progrhow to train compassion
DESCRIPTION
Program of Max Planck Institute for compassion studiesTRANSCRIPT
How to
Train Compassion
July 20th to July 24th, 2011
Berlin, Germany
FORHUMANCOGNITIVE AND BRAIN SCIENCES
LEIPZIG
MAXPLANCK
INSTITUTE
Content
Schedule .........................................................................................................................6
Abstracts ......................................................................................................................11
Short Biographies ..................................................................................................20
Map overview with Locations .......................................................................32
Berlin Sights and Restaurant Suggestions ...........................................35
Workshop Venue:
Studio Olafur Eliasson
Christinenstraße 18/19
Haus 2
10119 Berlin
Germany
http://www.olafureliasson.net
Contact during workshop:
Matthias Bolz: +49 (0)163 8350683
Sandra Zurborg: +49 (0)1577 6056912
Host Institution:
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Stephanstraße 1 a • D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
[email protected] • www.cbs.mpg.de
Editing: Matthias Bolz
Layout: Multimedia & Graphics
Berlin, July 2011
Schedule
6
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
7:30 pm Departure Shuttle from the Hotel
8:00 – 10:00 pm Welcome Reception and Introductory Remarks at
the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and
Humanities
Jägerstraße 22/23
Schedule
7
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
7:30 – 8:30 am Breakfast at Studio Eliasson
8:30 – 9:00 am Introductory Remarks
Tania Singer & Olafur Eliasson
9:00 – 9:30 am Morning Meditation with Matthieu Ricard
9:30 – 10:00 am Refreshment Break
10:00 – 11:00 am Cultivating Compassion from a Buddhist
Perspective
Matthieu Ricard, Barry Kerzin, & Diego Hangartner
11:00 – 12:00 pm Curriculum for Physicians and Nurses in Compassion and
Ethics
Joan Halifax
12:00 – 12:15 pm Refreshment Break
12:15 – 1:15 pm Morning Discussion
Chairs: J. Grant & B. Bernhardt
Panel: M. Ricard, B. Kerzin, D. Hangartner, & J. Halifax
1:15 – 2:30 pm Lunch
2:30 – 3:30 pm Compassion-Focused Therapy
Paul Gilbert
3:30 – 4:30 pm Mindful Self-Compassion Training
Kristin Neff & Christopher K. Germer
4:30 – 5:00 pm Refreshment Break
5:00 – 6:00 pm Afternoon Discussion
Chairs: N. Steinbeis & J. Smallwood
Panel: P. Gilbert, K. Neff, C. K. Germer, & J. Latzel
6:00 – 6:30 pm Afternoon Meditation with Matthieu Ricard
6:30 – 8:00 pm Personal Time
8:00 pm Reception with Olafur Eliasson & Dinner
Schedule
8
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
8:00 – 9:00 am Breakfast at Studio Eliasson
9:00 – 9:30 am Morning Meditation with Diego Hangartner
9:30 – 10:00 am Refreshment Break
10:00 – 11:00 am The Cultivating Emotional Balance Project
Margaret Kemeny
11:00 – 12:00 pm Cognitive-Based Compassion Training
Brooke Dodson-Lavelle & Brendan Ozawa-de Silva
12:00 – 12:15 pm Refreshment Break
12:15 – 1:15 pm Morning Discussion
Chairs: V. Engert & N. Mendes
Panel: M. Kemeny, B. Dodson-Lavelle,
B. Ozawa-de Silva, & E. Simon-Thomas
1:15 – 2:30 pm Lunch
2:30 – 3:30 pm Compassion Cultivation Training Program
Erika L. Rosenberg
3:30 – 4:30 pm Short-Term Compassion Training & Challenges to Design
a Control Condition
Antoine Lutz
4:30 – 4:45 pm Refreshment Break
4:45 – 5:15 pm Compassion vs. Empathic Distress & Memory
Training as an Active Control
Tania Singer & Olga Klimecki
5:15 – 6:15 pm Afternoon Discussion
Chairs: H. Engen & T.Singer
Panel: E. L. Rosenberg, A. Lutz, C. Saron, O. Klimecki
6:15 – 6:45 pm Afternoon Meditation with Barry Kerzin
afterwards Personal Time
Schedule
9
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011
8:00 – 9:00 am Breakfast at Studio Eliasson
9:00 – 9:30 am Morning Meditation with Joan Halifax
9:30 – 10:00 am Refreshment Break
10:00 – 11:00 am Mindfulness-Based Intervention as Integral to a Program
of Compassion Training
Ulrike Kesper-Grossman & Paul Grossman
11:00 – 12:00 pm How to Train Compassion with the Modell of Non-Violent
Communication
Regula Langemann & Suna Yamaner
12:00 – 12:15 pm Refreshment Break
12:15 – 1:15 pm Morning Discussion
Chairs: C. McCall & O. Klimecki
Panel: U. Kesper-Grossman, P. Grossman,
R. Langemann, & S. Yamaner
1:15 – 2:30 pm Lunch
2:30 – 4:00 pm Integration, Final Discussion, & Future Directions
Moderated by Tania Singer
4:00 – 4:15 pm Refreshment Break
4:15 – 4:45 pm Afternoon Meditation with Joan Halifax
4:45 – 8:00 pm Personal Time
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Departure Day
Olafur Eliasson, Colour spectrum kaleidoscope, 2003 © 2003 Olafur Eliasson
Abstracts
11
July 21st, 2011, 10:00 – 11:00 am
Cultivating Compassion from a Buddhist Perspective
Matthieu Ricard, Barry Kerzin, & Diego Hangartner
Mind & Life Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
Buddhist philosophy has been advocating that compassion is critical for human flourishing
and that it can be trained through particular practices. We will explore different method-
ologies and their underlying philosophical foundations on the basis of which compassion
can be developed. These methods vary depending on personal inclinations, and in conse-
quence can, and have, to be generated differently. All of these methods, however, lead to
generating compassion, which again is understood to be the source for relieving suffering.
