Wackfulness

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 …

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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 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

Nobody sets out to become a mindful zombie. You started down this path wanting to be kinder, less reactive, a better partner, boss, or parent. Maybe you were recovering from a difficult time: a job loss, a divorce, a personal tragedy.

You signed up for a course, did a retreat, started reading or watching videos. You found something that had been missing, something that made sense, and teachers, neuroscientists, leaders, celebrities, a…

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

In the age of AI, what role does mindfulness play, and why do we still need to practice?

Every day it becomes easier to outsource attention, avoid discomfort, simulate connection without relationship, and live inside systems designed to anticipate and monetize our impulses before we have fully formed our intentions. What happens to our attention, our presence, our liberty, our compassion?

1. Attention Exploitation 

Every app, feed, …

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

Apolitical is a principle. Amoral is a failure.

The mindfulness field teaches people not to look away. Then a war comes. And the field looks away.

On February 28th, a missile hit a girls' school in southern Iran. 170 people were killed. Many of them were children. That was day one of the war.

That was five weeks ago.

Since then, we've had missiles hitting civilian targets in half a dozen countries. The Strait of Hormuz shut down. G…

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

I'm Iranian American. Born in Iran, came to the US when I was less than two years old. I've lived my whole life the child of these two countries, and this weekend they went to war with each other. A friend asked me how I was feeling in all this. I shared it’s like living with two divorced parents who fought my entire life and are now trying to kill each other. 

I have family in Tehran. My uncle, my aunt, my cousin, and his three-year-…