Ready for some straight talk about racial bias and mindfulness? Many who examine the growth of the field of contemplative practice see it as coming only from straight, middle-class whites and corporate America. How might we work to shift that perception and to broaden the reach of our work? What practices can assist us in …
Continue reading “Mindfulness and Racial Bias: Straight Talk with Rhonda Magee JD”
As contemplative approaches are being applied in educational settings with increasing frequency, early studies using self-report and academic outcomes suggest that these programs hold promise for the well-being of both teachers and students. However, the field currently lacks empirically rigorous measures to evaluate important real-world behavior and psychological change due to the cultivation of compassion, …
Continue reading “Developing Measures of Compassion, Empathy, Care, and Kindness”
Neuroscientist, philosopher, and Mind and Life co-founder Francisco Varela (1946-2001) believed that contemplative training offers modern science novel methods for investigating the depth of human experience. In his vision, contemplative training such as meditation not only provides a new domain for scientific study, but it also offers resources for advancing scientific models of consciousness, emotion, …
In my own experience with meditation, I’ve often wondered about the difference between reading a thoughtful analysis or set of instructions, listening to an inspiring teacher, and sitting on the cushion to practice. These varied activities represent different ways of integrating information into our minds and bodies—in short, different ways of learning. Is one mode …
This presentation will highlight what we know about the neuroscience of fear and anxiety and discuss its antidotes in compassion and related qualities. Distinctions will be made between fear as a state and trait. The impact of different forms of contemplative practice on the neuroscientific bases of fear and anxiety will be highlighted. Particular attention …
Continue reading “Fear, Acceptance, and Compassion: Perspectives from Contemplative Neuroscience”
Fostering compassion and trust among individuals and groups is key to the success and sustainability of communities of care. A number of mindfulness and compassion-based contemplative interventions offer methods for enhancing connection, empathy, and care, yet these approaches too often focus on the development of intra rather than interpersonal skills. This is due in part …
The ReSource Project is a large-scale, interdisciplinary study on the effects of mental training on the brain, subjective experience, health, and behavior. Over an eleven-month period, participants practice a variety of mental exercises aimed at cultivating attention, interoceptive awareness, perspective-taking on self and others, meta-cognition, compassion, empathy, and prosocial motivation. These exercises include meditative techniques …
Continue reading “The ReSource Project: Fear, Trust, and the Effects of Mental Training”
