Selects: How Mindfulness Works

# Stuff You Should Know: Mindfulness

This episode dives into the origins and modern application of mindfulness, tracing it back to ancient Buddhist practices and exploring how it's become a mainstream wellness trend in the West. Josh and Chuck trace mindfulness from its Buddhist roots through D.T. Suzuki's introduction of Zen Buddhism to America, to John Kabat-Zinn's development of secular mindfulness programs like MBSR in the 1970s, while discussing both the benefits researchers have found and some surprising risks people aren't always warned about. The hosts explore how mindfulness has been stripped of its spiritual context to make it more scientifically palatable, and what that might mean for how we're actually practicing it today.