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

Enjoy the power of the pause.

Oct. 14 - 25, 2026


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

Below is the 2026 Summit Schedule.

Register Here

Free events will be offered Oct. 14 - 25, 2026, 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 free sessions. Thank you.

Contemplation Calendar

Oct.14 - 25, 2026

All 2026 Summit sessions are FREE and on Zoom live,
except for the free in-person non-hybrid events which are noted by italicized text.
All session times are held in Pacific Time.

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.

 

Wed. 10/14/26

12:00-1:00pmIntroduction to the 2026 Summit: The Role of Contemplation in the Age of AI, Tia Rich, PhD
9:00am-4:00pmIn-person Opportunity to Walk the Labyrinth at Stanford’s Memorial Church. No registration necessary.
7:00-8:15pmWe Were Made for These Times: Coming Home to
Ourselves in the Age of AI, Kaira Jewel Lingo
  

Thurs. 10/15/26

7:30-8:15amiPause Guided practice #1, Embodying Values and Expressing Wise Compassion, Tia Rich, PhD
11:30-12:45pmInteractive Workshop, Educating for Interbeing: Imagination, Embodiment, and the Education of Compassion, Kaira Jewel Lingo
7:00-8:30pmTechnology and the Human Future: Islamic Contemplative Perspectives on AI and Consciousness, Muhammad U. Faruque, PhD

Fri. 10/16/26

7:30-8:15amiPause Guided practice #2, Interbeing Meditation: Touching Our Source and Growing Our Connection, Kaira Jewel Lingo
10:00-11:15amMindfulness, Embodied self-awareness, and Disembodied AI, Shaun Gallagher, PhD
12:00-1:15pmToward a Developmental Contemplative Science, Philip David Zelazo, PhD

Sat. 10/17/26

8:30-9:30amIn-person Interactive Workshop, The Power of the Pause, Tia Rich, PhD
10:00-11:00amIn-person Interactive Workshop, The Power of the Pause, Tia Rich, PhD
2:00-3:15pmThe Narrating Brain: The Default Mode Network, the Self, and Consciousness in the Age of AI, Vinod Menon, PhD
4:00-5:15pmStructured Learning, Unstructured Wonder: Quaker Mindfulness at Summer Camp, Adair Arbor and Sam Green

Sun. 10/18/26

8:00-8:45amiPause Guided Practice #3, The Clearing Practice: Quaker-inspired contemplative stillness and silence for service, Adair Arbor and Sam Green
4:00-5:15pmDesigning for Safety: AI Ethics, Children's Online Safety, and the Future of Digital Governance, Caitlin Burke, JD, PhD
7:00-8:15pm“Brief as an Atom”: The Cloud’s and the Friar’s “Easy” Contemplative Practices for Befriending Joy in an Age of AI Rage, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD

Mon. 10/19/26

7:30-8:15amiPause Guided practice #4, Lectio Divina (Becoming Chanting), Dental Floss, and AI: How Contemplation Happens and Why It Matters When Your Intelligence Is Not Artificial, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD
12:00-1:15pmTibetan Contemplative Practices as Catalysts for a Revolution in Education in the Age of AI and the Attention Economy, Chiara Mascarello, PhD
4:30-5:45pmThe Discovery of Who We Are: How we can cultivate basic human values through contemplative education and a rich pluralism, Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, PhD, DPhil
7:00-8:15pmContemplation in an Age of AI: Ever Ancient Ever New, Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD

Tues. 10/20/26

7:30-8:15amiPause Guided practice #5, Resting in Presence: A Contemplative Practice Inspired by Tibetan Buddhism, Chiara Mascarello, PhD
12:00-1:15pmMoral Attention in Responsible AI Design, Mark Graves, PhD
4:30-5:45pmInteractive Workshop, Applying Secular Ethics in the Era of AI: Practical activities for putting moral philosophy into practice in daily life, Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, PhD, DPhil
7:00-8:15pmBuddhist Ways of Being Human in the Age of AI, James Gentry, PhD
  

Wed. 10/21/26

7:30-8:15amiPause Guided practice #6, Tonglen (“Giving and taking”): A Buddhist Approach to Developing Empathy and Expanding the Scope of Care, James Gentry, PhD
12:00-1:15pmFlourishing Within, Together, and Worldwide: How brief moments of insight and action empower and uplift us all, Emiliana Simon-Thomas, PhD
4:00-5:15pmReclaiming Presence and Ethical Grounding in Challenging Times, Diana Winston

Thurs. 10/22/26

7:30-8:15amiPause Guided practice #7, Envisioning a Positive Future, Diana Winston
2:00-3:30pmTaoist Wisdom for Today: Fire and Water in an Age of Extremes— Contemplative Harmony and Sustainable Longevity, Dr. Mao Shing Ni
7:00-8:15pmPersonal Ecologies: Contemplation, Reading, and the More-than-Human World, Ariel Evan Mayse, PhD

Fri. 10/23/26

7:30-8:15amiPause Guided practice #8, Fire and Water: A Taoist Meditation for Inner Balance, Dr. Mao Shing Ni
9:30-11:00amInteractive Workshop Sowing Seeds in the Field of Consciousness: The teachings of Yemima Avital, Naama Sadan, PhD
4:00-5:15pmWhat AI Can't Do (Yet) — And Why: The Everyday Role of Creative Leaps in Human Learning, Douglas Guilbeault, PhD

Sat. 10/24/26

9:20-12:20pmMorning Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma, Contemplative Hikes in Nature
12:20-3:20pmAfternoon Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma, Contemplative Hikes in Nature
2:00-4:00pmInteractive Workshop Inner Ecology in Taoism: Practicing Fire-Water Harmony in Daily Life, Dr. Mao Shing Ni

Sun. 10/25/26

11:00-12:00pmIn-person and online University Public Workshop, Divine Love As a Source of Power, Rev. Dereca Blackmon
12:15-1:15pmIn-person and online iPause Guided Practice #9, Mantra as Medicine: How Spiritual Spoken Word Heals Our Busy Minds, Rev. Dereca Blackmon

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.

2026 Contemplation: the Power of the Pause Brochure