There are thousands of research papers on the effective application of Mindfulness training that has fuelled it’s interest in recent years. However, whilst the western scientific evidence base that supports mindfulness as an alternative and complementary practice to medication based interventions for mental health concerns is stong and building. There is still much to understand about the potential of mindfulness in the context of its application as a social and cultural change agent that leads to our pro social and collective wellbeing and flourishing. 

This is something we feel is important to highlight, recognise and explore at the Urban Mindfulness Foundation becuase it is this gap in the evidence base that informs our practice, involvement and interest in mindfulness research and its applications.

From an Urban Mindfulness Foundation perspective, mindfulness is, and has always been, deeply rooted in humanities traditions including the black, African, Caribbean, Indigenous, Asian and global majority traditions and experiences. We also believe that with a dveloped mindfulness practice, this can be clearly recognised in the various cultural practices, philosophies, principles and teachings that come out of those traditions and are often handed down orally from ancient times and ancestors to serve the present day.

This is considered importat if we are to make mindfulness practice more acsessible through its cultural relevance and appropriateness. For example, some basic understandings of ancient black history as communicated from a compassionate perspective rooted in the insight of our interconnected nature, makes it totally possible to link all things human to the origins and cradle of humanity that is known to have started in Africa which is the root of our common ancestry.

This is considered important when delivering mindfulness to the African and Caribbean diaspora particularly because it recognises, validates and honours the contributions of the diasporas ancestral lineage within mindfulness even as we currently know or practice it. Read more here….