Over the last three decades the practice of mindfulness has grown to become one of the most widespread health promoting applications in the West—so much that terms like yoga and meditation have now become standard household words. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the meaning of mindfulness within both its Buddhist and its Western context. In the former case, the aim will be to shed light on mindfulness as a concept and practice that is rooted in Buddhist understandings (i.e., the Buddhist perspective); and in the latter case, the meaning of mindfulness will be more broadly explored in terms of its relevance to society, social work and everyday life (i.e., the social (work) perspective).

This article introduces a four-field model of mindfulness training and discusses its implications for health. Through the pioneering work of Kabat-Zinn and others, a vast amount of research has been conducted regarding both physical and mental mindfulness; as such, it is generally these two dimensions that are relied upon for intervention by health care professionals. While certainly a sign of progress, this article proposes that the essential next step in mindfulness training is to involve the less known social and existential dimensions as well. Indeed, it is herein argued that the addition of these two fields can serve to enhance the theory of resilience, the general promotion of human health, and the specific practice of mindfulness, especially as it relates to both group and meaning-of-life contexts. It is further argued that a more nuanced understanding of physical (a Western notion) and spiritual (an Eastern notion) mindfulness can be obtained by examining the interconnectedness of all four fields. The aim is to open the way toward a more broad, holistic, and altruistic approach to the practice of mindfulness as well as to encourage further research along these potentially productive lines.

The primary aim of this article is to present a new concept called mindful sustainable aging (MSA), which is informed by mindfulness practices that support the physical, the mental, and especially, the social and the existential dimensions of old life. The concept of MSA is discussed and compared with four influential psychosocial theories in the field of gerontology, i.e., activity theory, disengagement theory, successful aging theory and gerotranscendence theory. The article ends with reviewing research on how mindfulness practice can help to manage, diminish and/or improve a number of serious physical conditions that are common among older people. The potential of mindfulness when it comes to facilitating for older adults in their quest for spiritual and existential meaning is discussed extensively throughout the article.