Creating contemplative studies in the Southwest : theory and practice

In this article, I offer a brief history of the Contemplative Studies initiative at Texas Christian University, then discuss some of the theoretical underpinning for our program, indicating the value of contemplative pedagogy in academia and Religious Studies in particular. I argue that such pedagogy addresses central concerns of liberal arts education, that is, enhancing insight into and critical reflection about both self and others in their social and historical location. Contemplative learning adds “first person” direct experience to traditional “third person” objective study which gives a more accurate (and “lived”) understanding of both one’s own and others’ worldviews and practices. I will also discuss how and why students themselves want contemplative methods in the classroom. Religion professors in particular should introduce students to the importance of understanding the historical and cultural context of these (and our own) worldviews, enhancing these understandings with appropriate first-hand experience of basic exercises in various traditions (religious and modern secular) that have specialized in “first person” inquiry. I will close by raising questions about how scholars should address the high degree of appropriation, decontextualization, and commodification of most contemplative traditions today.

Contemplative Studies is an emerging field in many disciplines, and it is a particularly natural fit for the comparative, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary study of religion, my area of training. Numerous universities throughout the country, including those in the apparently "traditional" Southwest, are beginning to explore contemplative studies and how it can enhance liberal arts education in a wide variety of fields. I will cover this topic in two ways: first I will offer a short history of the development of the Contemplative Studies (CS) initiative at my university, Texas Christian University, and briefly in the wider region. I then will discuss some of the assumptions and theoretical underpinning for this initiative, indicating the value of contemplative pedagogy in academia and Religious Studies in particular.
Before turning to the first agenda, contemplative studies at TCU, let me make a brief comment on the second--contemplative study and practice in the liberal arts setting--to indicate the argument of this essay. Few would question the traditional detached "third-person" study of contemplative traditions as part of a curriculum, or more broadly the importance of introducing students to profound and long-standing knowledge present in various cultures and texts. But more have reservations about the worth of "first person" contemplative practice, and I want to argue its value for those in the liberal arts, as enhancing insight into and critical reflection about both self and others in their social and historical location. 1 1 I have discussed this more extensively in my article "Contemplative Studies and the Liberal Arts," Buddhist-Christian Studies 33 (2013), 23-32. Concerning the definition of "liberal arts," there I write: "'Liberal arts' or 'liberal education' has many qualities and purposes (overall, to provide the tools to inquire into the multi-level nature of human being and the universe), but the ones most relevant here include (1) reflective selfawareness, recognizing and critiquing one's beliefs and assumptions; (2) respectful and empathetic understanding of others (what I call 'mental migration' into other worldviews); (3) understanding that humans are socially and culturally conditioned, existing in and shaped by historical contexts; and (4) learning about various ways of thinking or modes of inquiry." Effective contemplative pedagogy would address each of these goals.

Part I: Starting a program in the region and at TCU
Now to some history about the development of Contemplative Studies at TCU and in the Southwest region. After reading about and speaking with some "fellow travelers" interested in this emerging field, significantly prompted by the preparation for and publication of the book Meditation and the Classroom, 2 I organized two workshops for scholars in the Southwest (the first held at Baylor University in 2011 and the second at Rice University in 2012), both led by Louis Komjathy of the University of San Diego, a co-founder of the Contemplative Studies group of the American Academy of Religions (AAR). The first, funded by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning about Religion and an AAR regional development grant, explored the interest in and knowledge about Contemplative Studies in the region, and began a discussion of pedagogical issues relating to teaching contemplative studies in liberal arts settings. The enthusiasm produced by this meeting generated a second one, also funded by the Wabash Center. We expanded and deepened the earlier conversation to enhance our abilities to think critically and teach effectively about traditions of contemplation, 3 to develop best practices for "contemplative pedagogy," and to better articulate, on and beyond our campuses, how courses on or using contemplative practices contribute to a liberal arts curriculum.
One outcome was a commitment by a number of participants to look into the development of Contemplative Studies on their respective campuses. To that end, I began conversations about this topic at TCU in the spring of 2012 with a variety of faculty and the director of our Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE).
