Hello and welcome to this special edition of JUICE! This issue showcases the themes, writings and challenges explored at the Contemplative Pedagogy Network’s 2023 symposium held in September at Dartington Hall in Devon, UK. This event was the fourth in a series of contemplative symposiums resulting from a handful of educators back in 2014, meeting to discuss how their own love of contemplative practice might actually support and enrich their educational practice, rather than being limited to an out of hours hobby or personal interest. There is now a steadily growing number of educators joining the Contemplative Pedagogy Network (CPN) and this quest for a more holistic and embodied approach to Higher Education.
Although Contemplative Pedagogy is a more established educational approach in the US, it is still lesser known in the UK’s higher education institutions (HEIs). Arguably, contemplative pedagogy deserves wider recognition and support since it offers creative educational possibilities at a time of rapidly decreasing morale and financial stability in HE. Hence the call for (and title of) our symposium: Contemplative Pedagogy in Higher Education: Growing Confidence, Creativity and Community.
Although cultivating ‘confidence and community’ in the UK’s HEIs (at what often feels like a time of crisis) felt crucial, creativity was also a fundamental theme. This striving to cultivate creativity for students and educators alike resulted in the CPN network very naturally finding kinship and support from JUICE journal, with its focus on ‘Useful Investigations into Creative Education’. We were delighted to be offered a platform among its varied and fascinating editions, to share some of the juices that flowed from our time together.
What is Contemplative Pedagogy?
Although Contemplative Pedagogy defies strict definitions, it is characterised by more spacious and transformative ways of knowing and being. (Barbezat and Bush, 2014) Contemplative approaches encourage “a spatial turning inwards…turning one’s attention towards one’s first-person experience” (Ergas, 2019); this stands in stark contrast against an education system that mostly orients students and teachers away from their interior lives and more toward complying with external standards. (Ergas, 2019)
Rather than only striving for measurable goals, contemplative pedagogy brings an intention toward attending to experience in a different way: cultivating attitudes such as non-judgement, discernment, kindness, curiosity. (Ergas, 2019) Perhaps rather radically, ‘Slow’ is intentionally embraced with practices such as slow reading (Lectio Divina), mindfulness or deep listening exercise in the classroom. Approaches such as these create a more fertile breeding ground for creative thinking. As Tobin Hart reminds us, “How we know is as important as what we know.” (Hart, 2004)
Contemplative approaches to teaching and learning are no fleeting trend: indeed, ancient Greek philosophy was concerned with a wide range of contemplative issues, which included the creation of “self-knowledge through intellectual or spiritual exercises.” (Stock, 2006, cited in Morgan, 2014) According to Patricia Morgan, “..the contemplative has been a continuing but not always obvious presence in education.” (Morgan, 2014)
The symposium
The symposium created a time and space for UK-based educators working in HE to explore crucial questions like ‘How might contemplative pedagogy enable us to bring more of ourselves and greater meaning to the work we do?’ and ‘How might contemplative practices and processes build greater resilience and courage in ourselves and our students as we challenge the growing pressure for speed and productivity in our institutions?’ We came together in the beautiful surroundings of Dartington Hall in Devon, South-West England, to connect, replenish and create possibilities for a higher education beyond ‘accountability, standardisation and performativity’ (Ergas, 2017). We were dreaming big: we dared to imagine an educational landscape that contributed to feeling alive, ‘animate’, intrinsically fulfilled and interconnected, with self, others, and the more-than-human world (Bai, 2020).
In this issue
Our special issue begins with an article by Doran Amos: Scientists as subjects: Integrating first-person and theoretical learning into undergraduate science education. In his article, Doran explores the potential benefits of incorporating contemplative and experiential pedagogies into science education at the university level. Drawing from a case study of an outreach project on stress physiology and breathwork techniques, the paper argues for balancing traditional analytical approaches with first-person, intuitive modes of learning. The author contends that these pedagogical methods can enhance students’ understanding of scientific concepts, develop their intuition, and foster a deeper engagement with ethical and relational aspects of science.
Next, Camille Gajria and Yan-Ling Wong present their article Mirrors: The effect of artificial intelligence on medical student reflective practice. The authors explore the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on reflective practice in medical education, and discuss the importance of reflection in medical curricula and how AI threatens its authenticity. The paper presents preliminary approaches to addressing this challenge, including using AI-generated prompts as a reflective activity and leveraging AI to make learning more relevant to current medical practice. Drawing from their experience at the Contemplative Pedagogy Network symposium, the authors suggest that creating psychologically safe, contemplative spaces for group reflection can enhance learning and mitigate concerns about AI-generated content.
