Mind & Life Summer Institute
Mind & Life Summer Research Institute 2019
June 8-14 2019 | Garrison, NY
Exploring Mental Habits: Contemplative Practices and
Interventions for Individual and Social Flourishing
The 2019 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute addresses critical questions that are at the core of understanding contemplative practices and interventions, and how they can reduce suffering and cultivate individual and social flourishing.
Program Overview
Political strife, immigration, cultural and racial conflict, environmental concerns, depression and distraction – these issues and many more influence our daily lives as we struggle to find personal well-being and social harmony. How does the latest research on mental habits, contemplation, and compassion inform opportunities to create change for ourselves and others?
We define mental habits as perceptual, emotional, and cognitive processes that shape and bias how we perceive self, others, and the world. Here we focus on those habits that tend to support individual, cultural, and institutional behaviors that result in suffering and a lack of compassion and equity.
How do such mental habits impact behavior? How can we change such habits through individual and structural contemplative interventions? We will discuss sophisticated methods and measurement strategies for assessing mechanisms of change.
This theme extends the arc from the 2016, 2017, and 2018 programs that addressed contemplation in relation to context, social connectivity, intersubjectivity, cultural diversity, and pressing problems related to human health and wellbeing, social harmony and integration, and fair, just, and equitable societies.
Application and Registration Schedule
- December 6 Online application opens
- January 23 Application closes and materials due
- March 4 Notification of applicants via email and registration opens
- March 29 Registration closes
- May 13 Cancellation deadline (for 90% refund)
- June 8 Opening session and orientation