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OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Cost: $350 Community | $300 Educators | $250 Students
Based on the popular PSY 495: Psychology of Meditation course at OSU, this non-credit class explores the psychological processes and techniques of meditation, Buddhist philosophy as its own psychology, and Buddhism's resonance with and divergence from contemporary psychology literature. Participants will learn and practice a basic curriculum of Buddhist meditation styles, including basic mindfulness, shamatha (calm-abiding), vipassana (insight or inquiry meditation), and compassion. Light reading and homework will be assigned to support a class format of lecture, large and small group discussion, meditation practice, and reflection. Readings ranging from traditional Buddhist philosophy to empirical psychological research journal articles will focus on outcomes and effective methods of meditation practice.
Class 1: Foundations, Mindfulness, Attention
Class 2: Attention, Meditation and Health
Class 3: Neuropsychology and Shamatha I
Class 4: Yoga, Embodiment and Shamatha II
Class 5: Emotions, Shamatha-Vippasana, and Impermanence
Class 6: Mental Conditioning, Karma, and Interdependence
Class 7: Mental Conditioning and Buddhist Wisdom
Class 8: Concepts of Self (and No-Self)
Class 9: Self-Compassion
Class 10: Compassion and Relationships
For questions about registration or ability-related accommodations, please contact ContemplativeStudies@oregonstate.edu or leave a voicemail at 541-737-4785 with a text/call-back number. Refunds allowable before Friday, September 27 at 5pm. This program is not refundable after this time.
John Edwards is a co-founder of OSU’s Contemplative Studies Initiative an Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University, a Psychology Professor, and is past Director of the School of Psychological Science and the Contemplative Studies Initiative. John has been practicing meditation for 20 years. He teaches the course “Psychology of Meditation” in the Psychology department, and has led numerous community and OSU events related to meditation and Buddhism. In his research, he is especially interested in links between western social-cognitive psychology and Buddhist philosophy, as well as the mechanisms that underly the effects of meditation on people’s life outcomes.
Kate met contemplative practices through postural yoga as a sophomore in college. It took a few years to develop an interest in the quieter, more still practices of meditation -- and the importance and value of embodiment work remains a vital piece of her practice and teaching. Kate's pursuit of yoga teacher trainings across the U.S. in 2009 unexpectedly landed her in the good care of teachers in the Geluk and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. It is in these styles of study and practice, and in the rich lineage of Indian yoga, that she has since found a personal, contemplative home - although, she maintains a great love for contemplative and mystical perspectives from many traditions.
Kate earned a Master's degree at OSU in Applied Religious Ethics, completed and taught several advanced yoga teacher programs, trained in the secular, research-based curriculum of mindful self-compassion (MSC) and in 2018, had the immense privilege to spend a year in a solitary, largely silent meditation retreat centered on shamatha (calm abiding) and vipassana (inquiry/insight). Kate works as OSU's Contemplative Studies Initiative Director, oversees the Marigold Center, and teaches courses in REL and PSY, including co-teaching PSY 495: The Psychology of Meditation with Dr. Edwards. Kate's approach to meditation is systematic and relatively traditional, yet welcoming. Lucid dreaming is one of a small handful of her favorite topics.
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