Contemplative education

Contemplative education is a philosophy of higher education that integrates introspection and experiential learning into academic study in order to support academic and social engagement, develop self-understanding as well as analytical and critical capacities, and cultivate skills for engaging constructively with others.

The inclusion of contemplative and introspective practices in academia addresses an increasingly recognized imbalance in higher education: a lack of support for developing purpose and meaning, or for helping students "learn who they are, search for larger purpose for their lives, and leave college as better human beings".

Informed by the many forms of contemplative practice in philosophies and religions the world over, contemplative education invites students to embrace the immediacy of their interior lives as a means for applying their own first-person experiences to what they are learning in their classrooms. Contemplative practices invite close observation of phenomena (e.g., natural processes, cultural productions, mental and emotional states, biases). These practices provide opportunities to develop attention and focus, increase awareness and understanding, listen and speak across difference, support creative approaches to problem solving, and consider the impacts of our actions on the world at large.

Contemplative education is not solely traditional education with, for example, a course in meditation thrown in; it is an approach that offers an entirely new way of understanding what it means to be educated in the modern Western liberal arts tradition. For example, to deepen their academic study, students might engage in mindfulness practices in order to cultivate being present-moment awareness, or engage in dialogue and deep listening practices in order to develop interpersonal skills.

The philosophy of contemplative education has been present in the United States since at least 1974, but has gained popularity particularly recently as contemplative practices (such as mindfulness and yoga) have sparked the interest of educators at all levels. It has inspired networks of higher-education professionals for the advancement of contemplative education, primarily the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE), which has an international membership of over 750 faculty, administrators, and higher education professionals. The ACMHE was founded in 2008 by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and has convened annual conferences on contemplative education since 2009. The formation of the ACMHE was precipitated by the Contemplative Practice Fellowships, a program administered by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society from 1997 through 2009. Fellowships were awarded to 153 faculty members at 107 colleges and universities for designing and teaching courses which included contemplative methods. This initiative helped to form a community of practice on the use of contemplative methods across higher education disciplines.

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