CSPH 5225: Meditation: Integrating Body and Mind

Students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the intellectual background of meditation, reading sources from the mainstream religious traditions of East and West, from indigenous sources, from contemporary practitioners, and from current scientific work linking meditation with wellness.
• Demonstrate the ability to assume a strong, stable, and relaxed physical posture sitting on cushions, benches, or chairs.
• Demonstrate the ability to calm the breath through a focus on deep, diaphragm breathing.
• Demonstrate the ability to dwell in steady consciousness of consciousness itself, allowing emotions and thoughts to rise and fall in calm awareness.
• Describe and discuss some of the many scientific, philosophical, existential, and spiritual questions that arise concerning the nature of human consciousness.