One approach involves cultivating a feeling of closeness towards everyone based on recog-
nizing the kindness shown to us from everyone. From this feeling of closeness, we can more
easily open our hearts to love and compassion for all others, including close ones, strangers,
and those who make us uncomfortable. In another approach (from Mahayana Buddhism) we
will cultivate the importance of others through the practice of tong.len (taking suffering and
giving happiness) meditation. Wisdom eliminates the deepest level of suffering as an essen-
tial practice of compassion. Thus, we will also explore the practice of wisdom.
Furthermore, clarifications of the meaning of altruistic love, compassion, and empathy will
be presented according to the Buddhist perspective. In particular, we will attempt to dis-
tinguish between the emotional and cognitive aspects of compassion. The first one arises
chiefly from bringing to mind the variety of suffering that afflicts sentient beings. The sec-
ond one is related to investigating the various levels of suffering and their causes, down
to ignorance -defined here as a misapprehension of reality-,which is considered to be the
source of all other mental afflictions (hatred, attachment, lack of discernment, arrogance,
envy, etc.). We will also present the reasoning and wisdom that allow expanding our limited,
biased compassion, to all sentient beings. We will consider how these views could lead to
various angles of research. In particular, we will reflect on the way how stand-alone empathy,
disconnected from altruistic love and compassion, can lead to burn-out.
July 21st, 2011, 11:00 – 12:00 pm
Curriculum for Physicians and Nurses in Compassion and Ethics
Joan Halifax
Upaya Zen Center, Santa Fe, NM, USA
The presentation will cover a summary of the curriculum of Upaya Institute’s professional
training program for clinicians working in the end-of-life care field. This program is based
in a contemplative approach to caring for the dying and has a strong emphasis in compas-
sion training. Upaya Institute’s Professional Training Program in Contemplative End-of-Life
Abstracts
12
Care teaches mindful and compassionate approaches to end-of-life care, clinician self-care
(self-compassion), the development of moral character (compassion-based ethics), and con-
templative interventions appropriate for clinicians and dying people. The training encom-
passes ethical, spiritual, psychological, and social aspects of care of the dying. In addition to
teaching reflective practices and compassion-based ethics and communication strategies,
it explores basic social neuroscience research that endeavors to give the contemplative ap-
proach an evidence-based perspective. The curriculum builds on contemplative practices
that regulate attention and emotion, cultivate compassion, aid in the development of a me-
ta-cognitive perspective, promote calm and resilience, reduce stress, and foster emotional
balance. The contemplative content undergirds so-called spiritual dimensions, i.e. sense of
meaning. It makes wise sense of meaning possible, by clarifying emotional states, developing
pro-social states of mind, and fostering compassion and wisdom.
July 21st, 2011, 2:30 – 3:30 am
Compassion-Focused Therapy
Paul Gilbert
Mental Health Research Unit, University of Derby, UK
There is a long history of using compassion to increase well-being but many of the tradi-
tional approaches assume that people are relatively psychologically stable. Not much exists
in the way of research on individual differences and how they indicate and require different
types of intervention.
Over the last 20 years or so, we have been working with people who come from difficult or
abusive backgrounds, where there was little compassion in their early life and who are often
prone to shame and highly self-critical. These individuals find the process of working with
compassion painful and are often resistant to such feelings. This is typical because feelings
of receiving kindness or being kind to oneself reactivates attachment systems and with it
unresolved traumas and difficulties.
Hence, using a compassion focus that aims to build internal compassionate capacities for
people who have quite serious mental health problems can be tricky. This has meant we
have had to tailor and design a variety of compassion focused interventions specifically as
a form of psychotherapy. My talk will briefly touch on the link between the roles and nature
of the affiliative systems, the undermining qualities of shame and self-criticism and what we
teach our patients.
Currently, compassion focused therapy is being explored with a range of different clinical
problems including psychosis, eating disorders, depression and personality disorders. We
are still learning how best to work with these different kinds of groups, where the blockades
are and what will help them move forward. My talk will give an overview of these areas and
also give the audience a brief opportunity to explore one or two of the imagery practices. As
asked, we will not be providing any data on efficacy.
Abstracts
13
July 21st, 2011, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Mindful Self-Compassion Training
Kristin Neff1 & Christopher K. Germer2
1University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA; 2Harvard Medical School, Arlington, MA, USA
The mindful self-compassion (MSC) training program is an 8-week course modeled on MBSR
with a focus on teaching self-compassion skills. The main practice of the MSC program is lov-
ing-kindness (metta) meditation, and other mindfulness meditations are taught with an em-
phasis on the compassionate attitude of mindfulness. Weekly sessions include meditation
training, group exercises, informal practices, and topics such as anchoring emotions in the
body, recognizing our common humanity, transforming challenging relationships, nourish-
ing our core values, and savoring our lives. The goal is to develop the habit of self-kindness
and self-soothing - rather than self-criticism - when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate.
July 21st, 2011, 8:00 pm
Reception with Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson
Studio Olafur Eliasson & Berlin University of the Arts, Germany
At the evening session on Thursday 21st of July, Olafur Eliasson will initiate the workshop
participants to the practices of his studio and touch on how to think and work with emotions
and compassion in art. The artist’s work is characterized by his incessant exploration of our
modes of perceiving. One of his main ideas is to prompt us, the viewers or users of his works,
to examine the conditions of our perceptions through our individual experiences, thus, en-
abling us to re-evaluate our notions of what it means to be and act in the world; to consider
the consequences of our feelings and actions, in art and in society at large.
