Sir, – Both mindfulness and yoga can have very positive benefits for both the bodies and minds of many people but at the end of the day, I believe, both are basically self-centred and inwardly directed activities, and so in the long run they are not, sadly, as spiritually beneficial as they really could potentially be.
Mindfulness could turn out, as Bishop Cullinan warned, to be for many people a kind of real “mindlessness” activity in those who practise it too often because it encourages them to always stay solely focused on their own needs.
There ought to be within each of these practices of both mindfulness and yoga some elements of altruism towards others for either of them to be truly spiritual in a healthy way.
If this were the case, it would help a lot of people with the troublesome addictions that they can often find themselves caught up in.
If both mindfulness and yoga could be practised with the inclusion of some positive words of outward goodwill towards other people anywhere at all, and also towards nature in general, then that could go a long way to answering Bishop Cullinan’s valid criticism that they are mindless practices. – Yours, etc,
SEAN O’BRIEN,
Kilrush,
Co Clare.
Sir, – Along with all the best tunes, does the devil now also have the best yoga positions? – Yours, etc,
TONY WOOL,
Ballincollig,
Cork.