Welcome to episode six of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice and human behavior. Piya Macliing Malayao is the 27-year-old Secretary General of Katribu, a national alliance of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines. She’s also the Land is Life Regional Coordinator for South Asia and the Pacific. Land is…
In a recent “Garrison Talks at the JCC” event in New York City, “Bridging Spirituality and Activism,” Zen teacher angel Kyodo williams and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg discussed challenging questions about the relationship between personal and social transformation. How do racism and privilege prevent our collective awakening? How can each one of us affect the shortcomings not only of our own minds but…
Alison Moritsugu is an artist whose work explores how our idealized images of the natural world shape our concepts about it. In her log paintings, she paints idyllic landscapes in the Hudson River School style on the cross sections of trees, which, as she notes on her website, complicates the image because “any sense of nostalgia or celebration of nature…
Ten years ago we had a vision that a program designed to support teachers’ well-being and mindfulness would transform classroom environments. Today we celebrate our success with first day of our Tenth Annual CARE retreat at the Garrison Institute and the infographic below. Our research has confirmed that when we take CARE of our teachers, they are better prepared to…
Welcome to episode five of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice and human behavior. Lois Marie Gibbs is a renowned environmental justice activist and author. You may also know her as the champion of the love canal disaster and the mother of the superfund. In 1980, the superfund was…
Every Tuesday in June through September, Friends of the High Line offers a meditation class on the High Line in New York City from 8am to 9am. This morning’s class was led by John McIlwain, Director of the Garrison Institute’s Climate, Mind and Behavior program. “Every tradition emphasizes the importance of practicing meditation on a daily basis,” McIlwain said. “But…
In their Journey of the Universe project—which includes a film, book, and website—philosopher Brian Thomas Swimme and historian of religions Mary Evelyn Tucker attempt to tell the biggest story ever told: the history of the universe. Through a compelling blend of scientific facts and humanistic inquiry, they move from exploring the formation of the galaxies, stars, planets, and evolution of…
In the Mahåparnibbåna Sutta, there is an accounting of the monks’ response to the Buddha’s death. It seems a pretty good description of the spectrum of grief responses we might have to the loss of someone we love. … and those monks who had not yet overcome their passions wept and tore their hair, raising their arms, throwing themselves down…