-founder of UNITE, and Marc Brackett, director of Yale Center of Emotional Intelligence, explored the growing crisis of contempt in American culture and introduced the Dignity Index as a practical framework for restoring dignity in leadership, politics, workplaces, and everyday relationships. The session argued that inner work—mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and self-reg…

By Mo Edjlali, Founder of Mindful Leader; Author, Open MBSR

It's 2026, and I believe when we look back, this will be the year it became undeniable: we are living in the dawn of the Age of AI.

Many have already come to understand this. And as vogue as it is to AI-bash, let's be honest. Most of us now use AI daily. For many like me, it's integrated into how we work, live, and serve.

I believe we are entering a mental health crisis unlike anything we've seen, alongside the most extraordinary adv…

By The Mindful Leader Team

We're coming up on the end of 2025, and we wanted to pull together the stuff you all engaged with most this year. We've sorted everything into three piles: articles that'll help you think differently, practices you can use, and the best of the best summit talks.

Top 3 Articles

7 Trends Shaping Mindfulness in 2025

Digs into seven big shifts we predicted coming for mindfulness in 2025—think AI meditation, those Mindfulness+ mashups, and people actually wanting to be …

By The Mindful Leader Team

The 2025 research landscape reveals a fork in the road for our field. One path races toward transactional efficiency: AI facilitators and 5-minute micro-doses designed to "fix" individual stress as quickly as possible. The other path points toward relational depth: a growing body of evidence suggesting that the true power of mindfulness lies not in optimizing the self, but in connecting with the community.

The question this year is no longer just "does it work?" It i…

Session Summary

According to the WHO, more than a billion people worldwide are living with mental health conditions. What if community holds the answer? In this powerful session at the 2025 Mindful Leader Summit, Mo Edjlali, founder of Mindful Leader and author of Open MBSR, explored the transformative potential of community-centered approaches amidst the fast-paced evolution of technology and society. As we enter what he calls a "new age," where autonomous vehicles, ChatGPT, and unprecedented …

By The Mindful Leader Team

Can mindfulness training truly ease the epidemic of loneliness among older adults? Does caring for others enhance our own well-being as much as self-compassion does? Could an AI voice guide meditation as effectively as a human teacher? This month’s studies invite us to explore how awareness, compassion, and technology intertwine to shape the future of mental health and human flourishing.

Mindfulness Training (MBSR) Proves Effective Against Loneliness Crisis in Older …

Session Summary

A thought-provoking session at the 2024 Mindful Leader Summit led by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., explored the hidden forces that shape human behavior and well-being. Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, and lived experience, Dr. Goldstein discussed how invisible “sparks” of energy—within us and between us—impact emotional health, connection, and the ability to sustain positive change.

Key Highlights  

• Invisible Influences (“Sparks”): We are constantly shaped by unseen energies …

Session Summary

A powerful session at the 2022 Mindful Leader Summit led by Marvin Riley and Dr. Susan Sweeney, discuss their roles as CEO and Chief Human Resources Officer at EnPro, a multibillion dollar publicly traded manufacturing company. The conversation focused on how leaders can transform themselves, their teams, and their institutions to create workplaces that nurture both people and performance.

Key Highlights  

• Leadership sets the ceiling for transformation: Organizations cannot …

By The Mindful Leader Team

Quick Summary

• Engagement crisis: Global employee engagement fell to 21% in 2024, with managers hit hardest. Closing this gap could unlock $9.6 trillion in global GDP (Gallup, Apr 2025).
  
• Change and AI pressures: 89% of U.S. workers experienced organizational change last year, while rapid AI adoption boosted productivity for some but fueled job insecurity for many (APA, Jul 2025).
  
• Benefits gap: 36% of employees cannot access mental health benefits due to cos…

Session Summary

A powerful session at the 2024 Mindful Leader Summit led by Marc Brackett PhD, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, explored the complex nature of employee well-being. The talk highlighted research findings, live survey data, and practical implications for leaders seeking to create healthier and more resilient organizations. Key principles highlighted included understanding the multidimensional nature of well-being, interpreting employee emotions and …