2017 Annual Edgar & Dorothy Davidson Lecture delivered by Dr. Geoffrey Samuel

The Mindfulness Movement began in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where Jon Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Program, a secular adaptation of Buddhist meditation. Thirty-five or so years on, the Mindfulness Movement has diversified, with the introduction and popularization of further meditation techniques, including versions of lovingkindness and compassion meditation from Tibetan and SE Asian sources. Meanwhile, developments in Western science, including the growth of neuroscience, have opened up new possibilities for productive encounters with traditional Asian life-cultivation and mind-body practices. This lecture looks at the Mindfulness Movement today, both as an increasingly widespread (and implicitly religious?) social practice in its own right, and as part of a wider transformation of Western and global society.

Dr. Geoffrey Samuel is Emeritus Professor in the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University and Director of the Body, Health and Religion (BAHAR) Research Group, and an Honorary Associate of the Department of Indian Sub-Continental Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia.