Mindfulness-based stress reduction for our time: Social and Systemic Awareness in mindfulness-based teaching

This chapter describes the social context in which Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was developed and examines what is needed of Mindfulness-Based Programme (MBP) teachers, teacher trainers, supervisors, and researchers now. We offer three theoretical frameworks, including one from an African-Caribbean perspective, intended to support engagement in the MBP field in ways that both retain fidelity to the original MBSR programme whilst simultaneously embracing 1) inclusive recognition of the individual, relational, and systemic causes and conditions of both distress and flourishing and 2), anti-oppression teaching methods and material (i.e., teaching approaches that seek to understand how systems of power can subordinate some groups and privilege others, and that commit to teaching in ways that redress inequities).