Status Report, Contemplative Higher Education:

A Report to the Academic Councilof Naropa University

November 6, 2013

Dr. Judith Simmer-BrownDistinguished Professor of Contemplative and

Religious Studies

• Contemplative Education is the heritage of Naropa University since its founding.

• Diversity and Sustainability are important (common stated goal of many universities).

• But our focus on Contemplative Education is

the key to our uniqueness, our success, our contributions to higher education, and our future.

Auspicious moment:

• Recent events have reaffirmed our commitment to Naropa’s heritage

• BUT it is important not to retrench, become provincial, retreat from collaborations, opportunities in higher education.

Instead…

Given trends in mainstream culture and higher education, now is the time to make strategic decisions about Naropa’s future, and our engagement with higher education and the larger world.

Our future depends on it…

Mindfulness and Yoga in Mainstream Culture

• Exponential increase in publications on mindfulness (50-fold increase in 20 years, since 1994)

• Proliferation of mindfulness & yoga programs in

• No longer considered “religious” or even “spiritual”—purely for health, productivity, and success

• Medicine & Health Care• Corporations• Non-profits

• Government

• Military• K-12 education

Documentation of these trends…

• Mindfulness Research Monthly• Williams & Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness: Diverse

Perspectives…• Mindful Magazine• Modern Yoga Research Journal• Suzanne Newcomb, The Development of

Modern Yoga

This Report focuses on trends infour dimensions of contemplative

higher education:• Contemplative Pedagogy• Contemplative Studies

• University Research on Contemplative Practice

• University Research on Contemplative Pedagogy

I. Contemplative Pedagogy:

• Applying contemplative pedagogies (teaching methods) in the higher education classroom.

• Not just 5 minutes of sitting and then business as usual, but contemplative methods, readings, assignments, and evaluation.

Institutes and Initiatives

• Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education

• Center for Courage and Renewal

Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE)

• From mid-1990’s, grew from Nathan Cummings Foundation

• Originally headed by Arthur Zajonc, Amherst College physicist and Mirabai Bush. Now, headed by Daniel Barbezat, Amherst College economist

• Barbara Dilley an early Fellow

• Fosters contemplation in the academy, has advanced the credibility and importance of contemplative education

• Conferences, workshops, retreats (tend to be academic)

Center for Courage and Renewal (CCR)

• Founded by Quaker visionary, Parker Palmer

• K-12, higher ed, professions• Circles of Trust approach• Seminal influence on

development of NU contemplative education

• Workshops, professional development, retreats

University initiatives in contemplative pedagogy (Mostly generated by a single visionary faculty member)

• University of Redlands, California--Fran Grace, Religious Studies and Lorenzo Garbo, Economics

• Contemplative Studies, Rice University--Anne Klein, Religious Studies

• Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University, Tracy Pingree, Director, Nashville, TN.

• Contemplative Practices for a Technological Society Conference, Virginia Tech. Douglas Lindner, Engineering.

More University Initiatives• Curriculum, Teaching and Learning

(CTL), OISE, U. of Toronto -- Jack P. Miller. ( Long time friend of MA ED. ) Graduate Teacher Education

• Creativity & Consciousness, University of Michigan--Ed Sarath, Music

• Contemplative Clinical Practice: Advanced Spirituality and Social Work – Certificate Program—Carolyn Jacobs, Dean of the School of Social Work, Smith College

• University of Missouri, Kennon Sheldon, Psychology

• Lesley University, Cambridge, MA—Nancy Waring, Interdisciplinary Studies

• Montclair State University—David Keiser, Education

K-12 Sample Initiatives • SMART-in-Education, based in Boulder, founded by Ulco

Visser, now Rona Wilensky and Mark Wilding—emotional regulation and mindfulness

• CARE for Teachers (Cultivating Awareness and Resilience for Teachers) at Garrison Institute. Co-founder (2007) is Richard Brown of Naropa

• Mindfulness in Education Network. Founded in 2001 by TNH student, Richard Brady--Facilitates communication between teachers, principals, schools re: benefits of mindfulness for educational settings

II. Contemplative Studies Programs:

• Includes universities engaged in some way with contemplative pedagogy, but that also study empirical evidence related to the use of meditation to facilitate the achievement of traditional educational goals. Generally better funded.

