Abstract
This chapter offers a constructive critique of the mindfulness education movement through a social justice and antiracist lens. In so doing, the author joins the growing call for a socially engaged mindfulness. The chapter begins by briefly introducing the work of critical scholars who are forging new categories to understand mindfulness as a social justice practice. Next, the field of mindfulness education is situated within a broader critique of corporate mindfulness, highlighting concerns about the ways mindfulness is being marketed as a technique to increase standardized test scores and manage student behavior in K-12 schools. The author then explores the racialized discourse prevalent in mindfulness education and examines the ideology of white dominance. An example of this is provided by critically analyzing a film that extols the virtues of mindfulness education but unwittingly demonstrates the white savior trope. Finally, a social justice framework is presented for consideration by mindfulness educators—a framework that shifts the deficit discourse of “school failure” and “troubled communities” to one of collective responsibility. By shifting accountability, the focus on behavior management of “problem kids” is replaced by a critical examination of the social conditions that create suffering for our children and youth. With an integration of antiracism and critical pedagogy, mindfulness educators can ensure that mindfulness is utilized as a practice of freedom (inspired by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire) rather than a technology of compliance.
There is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Education either functions as an instrument that is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes “the practice of freedom,” the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world (Richard Shaull in the Introduction to Pedagogy of the Oppressed).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
See “Mindfulness: Getting Its Share of Attention” (NY Times, Nov. 1, 2013) and “The Mind Business” (Financial Times, Aug. 24, 2012).
References
Associated Press. (2013, January 23). U.S. marine corps members learn mindfulness meditation and yoga in pilot program to reduce stress. New York Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/u-s-marines-learn-meditate-stress-reduction-program-article-1.1245698
Baer, R. A. (2003). Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 125–143.
Berila, B. (2016). Integrating mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Blum, H. (2014). Mindfulness equity and Western Buddhism: Reaching people of low socioeconomic status and people of color. International Journal of Dharma Studies, 2(10).
Bodhi, B. (2015, May). Modes of applied mindfulness. Unpublished manuscript.
Boyce, B. (2011). The mindfulness revolution: Leading psychologists, scientists, artists, and meditation teachers on the power of mindfulness in daily life. Boston: Shambhala.
Brigham, E., & Williams, T. (2013). Developing and sustaining effective cofacilitation across identities. In L. Landreman (Ed.), The art of effective facilitation: Reflections from social justice educators. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Bulman, R. (2005). Hollywood goes to high school: Cinema, schools, and American culture. New York: Worth Publishers.
Chiesa, A. (2012). The difficulty of defining mindfulness: Current thought and critical issues. Mindfulness, 4(3), 255–268.
Cullen, M. (2011). Mindfulness-based interventions: An emerging phenomenon. Mindfulness, 2, 186–193.
Dalai, L. (1999). Ethics for the new millennium. New York: Riverhead Books.
Das, K. (2013, July 30). A new initiative seeks to restore yoga’s South Asian heritage [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://theaerogram.com/a-new-initiative-seeks-to-restore-yogas-south-asian-heritage/
Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: New Press.
Duerr, M. (2015, July 15). Toward a socially responsible mindfulness. Retrieved from http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/toward-a-socially-responsible-mindfulness
Duncan-Andrade, J. (2009). Note to educators: Hope required when growing roses in concrete. Harvard Educational Review, 79(2).
Forbes, D. (2012, June 30). Occupy mindfulness. Retrieved from http://beamsandstruts.com/articles/item/982-occupy-mindfulness
Forbes, D. (2015, November 8). Mindfulness and neoliberal education. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2015/11/08/they_want_kids_to_be_robots_meet_the_new_education_craze_designed_to_distract_you_from_overtesting/
Forbes, D. (2004). Boyz 2 Buddhas: Counseling urban high school male athletes in the zone. New York: Peter Lang.
Freire, P. (1992). Pedagogy of hope. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Freire, P. (1976). Education, the practice of freedom. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Giroux, H. (2002). The politics of pedagogy, gender and whiteness in ‘dangerous minds’. In Breaking into the movies: Film and the culture of politics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Gonzalez, N., Moll, L., & Amanti, C. (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities and classrooms. New York: Routledge.
