The Surprising History of Mindfulness: How the Tibetan Practice Became a Household Name

WRITTEN BY CHRIS HEATH

Photo by Eleanor Ye

Mindfulness meditation is ubiquitous today.

Everyone, it seems, is either practicing it or wants to practice it.

But where did this practice come from?

As it happens, it originates from Tibetan Buddhism, a religion that is followed by less than one percent of the world's population.

In this article, we will explore the history of mindfulness and how it became such a popular practice around the world.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a type of meditation, with the primary goal being to pay careful and vigilant attention to the present moment and everything it contains, with a good measure of equanimity.

Mindfulness in its current form originates from Tibetan Buddhism, despite having gone through many changes to where it is today.

The goal of mindfulness is to focus on the present moment and become aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings, as well as your bodily sensations.

Anything that appears in the moment is worthy of investigation in this open and loving manner.

Over the past few decades, mindfulness has become increasingly popular in the Western world, and its many benefits have become clearer: stress reduction, better mental clarity, and increased focus, just to name a few.

If you're interested in trying mindfulness, there are many resources available online or through app stores.

There are also many books about mindfulness that can help you get started.

What Good Mindfulness Looks Like

Before you have spent much time practicing, it can be hard to know what you are actually meant to experience during mindfulness meditation.

In the West, we are often quite obsessed with progress, and we want to feel that we are doing well.

However, a good mindfulness practice requires that we relinquish this need as best as we can.

In fact, you might describe proper mindfulness as a complete lack of needing to achieve anything, combined with careful concentration.

Mindfulness is really just the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

While it might sound simple, the practice of mindfulness can be incredibly powerful. Some even say it’s life-changing.

The New History of Tibetan Mindfulness

So how did this ancient Tibetan practice become a household name?

It all started with Jon Kabat-Zinn, an American professor who was looking for a way to help his patients manage their stress and pain without resorting to medication.

He ended up developing a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which is now taught at hospitals and clinics around the world.

MBSR helped bring mindfulness into the mainstream, and since then, there have been many other books, programs, and apps designed to help people learn and practice mindfulness.

Since then, the West has seen a huge increase and diversification in the mindfulness training on offer.

This is surely a huge benefit to us all, given the distinct advantages that mindfulness as a practice can bring us as individuals and a society.

Getting Into Tibetan Mindfulness

Perhaps you are keen to try your own hand at mindfulness of this kind.

If so, there’s good news: it has never been easier to delve deep into a mindfulness practice.

As we mentioned above, there are many online and offline resources, and you will find that you are probably spoilt for choice.

Regardless of which of the main benefits you are keen to experience, you can easily start meditating in this Tibetan way today.

However, if you want to dip your toes into the world of mindfulness, or if you’re looking for a way to supplement your current meditation practice, there are many ways to do so.

It’s helpful to meditate with actual teachers, so a platform like Rlung can be a great place to start.

The teachers are experienced and passionate about their work, and they all have direct lineage of Tibetan knowledge and practices, enabling you to learn from the source via regular live classes.

However you start meditating, this kind of mindfulness can be a really useful practice to have in your life, so consider getting into it as soon as possible. ◼︎