This is a collection of weekly practices for PHL/REL 308: Introduction to Contemplative Studies. These practices are adaptations of religious and cultural traditions as well as secular techniques that are presented for a broader, non-sectarian audience. Each participant is encouraged to develop their own relationship to contemplative practice in a way that is meaningful and appropriate for them. The goals are experimentation, self-observation and self-discovery, and a widening breadth of experience, not religious or philosophical indoctrination. Note that engaging a contemplative practice outside the context of being a member of a faith or cultural tradition may be different than engaging a practice with this context, and these differing experiences are not intended to be conflated by way of sharing these opportunities for practice and experiential learning.  

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3 

Day 4

Day 1 

Day 2 

Day 3

Day 

Day 1

  • Write - Use the instructions and guidance from Writing Down the Bones pages 1-13.  Gather your materials - pen and paper or journal. Set a timer. Give yourself time and space to write whatever wants to be written.  Write without attachment to the outcome of the writing; know that you can destroy it as soon as you finish. Write for the sake of writing and see what happens.

Day 2 

  • Create - Something visual or edible or musical.  Gather materials/ingredients.  Set a timer (if relevant).  Give yourself time and space to create and stay present to the process.  If you're making visual or musical art, see if you can create without attachment to an outcome.  Let everything that arises be a part of the creative process.  Resist the temptation to be critical or think you've made a "mistake." Create for the sake of creating, not for the sake of achievement. Apply the guidance from Writing Down the Bones pages 1-13 to something other than writing where it makes sense to do so. If you're creating something edible, move slow and take your time. Tune into your senses of taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing.  Be present with your creative process and enjoy it.  

Day 3

  • Act - Is there some activity or action you'd like to do with a contemplative intention?  It could be a conversation, eating, exercising, debating, advocating, cleaning or....?  
  1. Set a clear intention to do engage that activity with one of the qualities or techniques you've gleaned thus far from contemplative practice. 
  2. Make the activity time-bound, so that the parameters of your practice are clear.  
  3. Before you begin, presence yourself by taking a few moments to tune into your senses or your breath.
  4. As you engage the activity, return to your intention again and again. Perhaps you move much more slowly than you normally would, or take periodic pauses to return to your intention.  

Day 4

  • Serve - Service is a dimension of all contemplative practice traditions. Service helps us to feel connected to the world around us, and helps us to shift our attention from ourselves and toward others. This can be a welcome reprieve from our own worries, can open or soften the heart by reminding us of our natural propensity for care, compassion and "common humanity" -- or the ways in which we are all vulnerable, and best of all -- hopefully is of benefit to someone! If you can, consider that while you are taking a step to serve someone or something else, you too might be served through the act. When we look closely, identifying who is in the role of the "giver" and who is the "receiver" might become blurred or appear more dynamic. During a pandemic, we might feel quite limited in the ways that we can serve safely. Use your creativity, as is relevant, to dream up ways you can serve without even leaving your home! Use your creativity, too, to dream up small service projects that are enjoyable for you and of the greatest benefit for those you're hoping to care for. If you're not sure how you might serve, consider what small struggles you might be facing in your day... loneliness, overwhelm, stress, fear, disconnection?  Can you think of a simple, kind way you might be able to alleviate a similar struggle of someone else?  Maybe you buy tea for a friend by sending $5 on Venmo, perhaps you handcraft a card for a grandparent living alone in another state, or, spend 20 minutes doing research for a friend looking for a job or trying to accomplish a task. The possibilities are infinite.  

Day 1 

Day 2

Day 3 

  • Part 1 - Beginning Yoga (V) 09:27
  • Note: If downward facing dog pose is inaccessible or very awkward/difficult for you, I recommend that you try practicing "wall dog" instead.  Here is a great (optional) tutorial for "wall dog:" Downward Facing Dog at the Wall
  • Part 2 - Savasana 3 (A) 10:26

Day 4

  • Part 1 - Sun Salutations (V) 8:26 
  • Note: If downward facing dog pose and, therefore, sun salutations are not accessible to you, please skip them and repeat a practice from earlier in the week. Alternatively.. you can create your own brief, "flowing" yoga sequence that resembles this one, but uses "wall dog" or child's pose, for example, instead of downward facing dog pose. 
  • Part 2 - Savasana 4 (A) 10:23

