Blog

By Mo Edjlali, Founder and CEO, Mindful Leader; Author, Open MBSR

Open MBSR isn’t even out yet, and already the backlash is here. But it’s not loud. It’s soft. It comes dressed in spiritual language and smiling concern, feedback that sounds supportive but subtly works to shut down critique.

“I was surprised by the language… it risks alienating those who might otherwise be open to conversation.”

“True dialogue eliminates the need for debate… conversation should evolve through mutual understa…

By Mo Edjlali, Founder and CEO, Mindful Leader; Author, Open MBSR

A Crisis Across Mindfulness Education

"The teacher must vanish. The teaching must remain."

Every day, mindfulness teachers across the world are unknowingly sabotaging their students' progress. With the best of intentions, they're creating dependency instead of independence, replacing genuine skill-building with emotional comfort, and turning what should be empowering practice into guided entertainment. The very guidance meant…

Session Summary

A powerful session at the 2019 Mindfulness at Work Summit, led by Candy Gunther Brown, PhD, Rich Fernandez, PhD, David Forbes, PhD, and Barnaby Spring, and moderated by Mo Edjlali, explored the evolving role of mindfulness in modern society. It discussed how mindfulness intersects with capitalism, religion, education, and civic engagement. Key principles highlighted include transparency, equity, and the potential for mindfulness to either reinforce or challenge dominant systems.…

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By The Mindful Leader Team

The 2025 Meditation Practice Report reveals key trends and preferences from 212 meditation practitioners surveyed in Q1 2025. Our findings help mindfulness professionals design more effective programs that align with actual practice patterns.

Key Findings:

• Most practitioners (56.6%) meditate daily, with 10-20 minutes being the most common session length (41.7%)
• Morning practice dominates (57.8%), suggesting optimal timing for group …

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By Mo Edjlali, Founder and CEO, Mindful Leader; Author, Open MBSR

May is Mental Health Awareness Month—a perfect time to confront the question we've been avoiding:

What is mindfulness actually for, and where does it truly belong?

Headspace recently launched therapy services. Calm has been creeping toward clinical offerings for years. These platforms that once sold simple guided meditations now position themselves as mental health providers.

The evolution makes b…

Session Summary

A powerful session at the 2019 Mindfulness at Work Summit, led by Professor Ronald Purser, author of McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality and a prominent mindfulness scholar and cultural critic, focused on the systemic limitations of mainstream mindfulness. The conversation examined how mindfulness is being co-opted by corporate and neoliberal systems and proposed a shift toward a more critical, collective, and socially engaged approach to well-b…

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By The Mindful Leader Team

In the Age of AI, today's leaders face a high-stakes balancing act: How do you provide the human stability your team craves while maintaining the lightning-quick adaptability the market demands? Enter "stagility," not just another business buzzword, but a revolutionary mindset that transforms this seeming contradiction into your greatest competitive advantage. Featured in Deloitte's 2025 Global Human Capital Trends report, stagility does…

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By The Mindful Leader Team

What if the key to workplace success lies not in resolving tensions, but in embracing them? Does who we eat dinner with affect our happiness more than our income? Why are remote workers looking to quit more than those going into the office? And what explains the disconnect between employees' supportive attitudes toward colleagues' mental health and their reluctance to address their own?

This month's research roundup explores these criti…