Meditation and Contemplative Practices Program

The first goal of the BSC Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices Program is to provide mindfulness training, delivered in 8 one-hour weekly sessions, to provide members of the BSC community with a set of tools and skills they can use proficiently and with confidence for stress reduction, self-management, self-awareness, and enhanced emotional regulation.  The curriculum is based on a method that is science-based, secular, and accessible. 

 The 8 training modules are modeled generally on the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification protocol (MMTCP) designed and delivered by Tara Brach, Ph.D. and Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., two internationally recognized Mindfulness Meditation Teachers.  For this training, they distilled their respective 50 years of training in mindfulness, meditation, and psychology into a clear, methodical protocol designed for general use by people of many backgrounds, beliefs, and educational levels.  This training also draws upon the research of a range of leading neuroscientists. The MMTCP protocol now is offered in an online environment supported by small interim groups led by trained teachers.  There also is a basic training program, The Power of Awareness, that can be accessed via a link below. Cathy Wright delivered the first of two trainings in Spring 2021. We have plans to record a second training session sometime during Spring 2022.

The second goal of the BSC Mindfulness program is to provide resources for faculty and staff who are interested in mindful and contemplative pedagogies and/or techniques. The next step is a small reading group comprised of a variety of faculty, staff, and other interested community members scheduled for Spring 2022. From this group we hope to discuss and discover ways in which the Mindfulness Program may benefit the BSC community in the future.