Wednesday, September 25:

Mindful Movement
Bowles Plaza, 9 - 9:45 a.m. (Map)
Umrath Lounge in the event of rain (Map)
Facilitator: David Marchant

Start your day off with a new way of seeing and moving through the world. By intentionally coordinating movement and vision we can bring presence to our daily lives. In this unique walking meditation, we will experience an expansive state of spatial awareness through slow, mindful movement and visual practice. People of all abilities are encouraged to participate or witness, as you are able.

Keynote: The Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, live from Nepal 
"Change Your Mind, Change Your World: Recognizing Innate Wellbeing"
Watch Party in Umrath Lounge, 10-11 a.m. (Map)

Our minds are constantly at work creating a reality that takes us on a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions. This becomes magnified during difficult times. Bringing together ancient Buddhist wisdom and scientific research, meditation provides a path leading to greater resilience and wellbeing. Working with awareness, compassion and wisdom, we open our hearts and minds, rippling out towards a more joyful and peaceable world.

We will raffle 10 copies of The Joy of Living, one of Rinpoche’s best-selling books, at the watch party. 

Introduced by: WashU Professor of Anthropology Geoff Childs, an anthropological demographer who specializes in the Himalayan region. Geoff has conducted research in Nubri, a culturally Tibetan enclave in Nepal, for nearly 30 years, which is where he met Rinpoche and his family.

Over the years, Rinpoche’s grandfather, The Venerable Tashi Dorje, shared with Geoff indigenous manuscripts, oral accounts, and a history of his renowned lineage that descends from Tibet’s medieval emperors. Much of that material is now published in journal articles and books.

Geoff is a board member of Nepal SEEDS, a non-profit that sometimes collaborates with Tergar Charity Nepal, Mingyur Rinpoche’s initiative to improve education and healthcare in Nubri.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can register for our webinar to experience this talk remotely.

Eating Meditation
Umrath Lounge, 11:15 - 11:45 a.m. (Map)
Facilitator: Lilli Cloud

Before rushing out to a busy day, take a few minutes to put The Venerable Rinpoche’s teachings into practice by pausing for a guided, mindful eating exercise with Lilli Cloud, a Unified Mindfulness-certified meditation teacher. A light snack will be served.

Train Your Brain - Meditation for Young Adults
Umrath Lounge, Noon - 12:45 p.m. (Map)
Facilitator: Jodi Seals

Mindfulness is simple, but not easy. Enjoy a practical, fun mindfulness exercise designed specifically for college students with Jodi Seals, a WashU health promotion specialist and certified meditation teacher in MIEA (Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults).

Yoga with the Oxygen Project
Umrath Lounge, 2 - 3 p.m. (Map)

Wake up your brain and body in this all-levels gentle yoga class. You won’t get too sweaty, but you will feel relaxed and alert. Facilitated by our community partner Oxygen Project, which specializes in bringing yoga to youth in St. Louis to empower them to face everyday stress and significant life challenges with resilience and calm. All ages and abilities are welcome. Bring a yoga mat if you have one. We'll have a few available for those who don't. 

Discussion Space: Mindfulness Week Edition
Via Zoom, 3:30 – 5 p.m.

Mindfulness Science & Practice will augment this open discussion space with an extra bit of mindfulness. These sessions are designed to build participants' capacity to reflect and make meaning in conversation together, with topics left to the participants. Learn more and sign up on the dedicated event page. Anyone may sign up for this event if they have a WUSTL key.

L-R: Tsering Wangmo, Meagan Arney, Lisa Gilbert, Resh Gupta, Kerri Rawson, Diana Parra Perez, Todd Braver

Thursday, September 26:

Mindfulness Research @ WashU
Umrath Lounge, 10 - 11:30 a.m. (Map)

Learn about mindfulness research happening right here at WashU from a transdisciplinary group that includes psychology and brain science, social work, public health, music, education, physical therapy, film, and anthropology. 

Tsering Wangmo
Exploring the Epistemology of Memory in Exile and Its Relation to Land Through Art/Film 

Maegan Arney
An Emotional Support Intervention to Improve Educator Well-Being, Increase Mindfulness, and Change How Teachers Communicate About Stress to Students 

Lisa Gilbert
Looped Soundscapes: Composing and Creating Harp Music for Use in Mindfulness Settings and Research 

Resh Gupta
Understanding the Effect of Focused Attention and Open Monitoring Meditation on Attentional and Cognitive Control in Anxiety

Kerri Rawson 
Moving Mindfully: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Approach to Freezing of Gait in Parkinson disease.

