Written in collaboration with the Garrison Institute How do we emotionally and socially construct our notions of difference and “the other?” Are there core truths about otherness that transcend geographic or racial boundaries? In June, more than 130 scientists, scholars, students, and activists from 19 countries gathered at Mind & Life’s 15th Summer Research Institute …
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2018 SRI Reflections: “I judge less. I understand more.”
Nourished. Connected. Validated. Protected. Challenged. Humbled. Grateful. These were just a few of the words used by participants at Mind & Life’s 2018 Summer Research Institute (SRI) to describe their experience. In keeping with the event’s theme, “Engaging Cultural Difference and Human Diversity,” Mind & Life’s 15th annual SRI was the most diverse ever, bringing …
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Six Positive Steps Toward Educational Renewal
While educational systems have long stressed academic achievement and individual advancement, a growing movement is calling for an education of the heart. And that’s good news for all of us. As Mind & Life Institute (MLI) strives to connect our support of contemplative research with real-world needs, education is now a critical theme. Our PEACE …
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Why It’s Time: “Engaging Cultural Difference and Human Diversity”
Uncomfortable, even risky questions lie at the heart of the Mind & Life Institute’s 15th annual Summer Research Institute (SRI), which begins June 2. Given the human capacity for empathy and intrinsic interdependence with others, what is it that drives us apart? “If we’re all so good at connectivity and inclusivity, then why are we …
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Pain Relief without Opioids?
The latest statistics about America’s opioid epidemic are staggering. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate an average of 125 deaths from opioid overdoses per day in the United States—that means each month, we’re seeing a tragedy more deadly than September 11th. Between July 2016 and September 2017, hospitalizations from opioid overdoses jumped 30 percent …
Tania Singer’s Exploration into How Meditation Training Transforms the Brain, the Individual, and Society at Large
During her recent visit to the Mind & Life offices in Charlottesville, social neuroscientist Dr. Tania Singer spoke as much about the heart as the brain. Singer is the director of the Department of Social Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. She is on the board …
The ever-evolving connection between culture and human biology
An Interview with Carol Worthman, Ph.D. Can you please give us a brief description of what you study? What I study with my lab is the interaction of culture and biology as they shape differential mental and physical health. Currently, we have a few studies around the world examining these interactions. For instance, we have …
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Promoting Openness and Transparency in the Contemplative Sciences
For the past two decades, a small but growing number of scientists, philosophers, and scholars of religion have been building a unique community at the crossroads of their disciplines — a place where they can push the boundaries of traditional research to shine new light on fundamental questions about the human experience. What is this …
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Interconnection, Inclusivity and Transdisciplinary Collaboration in Contemplative Research
Each year, the Mind & Life Institute hosts the Summer Research Institute to bring together scholars, researchers, professionals and practitioners from a variety of fields who share an interest in contemplative research. The purpose of this program is to bring students, recent graduates, junior faculty and postdocs into conversation with established investigators in order to …
The Monastery and the Microscope: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mind, Mindfulness, and the Nature of Reality
ORDER NOW Edited by Wendy Hasenkamp with Janna White (Yale University Press) ISBN: 9780300218084 In 2013, during a landmark Mind & Life dialogue at a Tibetan monastery in southern India, with an audience of thousands of monks and nuns, the Dalai Lama gathered with leading scientists, philosophers and monastics for in-depth discussions on the nature of …
