Consumerism, Yoga, and Meditation

Over the last two decades there have been a vast number of studies which document the effectiveness of mindfulness and meditation on everything from emotional health to recovery from illness. This has been coupled with the rise of "The Mindfulness Industrial Complex" which packages Eastern spiritual practices for Western Corporate consumption. In the last couple of years, I have noted some really good thought pieces and video essays which analyze and critique these trends. I wanted to catalogue these critiques of Westernized forms of Eastern Spiritual practice, ranging from yoga to mindfulness to meditation, offer some of my own commentary on how Consumerism had adapted Eastern practices to its own ends, and suggest where we might go from here.

While I see immense value in Eastern spiritual practices and have incorporated several into my journey with Christ, my problem with Consumerized versions of Eastern Spirituality is threefold:

First, because these practices are not well known in the West, and are often exoticized as “the other” in Marketing, we do not have the cultural fluency to know when they are being distorted to an inappropriate end. Unlike forms of Western prayer (which we are increasingly non-fluent in as well) we do not have the forms and norms of Eastern spiritual practice ingrained so that we can spot when they are being used and abused. 

Second, because of the first point, we are in fact commodifying and packaging these practices as products and services to be sold in the Western marketplace. They have become big business and are often completely co-opted by the Consumer system as just another lifestyle accessory, available at the local gym just like free weights, a treadmill, or a massage. 

Third, Westernized forms of Eastern practice thus have lost all distinction from our Consumer culture, and are no longer able to offer a critique of that culture. They are used as tools to distract and soothe us so that we accept cultural norms, no matter how stressful, abusive, or dehumanizing those norms are. Compare this with Western forms of Prayer such as Surah 1 of the Quran, or the Lord’s Prayer of Jesus, or the Psalms of Judaism. These forms of spiritual practice are often sneered at as traditional and irrelevant and passé. But perhaps this is precisely because they contain distinctive values which affirm human worth and dignity, and divine compassion and justice, over and against the abuses of the powerful and wealthy.  And so these forms of spiritual practice are silenced and sidelined in favor of non-dogmatic, neutered, and ideologically sterile forms of consumer-friendly Eastern practices. 

Now, anyone with a moderate knowledge of Eastern spiritual practices will know that there is more to the story. Authentic and traditional forms of yoga and meditation contain within them potent critiques of the constant cravings of Consumer culture, as well as remedies for the debasing of humanity and nature which comes from our mad striving for material pleasure and power. This is found in the social teachings of the great texts and teachers of the Eastern traditions, from Krishna to Buddha, from Eight limbed yoga to the Eightfold Path, from the Dalai Lama to Thich Nhat Hahn. But this prophetic voice is often sidelined and silenced because Westerners are not fluent enough in the tradition to know otherwise, and they have been shaped and molded by Marketing to have a distaste for any criticism of Consumerism. Put another way: We have been socialized to want to feel good, not think critically, and we are marketed forms of Spirituality that reinforce this. 

We have also been socialized to believe that Eastern and Western spiritualities are radically opposed to each other, such that neither can learn or grow from the other. Perhaps this is mainly a trick to keep these traditions from genuinely encountering each other, and learning of their shared values, so that they could cooperate with each other to help humanity shape society in a pro-human way. After all, both Western prayer and sacrament, together with Eastern yoga and meditation, can all be aimed toward helping humans realize and practice Divine compassion and justice in a dark and divided world.