How can I practice mindfulness when my culture frames it as selfish or individualistic?

This is where Patanjali becomes particularly useful. He never separated self-mastery from community or duty. The Yoga Sutras are about mental clarity—but clarity serves action, wisdom, right relationship. When your culture values interdependence, duty, family harmony above introspection, sitting alone to 'work on yourself' can feel like betrayal. I hear this often. But there's a distinction worth making: the practice doesn't have to be solitary to be real. Some of the deepest practitioners I've encountered do their work while walking, while cooking, while in relationship. Mindfulness isn't a genre of sitting quietly—it's the capacity to be fully present to what you're actually doing. If your culture teaches presence through service, through listening, through tending to others, that's already a practice. The question becomes: can you bring the same attention inward, without guilt? Can you notice your own breath, your own patterns, your own edges—not to abandon your responsibilities, but to show up to them more clearly? Patanjali would have understood this. Mastery of mind isn't escape from life. It's the ability to meet life exactly as it is, with full presence, without being swept away. Start where your culture already practices presence. That's your entry point, not your obstacle.