About CMind

The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society is a global community of contemplative practitioners whose goal is the ongoing development of racial, social, economic, and environmental justice and the advancement of human flourishing.

CMind’s mission is to positively and progressively transform society through diverse contemplative practices.

Our Vision

CMind is grounded in an inclusive, anti-racist vision and works to engage contemplative practices to genuinely advance the well-being of society.

We envision a society that promotes the exploration of interdependence, meaning, purpose, and values in order to co-create and enrich our common human future. We strive towards a society that enables and enhances personal introspection and contemplation, the goal of which is the realization of our inextricable connections to each other so that we may act to ensure our mutual well-being and collective flourishing. 

Through contemplative practices, we endeavor to open hearts, minds, and bodies to true community, deeper insight, and just, sustainable, coexistence with all people and with the natural environment. 

CMind is open to engagement with varied fields of endeavor including but not limited to the creative arts, health and human services, formal and informal education, media, STEM, and activism for human rights. We are committed to featuring practices led by teachers and leaders from diverse experiences towards enhancing humanity’s understanding of its own endlessly enriching contemplative diversity. 

Our Goals

As a global community of contemplatives, CMind seeks to shift the patterns of white dominance as they exist in the contemplative realm itself. We recognize that because of white supremacy, white contemplatives have gained more recognition and profit as contemplative leaders. We also recognize that cultural appropriation often manifests when the practices white contemplatives lead draw heavily from the traditions of Asian, African, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples. We endeavor to center the leadership of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian contemplatives both in the United States and globally while continuing to support the contemplative leadership of all people.

We recognize that the resources that helped to develop the United States and much of the Western world were stolen from Indigenous people and people of African heritage and exploited to build wealth for a European-descended minority. We aim to build an actively antiracist society that uses contemplative practices to continuously recognize and reshape oppressive ways of thinking, relating, educating, and community building. 

Our goal is to transform the human legacy of oppression and exploitation and create a new paradigm for coexistence and development. Through teaching and learning diverse contemplative practices, we aim to help societies engage in creative, collaborative living with one another and with the natural environment.

Fundamentals of Our Approach

  • Offering a wide variety of contemplative practices and methods

  • Identifying and honoring our source traditions, teachers, histories, and lineages

  • Undertaking antiracism as an integral aspect of contemplative awareness and action

A (Very) Brief History of CMind

CMind began in the mid-1990s with programs in a number of areas, including youth leadership, journalism, environmental activism, and law. Our largest program was in education.

Beginning in 2008, our work focused on contemplative practices in colleges and universities, exploring how contemplative practices can support personal, institutional, and systemic change in higher education. We offer many resources designed to serve faculty, staff, students, and administration. We organize and hold retreats, webinars, and workshops, create and identify useful resources, and connect individuals and organizations through the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education.