Harvard Divinity School

Today, mindfulness meditation courses can be found everywhere from schools to prisons to sports teams. The trendy fitness apparel company Lululemon is now advertising mindful clothing for men. There’s also Mindful Meats, Mindful Mints, and Sherwin-Williams sells a paint color they call Mindful Gray. There’s even Mindful Mayo, which you can buy at your local Whole Foods for $5.99. So why has mindfulness meditation suddenly become so popular? Well, for starters, recent studies show benefits against an array of conditions both physical and mental, including helping to counter stress, chronic pain, and other ailments such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. But are there possible downsides to mindfulness being fully embraced by capitalists? As David Gelles writes in the New York Times, “With so many mindful goods and services for sale, it can be easy to forget that mindfulness is a quality of being, not a piece of merchandise.” This is the Harvard Religion Beat, a podcast examining religion’s underestimated and often misunderstood role in society. Here, I’m speaking with Chris Berlin, mediation teacher, instructor at Harvard Divinity School, and counselor to Buddhist students at Harvard. I wanted to get his insight into this mainstreaming of mediation and what he thinks the reasons are for today’s mindfulness boom. I’ll also talk to him about the potential issues faced in our new digital mindfulness landscape, as well as how small benefits can lead to lasting positive change. The Rundown 00:01 - Jon Kabat-Zinn speaking with Bill Moyers 00:36 - Birth and rise of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction 02:03 - Mindfulness meditation gains popularity 04:25 – Intro to the episode and to guest Chris Berlin, mediation teacher and instructor at HDS 05:59 - Mindfulness as a secular approach to traditional meditation practice 10:34 – Benefits and how mindfulness meditation has/n't changed over the years 12:21 - Explosion of the digital mindfulness landscape and possible downsides 14:45 - Whatever works for you 17:20 - Anything we do, we can be mindful about it 19:23 - Credits, connect with us, and Veritalk If you don’t already, please follow us on social and subscribe to our e-newsletter! hds.harvard.edu/news/connect Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/08/13/mainstream-meditation-and-million-dollar-mindfulness-boom Music credits: Chris Zabriskie; InSpectr (Free Music Archive)

Following the award ceremony on May 2, 2019 for the Peter J. Gomes STB '68 Memorial Honors, the alumni honorees spoke on the topic of “spiritual innovation.” The panelists were: Erik Martínez Resly, MDiv ’12, founder and co-director of The Sanctuaries in Washington D.C. Salma Kazmi, MTS ’09, founding executive director of the Boston Islamic Seminary, former associate director of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, and co-founder of the Center for Jewish-Muslim Relations Varun Soni, MTS ’99, dean of religious life at the University of Southern California (USC) and the first Hindu to serve as the chief religious or spiritual leader of an American university. Vanessa Zoltan, MDiv ’15, a humanist chaplain, and CEO and founder of the feminist production company Not Sorry Productions, who with collaborator Casper ter Kuile, created “Harry Potter and Sacred Text” Kerry Maloney, the School’s chaplain, director of the HDS Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, and an instructor in ministry studies. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/video-divinity-dialogues-2019-gomes-honorees Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

In Navajo worldview, thought creates the world, which is then spoken into being. This process places sacred value on the power of language. Sherwin Bitsui’s poetry attempts to connect Diné thought to a changed world by translating the present through an encoding rooted in his culture and language. In this excerpt from his talk at Harvard Divinity School, he offered insight into how Navajo thought and language can inform a poetics, thus opening possibilities for poetry. Sherwin Bitsui is the author of three collections of poetry: Dissolve, Flood Song, and Shapeshift. He is Diné of the Todí¬ch’ii’nii (Bitter Water Clan), born for the Tlizí¬laaní¬ (Many Goats Clan), and has received the Whiting Award, the American Book Award, and the PEN Book Award. Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/03/07/song-thinking-outwardly Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

Award-winning American poet Susan Howe visited Harvard Divinity School on April 24 to speak about the binding together of freedom and law, spontaneity and habit, as occasions for awakening a reader to the exaltation of spirit in process. Crossing the guarded borders between image and word, individual and community, history and the present, poetry provides an opening to the transcendent order that chance makes possible. Susan Howe's collection of poems, That This, won the Bollingen Prize in 2011. In 2017 she received the Robert Frost award for distinguished lifetime achievement in American poetry. Full transcript here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/04/24/concordance-susan-howe Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

