1905 (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of

Capitalism)(Max Weber)

(Google)

eBay Twitter Facebook

(Evan Williams) Twitter
Obvious Corporation

(Rupert
Murdoch)
Bridgewater Associates
(Ray Dalio)(PIMCO)(Bill Gross)

20 60
(Virgin)Ben & Jerrys (Apple)
(Steve Jobs

(jolly
good fellow)
(Soren Gordhamer)
2.0(Wisdom 2.0)(Medtronic)
(Goldman Sachs)(Bill George)
(Harvard Business School)

(Claremont university)
(Drucker management school)(Jeremy Hunter)
(IMD)(Ben Bryant)-
(University of Nebraska-Lincoln)(Donde Plowman)
Keisuke Matsumoto
(Indian School of Business)

(Arianna Huffington)
(Huffington Post)
lululemon (Chip Wilson)
whil.com 60

(Duke University)
2000

(Aetna)

Lululemon

IN HIS 1905 book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber credited the Protestant ethic with giving
rise to capitalism. Now it sometimes seems as if it is the Buddhist ethic that is keeping capitalism going. The Protestants
stressed rational calculation and self-restraint. The Buddhists stress the importance of mindfulnesstaking time out from
the hurly-burly of daily activities to relax and meditate. In todays corporate world you are more likely to hear about
mindfulness than self-restraint.
Google offers an internal course called search inside yourself that has proved so popular that the company has created
entry-level versions such as neural self-hacking and managing your energy. The search giant has also built a labyrinth for
walking meditation. EBay has meditation rooms equipped with pillows and flowers. Twitter and Facebook are doing all they
can to stay ahead in the mindfulness race. Evan Williams, one of Twitters founders, has introduced regular meditation
sessions in his new venture, the Obvious Corporation, a start-up incubator and investment vehicle.

In this section
From sunset to new dawn
Disorientation
Ranked and yanked
Give, and it shall be given unto you
Succeeding in spite of the state
The lease bad solution
Who dares, plays
The mindfulness business
Reprints

The fashion is not confined to Silicon Valley: the mindfulness movement can be found in every corner of the corporate world.
Rupert Murdoch has a well-developed bullshit detector. But earlier this year he tweeted about his interest in transcendental
meditation (which he said everyone recommends). Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates and Bill Gross of PIMCO are two of
the biggest names in the money-management business, and both are regular meditators. Mr Dalio says it has had more
impact on his success than anything else.

What got the mindfulness wagon rolling was the 1960s counter-culture, which injected a shot of bohemianism into the
bloodstream of capitalism: witness the rise of companies such as Virgin, Ben & Jerrys and Apple, whose co-founder, Steve
Jobs, had visited India on a meditation break as a young man, and who often talked about how Zen had influenced the
design of his products. But three things are making the wheels roll ever faster.

The most obvious is omni-connectivity. The constant pinging of electronic devices is driving many people to the end of their
tether. Electronic devices not only overload the senses and invade leisure time. They feed on themselves: the more people
tweet the more they are rewarded with followers and retweets. Mindfulness provides a good excuse to unplug and chill out
or disconnect to connect, as mindfulness advocates put it. A second reason is the rat race. The single-minded pursuit of
material success has produced an epidemic of corporate scandals and a widespread feeling of angst. Mindfulness
emphasises that there is more to success than material prosperity. The third is that selling mindfulness has become a
business in its own right.

The movement has a growing, and strikingly eclectic, cohort of gurus. Chade-Meng Tan of Google, who glories in the job title
of jolly good fellow, is the inspiration behind search inside yourself. Soren Gordhamer, a yoga and meditation instructor,
and an enthusiastic tweeter, founded Wisdom 2.0, a popular series of mindfulness conferences. Bill George, a former boss of
Medtronic, a medical-equipment company, and a board member at Goldman Sachs, is introducing mindfulness at Harvard
Business School in an attempt to develop leaders who are self-aware and self-compassionate.

Many other business schools are embracing mindfulness. Jeremy Hunter of the Drucker management school at Claremont
university teaches it to his students, as does Ben Bryant at Switzerlands IMD. Donde Plowman of the University of
Nebraska-Lincolns business school has even tried to quantify the mindfulness of management schools themselves. The flow
of wisdom is not one-way: Keisuke Matsumoto, a Japanese Buddhist monk, took an MBA at the Indian School of Business in
Hyderabad and is now applying its lessons to revitalise temples back home.