 

Day 1

  • Interdependence with Nature (6 min) a guided practice led by Dekila Chungyalpa of UW's Center for Healthy Minds. 
  • Walk/Be Outside and Notice - Spend 20 minutes or more outside, perhaps on a walk or hike in nature.  As you walk, commit to tuning into what you see, what you feel, what you smell, and what you hear.  Notice when a sense field is particularly salient and go into it.  When another sensory experience becomes prominent, shift to that.  Or, you can systematically rotate among these four sense fields or gates. Notice the process of tuning into your senses.  Notice your senses as gates, or places of connection and relationship with the natural world, like in the guided audio practice. Notice if the natural world has something to offer or teach you. 

Day 2

After reading Dr. Nicole Bell's article describing the application of The Medicine Wheel to education, spend time in written contemplation of some question or issue of your life. Utilize the "gifts of the four directions" to move through a four-step process to see, relate, know and devise action related to this question or issue.  It might be something like -- what do I want to major in?  What do I need to do re: a relationship conflict I'm facing? How do I change a habit? How might I help someone who is struggling?

  • There is not a rigid way to carry this activity out but you might first start in the East by taking pen to paper and identifying what the issue, question or conundrum is, and in this way "seeing" or "identifying" what's there. 
  • Notice that the South requires time.  It takes time to relate to or understand a complex question or problem in one's life.  Depending on the gravity, importance, or time constraints of a given issue there may be a variable amount of time to relate to something before making a decision or acting on it.  Take as much time as you can to really relate to the situation.  Notice its particularities, sort through the options, attend to the possibilities. Notice when you're resisting or denying some aspect of a situation -- its reality. At this stage you don't yet need to "figure anything out."  This stage is only about relating to what is, very simply.  Give yourself time and space to relate to reality without the pressure of making a decision or determining the best course of action -- even if that time and space is the span of a 20 minute walk, a week, a month, or a year. 
  • On the basis of time, space, and the opportunity to relate to the reality of something, with a clear mind turn toward the West and determine a course of action.  What are the steps you need to take to move in the direction you've determined is best and in greatest accordance with your values and the most important factors at hand? Create a plan. 
  • Then, when the time is right, turn to the North, start to act on the first steps of your plan.  Naturally, depending on the issue you decide to work with -- you may only accomplish steps 1,2, or 3 before this assignment comes due, you may also choose to continue with this contemplation in new ways during day 4 of this week. Of course, you can return to it in another week, as your practice is your own! 

Day 3

  • Walk/Be Outside and Notice - Spend 20 minutes or more outside, perhaps on a walk or hike in nature,  As you walk, commit tuning -- not to things, objects, or content -- but to space instead.  You could either A- notice the space between things -- tree branches, the sides of a trail, the space between your arms and your body, or B- if that's not preferable, you could instead notice the spaces, or stillness between sounds. Notice the process of attuning to space. Notice if the natural world has something to offer or teach you. 

Day 4

After reading Dr. Nicole Bell's article describing the application of The Medicine Wheel to education, spend time in written contemplation of some question or issue of your life -- this could be a continuation of day 2 practice. This time, consider the deeper layers of the Medicine Wheel -- the indigenous values and "knowledge" it communicates and contemplate their meaning, purpose and application to your life and this situation at hand.  

