Contemplative Pedagogy: Frequently Asked Questions

Teaching Theology & Religion, 2011

What is contemplative pedagogy and how is it practiced in Religious Studies classrooms? Contemplative pedagogy cultivates inner awareness through first-person investigations, often called "contemplative practices." Contemplative teaching practices range widely: silent sitting meditation, compassion practices, walking meditation, deep listening, mindfulness, yoga, calligraphy, chant, guided meditations, nature observation, self-inquiry, and many others. Since narrative is a mode of instruction prevalent in contemplative literature, the article includes first-hand reflections from students and a narrative account of how an initially skeptical professor came to incorporate contemplative teaching methods into her courses. It expands from the personal narratives to highlight the work of many contemplative professors in the field. These real-life examples are put into the context of recent publications on shifts in higher education and meditation research. The article seeks to demonstrate the power of contemplative teaching to fulfill many hopes for liberal arts learning. Of particular importance is its emphasis on interior qualities of lifelong impact, such as self-knowledge and ethical cultivation.

is one of a small number of undergraduate programs that offer a holistic, transformative, and integrative approach to psychology. One important dimension of the program's educational approach is the use of contemplative practices in the classroom. Drawing on the teaching experiences of four experienced faculty members, the author discusses the multiple educational purposes that contemplative pedagogies serve as well as the various strategies used to introduce and integrate these transformational pedagogies into the classroom. The author also discusses ways to maintain students' psychological safety, ensure instructors' contemplative competence, and maintain the separation of church and state.

Contemplative pedagogy focuses on creating a sense of presence within educators to effectively educate the whole person through mindfulness in teaching. As I engage in a self-study, I develop initial components for the way I employ contemplative pedagogy. I aim to understand myself as an educator in order to teach effectively. One way to enable particular kinds of understandings is through self-study methodology. The foundational framework that develops through my ongoing self-study may interest those who are unfamiliar with the terrain of contemplative pedagogy. For the purposes of this article, I place an emphasis on the philosophy and ethics classes that I taught at Middlesex County College in New Jersey, although I teach several classes on many campuses. My philosophical method requires me to engage in a self-study of my teaching practices. My project involves self-study as a philosophical research methodology that aims to inform educators and rethink the theories and praxis of teaching. As I work towards improvement- aimed pedagogy, I make myself vulnerable as I share my experiences with my Peer Scholar. My Peer Scholar, which some researchers call a “critical friend”, deliberates with me to challenge epistemological assumptions along with suspicions. The self-study dialogue with my Peer Scholar causes me to define initial components of how I engage in an improvement-aimed contemplative pedagogy. My hope is to support those who wish to implement contemplative pedagogy in higher education as I relate my working framework based on the themes that developed from the deliberation. The components in the article that convey how I engage in contemplative pedagogy are not meant to serve as a checklist or stern procedure for classroom activities. I share these components as aspects of my contemplative pedagogy, with suggestive scripts, not as a rigid structure but rather as a work in progress that is always under construction.

Horizons, 2019

spirituality at least, contemplative practices seem to be powerful means of learning. At the same time, I have encountered something of what Purser and Loy call the Faustian bargain of McMindfulness: students find that practicing makes them feel better, so they come to assume that the purpose of practice is feeling better. This is one of my failures and points to the need to contextualize more effectively the practices I introduce.

At Brown and a few other universities such as Amherst, Emory, Rice, Evergreen State, University of Redlands, CUNY, and Michigan, small dedicated bands of practitionerscholars and scientists have been slowly developing the new academic field of Contemplative Studies. Financed by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, the Mind and Life Institute, the Frederick Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism, the Fetzer Institute, the Hershey Family Foundation, and others, these people have been forging this new and important field through their innovative research and through designing courses that incorporate the study of contemplative practices. At Brown we have developed a flexible and integrated program of study that includes courses that have specific contemplative components and others that, while they do not, provide subjects of study necessary to round out the concentrations (or majors) that students have designed. To this point we have graduated nine students with several more in the pipeline who have utilized Brown's Independent Concentration option to design their own majors in a variety of Humanities, Arts, and Science topics that contain contemplative dimensions. Two of them are currently graduate students in Psychology and Neuroscience; two are in Medical School; one is in a graduate program in Contemplative and Peace Studies; two are teaching in public school; and two are living in contemplative center in the United States and in Nepal.

Antistasis, 2012

This article explores the history of the current re-emergence of a contemplative orientation in education. While referencing an ancient history it primarily examines the history of contemporary contemplative education through three significant stages, focusing on the third. The first was arguably initiated by the introduction of Buddhism to the USA through Chinese immigration that started in 1840; the second began in the late 1960s and early 70s with the establishment of three significant tertiary institutions that engage contemplative practice and theory. The third, which began in 1995 with the founding of the Centre for Contemplative Mind in Society (CCMIS) is introduced through five developmental influences. This contemporary and ancient history traces the continuing presence of the contemplative in education to counter suggestions that contemplative education may be a fleeting trend. Rather, it indicates that contemplative practice, which grounds this approach in education, is an essential aspect of who we are and how we learn.

In his call for renewal in higher education, Zajonc (2010) addresses the triumvirate of experience, contemplation and transformation. Zajonc, a professor of Physics who has written extensively about Goethe's science contributions, decries the fact despite decades of research in developmental psychology and neuroplasticity, educators seldom incorporate pedagogy from " best practices " research in their teaching. Furthermore, tertiary institutions rarely embrace transformative views of pedagogy and become bogged down in the quagmire of tradition and the status quo. Contemplative pedagogy, with its focus on teaching methods designed to cultivate deepened awareness, concentration and insight, fosters other ways of knowing and experiencing ourselves, others, and the world in which we live. Complementing rational, linear educational perspectives with creative and critical approaches, this form of inquiry is positioned as a new paradigm for the scholarship of teaching and learning through refined attention emphasizing direct experience, contemplation and transformation. Heeding the call for renewal in university curricula, our chapter contributes to the transformative paradigm by discussing the conceptualization and integration of contemplative pedagogy in a School of Education course, Mindfulness in Education and two interdisciplinary courses Opening to Other Ways of Knowing and Being and Neuropsychology and Meditation. The aim of this chapter is to provide well-intentioned professors with pedagogical frameworks and practices that will enable the contemplative goals of the course to be more fully reached in service of facilitating transformative learning experiences for students.

Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 2012

Drawing from their own contemplative practices teachers are continually training in observation and self-reflection. Their own contemplative practices along with a profound understanding of the curricular design, enable teachers to continually and knowingly meet students within the context of the student's own personal journey. Together, teachers and students are inspired to view each day as a fresh opportunity to express more deeply their personal gifts, manifesting their inherent intelligence, compassion and confidence.

Religious Studies Review, 2018