Composition Forum 54, Summer 2024
http://compositionforum.com/issue/54/

Introduction to the Special Issue: An Invitation to Contemplative Writing Pedagogy

Paula Mathieu and Angela Muir

All there is is the present moment.
We have little control over what is occurring, and that’s OK.
It has always been like that.
So now, what are you gonna do?

—Stephanie Briggs

While there are myriad definitions of what constitutes contemplative action or practice, we open this special issue on Contemplative Pedagogy with the four-part mantra that Stephanie Briggs discusses in her interview because it combines the values of awareness and acceptance with a call to action. This question—what are you going to do—resonates in so many ways for scholars and teachers of writing. There are innumerable reasons for hand-wringing right now, ranging from economic precarity and the decline of higher ed, climate crises, the eroding of democracies, the rise of misinformation and deep fakes, and panic about the role AI will play in either overhauling or eliminating our livelihoods. So much is out of our control, but as Briggs reminds us, it has always been this way.

A contemplative response is to be attentive to the moment we inhabit, pay careful attention, and move with care and compassion. Though this is not always an easy or natural approach, this issue aims to offer examples of how others have taken up this call. We hope this issue on contemplative pedagogy also helps situate contemplative work in a social situation—among students, within communities, with the question of “So now, what are you going to do?” prompting us to form deeper connections to students and each other and to commit to justice.

A Dedication to Bill Hart-Davidson

As we were preparing the final manuscripts for this special issue on Contemplative Writing Pedagogies, we learned about the sudden and untimely death of Bill Hart-Davidson, Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education at Michigan State University. In the ensuing hours and days, an outpouring of love and appreciation for Hart-Davidson circulated in many online venues, describing him as generous, wise, joyful, and fully present in conversations. So not only did Hart-Davidson possess a formidable intellect, but he also paired it with a keen ear for listening and a fully embodied commitment to caring for students and colleagues, whether that meant feeding them, driving them to retreats, or being part of their major life celebrations.

While we didn’t have the good fortune to know Bill personally (only through his scholarship), we invoke his life here because we feel it represents in a very concrete way how we hope to define the idea of contemplative pedagogy in this issue. When hearing the term, many may think of “contemplative” as individualistic, even monastic, quiet, and perhaps away from the world. While the CMind Tree of Contemplative Practices, a map of the range of contemplative practices, does have a branch called stillness, which includes silence and meditation, it also includes branches rooted in creativity, relations, activism, and movement. The descriptions of Bill we have read describe him as fully present, creative, encouraging creativity in others, and dedicated to his relationships with students, family, and community. He saw his job as not just educating an intellect but teaching a whole person—fostering joy, friendship, creativity, as well as pushback against the status quo. These are the qualities we value in contemplative pedagogies and foreground in this issue: those that help us think deeply about what it means to be human, to find ways to be present in the current moment, and to move with care and compassion for ourself and others.

Because now is all that is promised to any of us.

Contemplative Pedagogy and Writing

This issue presents essays that fall in a long tradition of writing teachers and scholars drawing on contemplative and mindful practices in their pedagogy. Contemplative practices have roots in every major religion (see for example Chodron; Merton; Hahn; williams, Owens, and Syedullah; Makransky). And an interest in mindfulness and various contemplative practices have strong secular roots as well and an increasing base of scientists studying the value of mindful practices (see for example Zinn; Langer; Shapiro; Neff et al.)

The presence of contemplative practices related to writing pedagogy reaches back in history. Progressive pedagogy scholars like John Dewey and Paolo Freire foregrounded observation and deep listening to and understanding of their students/communities as a basis for transformative teaching. A common definition of mindfulness is “awareness, cultivated by paying attention in a sustained and particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat Zinn 1). Certainly our field’s shift away from traditional approaches to student-centered writing pedagogies has required developing skills of listening and paying attention by instructors, whose job became more focused on responding to the humans writing in their classes rather than solely to the texts they were producing.

