Mindfulness Training in
Intercultural Education
ROBERT PRYOR, ANTIOCH
MATTIE CLARK, CIMBA ITALY
JAMIE ROBINSON, CEA
DENISE COPE, UNIVERSITY OF DENVER
Mindful of Judgments
How We Help Our Students Adjust
by Jamie Robinson, CEA
STOP.
BREATHE.
ASK YOURSELF WHAT YOU ARE FEELING.
How Do Students with Anxiety Communicate?
Impatient
Judgmental
Tearful
Rigid
Over-zealous approval
seeking
Difficulty taking
criticism
Inflexible
Irritable
Angry
Edgy
Demands for attention Catastrophic thinking
which alienate others
How Do Students with Depression Communicate?
ACTING OUT
ACTING IN
 Easily Frustrated
 Overly Passive
 Irritable
 Unable to focus
 Rigid
 Extremely sensitive
 Assume you are at fault
 Flat Affect
 Forgetful
 Assume they are at fault
 Excessively worried
 Flat Affect
What Are Judgments?
Being judgmental can be defined as:
 Assigning value
situation.
good or bad to a person, object or
 Unconscious statement of preference:

This living room is ugly
 Comparing self/others to a “standard “

A canned tomato is not as good as a fresh tomato
Sarcasm + Entitled = Low Self Esteem?
“This student has been speaking and acting
disrespectfully, to both students and onsite staff. She
also has a strong attitude of entitlement, and was
rude about aspects of her program.”
Sometimes
the entitled and
judgmental student is the
most frightened and insecure.
Judgments in PARIS
The French are:
Americans are:
 Creepy
 Friendly
 Smelly
 Loud
 Hairy
 Fat
 Rude
 Stupid
 Metro-sexual
 Ambitious
 Sexually liberal
 Rich
Catastrophe Around Every Corner…..
“Locals should adapt to my American way of being”
“My housing sucks!”
“ I don’t feel safe.”
“I have not seen a normal size truck”
since I got here.
How Can We Help?
A
BALANCED
APPROACH
THOUGHTS
AREN’T FACTS
MINDFUL
AWARENESS
IDENTIFY
FACTS
TURN JUDGMENTS INTO FACTS
Judgment:
“This meat is bad.”
Statement of Fact:
“This meat is rotten.”
“This meat is over-cooked.”
Judgment:
“You are careless with your studies.”
Fact:
“You have been absent from class three
times this week.
Mindfulness Training in
International Education
WHY in study abroad
 Novel experience
 Natural tendency for heightened attention
 Sensory overload of (cultural) transition
 Heightened awareness of values, strengths, weaknesses --self-awareness
 Embrace full richness
 Process culture shock
 Intimate community
 Peer influence
How
Integrating mindfulness on campus
 Mindfulness Seminar

Integrating neuroscience
 Daily Mindful Breathing as full community
 Other opportunities

Yoga, Compassionate, Body scan, Mindful walking, Mindful eating
 Mindful Travel Suggestions*

Waiting, Color, Sounds, Smells, Gratitude
 Student Champions

Bloggers, projects: (photo competition, 1 second a day, testimonials)
 Regular Communication– Emails, Facebook posts
•
Survey – current experience and post positive benefits
•
Individual guidance via coaching and mentoring
Sharing personal and cultural insights with group
•
Mindfulness Tools and Technology
“Mindfulness is one of the best tools CIMBA has
taught me. Personally, I have noticed an increased
ability to focus on school-related activities and more
calmness in stressful situations. I feel more able to
embrace the local culture.”
John Villaire, University of Delaware – Spring 2014
Education Abroad Paradigms
Mindfulness is a vehicle and nonintrusive intervention for making sense
of the study abroad experience. It is a
tool for making study abroad
intentional, constructing meaning and
integrating the experience into the
identity of students.
Mindfulness Scientific Research Resources
 Richard Davidson
 Dan Siegel
 Jeffrey Schwartz
 Ellen Langer
 Kelly McGonigal
 Elisha Goldstein
 Daniel Kahneman
 Robert J. Thompson – Beyond Tolerance and
Reason (2014)
The Impact of
Mindfulness in
Study Abroad
Denise Cope
Director, Office of
International Education,
University of Denver
From Spiritual to Secular
From Island to Complexity
Naropa University
University of Denver
Key Questions
Do
mindfulness practices &
pedagogy positively impact
the way a student experiences
culture shock?
Can these tools lead to greater
intercultural development?
What is Mindfulness?


Anything that strengthens awareness of our
habitual thoughts.
For purposes of my study:

Mindful breathing practice: The training of
attentional skills and the development of an
equanimous, non-judgmental attitude toward
one’s own experiences, toward sensations,
thoughts and feelings, where arising
experiences are acknowledged without
elaboration or reaction. (Kabot-Zinn)
Culture Shock Stages
Study – Before Students go..
 Small
group of students who will be going
abroad in Fall 2014 on year or semesterlong programs.
 Daily commitment: 10 minutes of
mindfulness breathing, 5-7 days a week
for 5 weeks the term before, plus
exercises.
 Weekly commitment: Group analysis.
 Also, a control group.
Once Abroad….
 Students
will be in various locations all of
the world (i.e. Science Po-Rennes, Koc
University, Lille University, Waseda U, etc.)
 Commitment to continue 10 minutes per
day/ 5-7 days per week and reflective
exercises. Do they notice their reactions?
 Weekly group check-ins via online forum
for 8 weeks.
Kolb’s Experiential Learning
Cycle: Mindfulness in Action
adapted from Lily Engle
Active
Experimentation
Trying new ways of
interacting
Developing empathy
for self & others
Concrete
Experience
Interaction with
host culture & 10
min meditation
Abstract Conceptualization
Reflective Observation
Weekly guided group discussion
& analysis
Noticing self in reaction to
difference
Hypotheses:
Based on personal & prior
experience with students
 Will
students be less reactive during both
the highs and lows of culture shock?

A greater ability be uncomfortable without
needing to fix, change or externalize it.
 Will
mindfulness allow students to reach
the adjustment phase faster than the
control group?

Not necessarily, but students are not as
“gripped” by the stress of culture shock.
Phase II:
Intercultural Development &
Mindfulness
 Do
these practices positively affect their
intercultural learning & development?


An increased ability to notice & transform
judgments of “other”
An increased ability to hold multiple cultural
perspectives
Questions re:
Applicability