Diana Parra Perez & Todd Braver
Mindfulness to enhance cognitive health in Latinx older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

Mindful Art Viewing
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Noon - 12:45 p.m. (Map)
REGISTRATION CLOSED

Take a pause and look deeply at a work of art, perhaps for the first time ever. José Garza, Museum Academic Programs Coordinator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, will guide us through exercises to experience artwork by Andrea Bowers from the series Eco Grief Extinction. Bowers' art amplifies causes ranging from human rights advocacy to environmental protection. Activist chants reverberate through her creations, manifesting as vibrant, neon-lit slogans; expansive black marker drawings on collaged cardboard, inspired by vintage agitprop; and small, detailed illustrations of individual demonstrators amidst a larger crowd, inviting viewers to recognize the unique voices within collective movements.

Loving-Kindness Meditation
Umrath Lounge, 2 - 2:45 p.m. (Map)
Facilitator: Armando Gomes

How do we come together in a world that is seemingly more polarized than ever? Mindfulness can help. Armando Gomes, a finance professor at WashU and certified mindfulness teacher through the MMTCP program, will guide us to strengthen feelings of kindness and connection toward others, offering tools to help us live with more ease.

Yoga for the Heart
Umrath Lounge, 3 - 4 p.m. (Map)
Facilitator: Danielle Magnus

Led by Danielle Magnus, this class guides participants through a heart-centered journey, blending breathwork, gentle and powerful asanas, and meditation to cultivate emotional resilience and inner peace. Drawing from her diverse background in architecture, landscape design, and holistic plant care, Danielle weaves together the alchemy of contrasts—movement and stillness, effort and ease—to create a balanced, harmonious practice. Rooted in yogic philosophy, "Yoga for the Heart" honors the dualities within, offering a sacred space for healing, self-acceptance, and the discovery of wholeness through mindful movement. Suitable for all levels. Bring a yoga mat if you have one. We'll have a few available for those who don't. 

Friday, September 27:

Sound Meditation
Kuehner Court, Weil Hall, 10 - 11 a.m. (Map)

Come bathe yourself in the healing power of sound as WashU faculty collaborate on the creation of a sound meditation: Diana Parra Perez on singing bowls, Lisa Gilbert on harp, and Jordan Geiger on organ.

Mindfulness Through Drawing (no experience necessary)
Kuehner Court, Weil Hall, 11 a.m. - Noon (Map)
Facilitator: Jordan Geiger
REGISTRATION CLOSED

Cultivate creative awareness and explore concepts of mindfulness with exercises originating in insight meditation and art therapy. Guided by WashU MFA alum Jordan Geiger, an artist, musician, thinker and dedicated meditator in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Mindfulness and Anti-Racism Speaker Series 8th Speaker
Dr. Larry Ward, live from Asheville, North Carolina
"Hear the Rolling Thunder of Race"
Watch Party in Brown Lounge, Brown Hall, 2-3 p.m. (Map)

In this talk, based on Dr. Ward's book America's Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal, we will explore the origins of race as a social psychology, our consciousness of shared trauma, the iceberg and duality of race conditioning, and the antidotes of spiritual and social repair.

We will raffle 10 autographed copies of Dr. Ward’s book at the watch party.

Introducing Dr. Ward is Atia Thurman, Lecturer at the Brown School. Atia is a skilled facilitator of learning, community-building, and social change. She has more than 22 years of experience collaborating on projects in the areas of health and human services, education, and community development. As a social work lecturer, Equity and Inclusion Fellow, and Dialogue Across Difference instructor, Atia facilitates growth experiences that integrate equity, mindfulness, justice and healing. 

Previously, as the inaugural associate director of the Clark-Fox Policy Institute, Atia was instrumental in designing graduate school policy curriculum, championing early childhood education, and was a founding organizer of the St. Louis Racial Equity Summit. Drawing from diverse ancestry, life experiences and spiritual practices, her lifelong aim is shared prosperity, collective peace and love for all. 

If you are unable to attend in person, you can register for our webinar to experience this talk remotely.

This event was supported in part by the Washington University in St. Louis Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity.

Reflection Reception
Caleres Lounge, Hillman Hall, 3:30 - 5 p.m. (Map)
Refreshments will be served

Continue the conversation started by our Mindfulness & Anti-Racism speaker Dr. Larry Ward. Atia Thurman, a Brown School alum (MSW ’02), lecturer at the Brown School, and member of the Mindfulness Science and Practice group, will hold space for mindful reflection on how we can experience safety together to live out the three pillars of The Lotus Institute, which Dr. Ward co-founded:

• Healing stored trauma 
• Building beloved community 
• Transforming the narrative of superiority