Rhetorical Analysis - TIME's Mindfulness

Rhetorical situations attempt to study and explain how people interact through language and symbols, including objects, experiences, and persuasion (Wardle, Downs 319). The language or communication, also known as discourse, used in rhetorical situations often try to get people to do something. Rhetoric should involve integrity, the ability to apply a set of strategies to any situation, and receptivity, the ability to respond to the conditions and demands of situations (Grant-Davie 350). There are four main parts to rhetorical situations, including exigence, audience, constraints, and rhetor.

Exigence refers to the problem or need that can be addressed by communication. Exigence can act as the motivating force, or purpose, of a discourse (Grant-Davie 351). As Grant-Davie proposes, three questions that should be asked are, “What is the discourse about? Why is the discourse needed? What should the discourse accomplish?” to further understand exigence (Grant-Davie 351). Audience are the potential targets aimed to persuade or impact from the situation, that can possibly resolve the issue. There can be four types of audience – (1) Any person to hear or read a discourse, (2) A set of readers who form an external situation, (3) The audience the writer has in mind, and (4) The audience roles suggested by the actual discourse (Grant-Davie 355). Constraints are factors, people, events, objects, or relations, that can limit the rhetor or focus of the audience (Grant-Davie 351). Some constraints include beliefs, attitudes, traditions, or motives. Rhetor(s) is defined as the people, real or imagined, responsible for the situation and the voice of the discourse (Grant-Davie 351). Some situations can have multiple rhetors. These elements will be applied to a TIME special edition magazine of Mindfulness: The New Science of Health and Happiness. The magazine contains different elements of exigence, audience targets, constraints, and rhetors ranging from the cover of the magazine and table of contents, to different articles, including “Get in the Sleep Zone” and “The Faith Factor.”

The cover of this TIME Mindfulness magazine captures a peaceful looking woman who is tune with her mind and body. With a glossy, professional look, a soft background, and the title big and bold, the magazine aims to grab attention and portray the solution to achieve mindfulness, including health, happiness, sleep, stress release, meditation, faith, gratitude, yoga, etc. The audience for this magazine can range from parents or teachers, teens or young adults, dieters, active people, and religious people. However, the constraints that can affect this cover can include money issues, the space to attract readers, the ability to obtain certain information, and the amount the magazine can be sold for. Some positive constraints could be the big text, intriguing readers, or those interested in mind and body topics.

Parents or teachers can look to this magazine for ways to relieve stress, find peace in busy days, and meditation programs to calm down kids, sharpen their brain, and make them kinder to classmates. Teens or young adults can look for strategies to sleep better or obtain good routines, insight on how smartphones affect the mind, and especially finding one’s purpose or intent. Dieters can read how to successfully lose weight on a diet, with less miserable, food craving tactics and actual health gains, and how to eat in the moment and avoid snacking. Active people can find powerful morning routines, the complete guide to yoga and injury prevention, mind-body combinations, and the right workout classes. Religious people can note the many different ways and religions used to achieve mindfulness, from Buddhism meditation to Christianity worship and connection.

This magazine contains “Get in the Sleep Zone”, an article by Brooke Hauser. As mentioned earlier, three questions that should be asked are, “What is the discourse about? Why is the discourse needed? What should the discourse accomplish?” to understand exigence (Grant-Davie 351). For this article, the rhetor, Brooke Hauser, focused the discourse on how one can make changes in daily routines or try strategies to help sleep at the right time and feel rested when waking up. The discourse is needed to help people who have trouble with sleep to improve their routines and sleep cycles, feeling better and sleeping thoroughly. The discourse is trying to accomplish ways people can accept and use to achieve sleep, discussing possible reasons people aren’t sleeping and offering solutions. The audience targeted by this article can be sleepless people, insomniacs, and people with other sleep disturbances, like narcolepsy, night terrors, or sleepwalking. This audience can look at sleep hygiene tips, like setting a consistent bedtime or avoiding consuming too much caffeine. Also, considering the time when to wind things down and start relaxing starting around 6pm-10pm, having more fun and meeting goals during the day, spending more time outside in natural light, and working out – moving, jumping, running – during the day. However, some constraints could include certain beliefs, like monks who pray and then go to sleep at 10pm every night, attitudes, routines, late night jobs, or disorders.

Another article in this magazine is “The Faith Factor” by Andréa Ford. This article is aimed to understand the modern mindfulness movement throughout world religions. Rhetor Andréa Ford concentrated the discourse on mindfulness, focusing attention on one’s mind and body, and how it is perceived and achieved in different religions, practices, and traditions. The discourse is needed to explain ways people reach mindfulness or concentration on certain things and not having to only follow strict dogma’s or deities. The discourse is trying to accomplish ways different people of beliefs, cultures, and religions can practice concentration, meditation, and restorative exercises to reach a point of peace, contemplation, and self-awareness. The audience of this article can be religious people, from someone looking to convert or someone looking deeper into their religion, meditators, or worshipers. This audience can gain insight on Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. Buddhism is the inspiration for mindfulness practices, encouraging meditation daily with incorporating it in their work and interactions, while Hinduism also encourages meditation and yoga to achieve a state of pure self-awareness. Judaism enforces Shabbat, resting for one day each week, and along with ancient traditions, also entering the synagogue to pray. Christianity is more of a focus to achieve unity with God, emphasizing concentration, while mindfulness is very crucial to Islam, urging meditation and worship rituals of standing, raising arms, or bending. However, constraints could be different beliefs, antagonists, religious organizations, or traditions.

TIME’s magazine Mindfulness: The New Science of Health and Happiness encompasses an overall purpose to better the mind, health and body. It can target a wide, diverse range of people, young or older, religious or not, and athletic or healthy eaters. Going through the magazine, the articles have specific purposes, appealing to more specific audiences’. Together, the whole magazine can have constraints ranging from beliefs, attitudes, religions, or disorders. With tactics to relieve stress, find peace, lose weight, achieve yoga, sleep better, or find faith, the magazine all together can call out to almost everyone.