The Contemplation by Design Summit is a campus-wide, multidisciplinary series of FREE events.
Enjoy the power of the pause.
Oct. 15 - 27, 2025
Please click on the session titles for the full description, which are being updated when they become available.
Below is the 2025 Summit Schedule.
Registration will open on Sept. 15
Click here to add your name and email to the Summit mailing list
Free events will be offered Oct. 15 - 27, 2025, 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.15 - 27, 2025
All 2025 Summit sessions are FREE and on Zoom live,
except for the free in-person 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. 10/15/25 |
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| 12:00-1:00pm | Introduction to the 2025 Summit, Tia Rich, PhD |
| 9:00am-4:00pm | In-person Opportunity to Walk the Labyrinth at Stanford’s Memorial Church. No registration necessary. |
| 2:00-3:30pm | Contemplative Practices as a Pathway to Flourishing in Schools, Christina Hinton, EdD |
| 4:00-5:30pm | The Importance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Educating the Whole Learner: A Journey Through Research, Policy, and Practice, Karen Van Ausdal, VP of Practice, Collaboration for Academic,social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) MEd, MSC in Social Policy, and Lakeisha Steele, VP of Policy CASEL |
Thurs. 10/16/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #1, Breathing for Mindfulness, Resilience, and Well-being, Tia Rich, PhD |
| 12:00-1:15pm | Empowering Communities Through Contemplative Practices in Schools, Atman Smith |
| 2:00-3:30pm | Why Meditate, Joseph Goldstein |
| 4:00-5:30pm | Interactive Workshop, Making Mindfulness Work: Strategies for Inclusive, Impactful School-Based Programming, Andy Gonzales |
| 7:00-8:15pm | Interactive Mindful Breathing Inside the K12 Classroom: Improving Focus and Reducing Stress for Teachers and Students, Peter Mills, MA |
Fri. 10/17/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #2, Roots of Compassion: A Trauma-Responsive Loving Kindness Practice, Atman Smith |
| 9:00-10:15am | The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together, Caverly Morgan |
| 12:10-12:55pm | iPause Guided practice #3, Releasing Striving in Your Practice and Your Life, Caverly Morgan |
| 5:00-6:30pm | Interactive Workshop, Moving Beyond Personal and Collective Conditioning, Caverly Morgan |
| 7:00-8:30pm | Mindful Parenting in a Changing World: Nurturing Connection, Creativity, and Independence in our Children and Ourselves, Will Kabat-Zinn and Teresa LaMendola Kabat-Zinn |
Sat. 10/18/25 |
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| 8:30-9:30am | In-person Interactive Workshop, The Power of the Pause, Tia Rich, PhD |
| 10:00-11:00am | In-person Interactive Workshop, The Power of the Pause, Tia Rich, PhD |
| 1:00-2:30 pm | Are you Mindful-er than a 3rd grader? The Promises and Perils of Mindfulness in Education, Amy Saltzman, MD |
| 3:00-3:45pm | iPause Guided practice #4, What We Wished We Learned in High School: Directing the Attention and Remembering Who We Are, Janice Martellucci, Executive Director, Peace in Schools |
| 4:00-5:30 pm | Peace with Youth Starts with Us: Insights from Implementing an Inner Curriculum in High Schools, Caverly Morgan and Janice Martellucci |
Sun. 10/19/25 |
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| 3:00-5:00pm | Interactive Workshop, Mindful Parenting Interactive Session: Loving Awareness in Action, Will Kabat-Zinn and Teresa LaMendola |
| 7:00-8:15pm | Godparents as Spiritual Mentors: Timeless spiritual guidance and presence for resilience, stability and inner strength, The Rev. Dr. Joanne Sanders |
Mon. 10/20/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #5, With and Within: Mindfulness as Relational Practice, Hannah Block |
| 12:00-1:15pm | Ancient Wisdom for Modern Families: Flourishing in the Midst of it All, Mark Bertin, MD |
| 4:30-5:15pm | iPause Guided practice #6, Kindness and Compassion Practice, Mark Bertin, MD |
| 7:00-8:30pm | Uncovering the Gold: Presence, Compassion, and Education in Times of Crisis, Mark DiPerna, JD and Micah Anderson, LMFT |
Tues. 10/21/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #7, Making Friends with Difficult Emotions, Emiliana Rodriguez |
| 9:30-10:15am | iPause Guided practice #8, Cultivating Connection, Teresa LaMendola Kabat-Zinn |
