Pedagogical Infusion of the Contemplative: Simon Fraser University's Contemplative Inquiry Master's of Education Program in Canada

• In Event: 43.049 - Contemplative Pedagogies and Profound Transformation of Teaching, Learning, and Being

Abstract

Authors in this panel offer an illuminating, and hopefully instructive, tale of one Canadian contemplative education graduate program in the context of a Master’s program that acknowledges and validates the profoundly powerful fusion of our inner and outer lives. Contemplative inquiry and practices offer a path to a deeper engagement with learning, closer connection to self and others, and a compassionate disposition conducive to positive social change. The paper narrates, in the voice of the founding faculty of the program, a design story behind creating a graduate program that thematizes contemplative inquiry and practice as a pedagogic modality. It also details some of the key findings of student experience pertaining to the program, such as “turning the ordinary into the extraordinary,” “deep listening,” “inner and outer isomorphism,” “walking the talk,” and “interconnectivity and interdependence.” Some students have noted that the usual existential gap between “life lived as it is” and “life as I want it to be” to be increasingly narrowing, which contributed to a growing sense of being at ease in one’s life and being able to live more from the space of awe, wonder, authenticity, and connectivity.

Authors

• Muga Miyakawa

• Meena Mangat, Simon Fraser University

• Heesoon Bai, Simon Fraser University