We decided to launch a faculty/staff interest group in the fall of 2012, with monthly discussion meetings (including education, practice, and sharing) and one major event with an outside speaker per semester, a structure we continue 2 Edited by Judith Simmer-Brown and Fran Grace (Albany: SUNY Press, 2011). 3 Including meetings with the staff of the integrative medicine program of the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the director of the Rothko Chapel in Houston. today. We formed a steering committee, which included two members from the department of Religion, and one each from Anthropology, Modern Dance, Psychology and Student Development Services, all of whom have some form of contemplative practice, and we meet at semester beginning and end to review the prior semester's efforts and plan for next term. 4 We were and are committed to interdisciplinary approaches.
Our first event, announced through email and informal networks, as well as promoted and supported by the CTE staff, was a panel discussion titled "What is Contemplative Studies, and what is its place at TCU?" The panel included short presentations by me and another TCU religion professor, Mark Dennis, and a third by Donnalee Dox, performance studies professor and director of the Religious Studies interdisciplinary program at Texas A&M. This was followed by a brainstorming session to see what was possible and desirable at TCU. Twenty five faculty and staff attended. In addition to introducing CS, we began relationship building and networking, finalized topics for the next meetings and committed to a spring event co-sponsored with TCU's Nursing School. One of the most interesting outcomes was the extent of interest shown by faculty and staff in personal practice, and conversely, how few had any such practice.
As mentioned above, our subsequent small group meetings have generally included both discussion and a shared group practice. Over the last three years, these meetings have included discussions of Contemplative Studies as an emerging discipline, the roles of contemplative theory and practice in teaching and research, their relationship with the traditional goals of liberal arts education, and their place in student development, broadly conceived. Other topics discussed include definitions of key terms in contemplative studies, ethical issues in teaching contemplative exercises in class, contemplation in a digital 4 The steering committee considered the eventual possibilities of secretarial help, office space, website, and university or other funding through grants and fundraising for a free standing program, but none of these were deemed necessary to begin, or have been pursued since. As will be noted later, we have used departmental, college, and university funding for speakers and materials such as flyers for events or to publicize upcoming courses with a contemplative component in the next semester. era, the role of embodiment (physical and cultural) and the environment on contemplation, how to build interdisciplinary and cross-campus relationships, and personal practices of faculty and staff. We have held lecture style presentations on various aspects of contemplation, from long standing Asian religious traditions to modern psychology. 5 We have made sure to spend some time focusing on Christian contemplation, given TCU's heritage and student population, as well as dispelling the misimpression that contemplative practices are exclusively "Eastern." 6 We also discussed specific classroom practices which would be useful and effective in any course: exercises like sitting in silence or watching the breath for five or ten minutes at the beginning of class, being present when walking across campus or eating a meal, or a bodily awareness practice. 7 We held faculty and student panels on personal contemplative practices, movie nights (including the films Kumare, 8 Samsara, 9 and Doing Time, Doing Vipassana 10 ), 5 One of the most successful presentations was a talk by a psychology professor on the cognitive neuroscience behind meditation, which included a Powerpoint illustrating anatomical changes that occur to the brain during meditation. A student then offered a well-researched and entertaining presentation on brain states during surfing and meditation. Over 70 students, faculty, and staff attended, listened, and practiced both silent and focused meditations. 6 For example, a member of TCU's Student Development Services organized a panel on contemplative practices in contemporary Christianity. Speakers discussed the tradition of labyrinth building, the practice of centering prayer, integrating Asian practices like mantra chanting or Zen sitting with Christian contemplation, and more generally harmonizing the "secular," "spiritual" and "religious." In the question and answer period that followed, there was an interesting tension between some students whose views about our Calvinist fallen nature conflicted with the speakers' emphasis on the presence of God's love which they found in contemplation.
We have also sponsored a conversation on Contemplation and Christian Ethics with a Brite Divinity School professor and a member of our steering committee. labyrinth walks, 11 a contemplative poetry competition co-sponsored with the TCU literary magazine, and various contemplative movement exercises in (and outside of) a dance studio.