University Programs:Contemplative Studies

• University of Virginia (UVA)• Brown University, Providence

• Emory University, Atlanta

Case Study: Contemplative Sciences Center, University of

Virginia• Teresa Sullivan, University

President, approached by Sonia and Paul Jones of Greenwich, CN, wanted to give $12 million for the creation of a yoga center.

• President Sullivan brokered this into collaboration between Religious Studies, School of Nursing, School of Education, and the Medical School

• David Germano, Religious Studies; Rebecca Kneedler, School of Education; Dorrie Fontaine, School of Nursing

• Later, also schools of Architecture, Business, Commerce, Leadership and Public Policy, and Continuing & Professional Studies

• Jeffrey Walker, President of the Board of the Center—our 2013 Commencement speaker

Other Contemplative Studies programs at Universities

• Contemplative Studies, Brown University (the first elite university to have such a program)

• Hal Roth, Religious Studies

• Willoughby Britton, Psychiatry

• Contemplative Studies, Emory University

• John Dunne, Religious Studies

• Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Tibet-Emory Partnership

• Charles Raison, Psychiatry, Emory Medical School

III. Research about Contemplative Practice:

• Includes university programs whose focus is on research about contemplative practice and its effects on physical health, mental health, learning, well-being, and productivity in the workplace. (Some spin-off into contemplative pedagogy, but limited.)

Institutes and Foundations that Fund

Research:

(especially for universities)

Mind and Life Institute• Founded in 1987 with dialogues

between the Dalai Lama and a small group of cognitive scientists.

• Francisco Varela, early NU faculty member, was co-founder with Adam Engle, now headed by Arthur Zajonc (former Amherst physicist)

• Jane Carpenter an early presenter• NU Board member Carolyn Jacobs is on

their Board• Thupten Jinpa is a collaborator

MLI Component Parts:

• Dialogues on contemplative practice and science• Publications• International Symposium for Contemplative Studies (held in

Denver, April 2012, many NU faculty attended)• Visiting Scholars program (Peter Grossenbacher will be

Senior Fellow)• Funding for research on contemplative practice (MLRI)• Emphasis on multi-disciplinary approaches, collaborations

between science & other disciplines, contemplatives • Education initiative, K-12 , on cultivating secular ethics

National Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)

• NIH funded research on effects of yoga• $107 million budget• Josephine P. Briggs, MD, principal investigator• Studies health claims of yoga practice• Still in early phases

University-based Research Institutes

• University of Wisconsin• University of Massachusetts

• University of Miami• Stanford University

• UCLA• University of California, Davis

Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of

Wisconsin• Founded in 2008 by renowned

neuroscientist Richie Davidson• Challenged by Dalai Lama to use scientific

research to study the positive qualities of the mind• conducts rigorous scientific research on healthy qualities of

mind—kindness, compassion, and mindfulness • Featured in Danish documentary, “Free the Mind”• Works with kindness practices, yoga and breathing practices,

especially on PTSD• Also designing digital games for school aged kids• Naropa Tibetan language grad is a PhD. student with Richie

Davidson

Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, UMass

Medical School

• Founded in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a medical doctor who applied mindfulness to patients with chronic pain

• He also founded Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

• Center is base for training and certification in MBSR• Dedicated to furthering the practice and integration of

mindfulness in the lives of individuals, institutions, and in society through a wide range of clinical, research, education, and outreach initiatives in the public and private sector.

