Mindfulness: Why it may work and why it is sure to succeed

Abstract

Mindfulness has gone beyond clinical applications and is beginning to be enthusiastically applied in schools, sport, and business settings. It seems to be a type of intervention that, while probably effective, has a small effect size, which calls for rigorous research. Understanding the psychological processes involved in mindfulness is essential in order to achieve a more realistic picture of its usefulness for some behavioral disorders. How can we explain the extraordinary success of mindfulness in western societies, both in academia and in popular culture? We present three behavioral principles and ideological reasons for applying mindfulness. Nowadays, mindfulness is framed not by mystical existentialism or contextual behaviorism, but by positive psychology and its neoliberal agenda.