In addition to integrating contemplative exercises in their own classes, steering committee members also led exercises in other faculty members' classes (from Business to Philosophy to Media Ethics) and made presentations to departmental faculty meetings. There are weekly meditation sessions sponsored by our Office of Religious and Spiritual life and Brite Diviinity School, and a member of the Counseling Center also leads two five-session meetings for students in which he introduces a variety of contemplative practices to address stress, anxiety, and sleep issues. followers in Phoenix. They embraced him as a true spiritual teacher, to an extent which surprised and even alarmed Gandhi, and taught him a great deal about himself as well. 9 We screened Samsara (http://barakasamsara.com) as part of both a weekly global cinema program at TCU and the Sociology and Anthropology Department's Sustainability Film Series. Filmed over five years and in twenty-five countries by Ron Fricke (director of photography for the 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi and director of the 1992 film Baraka), Samsara moves vividly but wordlessly from sacred grounds and natural wonders to disaster zones and meatpacking factories.
Due to multiple sponsors, around 120 people, both from and beyond TCU attended, and in the discussion after the film (c. 40 remained), many students described how moved they were and how many thoughts were provoked (about scenes from sex work to mandala making) during the viewing. In fall 2014 we hosted the well-known contemplative movement educator and former president of Naropa University, Barbara Dilley. About 50 participants attended each of two workshops exploring the relationship of dance and contemplative movement in theory and practice. This was particularly helpful preparation for the course we taught on contemplative movement and reflection, to be discussed shortly.

Major semester events at TCU
In addition to bringing in major speakers, it is noteworthy that during fall 2014 alone, TCU faculty gave five CS-related conference presentations off campus. This shows that our CS initiative has catalyzed not just offering informative events, but also research interest among the steering committee's faculty members. One faculty member gave a paper at an Ecomusicologies conference in Asheville, NC referencing course meditations titled "From Hearing to Caring: The Role of Listening in Place-Based Pedagogy." Another delivered a paper on our viewing and discussion of the film Samsara ("Contemplating I should also note that over the years, we have received funds from an array of sources: our center for teaching excellence, various undergraduate departments (especially the Religion Dept.), the liberal arts college (known as AddRan), the university's Global Citizenship program, our Center for International Studies, the Asian Studies program and our affiliated divinity school (Brite).

The first Contemplative Studies Course At TCU
Let me now turn to the most sustained and concentrated manifestation of our initiative at TCU thus far: our first curricular effort, formally titled Mindbodyness: Contemplative Movement and Reflection, co-taught in spring 2015 by a professor of modern dance (Susan Douglas Roberts) and me. 13 As an upper level directed study without core credit, it drew only nine students, but that modest number and the enthusiasm of the participants were actually very beneficial for this pilot effort.
The course, held in a dance studio, met twice a week for 80 minutes. In most cases, the first half of the class was a contemplative movement practice led by my colleague (at different times, the movement included some combination of lying, sitting, and standing; walking, both straight and in circles/while turning; students moving solo, paired, or as a group; practicing various breathing styles; proceeding as an animal; and other actions). This was followed by journaling and conversation, and then we turned to lecture and discussion about some aspect of "mindbodyness," with reference to the day's reading.
The course was loosely divided into units: first we considered definitional and theoretical issues in contemplative studies, then various conceptions of mind and body in the modern West and in traditional Asia (including Indian Yoga, taijiquan, and Tibetan and Zen Buddhism; we also discussed Native American traditions). Some ideas were introduced by me, and others by an array of TCU faculty and off campus guests, including a highly appreciated visit from Judith Simmer-Brown of Naropa University. 14 As the semester continued, students were assigned an increasing number of exercises, including week long practices of mindfulness meditation and the five basic Buddhist precepts. There were also day long exercises of silence and being aware of "digital attachment," a practice of contemplative walking (beginning with John Francis's TED talk on silently "walking the earth"), 15  In class and in anonymous semester end feedback, students expressed great appreciation for the course as providing new and different ways of knowing mind and body and their connection, both theoretically and on a "real, experiential" level. They especially valued learning what guest teacher Alejandro Chaoul called "meditation pills," tools to quiet and center themselves during the daily rush of university life. 16 There was a striking emphasis on how much they welcomed and integrated simple and practical self-care skills of focused breathing and being present; this was especially important for and appreciated by the many seniors with an uncertain future after graduation. One said, beautifully, "this course became a refuge rather than a requirement." But students also expressed frustration with the workload, both the amount of writing (weekly short papers, plus responses to the meditation exercises and the final project) and out of class practice, feeling (justifiably in retrospect) that we required too much in too concentrated a time. They and especially we also felt that there was insufficient time to adequately address all the material introduced in class. We will plan 2 two hour classes a week next time.