Greenberg, M. T., & Mitra, J. L. (2015). From mindfulness to right mindfulness: The intersection of awareness and ethics. Mindfulness, 6(1), 74–78.
Hanh, T. N. (1991). Peace is every step: The path of mindfulness in everyday life. New York: Bantam Books.
Healey, K. (2013, August 5). Searching for integrity: The politics of mindfulness in the digital economy. Retrieved from http://nomosjournal.org/2013/08/searching-for-integrity/
Heffernan, V. (2015). The muddied meaning of ‘mindfulness.’ New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/themuddied-meaning-of-mindfulness.html?_r=0
Hick, S. F., & Furlotte, C. (2010). An exploratory study of radical mindfulness training with severely economically disadvantaged people: Findings of a Canadian study. Australian Social Work, 63(3), 281–298. doi:10.1080/0312407x.2010.496865.
Hooks, B. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.
Howard, G. (2006). We can’t teach what we don’t know: White teachers, multiracial classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.
Hsu, F. (2013, November 4). The heart of mindfulness: A response to the New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/the-heart-of-mindfulness-a-response-to-the-new-york-times/
Hughey, M. (2014). The white savior film: Content, critics and consumption. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Illich, I. (1968). To hell with good intentions. In J. Kendall (Ed.), Combining service and learning (pp. 314–320). Raleigh: National Society for Internships and Experiential Education.
Jennings, P. (2012). Building an evidence base for mindfulness in educational settings. Retrieved from https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/building-an-evidence-base-for-mindfulness-in-educational-settings
Jennings, P. (2015). Mindfulness for teachers: Simple skills for peace and productivity in the classroom. New York: Norton.
Jennings, P. (2016). CARE for teachers: A mindfulness-based approach to promoting teachers’ social and emotional competence and well-being. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health Handbook of Mindfulness in Education, 133–148. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3506-2_9
Kumashiro, K. (2000). Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of Educational Research, 70(1), 25–53.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2001). Crossing over to Canaan: The journey of new teachers in diverse classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3–12. doi:10.3102/0013189x035007003.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2007). Pushing past the achievement gap: An essay on the language of deficit. The Journal of Negro Education, 76(3).
Lueke, A., & Gibson, B. (2014). Mindfulness meditation reduces implicit age and race bias: The role of reduced automaticity of responding. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(3), 284–291. doi:10.1177/1948550614559651.
Magee, R. (2015, May 14). How mindfulness can defeat racial bias. Retrieved from http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_mindfulness_can_defeat_racial_bias
McKnight, J. (1989). Why servanthood is bad. The Other Side, 25(1), 38–42.
Miller, J. P. (2014). The contemplative practitioner: Meditation in education and the workplace. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Miller, J. P., & Nozawa, A. (2002). Meditating teachers: A qualitative study. Journal of In-Service Education, 28, 179–192.
Mindful Schools: Online mindfulness training for educators. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.mindfulschools.org/
Mindfulness Without Borders. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://mindfulnesswithoutborders.org/
Mitchell, T. (2008). Traditional vs. critical service-learning: Engaging the literature to differentiate two models. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 14(2), 50–65.
Monteiro, L. M., Musten, R., & Compson, J. (2014). Traditional and contemporary mindfulness: Finding the middle path in the tangle of concerns. Mindfulness, 6(1), 1–13. doi:10.1007/s12671-014-0301-7.
Morton, K. (1995). The irony of service: Charity, project, and social change in service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2(1), 19–32.
Ng, E. (2015, June 29). Mindfulness and justice: Planting the seeds of a more compassionate future. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2015/06/29/4264094.htm
Ng, E., & Purser, R. (2015, October 2). White privilege and the mindfulness movement. Buddhist Peace Fellowship. http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/white-privilege-the-mindfulness-movement/
Ng, E., & Purser, R. (2016, April 5). Mindfulness and self-care: Why should I care? Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edwin-ng/mindfulness-and-selfcare-_1_b_9613036.html
O’Brien, D. (2012, April 13). Ryan takes ‘mindfulness’ to inner-city schools. The Business Journal. Retrieved from http://businessjournaldaily.com/education/ryan-takes-‘mindfulness’-inner-city-schools-2012-4-13
Orr, D. (2002). The uses of mindfulness in anti-oppressive pedagogies: Philosophy and praxis. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue Canadienne De L’éducation, 27(4), 477. doi:10.2307/1602246.