Described as experimental setups by himself, Eliasson’s works spans from photography to
installation, to sculpture and, more recently, film. Established in the mid-1990s, his Berlin
studio today counts about 45 craftsmen, architects, geometrics, art historians, and other cul-
tural workers. Here, he deploys light, color, and natural phenomena such as fog and waves
to test how movement, the senses, and the interaction of body and brain influence our per-
ception of our environment. Often the constructions of his artworks are kept visible in order
not to lull visitors into accepting the situations as natural. With the constructions laid bare,
we are made aware of the tools with which he thinks and works – tools that appear effective,
but do not amount to truths about the world.
Abstracts
14
July 22nd, 2011, 10:00 – 11:00 am
The Cultivating Emotional Balance Project: Training Program and Outcomes
Margaret Kemeny
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
This presentation will focus on a training program that was developed by Paul Ekman, Alan
Wallace, and others as part of a research project called the Cultivating Emotional Balance
(CEB) project. The training program involved the integration of secularized meditation prac-
tices with various techniques drawn from psychological science designed to promote the
understanding and regulation of emotional life. Promotion of empathy and compassion
and reduction in negative social behavior were key goals of the training. The project in-
volved two studies, a pilot study of the CEB training program and a clinical trial to deter-
mine the impact of the training on psychological and biological outcomes in a sample of
female school teachers (participants were randomly assigned to the training or a waiting
list control condition). The 42 hour 8-week training program took place in a group format
with two trainers, and included didactic presentations, practices related to meditation and
to emotional awareness/understanding, and home practices. Participants learned a vari-
ety of meditation techniques, including concentration and mindfulness practices, as well as
kindness and compassion practices. In addition, the training program included an emotion
curriculum that involved training in: understanding emotions, recognizing one’s own emo-
tions and emotional patterns, and recognizing emotion in others. Assessments took place
before, after and 5 months following the end of the training. Results indicated that the CEB
training decreased negative moods and negative cognitive responses and increased posi-
tive states of mind including positive emotions, mindfulness, empathy, and reflection. Also,
participants increased their automatic compassionate responding during a task, in which
they viewed images of people who were suffering. The CEB group ruminated less after be-
ing exposed to a stressful task and showed a quicker reduction in the physiological stress
response and a stronger restorative response after the end of stress task. Participants also
engaged in less negative social behavior in a marital interaction task. Most of the effects
were retained at the follow-up period. Thus, the CEB training reduced emotional responses
that are destructive to the self (like depression and stress arousal), as well as those that are
destructive to others (such as hostile/contemptuous social behavior), while at the same time
promoting emotional responses that increase the well-being of the self and others, such as
compassion. Drs. Wallace and Ekman are in the process of training CEB trainers to dissemi-
nate the training program.
Abstracts
15
July 22nd, 2011, 11:00 – 12:00 pm
Cognitive-Based Compassion Training (CBCT): Teaching Approaches and Preliminary Findings
Brooke Dodson-Lavelle
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
This talk will offer an overview to the Cognitive-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) program
developed by Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi at Emory University, with particular attention to
the program rationale and structure, and the ways in which it has been adapted to meet
the needs of diverse populations. The CBCT program proceeds through eight key steps: (1)
developing attention and stability of mind; (2) cultivating insight into the nature of mental
experience; (3) cultivating self-compassion; (4) developing equanimity; (5) developing ap-
preciation and gratitude for others; (6) developing affection and empathy; (7) realizing aspi-
rational compassion; and (8) realizing active compassion for others. I will discuss the ratio-
nale for this sequence and present pedagogical strategies employed for each step. I will also
review the typical program structure and describe the ways in which our adult protocol has
been adapted for adolescents in the Atlanta foster care system and for children (ages 5-9) in
a private school in Atlanta. I will share anecdotes and preliminary findings from our ongoing
research projects and discuss future directions of our work.
July 22nd, 2011, 11:00 – 12:00 pm
Education for the New Millennium: Cognitive-Based Compassion Training for Children and Adolescents in
Educational and Foster-Care Settings
Brendan Ozawa-de Silva
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
If compassion and empathy can be cultivated, how early should we begin the process?
Inspired by the vision of the Dalai Lama, Emory researchers have translated the lojong-based
cognitive-based compassion training (CBCT) program developed by Geshe Lobsang Tenzin
into programs for young elementary school children as well as adolescents in Georgia’s
foster care system. These programs train children in compassion using the same 8-stage
protocol designed for adults, but adapted in developmentally appropriate ways and taught
through the medium of stories, games, activities and exercises. This talk will present these
efforts to develop a model for an education of heart and mind that can be taught in schools,
share what has been learned over the past two years since the beginning of these programs,
and address key questions raised by introducing secular ethics into the classroom.
Abstracts
16
July 22nd, 2011, 2:30 – 3:30 pm
The Compassion Cultivation Training Program: An Overview and Visit to a Secular Approach to Ancient Practices
Erika L. Rosenberg
Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA
I will overview and discuss the Compassion Cultivation Training program (CCT), developed
by Thupten Jinpa, myself, and others at CCARE at Stanford. I will briefly describe the develop-
ment of the CCT program, the current version of the training manual, and the key elements
of the course. Throughout the presentation, I will share our general pedagogical approach,
describe the practices, and then guide the participants in the meeting through a few key
exercises. The emphasis will be on illustrating the key elements of the training: stabilizing
mind, loving-kindness and compassion for a loved one, loving-kindness and compassion
for oneself, empathic connection, recognizing common humanity, increasing the circle of
compassion, active compassion practice, and the integrated daily practice. I will close by
discussing the various challenges of teaching this material and our approaches to managing
those concerns.