Summary Reflections
Here are my impressions of the development of TCU's Contemplative Studies initiative so far. I believe that our greatest success has been the creation of an interdisciplinary and highly collegial steering committee, which has stimulated reflection and enthusiasm among its members and become a core group which, as shown above, has brought attention to contemplative studies to a wide variety of university constituencies. There is no question that the university at large has a greater awareness of, and openness to, the benefits of contemplative inquiry than three years ago, during which time we have drawn the attendance of hundreds of faculty, staff, and students, many repeatedly. As just described, our efforts took successful curricular form for the first time last semester. We have also begun to have a greater engagement with members of our associated Divinity School (Brite). Finally, through the generosity of an array 16 The idea of finding cues for brief respite or quiet time in daily life became a course theme, reinforced by other visitors. of university sources, we have also had the opportunity to bring in some leading figures in this emerging movement, thus putting TCU on the map for CS.
Although we have reached hundreds of students (often with the strategic use of extra credit), perhaps our greatest disappointment has been the inability to create a self-sustaining student group which would originate student focused activities. Because of this, and students dealing with a curriculum full of requirements, we have had limited curricular success, but are heartened by the commitment and enthusiasm of the students who enrolled in the Mindbodyness course. We would also like to get more regular involvement by a larger number of faculty in the sciences, including health sciences. Still, we have begun well and plan to continue to expand our influence (carefully, documenting the value for faculty and students at each step), especially ongoing conversations about the role and benefits of CS at TCU and in the academy generally. One of the key assumptions behind the development of our initiative is that there are a wide variety of ways of knowing oneself and the world, and contemplative study and reflection is an important, and today often underappreciated, way to investigate and understand human existence. As a number of writers have pointed out, most university learning occurs through "third person" objective study, which is certainly important and valuable, but contemplative learning adds "first person" direct experience as a way to gain a more accurate (and "lived") understanding of both one's own and others' worldviews and practices, about which one can then critically reflect. 17 It can also provide the opportunity to contemplate the validity of the possibility of "objective" third person study. 18 Further, since contemplative inquiry has been important to many people in a large number of cultures, there are, naturally, diverse contemplative traditions and experiences, and we should teach, to the extent appropriate to the class and our training, how this variety is understood and explained by practitioners. This is part of a need for many academics to better appreciate that adherents or 17 In addition to those scholars mentioned earlier, Harold Roth has been particularly eloquent and effective in writing about and developing such study. See, for example, his essay in Meditation and the Classroom. Through his leadership, Brown University now has a multidisciplinary CS initiative which considers the underlying philosophy, psychology, and phenomenology of human contemplative experience across cultures and times through a combination of these third person and first person approaches, both utilizing systematic investigation and ongoing critical reflection: http://www.brown.edu/academics/contemplative-studies.

Part II: Enhancing liberal arts education through Contemplative Studies
For more resources, one can also consult the Contemplative Studies page on Louis Komjathy's website at the University of San Diego: http://home.sandiego.edu/~komjathy/Homepage_of_Louis_Komjathy/Contemplative_Stu dies.html It is also important to note that students themselves have urged us to develop contemplative methods in the classroom. Any teacher can observe that today's university students feel over-committed, over-worked, and overwhelmed.