As for its exploitation as a business, Arianna Huffington runs a mindfulness conference, a GPS for the soul app and a
mindfulness corner of her Huffington Post. Chip Wilson, the boss of lululemon, a seller of yoga gear, has set up a website,
whil.com, that urges people to turn off their brains for 60 seconds by visualising a dot. (Power down, power up, and power
forward.)

A walk in the countryside

Does all this mindfulness do any good? There is a body of evidence that suggests that some of its techniques can provide
significant psychological and physiological benefits. The Duke University School of Medicine has produced research that
shows that, in America, an hour of yoga a week reduces stress levels in employees by a third and cuts health-care costs by
an average of $2,000 a year. Cynics might point to the evidence that a walk in the countryside has similar benefits. They
might also worry that Aetna, an insurer which wants to sell yoga and other mindfulness techniques as part of its health plans,
is sponsoring some of the research that supports them. But it seems not unreasonable to suppose that, in a world of constant
stress and distraction, simply sitting still and relaxing for a while might do you some good.

The biggest problem with mindfulness is that it is becoming part of the self-help movementand hence part of the disease
that it is supposed to cure. Gurus talk about the competitive advantage of meditation. Pupils come to see it as a way to get
ahead in life. And the point of the whole exercise is lost. What has parading around in pricey lululemon outfits got to do with
the Buddhist ethic of non-attachment to material goods? And what has staring at a computer-generated dot got to do with the
ancient art of meditation? Western capitalism seems to be doing rather more to change eastern religion than eastern religion
is doing to change Western capitalism.
Mindfulness training helps lower blood pressure

Becoming mindful - focusing attention and awareness on the moment - may

sound like a New Age mantra, but researchers from Ohio claim that it can lower
blood pressure to the extent that it could prevent or delay the need for drug
intervention.

The study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, shows

that patients with borderline high blood pressure following a mindfulness-based stress
reduction (MBSR) program successfully reduced their blood pressure.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 68 million - 1 in 3 -
adult Americans have hypertension or high blood pressure, which is commonly known as a
"silent killer." Many sufferers are unaware that they have hypertension, as it often presents
no warning signs or symptoms.

Researchers from Kent State University say that borderline high blood pressure - or
prehypertension - currently affects 30% of Americans and is attracting medical attention
because of the associated risks of cardiovascular disease.

Patients may be prescribed medication to treat this condition, but the researchers say
MBSR may be a useful alternative to popping pills.

Strategies for reducing stress

MBSR is not a new idea, but one that is becoming increasingly popular among the medical
community. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical
School, was one of the first to see its benefits and understand the health implications.

Writing in a commentary in JAMA, he explores the clinical implications and identifies some
of the challenges.

Prof. Kabat-Zinn devised this behavioral program to help people cope with stress and be
more at ease in their lives. Incorporating techniques such as meditation, mind-body
exercises and gentle yoga, MBSR has its roots in Buddhism but is most often taught in a
non-religious format.

Joel W. Hughes, PhD and lead author of the study, says:"Mindfulness-based stress reduction
is an increasingly popular practice that has been purported to alleviate stress, treat
depression and anxiety, and treat certain health conditions."

Medical News Today has reported how MBSR has proven successful for helping many
people control the stress in their lives - for school children, adolescents and teachers.

Prof. Hughes explains that while earlier studies have reported small but significant
reductions in blood pressure using Transcendental Meditation, no one had yet tested the
success of MBSR for patients with prehypertension.

The study looked at 56 men and women who had been diagnosed with prehypertension but
were not prescribed drugs.

The group were randomly divided into two groups - one assigned an MBSR program and the
other given lifestyle advice and a muscle-relaxation activity.

Group training sessions

Mindfulness training includes yoga, meditation and body scan exercises.

Individuals in the MBSR group were asked to attend sessions of 2.5 hours for 8 weeks.
Here, an experienced instructor led them through three main types of mindfulness training
- body scan exercises (where you draw awareness to particular parts of the body), sitting
meditation and yoga exercises. They were also encouraged to practice these exercises at
home.

At the end of the trial, the researchers compared blood pressure readings between the two
groups.

They found that patients in the MBSR group gave lower readings for both
systolic and diastolic blood pressure. On average, the systolic reading (the first,
higher number) decreased by almost 5 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and the
diastolic reading decreased by nearly 2 mm Hg.

In the control group, the readings showed a less than 1 mm Hg drop in systolic pressure
and an increase of 1 mm Hg.

However, it should be noted that in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, where blood
pressure is monitored over 24 hours, no significant difference in blood pressure was noted
between the two groups.

Prof. Hughes points out that although the blood pressure reductions were modest, they
were about the same as many drug interventions - and potentially enough to reduce the
risk of heart attack or stroke.

