CONFERENCE BROCHURE - Mind & Life Institute

Mind and Life Summer Research InstituteJune 16 – June 22, 2012Afternoon Sessions1:30 PM–2:35 PM Compassion and CollaborationSona Dimidjian, Ph.D. and Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D.This panel describes the collaboration between contemplative study and practice, clinical science,and neuroscience to investigate the nature and impact of compassion. Roshi Joan Halifaxwill present a model of compassion that emphasizes the nature of compassion, not as a discretefeature but as an emergent and contingent process that is at its base enactive. She will emphasizethe ways in which compassion must be primed through the cultivation of various factors,which include somatic, attentional, affective and cognitive processes. Sona Dimidjian will presentthe background and design of a rigorously controlled intervention trial designed to explorethe components of compassionate action and the effects of contemplative training designed toincrease compassionate action. She will emphasize the intervention components as linked tothe Halifax model of compassion. Overall, this panel endeavors to identify interdependent componentsof compassion, including the relevance of embodiment in the experience of compassion,and the rich potential for collaboration among contemplative experts and scientists.2:35 PM–3:05 PM Questions from AudienceModerator: Al Kaszniak, Ph.D.3:05 PM–3:45 PM Free Time3:45 PM–4:45 PM Optional Break-Out Groups / Free Time4:45 PM–5:00 PM Break5:00 PM–6:00 PM Tai Chi, Lower Auditorium – Basement LevelPeter Wayne, Ph.D.6:00 PM–7:00 PM DINNER7:00 PM–7:15 PM Break7:15 PM–7:45 PM The Situated and Embodied Mind: A Mind and Life PerspectiveConcluding Keynote Address: Arthur Zajonc, Ph.D.During the course of this week’s study of the situated and embodied mind, numerous questionswill be raised. Arthur Zajonc, President of the Mind & Life Institute, will review the territorywe have covered and place these issues against the backdrop of the vision of the MLI: what isclear, what remains to be done, and how can it ultimately be of benefit to others?7:45 PM–8:15 PM MeditationArthur Zajonc, Ph.D.8:15 PM–9:00 PM Social Time9:00 PM–10:00 PM Free Time10:00 PM–8:00 AM Silence through Morning Meditation14