Journal of Contemplative Inquiry
Abstract
Careful observation of one’s experience provides access to present-moment information, the foundation for mindfulness practice and contemplative education more generally. Contemplative observation comprises a set of trainable skills, including noticing, slowing, and reflecting. Skillful ways to work with observation, including distinguishing (between observation and interpretation), recalling, and describing, can also be taught, learned, practiced, and applied. Two assignments drawn from a course on the psychology of perception, sensory awareness practice and sensory description, are presented as tandem means for teaching all six observation skills. Several aspects of this contemplative observation pedagogy make it useful in higher education generally, and it is also well suited for content-specific use in or adaptation to courses across a variety of disciplines. The aim is to foster (instructor and) student engagement with discovering lived experience through the refinement and focusing of observation skills.
Recommended Citation
Grossenbacher, Peter G. and Rossi, Alexander J.
(2014)
"A Contemplative Approach to Teaching Observation Skills,"
Journal of Contemplative Inquiry: Vol. 1:
No.
1, Article 10.
Available at:
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/joci/vol1/iss1/10