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The rise of mindfulness seems to be picking up speed without any signs of slowing down, which is generally a positive development. However, I can’t help but notice that a key element—once deemed essential for making meditation a regular practice—is not talked about as much nowadays.
In a culture that emphasizes individuality, mindfulness is often seen as something to be done alone. This isn’t entirely unexpected. We often envision someone meditating in solitude, nurturing qualities like curiosity and kindness. While practicing mindfulness on your own can be beneficial, the traditional approach involved group learning and community support. I believe much of the therapeutic value of mindfulness stems from this communal aspect. Why? Because practicing together allows us to learn from one another.
Why Community Can Make Meditation a Lasting Habit
During the initial mindfulness training session, participants often share their reasons for exploring this practice.
In the opening meeting, you might hear others discuss stress caused by familiar issues like:
- racing, uncontrollable thoughts
- physical or emotional discomfort
- the pressures of personal and work obligations
- the frantic pace of a world focused on excessive consumption
This often leads to a collective realization that the challenges we face are not just personal struggles. Instead, we begin to recognize the shared difficulties of navigating life with its inherent flaws.
Suddenly, from a place of feeling isolated, we come to understand: We’re all in this together, and our struggles are not a sign of failure, but a part of our shared human experience.
Suddenly, from a place of feeling isolated, we come to understand. We’re all in this together. Our struggles are not a sign of failure, but a part of our shared human experience. This realization alleviates the burden of feeling like we must handle everything perfectly. The journey into mindfulness—together—has started.
As a group practices mindfulness together over time, feelings of connection and community tend to strengthen. There develops a supportive environment that allows us to learn, laugh at ourselves, and grow together.
It may turn out that this communal dynamic is just as important—if not more so—than the formal meditation techniques we practice.
Especially when guided by a skilled instructor, people find it easier to be open with themselves and each other. Interestingly, I’ve observed that regularly meditating in a group can be one of the best ways to motivate individuals to meditate by themselves. It might seem counterintuitive, but this sense of togetherness enhances the significance of meditation, which in turn makes solo practice more manageable. The shared experience helps establish meditation as a regular habit, whether done alone or with a community.
The Need for More Research
I believe the idea that group mindfulness practice is significantly more impactful than solo practice, whether through books, apps, or audio guides, hasn’t been thoroughly investigated within mindfulness research.
We still lack a clear understanding of the specific advantages of learning mindfulness in a group setting. However, related studies indicate that people’s mindsets and behaviors are greatly influenced by their surroundings.
It’s logical to assume that a meditative community provides a more encouraging and impactful environment for learning mindfulness than a culture driven by speed, greed, and individualism. However, this supportive environment is not readily available beyond the initial eight weeks of programs like mindfulness-based stress reduction or cognitive therapy courses. There remain few fully secular options for ongoing training for graduates of such programs, and no retreat centers (to my knowledge) solely focused on a non-doctrinal approach to mindfulness.
If we want the current surge of interest in mindfulness to become more than just a fleeting moment of peace in a chaotic world, we need to foster communities that nurture core attitudes and practices. This helps protect mindfulness from being diluted or misunderstood. Our goal is to make meditation a lasting habit for more people and to do so in a supportive, healthy manner.
Achieving this is not straightforward, and perfection is unlikely. We live in a chaotic world with complicated minds. Taking an overly dogmatic or purist stance is probably counterproductive.
Mindfulness is becoming mainstream at a time when feeling as though we must go it alone contributes to the problem, rather than solving it.
I believe that recognizing this issue gives us a better chance of effecting change. Mindfulness is becoming mainstream at a time when feeling as though we must go it alone contributes to the problem, not the solution. There’s a significant push toward a do-it-yourself, self-help approach to mindfulness. However, pursuing this path could result in a watered-down version of the profound benefits mindfulness can offer.
If we compassionately recognize the social and environmental challenges we collectively face, and lean on each other for support, we can create a lasting and beneficial change.
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