Stay in touch, Sudashan.
All the best,
David

Thanks for all your interest, and for spreading The Law of the Garbage Truck message.

All the best,
David

Warmly,
Christine

I guess this is my way of saying “I hope you follow up on this topic.”

Loved the way your client retold his story. It brought to mind the sower in the Bible, where some seeds fall on stony ground, some are eaten by birds, and so on — but some fall on fertile ground and take root. Which is to say, not all ideas have to take root to have a rich creative life.

Kathryn

Thanks for the question. I did not attend the talks that focused on education in particular, so unfortunately I cannot relay their specific messages. However, a few things come to mind.

First, the conference website is offering free web-streaming (http://contemplativeresearch.org/) , so perhaps you would be interested in watching some of the talks on education:

Master lectures
- Brian Stock on Western Contemplative Tradition in Higher Education, and Hal Roth on Developing Contemplative Studies in Higher Education: The Brown Model
- Kathleen McCartney, Jerry Murphy, and Carolyn Jacobs on Contemplative Practices in Education Leadership

Panel Presentations
- Promoting Empathy, Awareness, and Compassion with Parents, Teachers and Youth (Mark Greenberg, Douglas Coatsworth, Tamar Mendelson and Patricia Jennings)
- Before Thought: The Cultivation of Insight in the Naropa University Classroom (Judith Simmer-Brown, Gaylon Ferguson, Mark Miller and Richard Brown)
- Renewal in Higher Education: Integrating the Contemplative Dimension (Diana Chapman Walsh, Daniel Barbezat and Carolyn Jacobs)
- Mindfulness-Based Programs for Children and Youth (Trish Broderick, Tish Jennings, Kim Schonert-Reichl and Brian Galla; David Vago, Sara Lazar, Britta Holzel and Andrea Grabovac)
- Contemplative Self-Inquiry, Brain Science, and Mindfulness in Graduate Education: Multidisciplinary, Evidence-Informed Applications to Personal and Professional Development (Susan Gere, Jared Kass, Nancy W. Waring and Lisa B. Fiore)
- Mindfulness Training for Teachers, Parents and Students (Robert Roeser, Rita Benn and Kimberly Schonert-Reichl)

Otherwise, I attended a panel presentation by researchers at Emory University; they conducted Cognitively-Based Compassion Training among elementary school children (see ‘Educating the Heart and Mind’ here: http://tibet.emory.edu/research/research.html) with successful preliminary results. As well, during his keynote, Tim Ryan suggested teaching kids how to pay attention (i.e. mindfulness) rather than telling them to pay attention.

More generally, my impression was that people supported the integration of contemplative practices — such as mindfulness, compassion, or empathy training — into the education system, because of potential benefits (e.g. increased concentration, decreased stress, and overall well-being).

I wish I could give you a more concrete take-home message for the education sector, but I was more drawn to other topics at the conference. Hopefully the above can point you toward some more information!