In the 1990s, some writer/teacher/scholars in composition began addressing contemplative issues in a more explicit way. Mary Rose O’Reilly followed up her Peaceable Classroom (which poses a central question for all times: “Is it possible to teach English so that people stop killing each other?”) with Radical Presence: Teaching as Contemplative Practice, in which she argues that the basis of successful teaching is contemplative in nature. She argues that the secrets to good teaching and living are hidden in plain sight: “seeing one’s self without blinking, offering hospitality to the alien other, having compassion for suffering, speaking truth to power, being present and being real” (O’Reilly 1998, ix). Also in the 1990s, Alice Glarden Brand and Richard L. Graves co-edited an important but undercited collection: Presence of Mind: Writing and the Domain Beyond the Cognitive. This book is divided into sections on Silence, Wisdom of the Unconscious, Wisdom of the Body, Images, and The Open Door. It features essays by Peter Elbow, Donald Murray, Sondra Perl, Kristie Fleckenstein and others. While this collection reminds us that contemplative practices have long been cultivated by many scholars central to the field of rhetoric and writing, what it claimed in 1995, we would argue, still pertains today: “The greatest need for growth in composition studies lies now in the ways we create meaning beyond what is currently considered acceptable knowledge… call them unconscious, automatic, ineffable, inexplicable” (Brand and Graves 5). Brand and Graves argue that writing evolves from a “discursive mind” that should be regarded as a mystery and that “our full psychological life” lies beyond verbal reasoning (Brand and Graves 5). In other words, they argue that teaching writing extends far beyond the intellectual and cognitive demands of providing meaningful writing prompts and teaching skills that transfer to other classes. They call for writing teachers willing to attend to one’s self and to one’s students with a calm present mind, curiosity, and compassion.

In recent years, contemplative pedagogy has emerged as a transformative approach in higher education, offering insights into the cultivation of deeper learning, personal growth, and compassionate engagement within academic settings. At the heart of contemplative pedagogy lies a fundamental inquiry into the nature of learning and the ways in which educators can facilitate meaningful connections between knowledge, self-awareness, and social responsibility. Drawing from diverse philosophical traditions, contemplative pedagogy invites educators from all disciplines to integrate mindfulness, reflection, and embodied practices into their teaching praxis, fostering environments that nurture both intellectual rigor and emotional well-being.

From this multidisciplinary approach, Mirabai Bush and Daniel Barbezat argue for the transformative potential of contemplative pedagogy across various disciplines. Their seminal work Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning offers practical strategies, such as deep listening and beholding, mindfulness practice, movement, and contemplative approaches to reading, which are rooted in the Benedictine practice of Lectio Divina. They invite educators to reimagine their roles within the classroom, embracing contemplative approaches as catalysts for deeper engagement and holistic learning experiences. Similarly, Chris Uhl’s Teaching as If Life Matters takes seriously the emotional and interpersonal challenges related to teaching, especially when exploring difficult topics like climate science. Beth Berila’s Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy offers pedagogical approaches for social-justice teaching, rooted in mindfulness, which includes bringing body awareness, recognizing and unlearning privilege and internalized oppression, and framing student resistance more productively. Berila’s goal is to use contemplative teaching to help build more compassionate and empowered communities.

Outside of teaching entirely, key books help inform those interested in engaging in contemplative work as a tool of justice and equity. Ruth King’s Mindful of Race helps readers attend to the affective and interpersonal aspects of racism and offers readers ways to learn to sit with and tolerate the healing work necessary to overcome racism. Legal scholar Rhonda Magee’s The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness offers a pathway of the deep work needed to become someone able to engage with difficult conversations in order to work toward a more racially just society.

