Compassion Cultivation Training©
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
—the Dalai Lama
What exactly is compassion, and how can it bring happiness and build resilience?
I’d like to share a personal story to help answer those questions. Each of us is born with the capacity for compassion. It’s the seed within that has allowed the human species to propagate. In order to flourish, however, that seed needs tending. It requires cultivation. Meditation can help us nourish the soil and water the seedling.
Would you like to begin a meditation practice or deepen one?
Want to live with greater intention and joy, develop resilience and a sense of balance in your life? Consider taking an eight-week course in Compassion Cultivation Training © with me! Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT™) can help strengthen your innate qualities of compassion, empathy and kindness–toward yourself and others! The program was developed at Stanford University over a decade ago by a team of contemplative scholars, clinical psychologists, and researchers, and is offered at Stanford’s Medical School and around the world by certified teachers. Classes meet once a week for 2 hours on Zoom. While tuition is set by the Compassion Institute ($300 Early Bird; $375 Regular Tuition), I offer scholarships to all who request them. Cost should never be a barrier! To find out about upcoming workshops (free) and courses, click on “Learn More about CCT” below. On that page, you’ll also find out how to contact me to discuss tuition and scholarships.
What is Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT™)?
CCT is an 8-week (16 hours of class time) program, developed at Stanford University, using insights and techniques from psychology, neuroscience, and contemplative practice. The course integrates evidence-based meditation techniques, interactive discussions and lectures, as well as real-world exercises to enhance learning and “walk the walk.” Each week’s theme builds upon the preceding:
Week 1: Settling and focusing the mind
Week 2: Kindness and compassion for a loved one
Week 3: Self-compassion
Week 4: Self-kindness and values affirmation
Week 5: Common humanity
Week 6: Cultivating compassion for others
Week 7: Active compassion
Week 8: Review and sustaining a practice
“Having mindfulness is like knowing when to open and when to close your windows and doors.”
—Ajahn Dhammadaro
Instructor
I have a Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University and am a graduate of Warren Wilson’s MFA Program for Writers. I have two decades of experience researching and designing health interventions in the US and overseas. I’ve run an HIV prevention program in Africa, designed harm reduction strategies for intravenous drug users in Central Asia, and developed materials to help cancer patients in the U.S. make informed decisions about their treatment. I am co-author of a parenting book influenced by the RIE philosophy of infant-toddler care and a published poet and essayist. I volunteer for the nonprofit, Insight on the Inside, which shares meditation practices to inspire and empower the incarcerated, returning citizens, people transitioning from homelessness, and all affected by poverty, aging, and illness. In 2023, I was given the opportunity to serve as a contemplative coach to a Dalai Lama Fellow with a compassion-in-action/social innovation project. I studied Compassion Cultivation Training with founding faculty while a fellow at Stanford University and am honored to be a certified teacher of CCT. You can read about my journey to becoming a teacher on a blogpost at the Compassion Institute’s site.