According to a recent UC-Davis report, mindfulness training triples students’ ability to focus and participate in class activities. In recent years, this sort of validating research has helped push mindfulness from a niche interest to a full-blown lifestyle. From the boardroom to the classroom, Americans of all ages are putting their own spin on the practice. Boomers were originally attracted to mindfulness for its holistic benefits. Today, Generation X is using mindfulness as an individual practice to rise above the competition, while Millennials are using it as a team-strengthening exercise.
Mindfulness is the awareness that arises when one pays purposeful attention to the present moment. It can be achieved through meditation or simply by observing your surroundings without judgment. In the 1970s, mindfulness was a radical, even cultish practice steeped in Eastern tradition. Designed to be difficult, mindfulness was reserved for only the most devoted New Age followers. Mindfulness didn’t go mainstream until 1979, when molecular biologist Jon Kabat-Zinn introduced mindful meditation as a stress-reduction technique. Over the years, once-hardcore mindfulness practices like Transcendental Meditation (TM) have been distilled into a secular, consumer-friendly retail service.
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Simple-to-follow mindfulness has come a long way from its radical origins. Google Ngram data show that interest in mindfulness has surged since 1990. In 2016, 667 papers on mindfulness were published in scientific journals—up from 47 a decade earlier. All of this has fueled a $4 billion industry of magazines, apps, and books (with over 100,000 titles listed on Amazon) dedicated to every aspect of mindful living, including regular activities such as eating, walking, and even showering.
The proven benefits of mindfulness are many. Researchers have demonstrated that mindfulness practices can rewire the brain’s reactions to external stimuli—boosting the areas of the brain responsible for learning and memory, rational thinking, and empathy and compassion. Studies have also shown that mindful practices like mental imagery—defined as visualizing physical motions successfully before performing them—improve performance better than practice alone. This technique has gained traction in sports, where athletes need to stay in the zone when going through physical motions. It’s particularly prevalent in sports that require precise movements like gymnastics and figure skating.
Institutions of all shapes and sizes are acting on this growing body of research. Companies like Aetna, Ford, and General Mills offer their employees in-office meditation training and spaces. In the military, soldiers are going through mindfulness training in hopes of sharpening their attention in combat. Sports teams like the Seattle Seahawks are also turning to mindfulness as a way to boost their athletic performance. In health care, medical professionals are prescribing mindfulness to address poor eating and sleeping habits, addiction, depression, and pain brought on by chronic illness. Even schools are using it as a way to improve student behavior, attention, and stress levels. Lafayette Elementary School in Washington, D.C., for example, has a “peace teacher” who leads daily mindfulness exercises.
Mindfulness has even become a “success hack” among the elite. From the C-suite to Wall Street, an increasing number of firms are spending thousands of dollars on intensive TM courses for employees. At Goldman Sachs, for example, one mindful trader uses his meditation training to gain a competitive edge—listening to the “twinge” in his gut when markets move. Others use mindfulness to find relief from their high-stress jobs. Congressman Tim Ryan gave mindfulness a try following a rough re-election campaign and is now an outspoken advocate—hosting weekly meditation sessions and allocating millions to fund school mindfulness programs.
By most accounts, the rising popularity of this practice is a response to the growing presence of digital technology. Thanks to smartphones and other mobile devices, there is always an e-mail, text message, or social media post begging for our immediate attention, creating a never-ending mental to-do list. The premise of mindfulness is that people distract themselves from living in the present moment by spending too much time regretting the past and worrying about the future. Technology worsens this disconnect by multiplying the sources of distraction and filling every idle minute of our lives with noise. Mindfulness retreats typically require participants to surrender all their digital devices at the door.
The mindfulness frenzy has also been fueled by generational change. For Boomers, who pioneered mindful lifestyles in the ‘70s, the practice was meant to be intrinsically rewarding. While G.I.s spent their lives in a constant state of doing and always looking forward to “progress,” Boomers flocked to ancient, mystical Eastern doctrines that enabled them to slow the world down and look inward. In an effort to get out of the outward-focused cycle their elders created, Boomers turned to religious practices like meditation and yoga to find personal fulfillment and peace.
As Xers and Millennials have taken mindfulness mainstream, the practice has shifted significantly from its original path. Unlike Boomers who practiced mindfulness for its own sake, younger generations are more focused on the means-ends benefits. Xers view mindfulness as an inexpensive way to amp up their performance and sharpen their edge. This mentality is at the epicenter of Goldman Sachs’ resilience training, which teaches employees how to use mindfulness as a tool that transforms stress into the energy needed to rise above the competition.
Millennials also take this more results-oriented approach. But unlike Xers, who view mindfulness as a practice restricted for a select few go-getters, Millennials want to democratize it for the entire community. For example, rather than framing mindfulness as a weapon, Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” class teaches employees how to better relate to themselves and their co-workers.
Looking ahead, mindfulness will take on a new sense of urgency in the struggle to keep children’s brains firmly anchored to the real world. While Boomers, Xers, and first-wave Millennials remember life before smartphones, last-wave Millennials and Homelanders will not. They’ll never have that idle “do-nothing” moment. Unlike their ancestors, children will need to be taught how to connect to the present moment—a skill that ancient sages say was once as natural as breathing.
