Mindfulness: Foundation for Teaching and Learning
March 19 – 21, 2010
Cambridge, MA
Events
- Daniel Siegel Keynote Address: From Me to We: A New Look at Resilience and Well-Being: Friday, March 19
- Mindfulness in Education Conference: Saturday, March 20
- A Day of Courage and Renewal: Sunday, March 21
Click here to download a flyer of the conference
Mindfulness meditation has been practiced for thousands of years as a way to reduce suffering and cultivate inner peace. Research shows that mindfulness also enhances learning and attention. There is growing interest in the possibility that this ancient meditative practice can support education and learning for both children and adults. Many educational institutions, including UCLA, Stanford, UCSF, and PENN have embraced mindfulness as an educational intervention by introducing it into their curricula and conducting research in the field. This three-day event will explore the uses of mindfulness in education.
Keynote Address
Daniel Siegel
From Me to We: A New Look at Resilience and Well-Being
Friday, March 19th 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
University Hall (Lesley University)
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA
Cost $35* (Includes a copy of Dr. Siegel’s new book Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, Bantam, 2009)
Sponsors: Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, Lesley University
Questions about the keynote address only, contact Laura Montijo:lmontijo@prajnopaya.org or 617.324.6030×1
Dr. Siegel, clinical psychiatrist, researcher, writer, and award-winning educator, will speak about reflective skills of mindsight and the role their cultivation plays in activating brain circuits that underlie resilience and well-being and empathy and compassion as well.
Dan Siegel, MD, is a clinical psychiatrist, researcher, writer, and award-winning educator. He is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine where he is a Co-Investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development and is Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization that focuses on how the development of insight, compassion and empathy in individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed text, The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience (Guilford, 1999). His book with Mary Hartzell, M.Ed., Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive (Tarcher, 2003) explores the application of this newly emerging view of the mind, the brain, and human relationships. His latest book is The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being (W.W. Norton, 2007) and his next book Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation (Bantam) is due out in December 2009.
Mindfulness in Education Conference
Saturday, March 20th 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
University Hall (Lesley University)
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA
Cost: $80* (includes breakfast and lunch)
Sponsors: Lesley University, Mindfulness in Education Network, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, Friends Council on Education, Association for Mindfulness in Education, Courage & Renewal Northeast
Questions about the conference only, contact Richard Brady:mindfulnesseducation@rcn.com or 301.651.6118
Mindfulness-Based Education (MBE), a powerful tool to decrease stress, deepen learning, enhance academic performance, and promote emotional and social well-being, is increasingly recognized as essential for students, educators and parents. MBE may help to develop the capacity for attention and awareness, creating optimal conditions for teaching and learning. This day-long conference will include a plenary panel consisting of leaders in the field, interest group break-out sessions, and mindfulness practice sessions.
Conference Schedule
8:30 – 9:00 am Conference registration and breakfast
9:00 – 10:30 Conference opening and Plenary Panel Presentations
10:45 – 12:00 Interactive discussion with panel members
12:00 – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 – 2:15 and 2:30 – 3:45 pm Break-out sessions
4:00 – 4:30 pm Conference closing
Break-out sessions tentatively include:
- Early childhood education
- Teaching young children in elementary school
- Teaching children in middle school
- Teaching young adults in high school
- Teaching university students
- Teaching teachers
- Research on mindfulness
- Developing a personal practice
- Integrating personal practice and work
- Parenting
- Plenary Panel
Sara W. Lazar, PhD, is a neuroscientist in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. The focus of her research is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying meditation, both in clinical settings and to promote and preserve health and well-being in healthy individuals. One main focus of her work is determining how yoga and meditation influence brain structure, and how these changes influence behavior. She has been practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation since 1994, and is a Board member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.
Amy Saltzman, MD, is a holistic physician, mindfulness teacher, wife and mother. She has been teaching mindfulness for over 14 years. She is the founder and director of the Association for Mindfulness in Education. Her passion is supporting children and adults in discovering the Still Quiet Place within. She has two research studies through the Stanford Department of Psychology: evaluating the benefits of teaching mindfulness to child-parent pairs and to children in elementary school. Dr. Saltzman offers lectures and courses for schools, parenting organizations, and education and medical conferences. She also provides individual mindfulness instruction and holistic medical care to children and adults.
Paul Wapner, PhD, is Associate Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics Program in the School of International Service at American University. His books include the award-winning Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics(SUNY 1996) and forthcoming book, Living through the End of Nature: The Future of American Environmentalism (MIT Press 2010). Paul has has developed two courses focused specifically on contemplative practices: “Contemplation and Political Change,” and “The Practice of Environmentalism” and has been teaching a three-week, summer workshop at the Lama Foundation in San Cristobal, New Mexico, titled, “Contemplative Sustainable Design.” Paul has been a Contemplative Mind in Society Fellow and member of the Fetzer Institute-sponsored Inter-generational Mentoring Community.
A Day of Courage and Renewal
Full-day workshop, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
University Hall (Lesley University)
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA
Cost $60* (includes lunch)
Sponsors: Lesley University, Courage & Renewal Northeast, Friends Council on Education
Questions about the Sunday workshop only, contact Lisa Sankowski:lsankows@wellesley.edu or 781.283.2861
In this full-day retreat, emerging from principles described in Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach, participants will engage in a wide range of contemplative practices to explore the inner landscape of the teaching life. Facilitators will support experiences engaging heart and mind in reflection and insight. Individual and group activities will include personal experience, the power of poetry and teaching stories, journaling, and art, as the stimuli for reflection and dialog on our lives and our teaching.
Workshop Facilitators
Charlene Voogd Cochrane, PhD, is Professor and Dean of Faculty at Lesley University. An educator for over 25 years, her research and writing focus on cultural identity and responses to institutional racism, especially the interplay of gender, race, class and religion in women’s lives. She recently co-taught “Mindfulness and Professional Practice” at Lesley. She has been a Courage & Renewal Facilitator for eight years, facilitating a variety of multi-session and shorter Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead retreats.
Irene McHenry, PhD, is a psychologist, school consultant, author/editor of numerous publications including the 2009 Tuning In: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning. She consults with organizations nationwide providing professional development and teaching mindfulness for administrators, faculty, trustees and aspiring leaders. Irene is a founder of several schools and initiated the founding of the Friends Council’s SPARC program – Spirited Practice and Renewed Courage, based on Parker Palmer’s teacher formation principles. She is the Executive Director of the Friends Council on Education and Board President for the Council for American Private Education.
Pamela Seigle, MS, is Executive Director of Courage & Renewal Northeast. Based at Wellesley College and built upon the work of Parker J. Palmer, Courage & Renewal Northeast provides retreat-based programs — Courage to Teach, Courage to Lead, and Circles of Trust — to educators and others in serving professions. Pamela is the founder of the nationally recognized Open Circle Program, a social and emotional learning program based at the Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College. She is co-author of the Open Circle Curriculum.
*Additional services charges will be applied.
Hotel Accommodations: A limited number of overnight accommodations are reserved at the Mary Prentiss INN in Cambridge for $169 + tax/night, including breakfast. To reserve a room and receive the group discounted rate, please call 617-661-2929 before February 1st and mention the Mindfulness in Education Conference. You might also check the Doubletree Guest Suites in Boston (a cab ride away from the events) on www.expedia.com.
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