Within the field of rhetoric and composition studies, contemporary scholars such as Barry Kroll, Robert Yagelski, Christy Wenger, and Alexandra Peary have contributed book-length inquiries into the intersections of contemplative practices with writing pedagogy. Kroll’s An Open Hand: Arguing as an Act of Peace uses ideas and exercises from the martial art of Aikido to teach forms of argument that focus on cooperation and empathy. Yagelski’s exploration of mindfulness in Writing as a Way of Being challenges conventional notions of writing instruction, advocating for a more embodied and reflective approach that honors the complexities of the writing process. Similarly, Wenger’s work Yoga Minds, Writing Bodies, offers an approach to include yoga, meditation and martial arts into writing classrooms. Peary’s book, Prolific Moment, further expands this conversation, offering practical techniques rooted in Buddhism for integrating mindfulness and reflection into writing instruction, thereby fostering deeper connections between students, texts, and contexts. Other writing scholarship explores ways to introduce mindful practices into writing center tutor training (Featherstone et al.), in exploring the tacit stories we might carry about students and ourselves (Mathieu, Excavating), and the need for contemplative approaches when undertaking community-based writing projects (Mathieu, Contemplative Roots).

Our desire in creating this special issue is to invite scholars, educators, and practitioners to engage with a diverse array of contemplative traditions and perspectives and to contribute to an ongoing dialogue on the value and limitations of contemplative pedagogy within composition studies. Being a fully aware teacher helps us embrace the opportunities we have, moment by moment, in our classrooms, with our writing. At the same time, we recognize how limited our control of the present moment is. Rather than seeing that limitation as something to despair, we hope it can be a humble call for action: So, now what are you going to do?

Overview of This Issue

We open this special issue with an interview of Stephanie Briggs by Veronica House to exemplify that at the center of contemplative work are conversations and mindful listening. This piece is a touchstone for so many of the topics covered by authors in this collection: practice, community, presence, self-care, social justice, activism, and the “working towards.” The work is partly “to see clearly the student in front of you and who they might be as an act of justice and as an act of love,” but also, to be “awake” ourselves. The “opening up of the self,” allows us to see our communities as “a whole being in need of empathy, love, and self expression” (House).

Eli Goldblatt’s piece exemplifies the concept of writing as a practice, akin to activities such as sports and music. By reflecting on the dichotomy between practice and performance, Goldblatt advocates for a holistic understanding of writing that encompasses both the craft and the lived experience of the writer. His exploration of writing as a social, cultural, and spiritual practice provides a foundational lens through which the subsequent articles can be understood.

Building on themes of holistic education, Angela Muir’s article explores classroom community-building as a contemplative practice. Muir navigates the rewards of fostering authentic connections among students and dismantling hierarchies, emphasizing the significance of shared values and democratic engagement. This approach aligns with Rasha Diab’s exploration of mindfulness and rituals of regard, which draw from bell hooks’s insights on communities of care. Diab highlights the transformative potential of mindfulness in pedagogy, challenging traditional educational paradigms and advocating for a reconciled self rooted in cross-cultural traditions.

Further extending the discourse on mindfulness and community, Erin Schaefer presents a pedagogical unit designed to reconceptualize self-care as self/society care. Her unit integrates mindfulness practices to foster a holistic and embodied approach to care, urging students to recognize their interconnectedness with others. Similarly, Paul Lynch’s article argues for seeing writing itself as a spiritual practice, at a moment of changing religious traditions and the rise of syncretic spiritualities in the United States. He argues for the inclusion of spirituality studies in rhetoric and writing studies to prepare students for democratic citizenship.

The emotional complexities of post-pandemic students are tackled by Abby Orenstein Ash, who proposes a pedagogical framework called “yogic agency.” This framework integrates inward experiences with external events, promoting critical engagement and bridging personal feelings with academic discourse. Debbie Goss and Wenqi Cui’s Capstone Writing Groups further emphasize the importance of self-care and contemplative strategies, enhancing students’ writerly competence and global citizenship traits through sōka education.

Anuj Gupta and Susan Miller-Cochran address the mental health challenges faced by graduate students, particularly academic writing anxiety. Their comprehensive survey and analysis advocate for integrating mindfulness-based and contemplative pedagogies within feminist and anti-racist frameworks to catalyze transformative change. This theme of vulnerability is also explored by Courtney Lund O’Neil, who demonstrates how narrative writing can be a powerful tool for personal and social change. Anna Sicari and Laura Tunningley’s exploration of contemplative pedagogies in the writing center highlights the importance of mindfulness, awareness, and reflection, advocating for intentional kindness and respect to foster a supportive academic environment.

