Mindfulness and Compassion: the Art and Science of Contemplative Practice

For thousands of years the art of contemplative practice has been used to explore the nature of mind and its potential. Today the emerging science of contemplative practice promises to shed new light on these essential human questions. Facilitating conversation between these two worlds may provide a catalytic mutual benefit, exploring how contemplative practice and scientific research can best inform each other for a greater common good.

To this end we will convene a group of internationally recognized scholars from the sciences and humanities along with leading thinkers in contemplative practice for a multi-disciplinary conference on this issue. Featured speakers include Dr. Josephine Briggs (Director of the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), Robert Thurman (Columbia University), Venerable Ajahn Amaro (abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery), David Vago (Harvard Medical School), Willoughby Britton (Brown), Clifford Saron (UC Davis), Geoffrey Samuel (Sydney University), Eijun Linda Cutts (San Francisco Zen Center), Gregory Kramer (Insight Dialogue), and many more.

We invite you to join us for what we expect to be a thought provoking, innovative, and informative conference. The meeting will be held June 3-7, 2015 at San Francisco State University