How Do Mindfulness Offerings Support Inner–Outer Sustainability Progress? A Sustainability Assessment of Online Mindfulness Interventions

Kira J. Cooper () and Robert B. Gibson
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Kira J. Cooper: School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Robert B. Gibson: School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

Challenges, 2023, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-20

Abstract: While there is growing optimism for inner transformations to catalyse systemic shifts towards more sustainable ways of being, no study so far has attempted to assess how well current interventions for inner development address core requirements for collective wellbeing. In this article, we apply a novel assessment framework to examine how mindfulness-based interventions address inner and outer sustainability criteria during a global health emergency. This inquiry informs a growing field of study concerned with leveraging inner transformations for systemic shifts towards sustainability progress. Using three prominent online mindfulness-based offerings as a case study, we demonstrate that mindfulness-based interventions have a broad range of potential desirable to detrimental implications for social and biophysical systems. We conclude by discussing how normative conceptions of inner interventions might be contextualised anew to effectively support more viable, just, and inclusive transformations towards long-term viability.

Keywords: inner transformation; sustainability; mindfulness; sustainability assessment; inner development goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jchals:v:14:y:2023:i:2:p:26-:d:1135500

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