The issue additionally offers a series of course designs that lean into contemplative work. Beth Connors-Manke’s “rewilding” course design emphasizes the need to reconnect with nature, using mindfulness activities to foster ecological literacy and meaningful engagement with the world. Adrienne Lamberti’s course uses written reflection as a contemplative practice to alleviate student stress, balancing contemplative methods with institutional learning outcomes. Kristen Starkowski positions mindfulness as a strategy to nurture underprepared students’ scholarly identities, providing practical exercises to develop confidence and unique voices in the writing classroom. Katharine H. Brown and Annie Small’s intervention program, WriteFest, combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, contemplative practices, and embodied pedagogies to support graduate students’ wellbeing while writing, offering valuable insights for multiple educational contexts.

Together, these articles and course designs illuminate the diverse ways in which contemplative practices can help us as scholars and practitioners transform writing pedagogy and ourselves, in order to foster empathy, community, interconnectedness, and holistic growth.

As we hope this special issue of Composition Forum demonstrates, there is no single or definitive approach to contemplative pedagogy. We invite readers to dip in, sample, and, if you’re interested, find inspiration for finding your own answer to the question of what to do now.

Works Cited

Barbezat, Daniel P., and Mirabai Bush. Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning. Jossey-Bass, 2014.

Barilla, Beth. Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy. Routledge, 2016.

Brand, Alice Glarden, and Richard L. Graves, editors. Presence of Mind: Writing and the Domain beyond the Cognitive. Boynton/Cook Heinemann, 1994.

Chodron, Pima. Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears. Shambala, 2009.

Dewey, John. A Common Faith. Yale UP, 1934.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramon, Continuum, 2000.

Hanh, Thich Nhat. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. Random House, 1992.

Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Mindfulness for Beginners. Sounds True, 2012.

Kroll, Barry. The Open Hand: Arguing as an Art of Peace. U of Colorado P, 2013.

Magee, Rhonda. The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness. TarcherPerigee, 2019.

Makransky, John. Mahāyāna Buddhist Ritual and Ethical Activity in the World. Buddhist-Christian Studies, vol. 20, 2000, pp. 54–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1390320.

Mathieu, Paula. Excavating Indoor Voices: Inner Rhetoric and the Mindful Writing Teacher. JAC, vol. 34, no. 1–2, 2014, pp. 173–190.

———. The Contemplative Concerns of Community Engagement. Community Literacy Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, Spring 2020, pp. 38–48.

Matthieu Ricard, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J. Davidson. The Mind of the Meditator. Scientific American, no. 311, 2014, pp. 38–45.

Neff, Kristen, and Shauna Shapiro. The Science of Mindfulness and Self-Compassion: How to Build New Habits to Transform Your Life. Sounds True, 2019.

O’Reilly, Mary Rose. The Peaceable Classroom. Boynton/Cook Heinemann, 1993.

———. Radical Presence: Teaching as Contemplative Practice. Boynton/Cook Heinemann, 1998.

Peary, Alexandria. Prolific Moment. Routledge, 2018.

Shapiro, Shauna. Rewire Your Mind: Discover the Science and Practice of Mindfulness. Aster, 2020.

Siegel, Daniel. Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence—The Groundbreaking Meditation Practice. TarcherPerigee, 2020.

Uhl, Christopher, and Dana L. Stuchul. Teaching as if Life Matters: The Promise of a New Education Culture. Johns Hopkins UP, 2011.

Wenger, Christy. Yoga Minds, Writing Bodies: Contemplative Writing Pedagogies. U of Colorado P, 2015.

williams, Rev. angel Kyodo, Lama Rod Owens, and Jasmine Syedullah. Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. North Atlantic Books, 2016.

Yagelski, Robert. Writing As a Way of Being: Writing Instruction, Nonduality, and the Crisis of Sustainability. Hampton P, 2011.