Itai Ivtzan and Tim Lomas (eds.): Mindfulness in Positive Psychology: The Science of Meditation and Wellbeing. Routledge, London, UK, 2016, 348 pp

Abstract

This publication is the latest volume to bring together two prominent themes in contemporary psychological science: mindfulness and positive psychology. The editors, Ivtzan and Lomas 2016, based at the University of East London, are well versed in both. Over the last 10 years, the group of academics associated with the London-based Masters in Applied Positive Psychology have maintained a relentless output of publication. Their expanding list of authored and edited volumes, which now amounts to a small library of leading texts, is governed by two complementary intentions: to disseminate positive psychology through introductory textbooks (Hefferon and Boniwell 2011; Lomas et al. 2014), and to challenge the field in various directions. Previous works have challenged the tendency in positive psychology to ignore embodiment (Hefferon 2013), its frequent failure to acknowledge the darker side of life (Ivtzan et al. 2015), and its acritical adherence to some of its most prominent theories (Brown et al. 2017).