The promise and perils of corporate mindfulness

Most scientific and popular accounts circulating in the media have portrayed mindfulness in terms of stress reduction and attention-enhancement. Mindfulness is often marketed as a method for personal self-fulfillment, a reprieve from the trials and tribulations of cutthroat corporate life. This chapter provides a number of guidelines for developing an ethically informed mindfulness practice, as well as principles for advancing a more socially engaged approach to mindfulness training in organizations. Mindfulness and clear comprehension are the tools not only for training the mind, but proper investigation of it as well. Mindfulness is often thought to be a value-free practice, stripped of its religious trappings and validated by science. For millennia, mindfulness practices were integral to a path of spiritual liberation, for overcoming personal greed, anger, pride and an exaggerated sense of self. These methods were considered sacred, offered for free and transmitted from highly qualified spiritual monks to their disciples.