BUILDING THE NETWORK: OUR ACTIVITIES
January 2025
After the launch of the CEN at the 2024 Conference in Padua, the Inaugural Contemplative Education Network Virtual Workshop, titled: “What Shall Contemplative Education and Our Network Become?” took place on January 31, 2025. The workshop explored key themes in contemplative education and strategies for collaboration, addressing questions such as what’s “contemplative” about contemplative education and how a network of mutual support can be formed. This gathering serves as the first step in building a strong and connected community.
April 2025
On April 4, 2025, a virtual Consolidation Workshop was held to share and consolidate the ideas developed during the first workshop, and to outline a more specific set of plans for continuing to build our grassroots network. We further discussed and refined a possible definition of Contemplative Education, and began group work on the four priority areas for the network that had emerged during the previous workshop. This marked the launch of four Working Groups, which will continue their activities and remain open to anyone who wishes to join along the way: 1) Further Developing the Network; 2) Curriculum Development and Resource Sharing; 3) Mentorship and Support Systems; 4) Advocacy and Awareness. For more information, feel free to contact us!
June 2025
On June 27, 2025, the CEN virtual Workshop “Co-Creating the Path Forward: Next Steps for the Contemplative Education Network” was held to present the work of the four Working Groups and take the next steps toward putting the network into action. This event has been an opportunity to also gather feedback on the new proposed description of Contemplative Education.
September 2025
On September 19, 2025, the CEN virtual Workshop “Working Together: Updates and Space for Connecting” was held to present and discuss the ongoing work of the three Working Groups and take the next concrete steps. During the workshop, there was space for interaction in small groups, where we explored each participant’s engagement in the field of contemplative education, as well as what we can offer to and receive from the CEN. Finally, we gathered themes and proposals for upcoming thematic workshops.
February 2026
On February 14, 2026, In order to facilitate mentorship, meet mentoring needs, and contribute to our continuing efforts build a shared community from the ground up, the Mentorship and Support Working Group of the Contemplative Education Network organised a workshop entitled, Sharpening our Focus and Gathering our Talents with special guests Jon Kabat-Zinn, Founding Director of the Center for Mindfulness, and Sarah Shaw, Ph.D., Oxford University. The first half of the workshop was focused on developing a more nuanced understanding of "mindfulness," - a term that is ubiquitous today but whose roots and applications are not clearly enough defined and consistently used. To aid us in sharpening our focus, there was a discussion of the meaning of mindfulness from both normative and clinical perspectives led by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. and Sarah Shaw, Ph.D.
March 2026
On March 21, 2026, the Contemplative Education Network's “Network and Curriculum Development, and Resource Sharing” working group organised a workshop entitled:
“Teaching for Humanity: Mindfulness and Social and Emotional Learning in Schools" with special guest Dr. Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl. The first half of the gathering centered on Dr Schonert-Reichl's reflections about the relationship between contemplative programs in education, particularly mindfulness and social and emotional learning (SEL), highlighting how these approaches complement one another: mindfulness cultivates present‑moment awareness, attention, and self‑regulation, while SEL systematically builds competencies such as self-awareness, empathy, compassion, emotion regulation, and interpersonal skills.