大发

Transforming the Classroom through Contemplative Pedagogy

May 21, 2025 (9am to 4pm)

One-day Professional Development Workshop at 大发

After a very long semester, here is an opportunity to pause, reflect and re-connect with your deepest intention. Re-ignite the joy that brought you to higher education. In this workshop we will introduce you to a variety of contemplative pedagogical practices such as mindfulness meditation, reflective reading and writing, deep listening, contemplative movement, compassion and loving kindness. The benefits of these practices include increased attention, deep learning, reduced anxiety, enhanced resiliency, increased connection with others and emotional equanimity. The workshop will provide teachers with resources to support the incorporation of contemplative awareness and practice within all aspects of teaching. We will explore the rationale for contemplative approaches and how to communicate with students and colleagues about their inclusion.

What is mindfulness?

鈥淢indfulness is paying attention to your life, here and now, with kindness and curiosity.鈥� 鈥� Amy Saltzman.

What is contemplative pedagogy?

Contemplative pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that seeks to combine wisdom with love, insight with compassion. The underlying assumptions are that learning is:

• Holistic: Learning is a deeply experiential process that involves our whole selves including our body, mind and emotions;
• Mindful: Learning happens in the present, not in the past nor the future therefore you need to be wholly present i.e. bring mindfulness and total awareness to the learning process;
• Connected: Learning occurs with the intention of being connected with ourselves, others, and with our physical, social and cultural world. We do not approach learning with fear, anger or with intent to harm. We approach learning gently with love, awe and wonder.

Why use mindfulness/contemplative pedagogical practices?

Research has shown us that mindfulness/contemplative pedagogical practices can:

• Evoke from students a number of important inner resources that they can 鈥� but frequently don鈥檛 鈥� bring to bear on learning. These include cognitive, emotional, and motivational resources.
• Reduce stress
• Increase focused attention
• Regulate emotional reactivity
• Bring the 鈥渨hole student鈥� to presence in the classroom
• Connect students to the intention of the learning

If you have questions, please contact Ranjeeta Basu at rbasu@csusm.edu

Transforming Higher Education Through Contemplative Practices

June 21 - 23, 2024

Three-day Conference in San Marcos, California (McMahan House, 大发)

We invite you to join us for a three-day international conference on how contemplative practices can transform higher education. The unprecedented events of the last several years have made it evident that we need to prepare ourselves and our students to be resilient in the face of constant uncertainty, to be compassionate and collaborative in our efforts to find solutions to local and global problems, and how to acknowledge each other鈥檚 humanity and treat each other with respect and dignity. In other words, we need to transform higher education. Research has demonstrated that contemplative practices can expand our capacity for compassion, focus and resilience.

This conference will provide a forum for experts and novices from all fields to explore, learn and share contemplative practices that can help transform the educational experience of our students and improve the wellbeing of our faculty, staff and students. Come join us for a conversation about how we can use contemplative practices to transform higher education. Our long-term goal is to create a global contemplative community of educators-scholars- practitioners that can nourish and sustain our teaching, research, service, and personal practice.

We are excited to announce our keynote speaker Rhonda Magee

In her words: 鈥淐ontemplative education is key to developing socially just classrooms capable of delivering transformative education that works for all鈥�.

 

• A Conference to Bring Us All Together

  We wish to welcome you all to this conference wherever you might be on your journey to learn more about mindfulness. Transforming higher education is not going to be easy.  We need all who are willing and interested in learning and sharing to be part of this effort. 

  If you are:

  • An EDUCATOR and want to learn and/or share how to incorporate contemplative practices into your classroom
  • A RESEARCHER and want to learn and/or share research findings about the impact of mindfulness on the wellbeing and academic success of our campus communities
  • A MEMBER OF A CAMPUS COMMUNITY and want to learn and/or share how contemplative practices can transform the educational experiences of students
  • A STUDENT and want to learn and/or share more about how contemplative practices can transform higher education
  • AN ARTIST, SOCIAL WORKER, HEALTH PROFESSIONAL or in any other field that our students might be entering into and want to learn and/or share how mindfulness practices can be integrated into such careers;

  Then this conference is for you!

• What Can I Expect at this Conference?

  YOU CAN EXPECT:

  A warm, welcoming and supportive environment;

  Formal and informal sessions on all aspects of scholarship and practice around how contemplative approaches can and have transformed teaching and higher education and the improved well-being of our entire campus community;

  The opportunity to connect with others over meals, informal sharing and practice sessions and performances;

  Continued access to shared resources and opportunities for collaboration when you leave the conference;

  It is our vision that you will leave our conference feeling well-nourished and rejuvenated, equipped to start or to continue your work with contemplative practices within a supportive community. 

• Learn More About Our Story

  We launched the Center for Contemplative Practices in July 2022. Since then we were honored to host Dr. Thupten Jinpa as our arts and lectures speaker in fall 2023. We have also applied for and received grants to improve the wellbeing and academic success of our students. More information about our research projects.

  We are now ready to move to the next step where we look forward to expanding our community to include all of you as we work together to create a more just and compassionate world for our students and campus communities. 

• Our Purpose

  Center for Contemplative Practices Mindful 大发 is to provide support to all members of the campus community through contemplative practices, pedagogy, and research that foster deep learning, reduced stress, increased capacity for compassionate listening, and increased well-being.

  鈥淚f they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.鈥� - Nelson Mandela