Our third article is titled Contemplative practice: Enabling a decolonising experience by Keith Beasley, and explores the potential role of contemplative practices (CP) in higher education as a means of enabling a decolonising experience. The author suggests that engaging in contemplative practices such as mindfulness, mandalas, yoga, and Reiki may help reconnect individuals to a pre-colonial state of consciousness. Beasley argues that this reconnection could be an essential, often overlooked aspect of the ongoing decolonisation process in education. Drawing from personal experiences in leading wellbeing workshops and referencing scholars like David Abram, the author proposes that contemplative pedagogy can address challenges such as mental health crises and climate emergencies in higher education while promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion.
We then present Judy Waite’s article Becoming a tree which examines the intersection of contemplative practices, creative writing, and nature-based experiences in higher education. Judy uses her experience at the Contemplative Pedagogy Network symposium to reflect on the importance of mindful observation and connection with nature, particularly trees, as a means to enhance creativity and wellbeing. She draws parallels between the communication systems of trees and the process of writing, suggesting that deeper engagement with nature can inform both creative writing and pedagogical approaches. The author proposes incorporating nature-based experiences into higher education to foster a sense of connection, humility, and curiosity among students, arguing that such practices can contribute to improved mental health and a more holistic learning experience in academia.
Our fifth article is by Louise Livingstone, and is entitled Taking seriously the heart’s wisdom – how Heart Sense can support and enhance contemplative pedagogy. In this article, Louise draws on her personal experiences with cardiac illness and her doctoral research to present the heart as an organ of imaginal perception and knowledge, capable of offering deeper insights and expanded ways of engaging with the world. She discusses the historical and philosophical foundations of this approach, including Goethean inquiry, Henry Corbin’s concept of the imaginal, and depth psychology. The author argues that integrating heart-based knowing with traditional intellectual approaches can lead to a more holistic and meaningful educational experience. The article concludes by addressing the challenges of implementing such approaches in contemporary academia and emphasising the potential benefits of reconnecting with the heart’s wisdom for personal growth, learning, and addressing broader societal issues.
The final article in the special issue by Michael Wride is titled The gathering at the wild pond. This article draws together the themes emerging from a gathering during the first evening of the Contemplative Pedagogy Network symposium. Michael describes the main themes discussed during the gathering, using the metaphor of a “wild pond” to represent the expansive and interconnected nature of contemplative practices in education. The themes include the importance of slowing down in academia, the value of silence and sound in learning, building authentic communities, and fostering courage and encouragement. The article provides a way to reflect on the need for deeper engagement in education, moving beyond mere knowledge transfer to embrace embodied learning, mindfulness, and the creation of safe spaces for vulnerability and authentic relationships.
We hope you enjoy exploring this special issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
Guest editors of this special issue
The JUICE team is very pleased to welcome Rosie Holmes, Mike Wride and Chiara Cirillo ss the guest editors for this special issue, who are all members of the Contemplative Pedagogy Network’s steering group.
Rosie Holmes
Rosie Holmes is an experienced educator and has worked in Higher Education and Further Education for 18 years, currently at the University of Chichester, UK. As well as regularly using walking to support her own creative work, she is also a fully trained teacher of Mindfulness practices. She offers courses, workshops and often incorporates mindfulness into the work she does with students on a one-to-one basis.
Michael Wride
Mike is currently Transformative Pedagogies Lead in the Centre for Transformative Learning at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Mike’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of contemplative, creative and transformative learning. Mike’s PhD in Developmental Biology makes him uniquely placed to think in terms of systems and organisational complexity. He is a former guest lecturer on the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College. He also provides educational services through learningwithcreativity.com.
Chiara Cirillo
Chiara is an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures at the University of Reading, UK. Her interest in contemplative pedagogy stems from her broader concerns with emancipatory and holistic pedagogies in higher education, teacher identity, teacher development and interculturality. Chiara’s work with contemplative pedagogy, which encourages awareness, inquiry and interconnectedness over more performative and alienating forms of learning, fits well with her interest in qualitative methods, such as life narratives, creative methods and autoethnography.
References
Barbezat, D. P., and Bush, M. (2014) Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
Ergas, O. (2017) Reconstructing ‘Education’ through Mindful Attention – Positioning the Mind at the Centre of Curriculum and Pedagogy. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Ergas, O. (2019) A contemplative turn in education: charting a curricular-pedagogical countermovement. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 27:2, 251-270
Hart, T. (2004) Opening the Contemplative Mind in the Classroom in Journal of Transformative Education, 2 (1): pp 28-46
Morgan, P.F (2015) A Brief History of the Current Re-emergence of Contemplative Education. in Journal of Transformative Education, 13(3):197-218 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281996423_A_Brief_History_of_the_Current_Reemergence_of_Contemplative_Education (accessed on 2/05/2022)
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