He writes:

"Our results provide evidence that MBSR, when added to lifestyle modification
advice, may be an appropriate complementary treatment for blood pressure in
the prehypertensive range."

Mindfulnesstraining helps lower blood pressure

Becoming mindful -focusing attention and awareness on the moment - may

sound like a New Agemantra, but researchers from Ohio claim that it can lower
blood pressure to theextent that it could prevent or delay the need for drug
intervention.

The study,published in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral

Medicine, showsthat patients with borderline high blood pressure following a
mindfulness-basedstress reduction (MBSR) program successfully reduced their
blood pressure.

MBSR

The Centers forDisease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 68 million -
1 in 3 - adultAmericans have hypertension or high blood pressure, which is
commonly known asa "silent killer." Many sufferers are unaware that they
havehypertension, as it often presents no warning signs or symptoms.

CDC 1/3 6800

Researchers fromKent State University say that borderline high blood pressure -
orprehypertension - currently affects 30% of Americans and is attracting
medicalattention because of the associated risks of cardiovascular disease.

30%

Patients may beprescribed medication to treat this condition, but the

researchers say MBSR maybe a useful alternative to popping pills.

MBSR

Strategies for reducing stress

MBSR is not a newidea, but one that is becoming increasingly popular among the
medicalcommunity. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor Emeritus at the University
ofMassachusetts Medical School, was one of the first to see its benefits
andunderstand the health implications.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Writing in acommentary in JAMA, he explores the clinical implications and

identifies someof the challenges.

MBSR

Prof. Kabat-Zinndevised this behavioral program to help people cope with stress
and be more atease in their lives. Incorporating techniques such as meditation,
mind-bodyexercises and gentle yoga, MBSR has its roots in Buddhism but is
most oftentaught in a non-religious format.

Kabat-Zinn MBSR

Joel W. Hughes,PhD and lead author of the study, says:"Mindfulness-based stress

reductionis an increasingly popular practice that has been purported to
alleviatestress, treat depression and anxiety, and treat certain
healthconditions."

Joel W. Hughes

Medical News Todayhas reported how MBSR has proven successful for helping
many people control thestress in their lives - for school children, adolescents
and teachers.

MBSR

Prof. Hughesexplains that while earlier studies have reported small but
significantreductions in blood pressure using Transcendental Meditation, no one
had yettested the success of MBSR for patients with prehypertension.

Hughes

The study lookedat 56 men and women who had been diagnosed with
prehypertension but were notprescribed drugs.

56

The group wererandomly divided into two groups - one assigned an MBSR
program and the othergiven lifestyle advice and a muscle-relaxation activity.

MBSR

Group training sessions

Mindfulnesstraining includes yoga, meditation and body scan exercises.

Individuals in theMBSR group were asked to attend sessions of 2.5 hours for 8
weeks. Here, anexperienced instructor led them through three main types of
mindfulnesstraining - body scan exercises (where you draw awareness to
particular parts ofthe body), sitting meditation and yoga exercises. They were
also encouraged topractice these exercises at home.

MBSR 2.5 8
**

At the end of thetrial, the researchers compared blood pressure readings

between the two groups.

They found thatpatients in the MBSR group gave lower readings for both systolic
and diastolicblood pressure. On average, the systolic reading (the first, higher
number)decreased by almost 5 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and the diastolic
readingdecreased by nearly 2 mm Hg.

5
mmHg 2mmHg

In the controlgroup, the readings showed a less than 1 mm Hg drop in systolic

pressure and anincrease of 1 mm Hg in diastolic pressure

1mmHg 1mmHg

However, it shouldbe noted that in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, where

blood pressure ismonitored over 24 hours, no significant difference in blood
pressure was notedbetween the two groups.

24

Prof. Hughespoints out that although the blood pressure reductions were
modest, they wereabout the same as many drug interventions - and potentially
enough to reducethe risk of heart attack or stroke.

Hughes

He writes:

"Our resultsprovide evidence that MBSR, when added to lifestyle modification

advice, may bean appropriate complementary treatment for blood pressure in
theprehypertensive range."

The researchersnote that further research is needed to see if the blood

pressure-loweringeffects can be maintained over time.

MBSR

CDC 1/3 6800

30%

MBSR

Jon Kabat-Zinn MBSR

Kabat-Zinn MBSR

Joel W. Hughes

MBSR

Hughes

56
MBSR

MBSR 2.5 8
**

5 mmHg 2mmHg
1mmHg 1mmHg

24 Hughes