Intensive Mindfulness
Meditation Experience
Summer Workshop (Phil 4800 / 5860)
May 8-16, 2010
3 academic credit hours
Bowling Green State University
Professor: Marvin Belzer
mbelzer@bgsu.edu
Shatzel 325
372-7216
Workshop goals
The most important goal of the workshop will be to learn
and develop the practical skills of insight (mindfulness) meditation in the
context of intensive solitary and relational practice. A secondary goal is to
develop competence in communicating about one's experiences in meditation as
well as about one's practice itself. A third goal is to gain some understanding
about (a) how diverse meditation traditions have emphasized the importance of a
moral foundation for a meditation practice and the value of altruistic
motivation; (b) the goals specified in various traditions; (c) the relationship
between meditation and psychotherapy; (d) the variety of meditation techniques
and practices that have been developed; and other matters. There also are
various optional personal goals that students might set (such as using
mindfulness to deal with chronic pain, depression, and/or other physical or
mental health problems).
Cost
Retreat room/board cost $295. This needs to be paid to
the BGSU Foundation prior to the retreat (contact Margy DeLuca at
mdeluca@bgsu.edu).
Both Undergraduate and Graduate
Credit Available
This course can be taken for either undergraduate or
graduate credit through Bowling Green State University.
Prerequisites
There are no required prerequisites for this workshop.
The usual prerequisites for Phil 4800 are not required for this workshop and will be waived. For
information or assistance, contact mbelzer@bgsu.edu.
Dates, times, and
locations of Workshop
(a) Intensive silent residential retreat (at Lady of the
Pines, Fremont, Ohio)
Sat. May 8, 5p, through Wed. May 12, 3p
We will coordinate transportation (for those we need it)
to and from Fremont during the week prior to the retreat.
(b) Integration practice (301 Shatzel Hall, BGSU, Bowling
Green, Ohio)
Thurs. May 13 and Fri. May 14 / 6 - 10p
Sat. May 15 / 9a - 6p and Sun. May May 16 / 9a - 6p
Text
Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English
Course content
The core content of the course will be the traditional
methods of mindfulness meditation, including those for the development of
concentration (e.g. by using repeated sustained attention to a neutral focus
such as bodily sensations associated with the breath) and those for the
development of radical acceptance of present-time physical and mental
experience. Relational mindful awareness practices also will be taught, as well
as mind-trainings for the cultivation of loving-kindness, empathetic joy, and
compassion.
Methods of instruction
As the instructor of this course, I (Marvin Belzer) have
taught mindfulness meditation to young people for almost twenty years. I was
one of the co-creators beginning in 1993 of the youth meditation retreat at the
Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts. For ten years I have taught a
meditation course for academic credit at BGSU. I also have taught on youth
retreats at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California and elsewhere. For
this workshop, I will use the basic methods of instruction developed for these
courses and retreats. This instruction involves real-time guidance during
sitting and walking meditations and lectures related to mindfulness practice. I
also will facilitate small group discussions and meet with you individually to
discuss your experiences. You will be expected to read the workshop text, Mindfulness
in Plain English. You will practice
the meditation methods intensively during the retreat period (Sat - Wed) at the
Lady of the Pines, and in the second part of the workshop (Thurs and Fr) you
will be expected to integrate the methods into a more or less normal day (with
workshop meetings in the evenings); and then participate in two daylong
retreats on the concluding weekend which will be similar to the intensive
retreat yet also will incorporate new practices for integration of mindful
awareness into normal activities such as eating, speaking, listening, and
creative action. I will be assisted during the retreat portion of this course
by other visiting teachers including Tempel Smith.
Grades
Normally meditation is not taught in a context in which
grades are assigned, and I would not consider trying to grade the content of
one's meditation experience or the quality of one's practice. To repeat, I will
not be evaluating the quality of your meditation practice. This is an extremely
important point, in part because according to a great deal of literature on
meditation, development and progress in meditation often are contrary to our
expectations. For example, at times we may experience a lot of joy and blissful
feelings, but then these disappear -- and there are times when, according to
the literature, this is definitely progress! The point is that, from the
beginning, there is no need for you to be evaluating or grading your own
experiences, just as I will not be.
Because the course is a regular University workshop,
however, I will assign grades at the end of the workshop. Grades for the workshop will be
determined on the basis of points accumulated in the following way.
75 points: Attendance and participation in the intensive
retreat (Sat. May 8 - Wed. 12)
20 points: Attendance and participation in the evening
classes Thurs and Fri. (May 13 and 14)
30 points; Attendance and participation in the two daylong
retreats Sat. and Sun. (May 15 and 16)
45 points: Daily journal during the period of the
workshop.
50 points: Final written exam based on workshop text and
lectures.
There are 220 points possible. For an A one needs at
least 180 points; for a B 160 points; for a C 145 points; and one needs at
least 130 points to pass the course. One can adjust one's participation in the
various aspects of the course based on the grade for which one aspires.
Graduate credit
Students taking the course for graduate credit under Phil
5860 will be required to write a research paper about mindfulness due one week
following the end of the workshop.