Session Highlights 

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…

By The Mindful Leader Team

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 3, 2025

People often treat meditation formats as interchangeable: apps, guided sessions, silent sits, breathwork, as though all paths deliver the same benefits. But neuroimaging research is beginning to show that specific physiological systems may only respond under particular conditions: duration, silence, self-guidance, and the type of practice itself.

A new study examined whether sustained, silent awaren…

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

250 years ago, America's founding revolution rejected kings. Ordinary people could govern themselves. That was the work of independence. 250 years later, we face a harder challenge. Can a nation built around individual freedom learn how to belong to itself?

Millions of us feel politically free but economically exposed. We can reach almost anyone instantly, yet many of us have nowhere we are truly known. We are told to pursue our own s…

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

At this point, you may be wondering why I am so interested in contempt. Fair question. A few weeks ago, I wrote an article called 4 Ways We Carry Contempt. Then I wrote 4 Signs You’re a Mindful Zombie, which was, let’s say, not exactly written with the softness of a lavender eye pillow.

And now here I am, back at contempt again. So either I am developing a specialty, or contempt has been trying to tell me something.

After writing abo…