When first given the opportunity to meditate, many often think of such a practice as just one more daily task to complete. Yet many of us have seen that once students actually engage in meditation or other contemplative activity, they realize both how the exercises bring greater self-understanding and how useful they can be to their everyday life by reducing stress, improving mood, and bringing rest, 20 which sometimes leads to hunger for more. 21 As Fran Grace has discussed, 22 various empirical studies have begun to show that contemplative pedagogy provides an antidote to the anxiety, distraction, and academic pressure so many students feel, and there are measureable improvements in variables for mental, physical and emotional well-being. This, as well as academic improvement, is discussed in a very interesting study of the spiritual life of college students, Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students' Inner Lives, 23 The authors point out that while "knowing thyself" is understood to be central to liberal arts education, developing answers to meaning and purpose questions or discovering students' own beliefs and values gets little attention, especially when they are nervous about their future and finances in a difficult economy. In a seven-year (2003-10) study, the authors found that over their 20 See the comments by the Mindbodyness course participants above. Another good example of a course which illustrates the value of contemplative pedagogy is "The Blue Pearl: The Efficacy of Teaching Mindfulness Practices to College Students," by Deborah J. Haynes, Katie Irvine, and Mindy Bridges, Buddhist-Christian Studies 33 (2013): 63-82. 21 That is, some students also look, with various degrees of urgency, for a nonneuroscientific explanation of unusual or "mystical" experiences, such as those described by Barbara Ehrenreich in her recent Living With a Wild God (New York: Hachette, 2014). college careers, students became more personally spiritual and less formally religious, more caring, tolerant, and globally aware, and these qualities enhanced other "traditional" college outcomes: improved academics/GPA, leadership skills, psychological well-being and life satisfaction. One significant factor assisting this growth is meditation/reflection or any "inner work" that increased self-awareness.
They write that contemplative practices "are among the most powerful tools at our disposal for enhancing students' spiritual development (148) contemplative practice for liberal education. 28 As contemplation enhances the ability to concentrate and introspect, it increases the depth, quality, and strength of attention and mental discipline, as well as emotional control and awareness of body-mind interaction. 29 It gives students the opportunity to reflect on and analyze "first person" experience-their own and others--in a classroom setting (for both peer and professor feedback). They can gain insight into how their perspective has been shaped and see new possibilities, both noticing and going beyond prior thought patterns. Finally, contemplative exercises offer students the opportunity to critically reflect on the meaning and value questions that they feel are too often ignored in the classroom, even or especially by professors in Religious Studies. 30

Contemplative Studies and Religious Studies
This leads me to a greater focus on how contemplative study and practice are especially useful in my home discipline of Religious Studies, where students are often for the first time introduced to long-standing and widely spread worldviews still insufficiently known in contemporary America. Religion 28 For a more extended argument, see "CS and the Liberal Arts," esp. pp. 25-26. 29 Scientific studies of aspects of contemplation, particularly in neuroscience, have recently increased dramatically. To review the research one might start at the centers at Emory (http://www.emory.edu/ECCS/research/index.html), Virginia (http://www.uvacontemplation.org/list/research), and Brown (http://www.brown.edu/academics/contemplative-studies/research) Universities, or the work of David Vago at Harvard (http://davidvago.bwh.harvard.edu/), and Clifford Saron at UC Davis (http://mindbrain.ucdavis.edu/labs/Saron).
A particularly insightful investigation of the relation of Buddhism and neuroscience by the philosopher of mind Evan Thompson has recently appeared. See Waking, Dreaming, Being (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015). 30 Student interest in the pursuit of questions about meaning and purpose, and the "great divide" they feel between their academic (critical analysis focused) and personal lives is explored at length in Barbara Walvoord 's Teaching and Learning in College Introductory Religion Courses (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2008). She shows that many students want to develop or deepen their philosophy or life, within or outside a particular "spiritual path." professors can and should introduce students to the importance of a fuller understanding of the historical and cultural context of these worldviews, and how these perspectives influence human experience and interpretation-theirs and ours. Student understandings can then be enhanced by first-hand experience (as "participant-observers") of some basic exercises in various traditions (religious and modern secular) that have specialized in such "first person" inquiry. practicing mindfulness meditation or following (or not) the five basic Buddhist precepts for a week can illumine both the Buddhist tradition and the student's own mental patterns, 32 as can movement practices in a dance department (as explored in the course discussed above), attending to art in a museum (vs. venerating an image in a church or temple), 33 or contemplative walking (which could be usefully compared with "jogging" or "a stroll") in an anthropology course on Native American traditions. And while there has never been a single kind of yoga practice, one could also usefully contrast classical Hindu Patanjala Yoga with modern postural yoga exercise. 34 31 For a brief overview of some of the ethical issues raised by contemplative pedagogy in the undergraduate classroom, see my "Contemplative Studies and the Liberal Arts", pp. 29-30. . 32 For more on this, see my "Buddhist Practices in the Undergraduate Classroom," Meditation and the Classroom (Albany: SUNY Press, 2011). 33 A good illustration of different ways of knowing in this context is to note how many objects originally meant to be contemplated and venerated "religiously" are now regarded primarily as historical artifacts or "works of art," to be viewed with a detached respect and perhaps to help create intercultural understanding and harmony. So this is the promise of CS. There is, of course, need for more critical reflection on, and assessment of, the nature and significance of contemplation in general and contemplative pedagogy in particular, as I will indicate in the final section below.