July 22nd, 2011, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Methodological Challenges to Design a bona fide Control Condition for Compassion-Based Interventions
Antoine Lutz
Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA
This presentation will provide an overview of a short-term compassion/loving-kindness
training that was explored in our laboratory research. Meditation-based interventions in-
cluding mindfulness or compassion training are increasingly popular modes of treatment for
the reduction of physical and emotional distress. From earlier studies focused on pre-post
improvements, the field has grown and now includes substantial evidence that meditation-
based mental training improves mental and physical health compared to wait-list controls
and treatment as usual, and is of comparable efficacy to other psychological treatments.
Our training involves 30 minutes per day of guided practice for 2 weeks. Training consists
of both visualization and silent repetition of phrases focused on cultivating compassion to-
ward a loved one, oneself, a stranger, a difficult person, and all beings. The training specifi-
cally invites participants to experience the compassion emotionally and not to simply repeat
the phrases cognitively. It also invites participants to pay particular attention to visceral sen-
Abstracts
17
sations that might be associated with the training. An active comparison condition, derived
from cognitive therapy, which is administered for the same duration of time in the same for-
mat, will also be described. In addition, methodological desiderata for a bona fide compari-
son condition will be delineated. However, the inadequacy of some control interventions
prevents a full understanding of meditation relative efficacy and prevents also valid tests
of meditation as the active ingredient responsible for positive outcomes. The creation of
such a control is thus an important methodological tool for future research. To illustrate this
methodological question we will present how we specified and validated a bona fide con-
trol condition, the Health Enhancement Program (HEP), to investigate the relative efficacy of
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and to test mindfulness as an active ingredient.
We will then discuss the possibilities and challenges to design a similar psychological placebo
for compassion-based interventions.
July 22nd, 2011, 4:45 – 5:15 pm
Differentiating Compassion from Empathic Distress and Introducing Memory Training as an Active Control Group
Tania Singer & Olga Klimecki
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
First, we will discuss our experience with conducting training studies in which we differen-
tiate between two different forms of empathy, namely, empathic concern or compassion
on the one hand and empathic distress on the other hand. Preliminary results suggest that
these forms of empathy differ fundamentally in terms of their behavioral outcomes as well as
their neural and affective underpinnings. Empathy in general denotes the sharing of others’
emotions and can be transformed into compassion, which is associated with other-related
emotions of love, self-other distinction and an increase in prosocial motivation. In contrast,
empathy may also give rise to empathic distress, a state accompanied by self-centered expe-
riences of negative affect and stress that eventually result in withdrawal and may even lead
to burnout. In the second part of our talk, we will speak about the importance of including
an active control group in compassion training designs and suggest that cognitive memory
training based on mental imagery is a well-matched control for meditation-based compas-
sion training.
Abstracts
18
July 23rd, 2011, 10:00 – 11:00 am
Mindfulness-Based Intervention as Integral to a Program of Compassion Training
Ulrike Kesper-Grossman1 & Paul Grossman2
1MBSR Institut, Freiburg, Germany; 2Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Division of
Internal Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland
Theravada Buddhist understandings of mindfulness (samma-sati) explicitly or implicitly em-
phasize the quality of open-hearted non-judging and acceptance of present-moment expe-
rience. Definitions of mindful awareness become purely cognitive and denatured when the
latter factors go unrecognized. Thus, cultivation of a nonjudgmental stance is a central fea-
ture of mindfulness training. The Theravada notion of mindfulness is also implicitly embod-
ied in the original concept and delivery of MBSR, as stated in several relevant documents.
Nevertheless, the complexity of non-judging and its slowly unfolding nature has only occa-
sionally been seriously considered in the healthcare literature on mindfulness-based inter-
ventions (MBIs). We describe the basic features of the major MBIs derived from mindfulness-
based stress reduction and provide a rationale for how MBI integration may be useful or,
perhaps, even essential for the development of an effective program of compassion train-
ing. We assume that the four qualities of the Brahmavihara are the very foundation of non-
judging and acceptance. Without cultivation of mindfulness, we will not become aware of
the obstacles to non-judging and compassion (perhaps confusing them with their near-en-
emies). Without cultivation of non-judging and compassion, we will be unable to hone our
cognitive skills of paying attention in the specific ways that characterize mindfulness (e.g.
always getting distracted by the first unpleasant sensation).
July 23rd, 2011, 11:00 – 12:00 pm
How to Train Compassion with the Modell of Non-Violent Communication
Regula Langemann & Suna Yamaner
Metapuls AG, Tann-Dürnten, Switzerland
Non-violent Communication (NVC) according to Marshall Rosenberg (Ph.D.) is a commu-
nication and conflict resolution model, which aims at creating empathic linking to oneself
and between other human beings. NVC provides a map of how we express our feelings and
needs verbally (through language) and gives core relevance to create and maintain empathic
linking in a partnership way. Language not only reflects reality but also creates new realities.
Language is applied to establish a link to understand or be understood and to enable an em-
Abstracts
19
pathic coaching process. But language can also hinder a linking with a broad range of domi-
nance inducing strategies such as judgments, prejudice, psychologizing, etc., which have to
be transformed in more life-serving connections. Empathy, according to Rosenberg, is a pro-
cess, which attempts to connect with the perspective of oneself or another person compas-
sionately without necessarily agreeing. The perspective of a person can be compassionately
accessed and verbally expressed by applying the four steps of Non-violent Communication
including some conceptual core differentiations: (Step 1) Observation: Sense awareness like
seeing, hearing, smelling, kinesthetic or body awareness versus interpretations, (Step 2)
Feelings: Feelings caused by concrete sensual stimuli versus feelings caused by conceptual
thinking like labeling, moral judging, static self-concept’s or sense-making concepts, (Step
3) Needs: Universal human needs like belonging, autonomy, appreciation, love, resonance,
empathy, etc. versus values and strategic actions, (Step 4) Strategic actions: Concrete strat-
egies, present requests, decisions versus wishful thinking, demands and vague undefined
expectations. The workshop will include a short theoretical input, a demonstration of the
model by role-plays and training opportunities for the participants.
