Read story: https://csc.virginia.edu/feature/bringing-contemplation-life%E2%80%94gretchen-steidle
Gretchen Steidle is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the founder of Global Grassroots, an organization that cultivates mindful social change for women in post-conflict countries around the world. 

She is the producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary, "The Devil Came on Horseback," and co-author of the book of the same name, which chronicles her brother’s time as an unarmed military observer of the Darfur conflict, and resulting genocide.  Her latest book “Leading from Within: Conscious Social Change and Mindfulness for Social Innovation,” is published by MIT Press. She has been honored as a CNN Hero for her work in Haiti to support earthquake survivors. 

Gretchen speaks nationally on topics including leadership, mindfulness, and her experience working with women in post-war Africa. She is a practitioner of the healing modality, Integrative Breathwork and Breath-Body-Mind, which she regularly uses in her work around the world to help women and girls heal from trauma and to find ways to use that self-healing to positively impact their communities.

Gretchen Steidle: How 3 Breaths Can Change the World

The Athlete - Perfecting the Mind & Body

FLOURISH Opening - Meditation, Welcome, & Keynote

Psychedelics & Healing

Art, Awe, & Flourishing

Contemplation Tools Brought to K-12 Schools

Mind, Meditation, & the Cosmos

Contemplative & Compassionate Leadership

Aidlin Darling Commons Tour 1

Bolster your resilience during busy times such as the holiday season with this short meditation. The practice aims to ground your attention and open your awareness to a deeper appreciation for the goodness of life that resides both inside us and around us. 

Written and voiced by Leslie Hubbard, Contemplative Sciences Center Program Director for Student Learning and Initiatives.

Meditation: Holiday Pause

The transition to spring is awe-inspiring as shoots, buds and blossoms bloom and leaves replace bare branches seemingly before our eyes. Our natural world is full of vibrancy and beauty. There is so much wonder as we effortlessly welcome a warm spring breeze, and the sounds of birds chirping in the early morning. Our senses become alive and our hearts are warmed by the joy of fresh, new beginnings and growth. In this meditation we will focus on awakening to joy and awe within us and around us through the simple practice of mindful breathing.

Springing into Joy Meditation

Gretchen Steidle is a 1996 graduate of the University of Virginia and the founder of Global Grassroots, an organization that cultivates mindful social change for women in post-conflict countries around the world. She is the producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary, The Devil Came on Horseback, and co-author of the book of the same name, which chronicles her brother’s time as an unarmed military observer of the Darfur conflict, and resulting genocide.  Her latest book “Leading from Within: Conscious Social Change and Mindfulness for Social Innovation,” is published by MIT Press. She has been honored as a CNN Hero for her work in Haiti to support earthquake survivors. Gretchen speaks nationally on topics including leadership, mindfulness, and her experience working with women in post-war Africa. She is a practitioner of the healing modality, Integrative Breathwork and Breath-Body-Mind, which she regularly uses in her work around the world to help women and girls heal from trauma and to find ways to use that self-healing to positively impact their communities.

50 50 Attention — How To Be In Two Places at Once Mindfully

How 3 Breaths Changed the World

Breathwork in East Africa

How To Use Breathwork for Social Change

The Spark and an Important First Lesson

Integrating Mindfulness with Social Change

The Contemplative Sciences Center hosted Aneel Chima for his talk The Future of Human Flourishing: Re-envisioning Higher Education as a Catalyst.

What is the future of human flourishing? In a world where cultural rhythms are accelerating, technology is everywhere, and many of us feel increasingly disconnected, how can we re-envision higher education as a catalyst for innovating the future of human flourishing? In facing unprecedented challenges on the individual, communal, and global levels current models of education are inadequate and failing at generating the solutions necessary to support scaleable well-being and flourishing. But, if colleges and universities embraced enhancing student, staff, faculty, and societal flourishing as a core purpose, what might look different in our methods of pedagogy, research agendas, and ways of operating? Changing cultural landscapes necessitate an evolution of cultural institutions. Higher education as a driver of cultural creativity must lead the way and it must do so by modeling flourishing from the inside-out.
 
About Aneel
Aneel Chima, PhD, is director of the Division of Health and Human Performance and of the Stanford Flourishing Project. His teaching and research aims to answer the questions, "What does it mean to flourish as human beings in an age of hyper-complexity?" and "What is the future of human flourishing as cultural and life rhythms increasingly accelerate?" He is co-founder and managing partner of AT THE CORE, a consulting boutique specializing in facilitating transformative change through enhancing the emotional, social, and neurophysiological drivers of team and leadership thriving. His work harnesses powerful insights from the emerging science of wellness and human flourishing and applies them to solve tactical and strategic challenges confronting organizations in an ever more dynamic, asymmetrical world. More about Aneel Chima.


https://csc.virginia.edu/event/aneel-chima-future-human-flourishing-re-envisioning-higher-education-catalyst

Aneel Chima—The Future of Human Flourishing: Re-envisioning Higher Education as a Catalyst

Research shows that meditations focused on cultivating kindness, goodwill, and warmth toward oneself and others can increase one’s sense of  well-being, and  social connection. Practices like this one are particularly helpful when faced with the challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic presents daily. 

This Practice of Kindness and Care utilizes breathing techniques, visualization, and repeated phrases to keep your mind focused on heartfelt wishes of kindness and well-being towards oneself and others.

Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA's website: https://csc.virginia.edu/
Article related to this audio: https://news.virginia.edu/content/maintaining-sense-social-connection-time-social-distancing

Practice of Kindness and Care

David Germano discussed the Contemplative Sciences Center, its mission, and some of its major programs highlighted below on the Sunday Morning Wake-up Call radio show with Rick Moore on Nov. 22, 2020.

Topics include: 
(1:30) - The history of CSC
(7:28) - What does it mean to flourish?
(20:05) - Re-examining academic learning: The Art and Science of Human Flourishing course
(38:22) - Citizen Leaders Fellowship
(45:35) - Compassionate Schools Project
(47:47) - Pediatric Integrated Network
(50:18) - Charlottesville Compassionate Schools Project

The Sunday Morning Wake-up Call with Rick Moore airs on 97.9 The WREN, Sundays in Charlottesville, Virginia from 11 a.m. to noon.

Contemplative Sciences Center

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks