The three goals of palliative care are the relief of physical, emotional, and spiritual distress. To accomplish this really well we need expert communication about what is happening and what to expect. We need skilled coordination across all the different settings that patients traverse in a serious illness. We actually now have a growing body of evidence that supports what…
In May, I attended the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul and then conducted a field visit to the Syrian border to plan our upcoming field-based training programs. The trip was a strange, exciting mix of two entirely different parts of the humanitarian aid worker experience. From advocacy in a suit and tie on one day to sifting through muddy operational…
The Mind & Life Institute continues the tradition of hosting its signature program, the annual Mind and Life Summer Research Institute (MLSRI) at the Garrison Institute every year in mid-June. Over the course of a week, a community coalesces. In a rich and intimate retreat-like setting, together we dive deeply into a theme related to contemplative studies. With a broad…
Join John Tarrant at “Imagine a Doorway: The Creative Life and Meditation,” on September 16-18. Click here for info and to register. Every creature alive has an interest in getting out of the cage, prison, or golden palace where their idea of themselves was formed and meditation is essentially an escape art. My earliest memories are of learning how to…
What is your relationship with technology? Does it feel balanced or out of control? As part of our “Garrison Talks at the JCC” event series, teachers and authors Sharon Salzberg and Ethan Nichtern recently discussed whether it’s possible to mindfully use technology. Some of the key ideas explored: In a technologically-amplified world it’s even more important to have a way to…
The Franciscan contemplative Richard Rohr wrote that “contemplation is a long, loving look at what really is.” This orientation is powerfully countercultural. Forces – human, cultural, technological – make it difficult to adopt this contemplative stance; one must often stand outside of cultural norms to do so. The first challenge is with the word “long.” Rohr means sustained, deep, and…
Professor Rhonda Magee has been working for years to bring a social justice dimension to the contemplative studies field. Her own contemplative practices are based in her Christian heritage and supported by deep study and practice in the Buddhist tradition, as well as her Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training. She teaches law at the University of San Fransisco and has…
Welcome to the fourth episode of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each month, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice and human behavior. Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. As an evangelical Christian and daughter of missionaries, Dr. Hayhoe resides in the unique space between religion…