Short Biography
20
is a Doctoral Student in the Graduate Division of Religion at
Emory University. Her work focuses on the confluence of
Buddhist contemplative theory and cognitive science.
She currently serves as an instructor for several studies exam-
ining the efficacy of a secular, Cognitive-Based Compassion
Training (CBCT) program for adults and school children, as
well as adolescents in Atlanta’s foster care system. Brooke
is also the Program Coordinator for both the Emory-Tibet
Partnership and the Emory Tibetan Mind/Body Sciences
Summer Study Abroad program in Dharamsala, India. Prior
to attending Emory, she earned her B.A. in Religion and
Psychology at Barnard College and her M.A. in Religion at
Columbia University. While at Columbia, she also worked as a
Research Coordinator for the Columbia Integrative Medicine
Program, where she developed and led mindfulness-based
meditation programs for a variety of clinical populations.
was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1967 to Icelandic par-
ents and studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
between 1989 and 1995. He is a contemporary artist known
for sculptures and large-scale installation art, employing el-
emental materials such as light, water, and air temperature
to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995, he established
the Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial
research. Olafur represented Denmark at the 50th Venice
Biennale in 2003 and later that year installed The Weather
Project at Tate Modern, London. The Take your time: Olafur
Eliasson project, a survey organized by the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art in 2007, travelled until 2010, with ven-
ues including The Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and
the PS1 Contemporary Art Center in New York City. His exhibi-
tion Innen Stadt Außen (Inner City Out) opened at the Martin
Gropius Building in Berlin in 2010 with interventions across
the city.
Brooke Dodson-Lavelle
Olafur Eliasson
Short Biography
21
is a clinical psychologist in private practice, specializing
in mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion-based psy-
chotherapy. He is a founding member of the Institute for
Meditation and Psychotherapy and has been a Clinical
Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School for
most of the past 27 years. He is the author of The Mindful
Path to Self-Compassion and co-editor of Mindfulness and
Psychotherapy and the forthcoming Compassion and Wisdom
in Psychotherapy. He lectures and leads workshops interna-
tionally on mindfulness and self-compassion.
Christopher K. Germer
is the head of the Mental Health Research Unit as well as
Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby.
He has a degree in Economics, a Masters in Experimental
Psychology, a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and a Diploma in
Clinical Psychology awarded by the British Psychological
Society in 1980. He was made a fellow of the British
Psychological Society for contributions to psychologi-
cal knowledge in 1993 and was President of the British
Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapy in
2003. Paul has also served on the Government Depression
NICE Guideline committee and has published and edited 21
books, over 100 academic papers and 39 book chapters. He
is currently a Series Editor for a Compassionate Approaches to
Life Difficulties series. After years of exploring the processes
underpinning shame and its role in a variety of psychopa-
thologies, his current research is exploring the neurophysi-
ology and therapeutic effectiveness of compassion-focused
therapy.
Paul Gilbert
Short Biography
22
is a Zen Buddhist roshi, anthropologist, human rights activist,
and the author of books on Buddhism and spirituality. She
is a leader in the field of socially engaged Buddhism, and a
pioneer in the end-of-life care field. She currently serves as
abbot and guiding teacher of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa
Fe, which she founded in 1990. Joan received Dharma trans-
mission from both Bernard Glassman and Thich Nhat Hanh,
and previously studied under the Korean master Seung Sahn.
She was an Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University’s
Peabody Museum, received a National Science Foundation
Fellowship in Visual Anthropology, held the Rockefeller Chair
at CIIS and the Harold C. Wit Chair at Harvard Divinity School,
and is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library
of Congress in Washington DC. She is also on the board of
directors of the Mind & Life Institute, a non-profit organiza-
tion dedicated in exploring the relationship of science and
Buddhism.
Joan Halifax
is the Director of Research at the Department of
Psychosomatic Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine, at the
University Hospital Basel. He has published books on mind-
fulness in psychology and healthcare, and has been a prin-
cipal investigator of several investigations of mindfulness-
based intervention for debilitating, long-lasting medical
conditions (including multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and se-
quelae of bone marrow transplantation). He also studies vari-
ous aspects of relations between psychology and respiratory
and cardiovascular physiology. Paul is the Associate Editor
of the journal Mindfulness, a Science and Contemplative
Affiliate of the Mind & Life Institute, and teaches mindfulness
and Buddhist psychology at the Psychological Institute of
the University of Freiburg. He has practiced insight medita-
tion for many years and completed the MBSR Internship at
the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Center for
Mindfulness in 1998.
Paul Grossman
Short Biography
23
is the Director of International Operations at the Mind & Life
Institute. He completed his studies in pharmacology at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, specializing
in psychotherapeutic and psychoactive substances. Having
worked with drug addiction, he became interested in under-
standing the workings of mind and consciousness. After en-
countering Buddhism, he then spent 11 years in Dharamsala,
India, where he first learned Tibetan and then studied for
7 years at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. During those
years, he did several retreats and worked as a translator and
interpreter. After returning to Europe in 2003, he taught
widely, worked as the General Secretary and project manag-
er of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visits in Switzerland 2005
and in Hamburg 2007. Presently, he is the General Secretary
of Mind & Life International, based in Zurich and is the Mind
and Life Chief Operating Officer and Director of Program,
Research and International.
works as a homeopathic medical doctor in Freiburg,
Germany since 1992. He studied Philosophy in Munich and
Medical Science in Freiburg. Since 1998 he teaches seminars
on Homeopathy. Johannes also works as a MBSR teacher
(mindfulness-based stress reduction, according to Jon Kabat-
Zinn) and offers classes together with his wife Susanne Latzel
on stress reduction training and thankfulness.
