Humane Education Commons^™

Defining Teacher Envelopment: A Non-Aristotelian Approach To Meta-Practices In The Philosophy Of Teacher Education, Rob Blom

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The late Jonathan Neufeld argued that redefining teacher development required meta-practices, yet he never defined what these meta-practices were. To define them rigorously requires grounding teacher cultivation practices within coherent structures of truth capable of withstanding philosophical scrutiny—a challenge intensified by post- truth discourse that flattens epistemological depth in secularised educational theory. This paper advances a theory of teacher envelopment to complement conventional teacher development through identifying mindfulness and discernment as foundational meta-practices grounded in non-Aristotelian systems. The framework rests on three interrelated concepts: (1) truth paradigms encompassing contemplative, articulatory, and embodied dimensions; (2) epistemological depth as extensional practices that …

No Mud, No Lotus: Ways To Metabolize Suffering, Heesoon Bai, Heather Williams, Renata Cueto De Souza, Mel Voulgaris, Charles Scott, Anna Rumjahn, Avraham Cohen, Zuzana Vasko Dr.

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper builds on the foundation of mainly Buddhist and existential contemplative philosophies a theoretical and practical framework for understanding and working with suffering as a transformational setting for human development and maturation. The authors propose that the first step in this path of transformation is radical acceptance of suffering as fundamental “truth” about human life, which could re-orient us from the usual mindset of avoidance, denial, dismissal, moralizing, or aggressive elimination of suffering. The next step in this reorientation is seeing suffering as containing valuable “nutrients” for human development and maturation, just as, analogically speaking, mud can grow lotus …

Hear My Voice As Who I Am: Theorizing The Essence Of Poetry In Holistic Global Citizenship Education, Shue-Kei Joanna Mok

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Poetry as an imaginative language art has long been perceived as the core of humanity, the foundation of human advancement (Arnold,1880; Rorty, 2007). By composing, critiquing, and sharing/performing poems, not only does the process enrich and deepen one’s relationship to oneself, understanding and reflecting on the contextual, historical, cultural, social, and creative backgrounds of the poems and poets allows one to have greater connections with the broader environment across temporal, spatial, and social dimensions with human and non-human beings.

This paper first frames the core concepts and values of global citizenship from a Confucius perspective to emphasize the significance of …

Contemplative Pedagogy, Mindfulness And Reflection In Teacher Education, Karen O. Ragoonaden Dr., Leslie Shayer

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This study explores the intersections of contemplative pedagogy, mindfulness practices and reflection in education. Contemplative pedagogy and mindfulness practices were introduced to three cohorts in teacher education, in graduate education, and in professional development education. This pedagogy and the practices provided a time, a place and a community to engage in personal and professional reflections about teaching and learning. The themes identified in this study demonstrated that engaging in contemplative pedagogy in a nine-week mindfulness course provided increased opportunities to reflect on self-awareness, on wellbeing and on the professional practice of education. The qualitative results of this study indicate that …

Removing Barringer: University Renaming Governance, Campus Racial Climate, And The Limits Of Symbolic Reform, Charletta H. Barringer-Brown, Daniel N. Brown

Journal of Research Initiatives

University renaming is often seen as either a necessary moral correction or a less significant symbolic reform. This article examines renaming as a matter of higher education governance. It analyzes the removal of Paul Brandon Barringer’s name from honorific spaces at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech through a qualitative documentary comparative case study. A contextual policy scan of the University of Richmond, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Oregon State University situates the two primary cases within a wider field of naming-governance design. Guided by critical toponymy, institutional theory, policy-decoupling scholarship, organizational-routines theory, and campus-racial-climate …

Leveraging A Model Of Intergroup Competencies: A Reflexive Tool For Developing Diversity Leadership In Higher Education, Arig Al Shaibah

