Meditation isn't for everyone

Meditation is the one practice everyone agrees on. It’s on the NHS, in schools, in every influencer’s guide to life, and the pitch is always the same: good for you, good for everyone, can’t hurt. Two of those three are false. It can hurt, it isn’t for everyone—and once you see what it actually is underneath the cushion, you realise you’re probably already doing it. Further reading Meditating for fun and for profit — the article that inspired this lecture. The Scientific Ritual — the first lecture in this arc, on science as a belief system. In Praise of the Sage — the second, on why we trust doctors the way we trust gurus. Positive Intelligence — one of the wellbeing-program takedowns mentioned up top. It’s not ‘just’ a placebo — on why “all in the head” is the point, not the problem. Not brain regions, brain networks — where the harms of mindfulness for some populations come up again. Overengineering calming down — the companion takedown of the calm-down-advice genre. Spirituality of Mind — more on the contemplative tradition meditation was lifted from. References Farias, M. & Wikholm, C. (2015). The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? Publisher page. Van Dam, N. T., Targett, J., Davies, J. N., Burger, A. & Galante, J. (2025). Incidence and predictors of meditation-related unusual experiences and adverse effects in a representative sample of meditators in the United States. Clinical Psychological Science. Article. Schlosser, M., Sparby, T., Vörös, S., Jones, R. & Marchant, N. L. (2019). Unpleasant meditation-related experiences in regular meditators: Prevalence, predictors, and conceptual considerations. PLOS ONE. Article. Lindahl, J. R., Fisher, N. E., Cooper, D. J., Rosen, R. K. & Britton, W. B. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE. Article. Farias, M., Maraldi, E., Wallenkampf, K. C. & Lucchetti, G. (2020). Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: A systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Article. Kabat-Zinn, J. (1982). An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation. General Hospital Psychiatry. Article.