Session Highlights 

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

In February 2023, a few months after ChatGPT launched, I wrote my first article about AI and mindfulness.

I couldn't help myself. I have a degree in computer engineering and spent two decades working in bleeding-edge tech. I was playing with GPT-2 back when it mostly produced confident nonsense, long before AI was dinner conversation.

Recently, I went back and read what I'd written. Some of it held up surprisingly well. Some of it di…

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

There was a moment during a Meditate Together session a few years ago that has stayed with me.

A member was checking in from Ramallah and started talking about what was happening around her. As she spoke, I noticed something uncomfortable within myself. Part of me didn't want to hear it. It wasn't because I didn't care. I cared. That was the problem. Somewhere inside me, I knew that if I let her suffering in, it might ask something of…

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

The Atlantic recently published a profile of psychologist and meditation researcher Willoughby Britton under the headline “The Dark Side of Mindfulness.”

Before I get into it, let me be upfront about where I’m coming from. I run Mindful Leader, wrote Open MBSR, and we train and certify people who teach mindfulness. I have both a professional and financial interest in the idea that mindfulness can be taught safely and responsibly.

I a…

By Mo Edjlali, Founder and CEO, Mindful Leader; Author, Open MBSR: Reimagining the Future of Mindfulness

The False Divide

Maybe you've heard the arguments:

"Workplace mindfulness is a betrayal, McMindfulness!"

"Contemplative practices don't belong here, stealth Buddhism!"

The spiritual practitioners cry corporate sellout. The pragmatists warn against religious infiltration. Both sides patrol the borders, checking credentials, questioning motives.

These divides exist for real reasons. Con…

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

Our field has gotten very good at talking about personal transformation. Become more aware. Less reactive. More present.

But then what?

That question kept surfacing while I watched a multigenerational conversation between Simi Khadra, a millennial fashion icon, and legendary community organizer, Professor Marshall Ganz. He helped organize the United Farm Workers and later influenced Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, bringing the …

By The Mindful Leader Team

A new debate in the Journal of Organizational Behavior asks a simple question: Does mindfulness benefit the workplace?

Gwendolin Sajons and John Antonakis say the evidence is unclear. Darren Good, Christopher Lyddy, and Kirk Warren Brown respond that the answer is clear.

Same question. Two very different assessments of the science.

A third paper, an editorial by Marie Dasborough and Changmeng Xu, steps back from the disagreement and asks what may be the larger ques…

AI Generated Article Audio

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

The Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama, a prince surrounded by opulence. His father constructed an elaborate cocoon of luxury around him, deliberately shielding him from witnessing suffering. Only when he ventured beyond the palace walls did he encounter the realities of illness, aging, and death that most humans confront daily.

This origin story contains an uncomfortable parallel to our modern mind…

By The Mindful Leader Team

In an era defined by political upheaval, global conflicts, climate uncertainty, and rapid technological change, our emotional well-being faces unprecedented challenges. How do we maintain our center when it feels like the ground beneath us is constantly shifting? The answer might lie in an ancient concept that's more relevant today than ever: equanimity.

Understanding Equanimity

Equanimity isn't just staying calm when things go wrong. It's a profound state of emotio…