Instead of holing up in the Rock on Saturday afternoon, some students kicked off their shoes and joined a silent meditation retreat sponsored by the Contemplative Studies Initiative. Renowned Buddhist meditation teacher Shinzen Young led 60 students, faculty and community members through the basics of mindfulness meditation on Saturday at Brown Hillel, and about 30 participants who registered for the two-day retreat returned for further meditation on Sunday.
Mindfulness meditation helps a person focus on his or her internal sensory experience by building concentration, Young said. "All forms of meditation build concentration power, the most universally applicable skill a human being can attain," he said. "In mindfulness you use the concentration like a microscope to observe the fine structure of your sensory experience."
On Saturday morning participants gathered on meditation cushions and listened as Young explained basic meditation positions and the importance of proper posture for meditation. He also described exercises designed to make participants more aware of their bodies.
"I had people analyze what part of (their experience) is physical touch and what part is emotional feeling," Young said.
As participants meditated, Young answered questions but asked the students to avoid unnecessary social chatter. "External speech scatters our attention," Young said. "When you first learn to drive a car, you start in a simplified environment like an empty country road. You start meditating in silence to simplify the process in the same way."
Over a silent lunch, participants tried to increase their awareness of the sensory eating experience. "(It was) a chance to have a different experience and get out of our normal habits," said Seth Izen '08, an event organizer.
Those who registered for the two-day retreat returned on Sunday and spent the day focusing on their mental experiences, which Young said involves analyzing the visual and verbal elements of their thinking. He said dividing the retreat up in this way allowed participants to take a close look at both the physical and mental experiences that constitute all of human experience.
"The goal is to help students understand the nature of their own conscious experience," said Harold Roth, professor of religious studies and East Asian studies and an organizer of the event. "We learn a lot about the external world at Brown, but one of the most important dicta about how to live a fulfilling life is to know thyself." Roth directs the Contemplative Studies Initiative, a faculty initiative that seeks to establish "contemplative pedagogies" by sponsoring relevant courses and hosting events like the weekend retreat.
Interest in the contemplative studies has grown due to recent "advances in research on the cognitive effects and also clinical applications of contemplative practices," Roth said. Mindfulness-based stress reduction is used to treat a wide variety of ailments such as high blood pressure and depression, Izen said. The fundamental meditation technique behind these clinical applications was taught to participants during the retreat.
The retreat was the first Contemplative Studies program for many of the participants. "It's great that they're making it accessible and affordable to the Brown community," said Vanessa Little, house staff officer in family medicine.
Before he left campus, Young also gave a lecture comparing mindfulness, Zen and Vajrayana meditation practices on Monday night and visited UC 54: "Introduction to Contemplative Studies," in which students are reading his works.