How is our lived experience of religion and spirituality changing? Where are the boundaries of religion being tested and transformed? How will scholars and practitioners define and understand religion in the future? A multi-generational panel conversation of scholars and practitioners explored the shifting structures of religious practice and identity, and shared insights about the emerging landscape of spiritual community. Panelists: Dr. Nancy Ammerman, Boston University Dr. Christopher White, Vassar University Dr. Anna Sun, Harvard Divinity School and Kenyon College Casper Ter Kuile, Harvard Divinity School Angie Thurston, Harvard Divinity School Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/04/23/video-lived-religion-spirituality-2019

In November of 2018, the FBI released its report on hate crimes in the U.S. for 2017. It wasn’t good news. Hate crimes on the basis of religious identity surged 23 percent, the biggest annual increase since 2001, the year of the 9/11 terror attacks. And one of the most startling statistics is that the number of hate crimes targeting Jewish people increased 37 percent from the previous year. So, why are hate crimes on the rise? Many have placed blame at the foot of political leaders and specifically President Trump for emboldening anti-Semites and white supremacists—very fine people, he’s called them—but yet, there’s another, equally troubling side to the story—one that calls into question the validity of the FBI’s own hate crime statistics and gives us more questions than answers. I’m Jonathan Beasley, and this is the Harvard Religion Beat, a podcast examining religion’s underestimated and often misunderstood role in society. The Rundown 00:01 - Phone call and defacing of synagogue library 01:19 - Violence against religious minorities is on the rise 02:56 - Responsibility of politics leaders and President Trump 04:41 - Rabbi Gerson on what it's like to lead worshipers in unsettling times 06:13 - The FBI's misleading hate crime statistics 10:21 - Emboldening of white supremacists 13:41 - White nationalism's global rise 14:47 - Hope for the future 15:54 - International response needed 16:36 - Golf clap + other ways to connect If you don’t already, please follow us on social and subscribe to our e-newsletter! And listen to our other pod “Ministry of Ideas!” hds.harvard.edu/news/connect www.ministryofideas.org/ Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/04/23/podcast-why-hate-crimes-are-rise

How do you measure and govern for happiness? Harvard Divinity School hosted an international conference on April 13, 2019, inspired by the Gross National Happiness policies of the Kingdom of Bhutan. During this conference, academics, practitioners, politicians, corporate leaders and spiritual leaders sought answers to the question of universal happiness. The closing included the following: Documentary on Portraits of Bhutan gg by Robert X. Fogarty and Ben Reece of Dear World, USA Bhutanese Cultural Program by The Bhutanese Community from New York City Thangka and Buddhist Paintings by Joseph T. La. Torre Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/conference-wrap.pdf?m=1600910952 Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

How do you measure and govern for happiness? Harvard Divinity School hosted an international conference on April 13, 2019, inspired by the Gross National Happiness policies of the Kingdom of Bhutan. During this conference, academics, practitioners, politicians, corporate leaders and spiritual leaders sought answers to the question of universal happiness. The event was kicked off with a Keynote Address by Her Excellency, Doma Tshering, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations, New York. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/keynote.pdf?m=1600910847 Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

How do you measure and govern for happiness? Harvard Divinity School hosted an international conference on April 13, 2019, inspired by the Gross National Happiness policies of the Kingdom of Bhutan. During this conference, academics, practitioners, politicians, corporate leaders and spiritual leaders sought answers to the question of universal happiness. This panel's topic was the Happiness Movement: Mobilizing Individuals, Communities and Hacking Happiness from Artificial to Heartificial Intelligence. Panelists included Mr. John C. Havens, Prof. Rhonda Phillips, Mr. Namgyal Lhendup, Mr. Arnaud Collery, and Professor Neil Gershenfeld. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/panel-two.pdf?m=1600910905 Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.

How do you measure and govern for happiness? Harvard Divinity School hosted an international conference on April 13, 2019, inspired by the Gross National Happiness policies of the Kingdom of Bhutan. During this conference, academics, practitioners, politicians, corporate leaders and spiritual leaders sought answers to the question of universal happiness. This panel's topic was Scaling Happiness and Health: Translating Science to Application. Panelists included Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath, Dr. Alejandro Adler, Eric Coles, and Kaka. Full transcript here: https://hds.harvard.edu/files/hds/files/panel-three.pdf?m=1600910930 Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.