Bringing sufficient critique to contemplative studies
Turning to a greater emphasis on critique of this emerging discipline, I am especially concerned about the importance of recognizing the specific time, place, and context of both any contemplative tradition and of its study, that is, the awareness of their and our historical locatedness. As Louis Komjathy and others have shown, historically, virtually all contemplative practice and experience has been religiously committed and tradition-based, and part of a path with a goal of transcending (or profoundly deepening insight into) this life. 35  One of the merits of Religious Studies training is the awareness that all traditions change over time. Still, it is worth being reminded-and reminding others--that modern global awareness and comparative interests inevitably condition our thinking. This shows up in the definitions of "contemplation" itself; some focus on meditation and Asian religious traditions, others include prayer and scriptural study or certain kinds of movement, music, or painting, still others include any focused attention or mindful awareness. 37 A modern pluralistic understanding is clearly seen in the common use of highly abstract and nontradition specific terms like "pure experience," "spirituality" or "wisdom traditions." How does one negotiate the tension between the irreducible differences in historic contemplative traditions and today's common search for commonalities or "universals?" What in contemplation is "secular," what "spiritual" and what "religious?" And how should we deal with the modern concerns with race, class, and gender? Since contemporary traditions and worldviews are also inevitably in particular sociocultural locations, today's adherents always have interests and commitments, whether in theology, humanistic psychology, or natural science.
Are these recognized and acknowledged? Having a position is inevitable, not a problem; the problem is not identifying or inquiring into one's position. 36 In which case, the proximate experience might be called diverse names like Krishnaprema, discerning God's grace, samadhi, or satori. 37 In general, I use "contemplation" as a cross-cultural umbrella term, referring to a broad array of ways of knowing and focusing attention, often but certainly not always part of a religious tradition. It includes a wide variety of practices: sitting or walking meditation, simple attending to the present, breathing and other kinds of "mindfulness" practices, yogic postures, visualizations, silent prayer and group chanting, reflective self-inquiry, observing nature, and many others.
Further, most people who are being exposed to aspects of longstanding and complex contemplative traditions are not interested in and would not consider studying or practicing Asian religions in their ancient forms. But those of us who do face the question of how we should understand and address the high degree of appropriation, decontextualization, and commodification of most contemplative traditions today. An extended discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of this paper, but to mention some examples now under investigation: what, in the contemporary context, is "mindfulness," "yoga," or "Tantra," and how do these relate to earlier historical manifestations? 38 Few practitioners today understand the originating traditions, have a holistic or prolonged practice, and submit to spiritual direction. Many in our therapeutically inclined culture are far more interested in the development, not cessation, of the ego self. While such studies are unlikely to be read by non-academics, Religious Studies scholars are uniquely positioned to note and describe an array of issues here.
To conclude, I firmly believe that contemplative studies can make an important new contribution to liberal education in broadening the ways of knowing available to students-but scholars, in and beyond Religious Studies, have an equally important job to keep to the critical inquiry and analysis that has long been at the heart of the liberal arts. 38 Regarding the latter two, David Gordon White's work is highly illuminating. See, for example, his introduction to Yoga in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012) and Kiss of the Yogini: "Tantric Sex" in its South Asian Contexts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003).