Diego Hangartner
Johannes Latzel
Short Biography
24
is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San
Francisco and the Director of the Health Psychology Program.
Her training is in health psychology and clinical immunology
and her research is in the field of psychoneuroimmunology.
Her research program focuses on the effects of psychologi-
cal factors on the neuroendocrine system, the immune sys-
tem and health/disease. Margaret is particularly interested
in how specific cognitions and emotions are linked to the
immune system and health and how psychological inter-
ventions could have emotional, immunological, and health
benefits. She has been involved in research on a number of
psychological interventions, including studies of meditation,
to determine if changes in cognition and emotion can affect
physiological systems tied to health. She was the Principal
Investigator of the Cultivating Emotional Balance project that
evaluated effects of a meditation/emotion regulation cur-
riculum on psychological and biological processes, including
compassion.
Margaret Kemeny
is a Buddhist monk, teacher, and medical doctor. After re-
ceiving a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University
of California at Berkeley, he went on to receive a Medical
Doctor degree from the University of Southern California. He
is a former Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University
of Washington. He has lived in Dharamsala, India, for 22
years and provides medical care to many high lamas as well
as poor people in India, all on a charitable basis. His Holiness
the Dalai Lama ordained him as a bikkshu, or gelong, a ful-
ly ordained Buddhist monk. He has completed many short
and long meditation retreats over the last 27 years. At the
University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Princeton University
in New Jersey, Barry spends about 7 to 8 months annually
teaching Buddhist science and modern science, death and
dying, teaching Shantideva, leading meditation retreats,
and leading sacred pilgrimages, in India, Japan, Mongolia,
North America, Europe, and Russia.
Barry Kerzin
Short Biography
25
holds a M.A. in education, and is a trained Rogerian
Psychotherapist and Yoga teacher, certified by the German/
European Yoga Association. In 1994, she completed a MBSR
internship at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of
Massachusetts Medical Center and also taught MBSR there
for several years. Since then, she has been teaching MBSR
courses for a wide range of people and conducted seminars
for healthcare professionals. Ulrike has participated as teach-
er and clinical adviser in several clinical research projects on
mindfulness interventions for patients suffering from chron-
ic illness (e.g., multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and cancer
survivors) at the Freiburg Institute for Mindfulness Research
and the University Hospital Basel, where she also has a su-
pervisory function in the MBSR program of the Department
for Psychosomatic Medicine. The major focus of her work for
the last five years has been to develop and direct a 1.5-year
professional training program for MBSR teachers, designed
primarily for healthcare professionals at the MBSR Institute
in Freiburg, Germany.
Ulrike Kesper-Grossman
is a Doctoral Student with Prof. Tania Singer at the Department
for Social Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for
Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. She studied
psychology at the University of Mainz for three years and
then completed her Master of Neuroscience at University
College London in 2007 before starting her PhD thesis with
Tania Singer at the Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems
Research at the University of Zurich.
Olga Klimecki
Short Biography
26
is the Co-Owner of Metapuls AG Für Unternehmenskultur und
Frauenförderung (For Corporate Culture and Women’s Equal
Opportunity) since 1993. Since then, she has worked as a
trainer and coach for communication, conflict resolution, and
supervision. She also works as a Psychodrama Assistant and
Lecturer for Non-violent Communication at the Institute for
Humanistic Art Therapy in Zurich, at a large continuing edu-
cation institute, and at Cura Viva (Institute for Management
and Leadership). Furthermore, Regula worked in a commu-
nity center in Zurich and had had a practice for body work
for 8 years in San Francisco. She is a certified trainer for
Nonviolent Communication with the Center for Non-violent
Communication, USA since 1998 and worked and organized
seminars in collaboration.
Regula Langemann
is a Senior Scientist at the Laboratory for Functional
Brain Imaging and Behavior at the Waisman Center at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his PhD in
Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of P. and M. Curie
in Paris under the supervision of Francisco Varela in 2002 and
has been a Post-doctoral Research Fellow under the super-
vision of Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison. Antoine’s principal research focus has been on the
neuro-dynamical correlates of consciousness and on the re-
lationship between neuroplasticity and meditation training.
His research has been largely supported by grants from the
National Institute of Health. He is associated to the Center for
Investigating Healthy Minds in Madison.
Antoine Lutz
Short Biography
27
studied communications as an undergraduate at the
University of California at Los Angeles. She did her graduate
work at University of California at Berkeley, studying moral
development. Her dissertation research was conducted in
Mysore, India, where she examined children’s moral reason-
ing. She then spent two years of post doctoral study with Dr.
Susan Harter at Denver University, studying issues of authen-
ticity and self-concept development. Her current position
at the University of Texas at Austin started in 1999. During
Kristin’s last year of graduate school in 1997 she became in-
terested in Buddhism, and has been practicing meditation in
the Insight Meditation tradition ever since. While doing her
post-doctoral work, she decided to conduct research on self-
compassion – a central construct in Buddhist psychology and
one that had not yet been examined empirically. In addition
to her pioneering research into self-compassion, she has de-
veloped an 8-week program to teach self-compassion skills.
The program, co-created with her colleague Chris Germer at
Harvard University, is called Mindful Self-Compassion.