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Despite, or perhaps precisely because of, the current partisan pushback against equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts in Western higher education institutions, universities may be well served to renovate their approaches to leadership diversity development to build greater capacity for advancing mission-critical inclusion excellence priorities. This article describes a promising educational intervention that has broad applicability to more meaningfully develop leadership proficiencies that better enable the advancement of EDI goals in higher education. While individual diversity leadership development programming is a micro-level intervention, it could prove beneficial—though insufficient on its own—as a prerequisite for macro-level equity and inclusion policymaking and …

“When I’M Not Heard, I Feel Like I Don’T Matter”: Advancing Equity In Disability Policy Through Critical Participatory Action Research With People With Intellectual Disability, Cris Marchionne

Student Theses

People with intellectual disability deserve a system that offers flexible, timely, and person-centered support — one that is innovative, sustainable, and holistic in enabling them to live fulfilling lives. This qualitative study, grounded in Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), examines how people with intellectual disability experience participation in decision-making within New York State's disability service system. By centering lived experience, the study identifies factors that facilitate or hinder participation in decision-making and examines structural, social, and policy-related barriers that limit agency. Through six focus groups and a Photovoice project with self-advocates receiving OPWDD services, participants described systemic barriers that limited …

Reimagining Education Through Intuitive Interspecies Communication: Listening, Learning, And Belonging Beyond The Human, Avantika Mathur, Megan Tucker, Anita Vallala, Cathrine Nyquist

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Conventional educational paradigms have long been shaped by worldviews that centre human rationality, and exclude the agency, intelligence, and communicative capacity of non-human beings. While holistic and contemplative education movements have begun to open space for alternative approaches, a broader reconceptualization is needed – one that embraces the living world as intelligent, interconnected, and full of meaning.

This submission explores intuitive interspecies communication (IIC), described as the direct, non-verbal exchange between humans and other animals that draws on intuitive capacities. IIC is widespread and growing rapidly as a global professional practice, and academic interest in this topic has expanded in …

Geopoetics: Expanding The Philosophy Of Teacher Education, Linda M. Craig Dr

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Amidst our accelerating ecological crisis, this essay argues for a fundamental reimagining of teacher education through Kenneth White's theory of geopoetics. Drawing on complexity science and Whitehead's process philosophy, I trace a paradigm shift from mechanistic models of education - characterised by fixed knowledge transmission and neoliberal performativity - toward a relational, orientation grounded in emergence and becoming. Geopoetics offers a transdisciplinary framework that dissolves boundaries between science, poetry, philosophy, and spirituality, positioning education not as content delivery but as participation in the creative unfolding of life. Through an exploration of Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain as geopoetic spiritual practice. …

Poetry As Liminal Inquiry: Illuminating Complexity, Mysticism, And Embodied Knowing, Vicki Boley Dr.

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores poetry as a form of liminal inquiry, positioning poetic practice as an embodied, intuitive, and relational mode of meaning-making within the complexity of teaching and learning. Drawing on a reflective collection of poems written during a doctoral course on Mysticism and Activism in Education, the author revisits this work from a current perspective as an educator and scholar, using complexity theory to understand both the poetic process and classroom learning as nonlinear, emergent, and relational systems. Rather than yielding to linear thinking or single answers, the paper argues that poetic inquiry mirrors how insight develops in complex …

Can One Learn From Dreams?, Anastasia Lavrenyuk

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This reflective essay explores the educational significance of dream-based and intuitive knowledge through the lens of a field experience in the Peruvian Amazon. While participating in a course on sustainability and Indigenous knowledge, I encountered a member of the Ese Eja community who described how medicinal plant wisdom once came through dreams—through spiritual connection with the forest. This moment prompted a personal and scholarly inquiry into how non-rational, subjective ways of knowing have historically shaped both scientific and cultural breakthroughs, from the structure of chemical element benzene to Indigenous learning systems. Drawing on examples from physics, neuroscience, and Indigenous epistemologies, …

