The Ramapo Mindfulness Fellowship Program
The Krame Center for Contemplative Studies and Mindful Living is being established at Ramapo College as a distinctive center for education, training, personal enrichment, consultation, and research on the philosophicalconcepts and applied practices associated with mindfulness. This is an exciting new initiative that offers many opportunities for research, student and community programs and educational outreach. The Mindfulness Fellows Program, offered through the KrameCenter for Contemplative Studies and Mindful Living, is designed to offer interested faculty the opportunity to expand their understanding of mindfulness practice and pedagogy.
Overview of the Ramapo Mindfulness Fellows Program
The purpose of this program is to cultivate a forum for faculty who are motivated to share and develop knowledge of contemplative practices applied to higher education pedagogy. The Program will unfold in three stages:
Stage 1: Those who are accepted as Fellows will attend two workshops on mindful practice and pedagogy offered in spring 2014. The first workshop (tentatively Sunday, February 23rd) will address personal contemplative practice, the second (tentatively Sunday, April 13th) explores ways of integrating contemplative pedagogy into courses. Each fellow will submit up to two syllabi showing integration of mindful pedagogy. Each syllabus will provide a template for other faculty who might wish to integrate mindful practices into their courses.
Stage 2: Summer fellowships are available to Fellows to attend workshops/retreats/conferences to intensify their own practice and deepen their ability to integrate mindful practices into their teaching. Fall semester Fellows will implement mindful practices into their courses and submit a reflective report on the experience by January of 2015.
Stage 3: Fellows who wish to apply for competitive grants to conduct research in mindful pedagogy or contemplative studies may apply for competitive research grants administered over the summer of 2015. Research selected will be presented at a spring 2015 conference at Ramapo addressing Mindful Pedagogy .
Guiding Principles:
Contemplative Studies refers to: 1. The scholarlyinterpretation of literature related to the theory and application of the many forms mindfulness practiced across history and cultures. 2. Rigorous evidence based practice and research on the experience and outcomes associated with meditation and mindfulness. 3. The interdisciplinary application of our knowledge of meditation and mindfulness to the promotion of the physical, psychological, social economic and environmental well-being of the human community and the natural world.
Mindful Living is he application of the fruits of contemplative practices to our relations with ourselves, others and the natural world.
Meditation and contemplation are cognate terms that are often used synonymously. In simple terms, these are rigorous methods for recognizing our habitual ways of seeing the world and then suspending these mental habits in favor of more accurate perceptions of ourselves, other s and the world. This is more than an “intellectual” interest. Contemplative activity influences all of what we are. Generally, one learns to meditate though an intimate pedagogical relationship with a teacher and/or a supportive meditation community
Mindfulness, while often associated with several meditation traditions such as vipassana , is increasingly used to refer more broadly to how one applies the benefits of one’s meditation practice to the happiness and well-being of others. In other words, while meditation is a method for self-transformation, mindfulness is about how one concretely applies these insights to making the world a better place.
A traditional meditation practice typically has an identifiable pedagogical lineage and a living community associated with that lineage. For example: transcendental meditation, various schools of yoga, or the many Buddhist traditions such as vipassana, Zen, or Tibetan meditation. There are even identifiable Western traditions such as Ignatian meditation, Lectio divina, Centering, Kabala. Importantly, there are also many new evidence based, secular approaches to meditation such as ‘Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction’ and ‘Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy.’
A non-traditional meditation practice may be a special craft or even a sporting activity that profoundly influences one’s state of mind in a positive way. It could involve a hand skill such as pottery or woodworking, or ‘sporting’ activities such as martial arts, swimming, jogging and hiking – provided it is performed within the contemplative attitude as described above.
Criteria for the Mindfulness Fellowship
The fellowship is open to faculty who:
- Have a traditional meditation practice
- Have a non-traditional practice
- Have no practice but are motivated to begin a meditation practice.
We seek colleagues who are highly motivated to share and learn contemplative pedagogy as demonstrated by the following. :
- Motivation to develop and engage in personal practice and integrate that practice in the classroom.
- Currently maintaining a traditional or non-traditional contemplative practice. If not maintaining such a practice, a declared interest in establishing such a practice will suffice.
- Publications and research activities in the area of contemplative studies or even research on subjects with a contemplative emphasis.
- Attendance at contemplatively oriented conferences, retreats, workshops, events.
- Knowledge of contemplative literature – from any discipline.
- Efforts to apply contemplative knowledge to concrete classroom pedagogy. If you have a meditation practice, show how you have integrated it into your teaching. For example, how has it influenced your overall approach to the subject matter, syllabus design, class activities, assignments, and concrete relationships with students?
- Commitment to the Ramapo community as demonstrated by service activities.
- We will seek as wide an interdisciplinary distribution of faculty as possible