• Saki Santorelli is Executive Director

Mindfulness Research & Practice Initiative, University of Miami

• Amishi Jha, Principal Investigator• Research in attention, working memory, and mindfulness• Aided by Jane Carpenter in study of NU students and

dathun participants at Shambhala Mountain Center

• Investigates methods for cultivating compassion and promoting altruism within individuals and society through rigorous research, scientific collaborations, and academic conferences

• Known for its annual conferences in Telluride, bringing together compassion researchers from throughout the world

• Key collaborators: Thupten Jinpa, Leah Weiss, Erika Rosenberg

Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE), Stanford University

• Founded in 2007 by James Doty, a neurosurgeon from the Medical School

Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), UCLA

• Educational programs for campus, introducing mindfulness practice, health, and brain-mind wellness

• Psychoneuroimuunology Center, research on mindfulness, behavioral science, neuroscience, immunology. Special research on ADHD.

• MARC has certification programs in Mindfulness Facilitation

• Dan Siegel on faculty, along with Diana Winston from BPF

• Weekly podcasts - guided meditations

Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis• Founded by Cliff Saron in 2002; he learned

to meditate at Naropa in 1974• Asks how the mind arises from the biology

of the brain: uses cognitive neuroscience and developmental perspectives

• Collaborated with Alan Wallace on the Shamatha Project, the most comprehensive study of meditation to date.

• Part of Shamatha Project conducted at Shambhala Mountain Center

IV. Research on Contemplative Pedagogy (K-12)

• SMART-in-Education

• Penn State--CARE for Teachers

SMART-in-Education

• Founded by Impact Foundation (Canada), then collaboration with Passageworks Institute, Boulder

• Evidenced-based personal renewal program for K-12 teachers

• MBSR is basic training• Projects in Boulder, Ann Arbor,

Vancouver, B.C.• Project Director, Rona Wilensky;• Passageworks Director, Mark

Wilding

Prevention Research Center, Penn State

• Study of Garrison Institute CARE for Teachers program that combines emotion skills instruction, mindful awareness practices and compassion-building activities

• Study of 53 teachers, urban & suburban; additional study underway with New York City teachers

• Key researchers, Mark Greenberg and Tish Jennings

• Richard Brown, Co-Director of CARE

Observations &

Recommendations

Reflection on this information:Opportunities…

• Important role of empirical evidence re: benefits of contemplative practice

• Well-funded programs all have scientific research dimension

• Two primary, sometimes unrelated, prongs of the meditation programs• Mindfulness• Compassion

• Yoga research still in its early phases

More Reflection• Temptation of university programs to gravitate toward

science rather than pedagogy• Easier to find cognitive scientists than to find

experienced, nuanced and academically trained contemplative teachers

• Plenty of money for science—contemplative practice, not so much

• Can they find contemplative subjects for their research? We have them!

Still More…• Lots of activity, not so much maturity of contemplative

experience or contemplative education• Tendency of scientific research programs to

conflate methods of contemplative practice (TM, shamatha, yogic breathing, etc.)

• Isolated individual faculty, researchers—not a whole culture of contemplative education like Naropa

• Very little higher education substantive work in the arts

What approach should WE take?

• Temptation to try to compete—but that is folly• However, many of the players would

immediately recognize our pioneering work, and want to work with us, if we think and plan strategically

• The key is collaboration, outreach, investing in our strengths, capitalizing on our pioneer status

Recommendations for Strategic Decisions:

What Will Ensure Our Future?

1. Revive CACE (Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education):

actual Center & website.

Center Itself:• Umbrella for NU contemplative initiatives• Internal and External Initiatives

– Academic and Faculty– Enrollment management– Operations & Staff– Development & Fundraising

CACE Website:http://www.naropa.edu/academics/contemplativeed/cace/

• Add faculty writing on contemplative education, such as Susan Burggraf’s comprehensive study

• Have regular podcasts re: contemplative practice from our variety of traditions

• List bibliographies, resources on contemplative education at NU and beyond (Robert Spellman’s website)

• Sample NU pedagogies from Distance Learning available here

2. Strengthen internal infrastructure re: contemplative education

• Support mentoring of new, visiting, and adjunct faculty

• Ongoing workshops, monthly, to display methods (this is already happening informally in MA ED summer program.)

