While scrolling through Instagram, you’ve probably run across someone that practices “mindfulness.”As it’s known today, mindfulness is a self-help practice that centers wellness through meditation and introspective practices. It is one of the latest aspects of New Age spirituality, a product that emerged in the United States in the 1960s, which rejects formal institutions of religious worship and instead lets its practitioners pick the beliefs that they want to follow. This ability to personalize your spiritual beliefs and not have to abide by any rigid set of rules has led to the popularity of mindfulness and the overall sense of New Age spirituality.
Yet, this same freedom to choose your own spiritual guidelines often comes with messy and harmful results. But, how so? Mindfulness doesn’t sound like a harmful practice. What could be harmful about wanting to better yourself and become a more conscious person?
While well-intentioned, this wave of New Age spirituality often leads to the commodification of BIPOC cultures, and the values of sacred practices get stripped for “non-religious” audiences to enjoy. In other words, practicing things like mindfulness can lead to cultural appropriation if done improperly.
Cultural appropriation is defined as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.”
New Age spirituality plays into cultural appropriation due to its role as an amalgamation of belief systems from Black, Indigenous, and Eastern cultures. The issue lies within the lack of recognition that these practices, such as mindfulness, come from BIPOC communities. New Age spirituality distorts, destroys, and commercializes these practices and the product is a strange, “polished” version of the original belief system, which is now devoid of any cultural remnants.
There is definitely nothing wrong with wanting to be the healthiest versions of yourself, and spiritual growth is definitely not a bad thing. Despite this, it is crucial that we recognize the impact that our actions have, especially when the beliefs we seek to adopt are rooted in sacred, spiritual practices. We must seek to pay respect by informing ourselves of the cultural significance of these practices.
Here are a few practices that have been popularized through New Age spirituality and the steps you can take in order to avoid disrespecting the cultures that they come from.
- Smudging
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As another Instagram favorite, you’ve probably seen someone waving around a burning bundle of white sage in efforts to cleanse their space of negativity. If not, allow me to introduce you to smudging. Smudging, according to the Indigenous Corporate Training Inc, is a traditional ceremony for purifying or cleansing the soul of negative thoughts of a person or place by burning dried medicinal plants. By attempting to practice smudging, non-Indigenous folks often erase the significance of this ritual and participate in the overharvesting of the plants needed for the ceremony. For example, white sage is the most popular plant for non-Indigenous folks interested in smudging, and while it is not considered endangered, it is considered of special concern. Due to its trendiness, the plant has been heavily commercialized, which results in Indigenous people have difficulty finding the plants necessary for their practices.
If you want to practice cleansing in a respectful manner, try smoke cleansing! Smudging refers to a specific cultural ritual, while smoke cleansing has no link to spiritual beliefs. You can practice smoke cleansing by burning herbs, incense, or wood.
Note: Palo santo is seen as an alternative to smudging with sage, but it also harms Amazonian tribes that rely on this wood for rituals.
- Yoga
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Western Yoga as we have come to know it is a type of practice that people somewhat know the origins. Most people can tell you that it comes from India and that is has incredible benefits, but aside from that, there’s not much they can say about the background. Yoga is a 5000-year-old practice and lifestyle that centers around the philosophy of discipline and consciousness. Practitioners of yoga engage in strict diets, asanas (postures), breathing techniques and lifestyles centered around minimalism.
The commodification of the practice has diluted the richness of the cultural practice and exchanged the leaders of the practice for white or non-Indian teachers. While not an inherently religious practice, the spiritual components such as chanting or Sanskrit names of poses get switched for English names and hums.
To respect the practice, which the famous yogi Sadhguru states anyone can partake in, research more on the background of yoga and look for Indian yogis, which are underrepresented in Western Yoga. Ironic, right?
- The G Slur
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The stereotype of being adventurous and free spirited is one that often surrounds New Age spirituality and that many participate in. Despite this, it often involves a term that many fail to realize is actually a slur. G*psy is a term that plagues the spiritual community and is used to refer to the Romani people of Europe. The Roma are an ethnic group that have historically been persecuted and ostracized, causing them to often travel around the continent for their own sake. Their tight-knit community structures result in a rich, closed culture that many are attracted to. The slur does not mean free spirited or carefree, like many non-Romani folks believe, instead it is a term used to historically “other” the Roma.
- Spirit Animal
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“Beyonce is my spirit animal”
You’ve probably heard phrases like this a handful of times in your life. Spirit animals are used as a meme and switched depending on the mood you’re currently in. It can be as absurd as a pizza or detailed as a rare animal that nobody has heard about. Despite this, the trend of calling things your “spirit animal,” avoid the recognition of its importance in Indigenous traditions. It cannot be described as a single concept, since the term varies from tribe to tribe, but the modern use of it by non-Indigenous people distorts and trivializes the significant tradition. Spirit animals have deep, spiritual significance to Indigenous communities and are often accompanied by ceremonies and complex belief systems.
In other words, no, you cannot just call anything your spirit animal. You probably shouldn’t even be talking about spirit animals if you’re non-Indigenous to begin with.
Instead consider simply stating that you connect deeply with something you like. You can get creative with ways to say you like something instead of disrespecting Indigenous culture.
- Mindfulness
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The mindfulness that we’ve all known to either love or hate actually originates from the Buddhist discourse of satipatthana sutta. You’ve probably guessed by now that this is not how the practice has been commercialized or propelled into the mainstream. While some recollection of its Buddhist origins is present, the significant background of the practice is often erased for a white-washed and non-spiritual self-help tool. Instead of the complex system that mindfulness is part of, it gets promoted as a catch all aid for a variety of issues.
While Buddhism is not a closed culture, it’s important to recognize the origins of a practice that seems to only be growing in popularity.
I hope that you were able to see how these practices often get watered down in order to make them trendy and instead, how we should value the cultures from where they come from. I am not a practitioner of these cultures so I cannot speak about the deeper meanings of these practices. However, I do recognize the calls that these communities are making for their cultures to stop being appropriated and feel motivated to help others recognize how these practices may affect others. Hopefully, you can find ways of self-improvement and spiritual connection that are both personal and non-harmful.