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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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 …
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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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 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 …
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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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 …
The scientific study of contemplative practices, their mechanisms and effects has provided significant insights into aspects of the human mind and behaviour. When Jon Kabat-Zinn insists that mindfulness is not a technique but a way of being, he is echoing how the world’s wisdom traditions commonly have conceived of the path towards realization: it involves …
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The 2016 Mind and Life Summer Research Institute (MLSRI) will be devoted to the theme of context, and its relevance for basic mental processes as well as effects of contemplative practices. Findings from the cognitive and social sciences, humanities, and philosophy increasingly suggest that context shapes mind in fundamental ways. With regard to contemplative studies, practices that were once embedded within traditional religious cultures are now being widely disseminated across a variety of globalized, largely secular settings. Contextual factors impact the very course and outcome of these practices, and if not carefully considered, even well-intended efforts can lead to unsatisfactory or incomplete results.
The 2017 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute gives attention to scientific, humanistic and first-person contemplative perspectives on intersubjectivity and social connectivity. Plenary presentations, workshops and small group discussions explore interrelational human dynamics, including how we relate to ourselves and others, and to community and strangers. Faculty from across a multitude of disciplines present research findings on the meditative cultivation of pro-social emotions, intergroup dynamics, social and embodied cognition, cognitive ecology, implicit bias and social justice.
