Our world is currently being confronted with chilling social issues which call for a framework of contemplative education that fosters what Latina feminist theorist, Gloria Anzaldúa, called “conocimiento,” a high level of enlightenment fostered through creative contemplative practices such as art, poetry, dance and meditation. The path toward enlightenment connects inner work with public acts …
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Contemplative Session: Ancient Hebrew Sound Meditation
In the ancient Hebrew tradition, sacred sound is utilized as a primary contemplative practice to shift consciousness into a state of greater presence and expansion. In this session, we will explore the contemplative dimensions of the “Shema”, an ancient Hebrew chant that comes from the Hebrew Bible and that serves as one of the most …
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Standing Meditation and Qigong
These sessions will explore Daoist (Taoist) standing meditation, Yangsheng (nourishing life) and movement practices. Also referred to as Qigong (ch’i-kung; qi Exercises), Yangsheng is a form of health and longevity practice. Each session will begin with formal instruction on quiet standing (jingzhan) and then explore specific movement practices. While some attention will be given to …
Contemplative Session: Watching the Breath
Hosh dar dam, “be aware of your breath,” is the first principle in Sufi meditation. In this session we will enter into a state of subtle self-awareness by attending to the influx and outflow of the breath. Hitherto experienced as a more or less homogenous monolith, the body now reveals itself as a dynamic vortex …
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Yoga
Mind and currents of sensation in the body are intimately linked. These morning classes will be an exploration of the interweaving threads of form, breathing, and gazing upon which yoga postures are strung together to produce a smooth, rhythmic flow of movement. Learning to release the palate and to follow the patterns of the breath …
Keynote Panel “Contemplative Practice Enters the Digital Age”
Digital didactics, such as MOOCS and browser-based online programs have opened up realms of content to thousands who for reasons of geography, expense or convenience would otherwise not have had access to these materials. Allowing anyone around the world to take a course at Stanford or learn Geometry on Khan Academy has helped address educational …
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2018 International Symposium for Contemplative Research
The Mind & Life International Symposium for Contemplative Research (ISCR) is the flagship conference for interdisciplinary investigations of the mind, meditation, and other contemplative practices. We are teachers, researchers, scientists and scholars. We are activists, politicians and business leaders. We are parents, students, social workers and first responders. We are instructors, writers, filmmakers and philosophers. We are all change-makers.
Compassion in Context
Compassion has been taught and practiced since the earliest period of Buddhism, yet the role of compassion and its centrality on the path to enlightenment, as well the methods for cultivating it, have varied across diverse Buddhist traditions. The different purposes, motivations, and practices for compassion articulated in these Buddhist traditions have shaped the development …
Panel Discussion: Movement-Based Contemplative Practices
This moderated panel discussion will examine movement-based contemplative practices and the role of the body in contemplative studies. Panelists will reflect on their personal experiences of teaching, practicing, and researching embodied contemplative methods, as well as the current questions that drive their own work. Topics covered will include the body’s impact on the research process …
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Taxonomies, Lifeworlds, and Self-cultivation: Contemplative Practices in Multiple Contexts
What it means for contemplative practices to work—and what work such practices do—is different in diverse cultural contexts. This is something often obscured by scientific studies that see contemplative practices primarily in terms of brain-states. In these models, an individual performs a certain practice and, if done properly, a certain internal mental state arises. I …
