I love that you are digging even deeper on the problem! We say it is to “reduce stress”, but that is because that’s a simplified catchall that many people can relate to. You are totally right that stress a symptom. The real underlying cause is lack of awareness and peace within one's own self - the ability to separate from feelings of stress or overwhelm and not let them define you, but look at them more objectively and no longer have upsetting things ruin your day for example. The music has very strong BEATS, which give the mind something EVEN more concrete to focus on (the beat, the breathing pattern, and the teachers voice all serve as the object of attention, like a mantra) - so even though its loud, it does in fact make it easier to cultivate focus for people who find traditional objects of focus (e.g. "following the feeling of the breath") hard to anchor attention on. For anyone who finds silent meditation effective, we are so happy for them and they don't really need our new approach. What we are trying to do is create a new experience that resonates with people who are more drawn to upbeat styles so we can help more people unlock more peace and happiness.

The issue is the use of the word “meditation”. It's just an “umbrella term”. There are literally dozens of techniques that use the word “meditation” to describe them. The variation is astounding, and some have very little in common from a purely external point of view.

> It's a symptom, like fever. If you treat the symptom without addressing the cause, what good is it?

Quite good when the symptom is harmful in itself, which both fevers that are sufficiently high and stress can very much be.

> It is said to "reduce stress", but stress is mostly the result of external stimuli. It's a symptom, like fever. If you treat the symptom without addressing the cause, what good is it?

As a long time meditator I agree with you, this is a very insightful comment. Unfortunately many of the things sold as "meditation" in the west are totally divorced from their original intent and are repackaged as stress reduction or performance enhancing instead. I find that trend quite dangerous.

Meditation (dhyana) is multifaceted and has many different traditions, but the major forms all tend to be about mind training in order to help the practitioner have some sort of realization about the nature of self. What that self is is where traditions diverge.

So yes you'd be correct in saying that stress is a symptom and focusing solely on these sorts of things is treating a symptom. You can certainly become addicted to these stress-reducing activities and end up not fundamentally altering the root cause. You see it in these western health spaces a lot, the people that come in and take intense daily yoga classes and keep crashing into depression once the endorphin highs go away since they're not focusing on treating the fundamental issues.

The path of meditation is hugely beneficial though and is not just about symptom treating in traditional lineages.

> stress is mostly the result of external stimuli.

This is a common misconception when the concept of biological stress is applied to humans. It stems from the correct observation that an increase in external stressors usually increases stress.

If you are interested in the science, two helpful models to conceptualise stress are Lazarus' stress model [1] and the jobs-demands-resources model [2].

Stress is the result of a lack of resources to deal with demands (stressors), not stressors themselves! As an example, most of us will never be air traffic controllers, simply because we would not be able to deal with the demands.

This is not to say the most effective way to treat stress isn't to remove the stressor. It's simply another avenue that can be pursued in parallel, and sometimes the only one available, in particular when stressors are internal (think negative thoughts, phobias, mental health).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appraisal_theory

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_demands-resources_model