Wellness at MICA

Sweeps away the misconceptions around mindfulness and other forms of meditation, showing how smart practice can change our personal traits and even our genome for the better. Goleman and Davidson reveal what we can learn from a one-of-a-kind data pool that includes world-class meditators. They share for the first time findings that show how meditation--without drugs or high expense--can cultivate qualities such as selflessness, equanimity, love and compassion, and redesign our neural circuitry.

The complexities of 21st-century life, personal, social, cultural, and environmental, demand thoughtful responses, responses fostered and enhanced through contemplative experience. Contemplative education includes studies of the history, psychology, and socialcultural context of such experience, as well as the development of experiential knowledge through one or more personal practices. Contemplative education has recently emerged in the academy. Although there has been significant published discussion of postsecondary courses and programs that incorporate contemplative views and practices, there have been few studies of relevant curricula and pedagogy. This volume integrates research, theory, and practice through a fusion of perspectives and approaches, giving readers the opportunity to review contemplative educational concepts and applications in academic, social, and institutional domains.

Palmer's classic teaching manual builds on the simple premise that good teaching cannot be reduced to technique but is rooted in the identity and integrity of the teacher. Good teaching takes myriad forms but good teachers share one trait: they are authentically present in the classroom, in community with their students and their subject. They possess "a capacity for connectedness" and are able to weave a complex web of connections between themselves, their subjects, and their students, helping their students weave a world for themselves. Connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts -- the place where intellect, emotion, spirit, and will converge in the human self -- when we choose to live authentic lives.

"The Buddhist practice of mindfulness caught on in the west when we began to understand the everyday, personal benefits it brought us. Now, in this extraordinary book, the highly acclaimed thought leader and longtime English translator of His Holiness the Dalai Lama shows us that compassion can bring us even more. Based on the landmark course in compassion training Jinpa helped create at Stanford Medical School, A Fearless Heart shows us that we actually fear compassion. We worry that if we are too compassionate with others we will be taken advantage of, and if we are too compassionate with ourselves we will turn into slackers. Using science, insights from both classical Buddhist and western psychology, and stories both from others and from his own extraordinary life, Jinpa shows us how to train our compassion muscle to relieve stress, fight depression, improve our health, achieve our goals, and change our world. Practical, spiritual, and immediately relevant, A Fearless Heart will speak to readers of The Art of Happiness and Wherever You Go, There You Are"--Provided by publisher

How can we take happiness seriously as an aim of education? Noddings discusses the contributions of making a home, parenting, cherishing a place, the development of character, interpersonal growth, finding work that one loves, and participating in a democratic way of life. She explores ways to make schools happy places.

This step-by-step guide shows readers how to honestly meet and openly relate with the mind, embrace the fullness of our experience, and live in a wholehearted way as we discover the basics of meditation, from getting settled and the six points of posture to working with your breath and cultivating an attitude of unconditional friendliness, the Seven Delights: how moments of difficulty can become doorways to awakening and love, Shamatha (or calm abiding), the art of stabilizing the mind to remain present with whatever arises, thoughts and emotions as "sheer delight," instead of obstacles in meditation.

Meditation and the Classroom inventively articulates how educators can use meditation to educate the whole student. Notably, a number of universities have initiated contemplative studies options and others have opened contemplative spaces. This represents an attempt to address the inner life. It is also a sign of a new era, one in which the United States is more spiritually diverse than ever before. Examples from university classrooms and statements by students indicate benefits include increased self-awareness, creativity, and compassion.

In the years since it was first published, this influential book based on the highly innovative findings of social psychologist Dr. Ellen J. Langer and her team of researchers at Harvard made its mark for its unique concept of mindfulness, thoroughly adapted to contemporary life in the West. Langer's theory has been applied to a wide number of fields, including health, business, aging, prejudice, and learning. There is now a new psychological assessment based on her work (called the Langer Mindfulness Scale) as well as an institute in Mexico founded to apply the concepts of mindfulness to health and wellness. In her introduction to this 25th anniversary edition, Dr. Langer outlines some of these exciting applications and suggests those still to come.

Build compassionate classroom environments and mindful schools that prioritize high levels of achievement and high levels of well-being. Based on the latest neuroscience research, Mindfulness Practices details how mindfulness in schools can lead to new, improved ways of educating, learning, and living. The book's mindful education exercises are easily adaptable across grade levels -- from prekindergarten through high school -- as well as across urban, suburban, and rural school settings.

Drawing on her expertise as a meditation teacher and diversity consultant, the author helps readers of all backgrounds examine with fresh eyes the complexity of racial identity and the dynamics of oppression. She offers guided instructions on how to work with our own role in the story of race and shows us how to cultivate a culture of care to come to a place of greater clarity and compassion.

Stop Look Breathe Create is a simple four-step process for exploring mindfulness through creativity, and in turn, developing creativity through mindful practice. The book engages the reader with ten everyday subjects, from 'The Ground Beneath Our Feet' to 'Returning Home' and for each of these there are three projects: one drawn, one photographic, one written. All are based on the effective mindfulness techniques that Wendy Ann has developed in her successful workshops and courses, and the book is filled with simple techniques and ideas to help the reader enjoy their artistic endeavours while being in the moment.

... Srinivasan highlights how mindfulness can be an effective tool in the classroom. What makes this book truly unique is Srinivasan's perspective as a classroom teacher, wrestling daily with the conditions about which she writes. Each chapter begins with a personal narrative concerning a challenge Srinivasan faced during the school day and how a specific mindfulness practice helped.

...In the forty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind has become one of the great modern spiritual classics, much beloved, much reread, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics—from the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality—in a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page. -- Amazon.com