Holistic Education Commons^™

International Students And Spiritual Capital: Meditation As A Tool To Support Student Well-Being, Anna Grigoreva, Anna Lytkina

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In a new academic environment, international students often face more than just academic challenges, as they also navigate cultural adjustment, identity shifts, digital overload and emotional stress. These multidimensional challenges are further intensified by performance pressures and rapidly evolving educational technologies. This article explores the role of meditation as a contemplative practice that may support international students’ adaptation within the American higher education system. The article focuses on how international students draw upon inner strength, purpose, and resilience to navigate and sustain themselves through periods of transition and difficulty. Using autoethnography as a primary methodological approach, the authors analyze their …

Ancient Wisdom & Its Cultural Relevance: Reimagining Deeper Learning In Science Classrooms Through The Lens Of Yoga And Vedānta, Raaghav Pandya

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Contemporary calls to reconceptualize how science is taught and understood have brought deeper learning to the forefront of education at-large for its emphasis on critical perspectives, creativity, and student-centered inquiry. Yet this paper argues that its prevailing framework remains constrained by Cartesian dualism, a materialist foundation that disassociates the individual from self, other, and nature, and falls short of addressing the mental health, environmental, and cultural challenges facing youth today. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a complementary convergence between deeper learning and the contemplative traditions of Yoga and Vedānta, whose ancient paradigms of self-inquiry, interconnectedness, and well-being offer …

Challenging Stem Learning Spaces: The Paradigm Of Contemplative Traditions As The Bedrock Of Creativity And Healing, Raaghav Pandya, Christopher Emdin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

As the post-pandemic classroom and pedagogy evolve to remedy oppressive norms, young people’s mental health and alienation has taken front stage (Rahmani & Zitouni, 2022). Traditional STEM learning spaces often teach inquiry as a linear, non-deviated approach to problems about self and nature (Hrisa & Psillos, 2022). Furthermore, because our classrooms often strip students and educators of their inherent creative abilities through constant assessments, improvement scales, and market-driven expectations, classrooms cease to become places of healing (Pandya, 2021). Eastern wisdom traditions and their associated philosophies provide a unique pedagogical lens that emphasizes a deep inquiry into self, empathy, and creativity …

Leading And Learning From Inside Out: Insights From Meditative Inquiry, Jody L. Rebek

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This article explores our modern world and our role in shaping collective experiences. By our thoughts, choices and behaviours (our character), we influence our shared reality. Higher education has an imperative responsibility to engage students ethically and develop their character. I offer a teaching metaphor and case study to meaningfully develop students’ self-awareness of character via an undergraduate leadership course. I employed the ‘seed’ metaphor to illustrate how nurturing students’ self-awareness and agency mirrors the growth of a seed within a carefully cultivated ecosystem. Each contemplative practice (character development) intertwined with leadership content (competence and confidence), serves as essential nourishment, …

The Heart Of Higher Education: Rediscovering Meditation From The Margins Of Learning To A Liberatory Pedagogy In The Post-Pandemic University, Jinting Wu, Yuejia Wang, Yu Wu, Qi Zhang

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

On May 14^th, 2022, a racially motivated mass shooting occurred in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Western New York. The trauma brought fresh anguish to a fraught social landscape already shaken by COVID-19 and resurgent racism. This paper explores the formation of a campus meditation group that emerged in light of the shooting tragedy and prolonged pandemic suffering, and its members’ journeys of healing, self-discovery, and transformation. While scholars have critiqued the neoliberal higher education for producing self-enterprising individuals motivated by economic rationality, this paper offers our humble attempt to re-center meditation as a liberatory pedagogy in fostering …

Tales Of A Contemplative Academic: Lessons Learned From Integrating Meditation In The College Classroom, Steve Haberlin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In this autoethnographical reflective essay, the author recounts his struggles and micro-victories with integrating brief meditation with undergraduates at a private college. The reflection offers three major insights for other faculty considering sharing meditation in higher education.

Book Review: Meditation In The College Classroom By Steve Haberlin, Jing Lin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Book Review: Meditation in the College Classroom by Steve Haberlin

Reviewed by Jing Lin