Kristin Neff
serves as Associate Director for Buddhist Studies and Practice
at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta and a research fel-
low at the Emory-Tibet Partnership at Emory University. After
receiving his PhD of Philosophy from Oxford University in
2003 he taught as Visiting Professor of Spirituality and World
Religions at Emory University until 2005. Now pursuing a sec-
ond doctorate at Emory in the area of Buddhism and cogni-
tive science, he focuses his research on Buddhist and scien-
tific understandings of compassion and how it is cultivated,
and works to develop pedagogical curricula that facilitate
the cultivation of emotional and social intelligence in edu-
cational settings.
Brendan Ozawa-de Silva
Short Biography
28
has lived in the Himalayan region for the last 40 years. Born
in Aix-les-Bains, Savoie, France, he is the son of the late phi-
losopher Jean-François Revel and the abstract painter, Yahne
Le Toumelin. He earned a PhD degree in Cell Genetics at the
Institute Pasteur in Paris under the Nobel Laureate Francois
Jacob. Since 1972, he has lived in India, Bhutan and Nepal.
He is a Buddhist monk and has served as the French inter-
preter for His Holiness the Dalai Lama since 1989. Matthieu
is a member of the Mind & Life Institute, an organization
dedicated to collaborative research between scientists and
Buddhist scholars and meditators on the effect of mind train-
ing and meditation on the brain. He is engaged in research
on this at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, Princeton
University, and UC Berkeley. He donates all proceeds from
his books and much of his time to 40 humanitarian projects
(clinics, schools, orphanages, elderly people’s homes, bridg-
es, vocational training) in Nepal, India and Tibet. He received
the French National Order of Merit for his humanitarian work.
Matthieu Ricard
is an emotions researcher, educator, and world-renowned
expert in facial expression measurement. She is also long-
time practitioner and teacher of meditation. Erika serves
on the Faculty of Nyingma Institute of Tibetan Studies in
Berkeley, where she teaches meditation courses and work-
shops for working with emotions in daily life and the devel-
opment of mindfulness and compassion. Erika worked on the
development of a secular Compassion Cultivation Training
(CCT) program with Geshe Thupten Jinpa at the Center for
Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE)
at Stanford University, where she is a senior teacher. She has
taught CCT at Google, to several community samples, and
presented it to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As a consulting
scientist with the Center for Mind and Brain, at UC Davis, Erika
is a senior investigator on the Shamatha Project, a controlled
intervention trial on sustained meditation training. Currently,
she consults with and trains a number of academic and non-
academic clients.
Erika L. Rosenberg
Short Biography
29
is an Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Mind and
Brain and M.I.N.D. Institute at UC Davis. He received his PhD
in Neuroscience from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
at Yeshira University in New York City in 1999 studying the
electrophysiology of interhemispheric visuomotor integra-
tion.
Cliff has had a long-standing interest in behavioral and brain
effects of meditation practice. He has been a frequent Faculty
Member at the Mind & Life Summer Research Institute and
is currently a Member of the Mind & Life Institute’s Program
and Research Council. In the early 1990’s, he was centrally
involved, along with Francisco Varela, Alan Wallace, and
Richard Davidson among others in a field research project
investigating Tibetan Buddhist mind training under the aus-
pices of the Private Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and
the Mind & Life Institute. Currently, in collaboration with a
large consortium of scientists and researchers at UC Davis
and elsewhere, he is Principal Investigator of the Shamatha
Project, conceived with and taught by Alan Wallace.
Clifford Saron
is the Associate Director and Senior Scientist for the Center
for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education
(CCARE) at Stanford University. Emiliana earned her PhD in
Cognition, Brain and Behavior at UC Berkeley studying the in-
terplay between affect and cognition with Dr Robert Knight
as her mentor. Her post-doctoral research examined the af-
fective and cognitive properties, the display behaviors and
the autonomic and central neural signals associated with
pro-social states like compassion within Dr Dacher Keltner’s
Social Interaction Laboratory. She recently joined CCARE to
accelerate and expand research directives towards establish-
ing a basic scientific understanding of compassion, validat-
ing the potential to cultivate compassion and demonstrating
the potential benefits of compassion to health, well-being
and psychosocial function.
Emiliana Simon-Thomas
Short Biography
30
received her PhD in Psychology from Free University in Berlin
in 2000 which was awarded the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal
of the Max Planck Society. Then, she became a Post-doctoral
Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development
in Berlin until 2002, later at the Wellcome Department of
Imaging Neuroscience in London and at the Institute of
Cognitive Neuroscience, London, in 2006. She accepted a
position as Assistant Professor at the University of Zurich in
2006 and then as Inaugural Chair of Social Neuroscience and
Neuroeconomics as well as Co-Director of the Laboratory
for Social and Neural Systems Research. Since 2010, she is
the Director of the Department for Social Neuroscience
at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain
Sciences in Leipzig. In 2011, she was awarded Honorary
Professorship at the University of Leipzig and at Humboldt
University in Berlin and is also a Honorary Research Fellow
at the University of Zurich. She has published multiple pa-
pers in high-impact journals such as Science and Nature, and
is currently an Advisory Board Member of the Society for
Neuroeconomics and a Fellow at the Mind & Life Institute.
Tania Singer
is the Founder and Co-Owner of Metapuls AG Für Unter-
nehmens kultur und Frauenförderung (For Corporate Culture
and Women’s Equal Opportunity). Since 1992, she is a train-
er for communication, conflict resolution, supervision and
coaching in business, administration, non-profit organiza-
tions (NGO’s), schools and universities both in Switzerland
and abroad. Suna is also a lecturer for gender and trans-
cultural communication at the University of St. Gallen, the
Academy of Art and Design, Zurich, and the Lucerne School
of Social Work, Switzerland. She is a certified trainer for
Nonviolent Communication with the Center for Non-violent
Communication, USA since 1998 and worked and organized
seminars in collaboration. Previously, she has worked for 15
years as the head of an international organization for Dow
Jones, founding and running offices in Zurich, Paris, Vienna,
and London.
