The setting was also a significant factor in the event’s success. We are used to meditation practiced in private and public health facilities Mindfulness, but here it was being done in the symbol of the British establishment. It was offered as a way to address some of the most urgent social issues of our times by politicians from all three main political parties. Mindfulness is no longer a new or trendy alternative.
It was also notable for the content. The event featured a variety of speakers who spoke about mindfulness practices. Then there were the politicians, who asked probing questions about the evidence and how it might translate into public policy (“money is tight, so everything must be proven”). They also spoke movingly about their mindfulness practice.
This level of engagement, which is uncommon for these events and even rarer for so few Parliamentarians to stay until the end, shows Chris Ruane’s efforts to persuade his colleagues to participate in the mindfulness courses he established in Westminster. With 80 MPs and Lords completing the studies, more are signing up for the next round.
Lord Andrew Stone talked about how mindfulness helped him to face the stress of complex negotiations on a recent trip to Egypt. Tracey Crouch, Conservative MP, shared how mindfulness helped her get out of a place where she was anxious and had to take antidepressants. She’s only now feeling comfortable speaking publicly. The room felt connected, open, and even brave, which is rare at political gatherings, particularly those that cross party lines.
We also heard from people about the wide range of challenges facing the UK: decreased spending on mental health care despite rising well-being (50,000,000 antidepressant prescriptions per year – not far off one per individual), restricted social mobility, and an apparent conflict between attainment in schools and well-being at work, as well as the economic and human cost of poor impulse control by offenders.
It is crucial that politicians can practice mindfulness. The danger of using mindfulness as a political strategy is that it could become another poorly applied quick fix. Throwing a watered-down mindfulness training lite at deeply embedded systemic issues is unlikely to have much effect. It may provide some relief from the stress that comes with living in these systems. At worst, it could be used to maintain them. All responsibility for distress can be placed on the individual (“Can’t you just become more mindful?”), without acknowledging the environmental, familial, and social pressures that influence our thoughts. Baroness Ruth Lister (a long-standing social activist) wrote about these concerns on the House of Lords Blog.
I am optimistic. I am confident that so many UK politicians have started mindfulness training work. You will be able to understand both the benefits and the challenges of working with your mind. It is easier to see the scope of the challenge of creating a mindful world.
Suppose it touches the hearts of enough people. In that case, the personal transformation of consciousness–greater awareness and compassion–that so many people report coming with mindfulness training cannot but go hand-in-hand with a broader change in systems that are, after all, maintained by collections of people. When we become enslaved by our culture and attempt to ignore, rush, or separate any aspect of this work, the individual or the collective, the problems start. As one MP suggested Wednesday, mindfulness could become another manifestation of the problems it is supposed to address. Jon Kabat-Zinn wisely spoke of this as a 1000-year project. It will be at least that long, despite significant changes, such as mindfulness being accepted in mainstream settings.
This work includes lobbying, policy formulation, and action. Fundraising has begun to allow a Parliamentary Inquiry to be conducted. The report will focus on ways the UK could become more mindful. Mindfulness is not a buzzword. It must be embodied in the people who wish to practice it to make a real difference. The most important aspect of mindfulness’s introduction into the political landscape is that parliamentarians are willing to practice it and encourage others to do the same.
