The Contemplation by Design Summit is a campus-wide, multidisciplinary series of events.

Enjoy the power of the pause.

Oct. 20 - Nov. 3, 2023


Please click on the session titles for the full description, which are being updated when they become available.

Below is the 2023 Summit Schedule.

Register Here

Free events will be offered Oct. 24 - Nov. 3, 2023, to further individual and community health and well-being, and creative excellence to serve the greater good in these unprecedented times.  Contemplation By Design is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, campus-wide program cultivating resilience, well-being, wisdom, compassion, and sustainable, ethical, purposeful service. Summit participants will have the opportunity to cultivate perspective, meaningful purpose, and contemplative practices that refresh and renew the mind-body-spirit.                   

Faculty, staff, students and the community are invited. Please register to reserve your place in the sessions. Thank you.

Contemplation Calendar

Oct. 20 - Nov. 3, 2023

All 2023 Summit sessions are FREE. Most sessions are on Zoom. There also are 8 in-person sessions. These are noted by "in-person" in the session's title in the schedule below. When you register for an in-person session, a hybrid option is offered for 3 of the 8  if you are not able to attend in person.

Green text indicates Guided Practices sessions or Interactive workshops.
Blue text indicates lectures, which will include Q&A and may include a guided practice.
Gray text indicates an opportunity for a self-directed contemplative practice.

Sat. 10/21/23

8:30-9:30am In-person Interactive Workshop: “The Power of the Pause” Illuminates the Light Within to Transform Society, Tia Rich, PhD 
Location: Lathrop 282
10:00-11:00am In-person Interactive Workshop: “The Power of the Pause” Illuminates the Light Within to Transform Society, Tia Rich, PhD 
Location: Lathrop 282

Sun. 10/22/23

9:00-10:30am In-person Keynote—See No Stranger: A journey into Revolutionary Love,  Valarie Kaur, JD, MTS, Location: CEMEX

Mon. 10/23/23

7:00-8:15pm

In-person Keynote—Moral Ecologies and Social Change, Anne Snyder, MPS
Location: Bishop Auditorium

Tues. 10/24/23

4:30-6:00pm The Power of Self-Compassion, Chris Germer, PhD
7:00-8:15pm The Mental Health Benefits of Breathwork, David Spiegel, MD

Thurs. 10/26/23

7:30-8:15am iPause Guided practice #1Giving and Receiving Compassion, Chris Germer, PhD
12:00-1:30pm From Chauvet Cave to Star Wars: Art, Myth, and a Spiritual Futurism, Netanel Miles-Yépez, DD
4:30-7:00pm Interactive Workshop: The Art and Science of Getting Along: The Experience, Thom Bond 
7:30-8:15pm iPause Guided practice #2Breathing Practices for Mental Health and Well-being, David Spiegel, MD

Fri. 10/27/23

7:30-8:15am iPause Guided practice #3, Charis Meditation (Charis, Greek for “Grace”), Netanel Miles-Yépez, DD
12:15-1:30pm The Courage of Contemplative Connections, Furyu Nancy Schroeder
4:45-6:00pm The Bodhisattva with Boundaries: The Paradox of Selflessness and Self-Care, Mei Elliott 
6:15-7:00pm iPause Guided practice #4 Practicing with the Emptiness of Self, Mei Elliott
7:30-8:30pm The Healing Power of Embodied Connection with Oneself and with Other People, Elysabeth Williamson

Sun. 10/29/23

11:00am-12:00pm In-person in Memorial Church UPW: Love as Meditation: Devotional Poetry and the Contemplative Practice of Love, Kenneth Lee 
12:15-1:15pm In-person in Memorial Church UPW Guided Practice: Kirtan, bhajan and abhanga: An Introduction to the contemplative practice of Indian devotional music, Kenneth Lee 
2:15-3:45pm iPause Guided practice #6 Back-to-Back Sacrum Connection (partner yoga), Elysabeth Williamson
4:00-5:30pm Interactive Workshop: Everyday Mindfulness, Will Kabat-Zinn, MA 
7:00-8:30pm Mindfulness, Indigenous Prophecy, and the Time of the Sixth Sun, Brenda Salgado, MS

Mon. 10/30/23

7:30-8:15am iPause Guided practice #7  Practicing Finding Your Seat as Self and Community, Furyu Nancy Schroeder
10:30-11:45am Embodying Beloved Community, Gabriel Wilson, MEd 
12:00-1:30pm Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me, The Very Rev. Michael Battle, PhD 
5:00-5:45pm iPause Guided practice #8Inclusive Awareness and the Open WayWill Kabat-Zinn, MA
7:00-8:30pm Interactive WorkshopEvolving Worldviews, Gabriel Wilson, MEd 
8:45-9:30pm iPause Guided practice #9, Cultivating Your Inner Wisdom and Intuition, Helen Weng, PhD

Tues. 10/31/23

7:30-8:15am iPause Guided practice #10  Practicing Ubuntu, The Very Rev., Michael Battle, PhD
12:00-1:30pm Self-transformation through Contemplative Experience: A Neurobiological Perspective, David Vago, PhD 
4:00-5:30pm Interactive WorkshopHealing with the Ancestors - Toltec Practices for Intergenerational Flourishing, Brenda Salgado, MS 

Thurs. 11/02/23

7:30-8:15am iPause Guided practice #12 , Finding the Divine (the “I am”, the Christ, the Buddha Nature, the Tselem or Image of God) Within, Rev. Matthew Fox, PhD
9:00-9:45am iPause Guided practice #13Practices for developing trusting relationship with the human and more-than-human world, Kritee Kanko, PhD
12:00-1:30pm Interactive Workshop Recovering the Sacred Masculine and the Divine Feminine, Rev. Matthew Fox, PhD 
3:00-4:30pm Emotional Rescue: How to Work with Your Emotions to Transform Hurt and Confusion into Energy That Empowers You, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche 
5:15-6:45pm Internal Family Systems Skills for Compassionate Contemplative Practice, Richard Schwartz, PhD 

All Contemplation By Design SummitTM sessions are FREE. If you wish to make a donation, please do so here.
We look forward to being with you in the Summit sessions you attend.

2023 Contemplation: the Power of the Pause Brochure