Mindfullness and Positive Psychology, two examples of the secularisation of religious practice?

While my mind has been wandering in between bouts of marking I started thinking about Mindfulness.

Most recently it was prompted by this article in the Guardian. While Madeleine Bunting includes some words of caution I would be a little more critical, more in the style of this blog post. In summary, meditative practise might be useful but there ought to be more to it than that. Additionally I am a little concerned by the appropriate of others cultural practises.

I, perhaps, ought to explain that I do sometimes sit quietly and focus on, for example, my breathing a practise I picked up from reading (what I am guessing were) popular Buddist books in the early 1980s. Subsequently I was taken through a series of guided mediations as part of a neo-pagan group in the mid (ish) 1980s. Finally I was 'taught' meditation again by a group of Pythagoreans, who were pretending to be general New Agers, but who were trying to iniate people (including me!) into their Pythagorean group. It can be helpful when I am feeling stressed, but so can really absorbing computer games or novels. And. at times, none of the above is useful.

So I started to ponder. Specifically pondering why take others cultural and religous practises, remove them from their context, dress them up as a paliative for the modern age, without including the thorough questioning of self and values that I have seen in all the mediative practises I have been taught/learnt. The second ponder is why not rename some Christian cultural practises of sitting quietly and pondering, while being guided to focus on something, and without the cultural traditions attached what is the difference?

Then I realised somebody else had already moved into that market, the positive psychologists, with their secularisation of some Christian practises. Think about all your blessings. Think about the people you should be grateful towards. Do some good deeds.

There seems to be something to this, but I possibly need to chat to someone who know more of theology attached.