Do we invite people who don't have a mindfulness practice?

I think the 'cringe' @sam22os that you mention Sam and the 'reservation' that you mention Nick @nicklaurence are worth shining a light on. For me the most obvious issue is the commercilisation of mindfulness and the way it has been stripped from it's origins - leading to it being termed 'mcmindfulness' - there is some interesting discussion around this in the emerging area of critical mindfulness studies.

The second part for me is around different understandings of mindfulness - you can see in the discussion here that it is being used to cover a whole range of things - as a type of meditation, being compassionate, aware, as a state of consciousness etc. - so if the question is as Pete has stated 'Do we invite people who don't have a mindfulness practice' - but there is no shared agreement on what that is then what are we talking about? Is this: 'do we invite people who don't meditate, or people who don't experience reflective states of consciousness' and so forth.

It would seem odd to me if MfC was limited to those who have a meditation practice or, even more specifically, a Mindfulness meditation practice. MfC has always felt expansive to me rather than restrictive.

Perhaps the minimum criteria for involvement with MfC (if there is to be one) could be along the lines of a genuine interest in Mindfulness for change as an idea to explore. Then, so long as the core and wider group construct the kaupapa and hold the energy by way of their own Mindfulness / meditation practices and by shared practice when the group meets, there is little chance of its essence and purpose being lost or diluted.

I am totally cool with people interested to explore a connection with the MfC community/group not being required to have a mindfulness/meditation practice. In fact I would be uncomfortable if this was a exclusion mechanism. Do you practice? How often? How would often enough, practice enough be defined? If this was a requirement I might feel unworthy of being in the group if I missed doing practice for... ummm.... how long would disqualify me from the group? I think it would be a can of worms on Jimmy's slippery slope. And for me it would be in conflict with some of the core MfC principles of being open to each person, compassionately, respectfully and also openly and honestly.

I agree with Kate. I think it would have been a very big block for me if at any point along the way I was being asked those questions.
I consider mindfulness to include mindful action.
I think that if we act out of a place of connectedness and compassion we are acting mindfully and I would consider this a practice.

Why are we called Mindfulness for Change if Mindfulness for Change is just a community that just happens to have some "mindfulness" folk in it? Should we change our name to "Anything for Change"? or "Lovely folk for Change"? or "Show up for Change"? hehe

Fair point. I guess it comes down to what mindfulness is. I've noticed that many people have their own practice that doesn't involve sitting and meditating. Maybe it's important that people have their own practice, but we define this broadly?

@sam22os I think a broad definition is good but maybe what people are doing isn't 'mindfulness' - they might be reaching mindful states but not practicing mindful meditation, therefore a different term is required

This is a great point @petejakey - so what is it we are saying people are doing to bring about this change? Practicing mindful meditation, entering reflective states without meditation or some other kind of contemplative practice, being more heartfelt, being 'lovely', 'showing up' - getting clear about the thing bringing about the change would be helpful

I wonder if that's the right question to be asking...

What if the entry requirement was whether they believe more mindfulness (however defined) is required to solve the complex social and environmental challenges we face.

Yes, a belief is harder to judge because it's subjective. But it would give us flexibility to bring people into the fold who might want to start practising more mindfulness or start doing more good shit in the world, but who are doing neither at present.

Does it matter what they've done in the past? Or does or it just matter what they would like to do and be in the future?

P.S. Nice provocation Pete.

@paulmcgregor Another question might be - is do you know what mindfulness is - that is if you are speaking about the meditative practice - if you don't do it? There is an ongoing discussion in Contemplative Education about something similar - should people who don't have a contemplative practice be able to teach contemplative practice. Many suggest that because you can't know it until you do it - then only people who have a practice should be contemplative pedagogues.