In late 2019, Helen Weng, PhD was honored with the Mind & Life Institute Annual Service Award. The award is given to individuals who are distinguished by the breadth and depth of their involvement with Mind & Life, and who embody its core values of compassion, integrity, curiosity, inclusion, and excellence. Below is a tribute …
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Fellow Spotlight: Brooke D. Lavelle
In this month’s Fellow Spotlight we are pleased to share the work of Brooke D. Lavelle, PhD. Brooke is the Co-Founder and President of the Courage of Care Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to facilitating the co-creation of a more just, compassionate world. Together with her diverse, interdisciplinary, and multi-generational team at Courage, Brooke provides training …
Othering and Belonging
Othering and Belonging is the problem of the 21st century. In this talk, the presenter will describe how the changes in the world are creating deep stress and anxiety. This process is likely to increase for the foreseeable future. This stress is both biological and ontological. The way we respond is social. The underlying issue …
Dismantling Oppression from the Inside Out
From the presenter’s vantage point as a therapist of color, a teacher of courses on race, and a researcher in multicultural psychology, she has been privileged to bear witness to the human struggle to make sense of oneself in a racialized and gendered world. As old narratives are directly challenged by evidence of structural oppression …
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2020 Summer Research Institute
The world, in the face of pressing global ecological, economic and political challenges, stands in need of social systems renewal. We need generations of individuals, both young and old, who are skilled in the virtuous habits of the head, the heart and the hand, and who therefore are positioned to address the global challenges of our times. How can prosocial qualities be cultivated in individuals, families, schools and communities such that we support generations of people in becoming “forces for good” in the world today?
The Quest for Serenity Among the Disenfranchised
This talk explores the spiritual quest of those who are impacted by systemic oppression and the ways the quest focuses on personhood and the need to access true liberation and wellness. There has always been the call for human dignity by those who are dehumanized, which leads to a deep yearning to discover one’s own …
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2019 Summer Research Institute
Political strife, immigration, cultural and racial conflict, environmental concerns, depression, and distraction—these issues and many more influence our daily lives as we struggle to find personal well-being and social harmony. How does the latest research on mental habits, contemplation, and compassion inform opportunities to create change for ourselves and others?
Seeding Peace in the Heart of Conflict: A Think Tank Project in Colombia
Siblings Juan and Juliana Santoyo received funding from Mind & Life in 2017 to hold a Think Tank to design and plan the implementation of a contemplative practice-based program for ex-combatants in Colombia’s peacebuilding process (members of the program’s pilot pictured above). They believe that nourishing the ability to heal and transform individually and with …
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Sona Dimidjian – To Be of Benefit: The Promise of Contemplative Research and Practice
“To Be of Benefit: The Promise of Contemplative Research and Practice” with Sona Dimidjian In 2002, His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote, “The desperate state of our world calls us to action…We all are responsible for creating a better future.” Over 15 years later, those words inspire and alarm. Enormous suffering exists in our world …
Laura Rendon – Contemplative Education Centering Social Justice
“Toward a Transformed Vision of Contemplative Education Centering Social Justice” with Laura Rendón Our world is currently being confronted with chilling social issues which call for a framework of contemplative education that fosters what Latina feminist theorist, Gloria Anzaldúa, called “conocimiento,” a high level of enlightenment fostered through creative contemplative practices such as art, poetry, …
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