In The Problem Lies The Solution: How Digital Mindfulness Can Address The College Students’ Mental Health Crisis And Support Holistic Education, Steve Haberlin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The mental health of today’s college students remains a serious concern. The alarming trend of greater psychological distress among undergraduates shows no signs of slowing. Excessive smartphone usage, screen time, and social media have been attributed as partial factors. However, what if forms of digital mindfulness and technology-assisted contemplative practices are the key to assisting students with stress, anxiety, depression and other problems? In this article, the author posits that innovations, such as neurofeedback-loop meditation platforms that dramatically increase focus, virtual reality platforms featuring in depth-meditation instruction, and Artificial Intelligence have the potential to address the crisis, establishing a refreshed …

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 …

Nurturing The Spiritual Core In Teachers Within The Nexus Of Science And Spirituality, Sarina C. Molina

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This reflective essay explores the intersection of science and spirituality in nurturing teachers’ inner lives as a foundation for supporting student well-being. Against the backdrop of a global mental health crisis, it integrates insights from neuroscience, Indigenous wisdom traditions, and values-based education to advocate for a holistic mind–body–nature connection. Emerging research on neuroplasticity, heart–brain coherence, and self-transcendence has shown the physiological and psychological benefits of spiritual cultivation for educators. Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies, this essay highlights contemplative and heart-centered practices that foster self-transformation, resilience, and authentic relationality. Practical applications for teacher education, curriculum design, and community engagement illustrate how spiritual …

The Calculus Of Difference: Pluralism And Integration Through Education In India, Deepa Srikantaiah

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper introduces a calculus-based conceptual framework to examine how India sustains pluralistic integration across its extraordinary religious, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Drawing on mathematical principles of integration, continuity, and the Infinity Principle, the analysis demonstrates how social cohesion emerges from sustained attention to the infinitesimal: the localized communities, languages, and practices that constitute India's complex social fabric. The framework positions education as the primary integrative mechanism, functioning analogously to the mathematical process of integration by decomposing social complexity into comprehensible parts and reassembling them into collective understanding.

Through historical analysis spanning from the Indus Valley Civilization to contemporary India, …

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 …

When Quantum Physics Meets Laozi, Jing Lin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores the profound convergence between quantum physics and Laozi’s Daoist philosophy, proposing a quantum-Daoist cosmology as a transformative foundation for reimagining education. Drawing on core principles of quantum physics—such as wave-particle duality, entanglement, and the observer effect, and Laozi’s teachings on Dao and De, the paper argues for a cosmology in which reality is energetic, relational, and morally ordered. While quantum science reveals the unseen, interconnected nature of existence, Laozi advances this view by emphasizing the role of virtue as an energetic and ethical force that sustains the universe. The paper proposes that meditative practice and the cultivation …

Bridging The Abyss: Reclaiming Spirituality In Academic Knowledge Production, Neil Boland

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Over recent decades, Western academia has shown a growing interest in spirituality, accompanied by methodological innovations and epistemological expansion. Nevertheless, spiritual inquiry continues to be subtly subordinated to scientific rationalism, with Western science often presiding as gatekeeper over what is considered legitimate knowledge. Drawing on Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ concept of abyssal thinking, this article argues that spiritual and experiential forms of knowing remain largely relegated to the far side of an epistemic divide, valued only insofar as they can be reframed within scientific norms. Despite increasing institutional recognition of spirituality in fields such as education, psychology, and medicine, …

The Thousand Mysteries That Bind Us: The Multiverse As Spiritualverse And The Holism Of Mystery, Giovanni Rossini

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

While we exist historically within evolving worldviews, we live amid the paradoxical necessity of mystery; one shared by scientists and non-scientists, theologians and atheists, and artists and philosophers alike. A thousand mysteries bind us with their imperative presence. While pre modern astronomers pondered the mysterious randomness of the night sky, today our sense of cosmological awe is fuelled not only by its randomness, but by a new scientific theory that says multiple skies inhabit the creation. The multiverse — a thesis emerging from cosmological science, wherein parallel worlds are posited to coexist — augments mystery. In this paper, I explore …

Editors’ Introduction, Kathleen R. Kesson Dr., Susan H. Edgerton, Jing Lin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This is the introduction to the Special Issue