Contemplative media students reclaim attention and compassion

In a posting on the daily blog for Tricycle, Liz Kineke writes about Kevin Healey, an associate professor of media studies at the University of New Hampshire, who incorporates contemplative practices into his coursework.

“His unusual approach to pedagogy grew out of his students’ interest in yoga and meditation and a wider growing concern around young people’s tech habits,” Kineke writes.

“It’s funny,” Healey says of his media and communication students. “They are hyper aware of their inability to connect with other people face-to-face. They don’t like to do it.”

Healey doesn’t want students to reject technology outright, but to be more intentional in how they use it.

Healey said he doesn’t want students to reject technology outright, but to be more intentional in how they use it: “I want them to slow down enough to see who or what is in the photograph and then ask themselves, ‘How does it make me feel?’”

Healey is part of an emerging field that combines empirical social-science research — including neuroscience, medicine, psychology, and psychiatry — with first-person contemplative practices like meditation, yoga, the arts, and music therapy.

“Contemplative practices are meant to not only enhance an individual’s well-being, but also bring about a greater public good,” Kineke writes.

Read the full story here. Learning to Contemplate the News

photo above © Monicca249