Speakers

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois ...

Storyteller Steven Antoine Willis uses his poetic and theatrical background to embark on the daunting task of creatively articulating African American culture. With art heavily influenced by urban life and religion, Steven mixes elements of hip hop poetics and theatrical performance with formal teachings and anthropolgy, and politcal theory to help express his eclectic personal narrative. Willis is a contributing writer to the Breakbeat Poets Anthology, NYU's National Council for Teacher of English Journal, is a 3 time individual World Poetry Slam finalist and former resident poet of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Willis received his MFA in acting from the University of Iowa in 2021.

To learn more about Steven please visit his website at https://www.stevenwillispoetry.com/

The title of Steven's presentation is "More From Your Muse: A Contemplative Approach to Creativity and Inspiration", whichargues The Muse offers not only inspiration, but also the sustenance needed to complete a creative task. In this workshop Willis will show participants how methods of meditation and visualization are key to completing extended works.

Yuria Celidwen is a native of Indigenous Nahua and Maya descent from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. She is a scholar working on the intersection of Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative studies. Her focus is the experience of self-transcendence that enhances prosocial behavior (ethics and compassion) across ecstatic traditions, with an emphasis on Indigenous contemplative traditions. Her approach is interdisciplinary bridging embodied, cognitive, affective, and spiritual contemplative experience with scientific inquiry. She is interested in the development of identity in and through personal and cultural narratives. Her work attends to the reclamation, revitalization, and transmission of Indigenous wisdom, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the rights of the Earth for social and environmental justice.

The title of Yuria's presentation is "Weaving the Waves of Awe: Indigenous Contemplative Science for Ecological Belonging"

To learn more about Yuria please visit her website at www.yuriacelidwen.com.

Paul Wapner is Professor of Global Environmental Politics at American University. His research focuses on how people can live meaningfully and respond purposefully to this moment of environmental intensification. He has published six books and dozens of scholarly articles on international environmental cooperation, environmental ethics, transnational activism, and climate suffering. His latest book is, Is Wildness Over? is now available from Polity or Amazon.

To learn more about Paul, please visit his workshop website at https://earthlovego.org/

The title of Paul's presentation is "Contemplative Environmentalism & Pedagogy: Meeting Ecological Challenges with an Open Heart".

Patricia (Tish) Jennings is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of social and emotional learning and mindfulness in education and Professor of Education at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. Her research places a specific emphasis on teacher stress and how it impacts the social and emotional context of the classroom, as articulated in her highly cited theoretical article "The Prosocial Classroom." Jennings led the team that developed CARE, a mindfulness-based professional development program shown to significantly improve teacher well-being, classroom interactions and student engagement in the largest randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness-based intervention designed specifically to address teacher occupational stress. She is a co-author of Flourish: The Compassionate Schools Project curriculum, an integrated health and physical education program and is co-Investigator on a large randomized controlled trial to evaluate the curriculum’s efficacy. She is currently the Principal Investigator of Project CATALYZE, a study that will examine whether CARE enhances the effectiveness of a social and emotional learning curriculum funded by an Education Innovation Research grant from the US Department of Education to conduct. A member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development among Children and Youth, she was awarded the Cathy Kerr Award for Courageous and Compassionate Science by the Mind & Life Institute in 2018 and recently recognized by Mindful Magazine as one of "Ten Mindfulness Researchers You Should Know." Earlier in her career, Jennings spent more than 22 years as a teacher, school director and teacher educator. She is the author numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters and several books: Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom, The Trauma-Sensitive School: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching, Mindfulness in the Pre-K-5 Classroom: Helping Students Stress Less and Learn More, part of Social and Emotional Learning Solutions, a book series by WW Norton of which she is editor. Her latest book, Teacher Burnout Turnaround: Strategies for Empowered Teachers, is forthcoming December 2020.

The title of Tish's presentation is "Education for Peace: Transforming our Schools with Mindfulness and Compassion".

The quality of a child’s environment is critical to developmental flourishing. This includes the school and teachers’ social supportiveness is essential to positive student outcomes at every stage of development. The increasing demands on teachers, including high stakes testing and growing numbers of students in need of adult support, have resulted in high levels of occupational stress, burnout and attrition. Indeed, there is a growing teacher shortage worldwide. How can we prevent teacher attrition and promote supportive school environments? Prof. Jennings will provide a theoretical framework based in the most current research to answer these questions and present evidence that mindfulness- and compassion-based approaches for teachers and students have the potential to transform our schools into safe, peaceful and nurturing spaces.

Laurie Seidel

Presentation is titled, "Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education: CARE for Educators".

Mindful Awareness Practices from CARE, a unique professional development program that helps educators handle the stressors of their demanding profession and rediscover the joys of teaching.

Jody Fagan

Presentation is titled, "Zazan: Quiet "Sitting" Meditation".

While Zazen is traditionally entirely silent and seated, this session will feature a minimal amount of guidance, and participants are welcome to assume any pose of stability that best suits their needs.

Lance Brunner has been a professor of musicology at the University of Kentucky since 1976, specializing in medieval music and music since 1900. Among other honors, he held a Kellogg National Fellow (1985-88) studying ways that music can be serve in human health and healing. He was one of the founding members of the Institute of Music and Medicine at the University of Louisville, in 1990. He has directed several leadership programs and has taught programs on mindfulness and creativity to a wide range of groups and organizations. As a Buddhist meditation instructor, he conducts workshops and retreats in meditation and contemplative arts nationally and internationally.

Lance's presentation is titled, "Strengthening Attention through the Contemplative Practice of Deep Listening".

Listening develops basic attentional skills that are critical in any learning process. In this experiential practice session, I will introduce the basic tenets and historical background of Deep Listening and offer opportunities to explore several practices. I will show how these practices might be integrated into a variety of higher education settings, strengthening attentional skills, reducing stress levels, and awakened creativity. Allowing time for reflection and discussion, we can consider ways that participants might stay in touch after the conference to share experience and support one another in using this powerful contemplative practice in academic settings.

Monique Dufour

Presentation is titled, "The Padmini Technique: Mindfulness for Writers".

A mindful adaptation of the Pomodoro Technique, used by writers, artists, and professionals for focus and productivity.

Juliet Trail

Presentation is titled, "Compassion Practice: Resting in Our Hearts".

Through poetry on compassion and Loving-Kindness (Metta) practice, we will explore the heart and touch into rest, care, and ease.