• Cultivate faculty articulation, sophistication, about contemplative pedagogy

• Colloquia on evaluation, assignments, methods in the classroom—best practices

3. Provide support for staff for stress-reduction, education re contemplative

approach, mission-fit.

• Monthly mindfulness and/or yoga programs, elective

• Strengthen new employee orientation with experiential exposure to contemplative practice

• Support staff participation in Practice Day, and identify appropriate programming to support them

• Coordinate the various staff and faculty committees that are now independently working to this end

4. Support Contemplative Research Center, proposed by Graduate Dean Christine

Caldwell and others.

• Strategically identify appropriate research to support our degree programs

• Structure this as collaboration between various NU Schools and programs

• Cultivate simple empirical measures for current curriculum, both grad and undergrad

• Develop host platform for collaborations with scientific institutes, researchers from elsewhere

5. Add curriculum in the sciences to undergraduate degree.

• Build on the work of Peter Grossenbacher (Consciousness Lab) and Anne Parker, ES faculty

• Build on work of GSP faculty MacAndrew Jack, Michael Franklin, Christine Caldwell and others

• Create link with BA--perhaps a focused cognitive science program?

6. Strengthen and expand support for Mindfulness Instructor Training and Yoga

Teacher Training programs.

• NU certifications already offered separately by Dale Asrael and Nataraja for over a decade

• Make public trainings part of 6th School, accept qualified trainees from outside Naropa

• Use graduates of both programs for staff, community support

7. Introduce a tenure system into our faculty body.

• Improve faculty recruitment, especially mid-career academics

• Identified by national AAUP as priority for us• Attract researchers, scholars to our faculty who

currently will not consider Naropa a viable professional option (as they must give up tenure to come)

8. Offer strategic honorary degrees that affiliate us with other institutions, initiatives.

• Offer the first one to Parker Palmer, whose influence in articulating Naropa’s unique vision has endured since the late 1980’s

• Other possible nominations?• Cliff Saron, Center for Mind and Brain,

UCDavis• Mirabai Bush, Contemplative Mind and Society• Jon Kabat-Zinn, UMass Medical School• Mark Greenberg, Penn State

9. Pursue collaborations with other strategic institutes, universities and foundations.

• UVA, Contemplative Mind, Mind and Life, etc.• Co-sponsor conferences, events• Offer pedagogy training, send our faculty for

collaboration• Invite scientific researchers to study our students,

faculty, staff• Connect with Lenz, Templeton, Uberoi, Ho, and

Hemera Foundations—pursue contemplative funding options with additional foundations

10. Dramatically increase faculty development support.

• Send faculty to conferences, to learn, collaborate, present papers

• Encourage faculty research projects, skill development

• Support faculty to publish• Acknowledge faculty publications, especially in

professional or peer-reviewed academic presses and journals

11. Regenerate regional network (Rocky Mountain Contemplative Higher Education

Network, RMCHEN)

• Already begun discussions with CSU faculty re: founding of a Mindfulness Center

• Colorado College, Regis University interest• Isolated CU faculty interested• Especially encourage collaboration on mutually

beneficial projects

12. Re-establish Contemplative Pedagogy Seminars (from Lenz grant funding) for

faculty from other institutions• Begin with UVA faculty next summer? Tish Jennings

from UVA already planning to attend MAED next summer

• Co-sponsor pedagogy programs with Contemplative Mind?

• Offer these both within Naropa, as faculty training, and for faculty members from other institutions

• Capitalize on our unique contemplative arts specialty

13. Update Naropa’s website re: presentation of contemplative education--copy, photos,

graphic design.

• Our presentation is thin, formulaic, dated.• The Bow, The Seal, The Founder—all good, but can

we say more? Articulate our mission, approach?• Emphasize roots, yes—but how about branches, the

present, the future?• Need to emphasize that we are educational

institution, University—not Esalen, Kripalu, etc.

“Too often, people think that solving the world’s problems is based on conquering the earth, rather than touching the earth,

touching ground.”