Answer this question to the best of your ability:
Can you elaborate on how mindfulness practices were introduced to the Western world?
The introduction of mindfulness practices to the West can be largely attributed to the Transcendental Meditation movement and the Beat Generation in the 1950s and 1960s. Notable figures like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg started exploring Eastern spiritual traditions, including Zen Buddhism, which heavily emphasize mindfulness. Later, during the 1970s, influential teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Ram Dass further spread these ideas in America through their teachings and writings.