Parker, A. (2009). Mindfulness-based academic achievement program for middle school. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/details.asp?ID=733
Patel, L., Atkins-Pattenson, K., Healy, D., Haralson, J. G., Rosario, L., & Shi, J. (2013). Mindfulness as method: Teaching for connection in a dehumanizing context. Poverty & Race, 22(3), 5–13.
Picower, B. (2009). The unexamined whiteness of teaching: How white teachers maintain and enact dominant racial ideologies. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 12(2), 197–215.
Purser, R. (2014). Clearing the muddled path of traditional and contemporary mindfulness: A response to Monteiro, Musten, and Compson. Mindfulness, 6(1), 23–45. doi:10.1007/s12671-014-0373-4.
Purser, R., & Loy, D. (2013, July 1). Beyond McMindfulness. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-purser/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289.html
Purser, R., & Ng, E. (2015, September 27). Corporate mindfulness is bullsh*t: Zen or no Zen, you’re working harder and being paid less. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2015/09/27/corporate_mindfulness_is_bullsht_zen_or_no_zen_youre_working_harder_and_being_paid_less/
Purser, R., & Ng, E. (2016, March 22). Cutting through the corporate mindfulness hype. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-purser/cutting-through-the-corporate-mindfulness-hype_b_9512998.html
Reveley, J. (2015). Foucauldian critique of positive education and related self-technologies: Some problems and new directions. Open Review of Educational Research, 2(1), 78–93.
Roeser, R. W., Skinner, E., Beers, J., & Jennings, P. A. (2012). Mindfulness training and teachers’ professional development: An emerging area of research and practice. Child Development Perspectives, 6, 167–173.
Room to Breathe. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.videoproject.com/roomtobreathe.html
Room to breathe: A documentary film about transformation through mindfulness meditation in public schools. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://roomtobreathefilm.com/
Ryan, T. (2012). A mindful nation: How a simple practice can help us reduce stress, improve performance, and recapture the American spirit. Hay House Inc.
Singh, R. (2013, July 9). Yes we won and what we lost: Sedlock vs. Baird decision allows yoga in public schools [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://saapya.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/yes-we-won-and-what-we-lost-sedlock-vs-baird-decision-allows-yoga-in-public-schools/
Slaten, C. D., Irby, D. J., Tate, K., & Rivera, R. (2015). Towards a critically conscious approach to social and emotional learning in urban alternative education: School staff members’ perspectives. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 7(1), 41–62.
Smalley, S., & Winston, D. (2010). Fully present: The science, art, and practice of mindfulness. Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo Press.
Vacarr, B. (2001). Voices inside schools: Moving beyond polite correctness: Practicing mindfulness in the diverse classroom. Harvard Educational Review, 71(2), 285–296. doi:10.17763/haer.71.2.n8p0620381847715.
Valerio, A. (2016). Owning mindfulness: A bibliometric analysis of mindfulness literature trends within and outside of Buddhist contexts. Contemporary Buddhism, 1–27. doi:10.1080/14639947.2016.1162425
Whitlock, J. (2013, November 14). Man protesting yoga program outside of EUSD schools. Coast News Group. Retrieved from http://yogaencinitasstudents.org/
Wong, Y. R. (2004). Knowing through discomfort: A mindfulness-based critical social work pedagogy. Critical Social Work, 5(1).
Yellow Bird, M. (2013). Neurodecolonization: Applying mindfulness research to social work. In M. Gray, J. Coates, M. Yellow Bird & T. Hetherington (Eds.), Decolonizing social work (pp. 293–310). Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company.
Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91.
Zakrzewski, V. (2016, March 31). Why don’t students take social-emotional learning home? Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vicki-zakrzewski-phd/why-dont-students-take-so_b_9586008.html
Zúñiga, X., Nagda, B. A., Chesler, M., & Cytron-Walker, A. (2007). Intergroup dialogue in higher education: Meaningful learning about social justice (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report Vol. 32, Num. 4). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cannon, J. (2016). Education as the Practice of Freedom: A Social Justice Proposal for Mindfulness Educators. In: Purser, R., Forbes, D., Burke, A. (eds) Handbook of Mindfulness. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44019-4_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44019-4_26
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44017-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44019-4
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)