| 12:00-1:30pm | Interactive Workshop, Presence as Practice: Cultivating Connection, Resilience, and Transformational Education, Micah Anderson, MA, LMFT and Oscar Medina |
| 4:00-5:15pm | Compassionate Presence: Contemplative Skills to Engage a Complex World, Charlotte Rotterdam, MTS |
| 7:00-8:15pm | Education as Awakening: Reimagining Learning Through Basic Goodness, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche |
Wed. 10/22/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #9, A Compassion Practice: Tonglen, Charlotte Rotterdam, MTS |
| 9:00am-4:00pm | In-person Opportunity to Walk the Labyrinth at Stanford’s Memorial Church. No registration necessary. |
| 12:00-1:30pm | Interactive Workshop, Transforming Obstacles into Wisdom: A Compassion Practice, Charlotte Rotterdam, MTS |
| 2:00-2:45pm | iPause Guided practice #10, Uncovering the Gold: A Guided Journey for Educators, Justice Advocates, and Community Leaders, Oscar Medina |
| 7:00-8:30pm | Interactive Workshop, (part 1) Seeing Clearly: Cultivating Awareness in Everyday Learning, Susan Kaiser Greenland and Justin Kelley, PhD |
Thurs. 10/23/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #11, Metta: The Practice of Lovingkindness, The Rev Dr. Joanne Sanders |
| 9:30-10:15am | iPause Guided practice #12, Embracing Emotions, Will Kabat-Zinn |
| 12:00-1:30pm | Creating a Mindful School: A Collaboration Between Crockett Elementary School and Mindfulness First, Sunny Wight, Sean Hannafin and Cayla Cole |
| 4:00-5:30pm | Interactive Workshop The Attuned Classroom: Subtle Skills That Elevate Mindfulness Teaching, Christina Costelo, MA |
| 7:00-8:30pm | Interactive Workshop (part 2), From Understanding to Action: Life Skills for a Wise and Compassionate Response, Susan Kaiser Greenland and Justin Kelley, PhD |
Fri. 10/24/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #13, The Practice of Letting Go with Mindfulness, Logan Mitchell, CMT-P |
| 12:00-1:15pm | Mindfulness and Leadership, The Path of Practice, Anushka Fernandopulle, MBA |
| 2:00-3:30pm | The Science of Nurturing Well-Being in Children and their Caregivers, including their Teachers, Mark Greenberg, PhD |
| 4:15-5:00pm | iPause Guided practice #14, Cultivating Qualities of Heart and Mind for Leadership, Anushka Fernandopulle, MBA |
| 7:00-8:15pm | Resting in Awareness: A Guided Contemplation, Karma Shenden |
Sat. 10/25/25 |
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| 9:15-10:30am | The Path to Practice, Anushka Fernandopulle, MBA |
| 11:00am-12:15pm | A Decade of Cultivating Compassionate Schools, Alexis Harris, PhD |
| 1:30-3:00pm | Interactive Workshop Strategies for Educators from Flourish, the Curriculum of the Compassionate Schools Project, Joan Bryant, MA, PhD and Alexis Harris, PhD |
| 3:30-4:15pm | iPause Guided practice #15, Breathe, Move, and Reflect with the Community Approach to Learning Mindfully (CALM) for Educators, Alexis Harris, PhD |
| 7:00-8:15pm | Mindful Parenting, Mari Kurahashi, MD, MPH |
Sun. 10/26/25 |
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| 9:20am-1:20pm | In-person in Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma, Contemplative Hikes in Nature, Registration Required using the Contemplation by Design Eventbrite link. Registered participants will leave campus every hour on shuttles to JRBPOO to meet a docent for each small group hike. |
| 11:00-12:00pm | In-person in Memorial Church University Public Worship (UPW), Moral and Spiritual Inquiry Through Literature, The Rev. Scotty McLennan, MDiv, JD, Lecturer Stanford Graduate School of Business |
| 12:15-1:15pm | In-person in Memorial Church iPause Guided Practice #16, Poetry of the Spirit, The Rev. Scotty McLennan, MDiv, JD, Lecturer Stanford Graduate School of Business |
| 4:00-5:15pm | Let Your Life Speak: On the Transformational Power of Quiet Reflection, Clint Wilkins, MDiv |
| 7:00-8:30pm | Interactive Workshop, Athletes, Students, Performing Artists, Future Leaders: FIND FLOW in the classroom, on the field or the stage, and in life, with Amy Saltzman, MD |
Mon. 10/27/25 |
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| 7:30-8:15am | iPause Guided practice #17, Mindful Breathing as a Preparation for Meditation, Peter Mills, MA |
| 12:00-1:15pm | Meeting this Moment in History, A Conversation with Caverly Morgan and Rev. Tenzen David Zimmerman |
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.