  • There is not a rigid way to carry this activity out but you might first start in the East by taking pen to paper and considering the idea of "wholeness."  In one sense you might consider yourself as a "whole and integrated" being.  How does that person move through the world? Furthermore, you might consider yourself as a part of a greater whole. How does that impact your thinking about the question/issue -- or how does it change the question itself? Consider consulting with a mentor, elder or a person of wisdom at this stage of the process.  What might you learn from their stories and experience? What might you learn from the way they see you? Bell indicates: "Indigenous knowledge and worldview is attained by choosing to do what is necessary to obtain multiple perspectives from which to view the world." 
  • As you turn to the South, as you return to a form of relating to the issue, perhaps you take yourself to a physical place of interest. Maybe it's an outdoor place, or your family home, or the place where you first felt inspired or fell in love. Make a short pilgrimage of sorts to a place that resonates with the questions you're asking.  
  • Turning to the West, consider that nothing exists in a vacuum. Everything is interdependent and interconnected -- although it might seem or appear that aspects of our life exist independently from one another.  How we sleep at night effects or mood and energy the next day.  We rely on sunlight, gravity, rain, and air to survive.  The time we spend on one thing, leaves less time for something else.  When we use single-use plastics to consume a "healthy" meal - we simultaneously pollute the Earth incrementally reducing the health of all.  How does this understanding of interconnectedness shape your perspectives, your process of knowing and deciding? What is your heart communicating to you? Your head? 
  • Finally, turning to the North consider how your actions and words might be carried out in a balanced way, with respect for all - including yourself! 

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Renunciation practices are those by which an adherent chooses to do less, and not more of something that distracts from contemplative or sacred endeavor.  Instead of thinking of it as "deprivation" it might be wiser to consider the practice as a form of "simplification." And although history contains stories of a more radical ascetism, this course endorses making moderate changes that are well within the scope of common sense and toward the end of your basic physical and mental-emotional well-being. As you identify ways in which you could cultivate a more contemplative lifestyle through processes of simplification - make your intentions specific and relevant to you.  Of course there is some experimentation, personalization, and discernment involved in this process!  Here are some ways you might consider simplifying your life:

  • Reducing or eliminating alcohol or smoking for a period of time. 
  • Reducing or eliminating digital communications for a period of time. (ex. taking a social media fast) 
  • Reducing spending or over-consumption in a specific way for a period of time. (ex. eliminating refined sugar) 
  • Reducing visual or auditory distractions in a specific way for a period of time. (ex. spending time in quiet in the car)
  • Simplifying your home and space by donating things you no longer use. 
  • Reducing your social or work commitments for more reflective time. 

Day 1

  • Lectio is the stage of slowly and intentionally reading a selected passage of a text. This is very different than reading to acquire information. It is a deliberate recitation of a text. 

Day 2

  • Meditatio is the stage of meditation - which in this context means deep thought and consideration of the passage. This is different that the style of meditation that we've explored up to this point, which is centered on the skill of present moment awareness beyond thought. Here, thoughts and feelings are engaged as a contemplative resource and tool. 

Day 3

  • Oratio is the stage wherein the practitioner responds to, discusses, interacts with or engages a passage through prayer, movement, writing, or speaking. One suggestion to explore is to take a pen in your non-dominant hand, set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes, and write in response to the passage using this hand.  

Day 4

  • Contemplatio is the stage of rest and/or communion with the divine in which insight might occur. This, perhaps parallels the meditation or quieting practices that we've explored in previous modules.  Moreover, you might relieve yourself of the need to know or understand anything, and instead, simply rest, feel, and see what arises. 

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 1

  • Ubuntu is a term shared in several African communities that means "I am because we are."  It's a way of acknowledging humanity and our place in a greater whole.  Can you bring the spirit of ubuntu to an interaction with someone today?  How might this be implicitly expressed in daily life? How did you feel after doing this?  Engage this concept in a way that is meaningful to you. 

Day 2

  • Sankofa means "go back and get it" in the native languages of Ghana. It is a reflection on returning to and reclaiming something lost. What is something important or valuable in your personal or familial lineage that has been lost?  Do you have some way - even small - of reclaiming it?  If you don't have a way to reclaim it - can acknowledgement be a first step? Engage this concept in a way that is meaningful to you. 

Day 3

  • Shelly Harrell calls us to consider "soulfulness" as a potentially crucial part of the contemplative experience of marginalized groups, specifically those of African descent. How might you invite soulfulness into your life or practice?  Is it through a piece of music, a type of dance, savoring some flavorful food? Engage this concept in a way that is meaningful to you. 

Day 4

  • We've been reading for the last three months about joy in Desmond Tutu and The Dalai Lama's Book of Joy. Joy, according to our reading, is not merely a fleeting state but a way of orienting to life. What "joy" practices from the book are the most compelling and accessible for you? Identify a few and carry them out.