Suna Yamaner
31
Schedule
32
500 ft100 m
Johannisstraße
ZiegelstraßeReinhardtstraße
Ziegelstraße
Tuch
ols
kyst
raß
e
Fried
richstra
ße
UOranienburger Tor
Gartenstraße
Invalidenstraße
Invalidenstraße
Torstraße
Torstraße
Chausseestraße
Frie
drich
straß
e
Hannoverische
Bernauer S
t
Straße
Eichen
do
rffstraß
e
Schlegelstraße
Zinnowitzer S
traße
Julie
-Wolfh
orn-S
traße
Am
Nordbahnhof
Tieckstraße
Linienstraße
Auguststraße
Oranienburger Str. Tuch
ols
kyst
raß
eLinienstraßePhilip
pstraße
Tieckstraße
Invalidenstraße
Schröderstraße
Gartenstraße
Gartenstraße
Berg
straße
Berg
straße
Ackerstraße
Anklamer Stkerstraße
Bergstraße
InvalidenstraßePappel
platz
Borsigstraße
No
valisstraße
TorstraßeHannoverische Straße
BUS
BUS
BUS
142G
artenstraße
Gartenstraß
InvalidenstraßeI lid
Invalidenstraße
Torstraßestraße
Chausseestraße
rnauer S
t
Bernauer S
Bernauer S
Eichen
do
rffstraß
e
nd
ße
Schlegelstraße
Schlegelstraße
Zinnowitzer S
traße
Julie
-Wolfh
orn-S
traße
Am
Nordbahnho
ordbahnhohofhof
Tieckstraßetraße
Tieckstraße
Invalidenstraße
Schröderstraße
Gartenstraße
Gartenstraße
Be
gB
eg
kerstraße
Bergstraße
Borsigstraße
Borsigstraße
No
valisstraße rTorTor trstrstr ßeaßeaßea
BBBBBBUUUS
Hannoversche StraßePhilippstra
ßeLu
ise
nst
raß
e
Friedrichstraße
N
5
Red arrows show points
of access to the Campus
North at:
Friedrichstraße (at the
Dreispitzpassage)
A
C
B
D
500 ft100 m
PhiPhi he Straße
FLOWER'S Boardinghouse Mitte
Mulackstraße 1
10119 Berlin
Fon: +49 (0) 30 280 45 306
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.flowersberlin.de
2Haus 5, on the Campus North
of Humbolt University
Philippstraße 13
10115 Berlin
http://www.hu-berlin.de
1
1
1
Haus 5, on the Campus North of Humbolt University
Haus 5
32
Schedule
33
Oranienburger Str.
Ro
sen
thal
er S
tr.
Münzstraße
Ro
chst
raß
e
Dircksenstraße
Memhardstraße
UWeinmeisterstraße
URosenthaler Platz
URosa-Luxemburg-Platz
Bru
nn
enstraß
e
Torstraße
Torstraße
Torstraße
Sch
ön
hau
ser
Alle
e
Torstraßeße
Ko
pp
enp
latz
Kle
ine
Au
gu
ststraße
Joach
imstraß
e
Gro
ße
Ham
bu
rge
r Str.
Auguststraße
Ro
senth
aler Straße
Ro
sen
thale
r Straße
Gipsstraße
Linienstraße
Linienstraße
Mulackstraße
Steinstraße
Go
rman
nst
raß
e
Rü
cker
stra
ße
Max
-Be
er-
Stra
ße
Alt
e S
chö
nh
ause
r St
raß
e
Alm
stad
tstr
aße
Ro
sa-Luxe
mb
urg
-Straße
Schendelgasse
Ackerstraß
e
Wei
nber
gsw
eg
Ch
rist
inen
stra
ße
An
ger
mü
nd
er S
tr.
Chr
isti
nens
traß
e
Go
rman
nst
raß
e
Kas
tan
ien
alle
e
Tem
plin
er S
tr.
Ch
ori
ne
r St
r.
Veteranenstraße
Fehrbelliner Str.
Zehdenicker Str.
Zionskirchstraße
Schwedter Str.
Lottumstraße
Fehr
kirch
straße
beth
Elisa
belliner Str.
Torstraßeße
Torstraße
Torstraße
BUS
BUS142
2
inb
erg
sweg
ber
gsw
eg
Chr
isti
nens
t
Kas
tan
ien
alle
e
Tem
plin
er S
tr.
T
Ch
ori
ne
r St
r.trStr
o
Fehrbelliner Str.
hrbelliner Str
Zehdenicker Str.St
Zionskirchstraße
Zio
Schwedter St
dter S
Lottum
Fehrh belliner Str.
Studio Olafur Eliasson
Christinenstraße 18/19
Haus 2
10119 Berlin
http://www.olafureliasson.net
4SCHOENHOUSE APARTMENTS
Schönhauser Allee 185
10119 Berlin
Fon: +49 (0)30 47 37 39 7 - 0
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.schoenhouse.de
3
4
3
2
Studio Olafur Eliasson
Contact during workshop: Matthias Bolz +49 (0)163 8350683;
Sandra Zurborg +49 (0)1577 6056912
A
B
C
G F
H
I
J
E
D
33
3433344433443
35
Attractions Berlin
35
AttttttAtttraccraccctiotiotiooons n Berlin
Berlin Attractions:
Restaurants (see program map pages 32–33)
F bixel´s (International)
Mulackstr. 38
G Green Tea Café (Tea & Coffee)
Mulackstr. 33
H Louisiana Kid (American)
Alte Schönhauser Str. 2
I I Due Forni (Italian)
Schönhauser Allee 12
J Muret la Barba (Italian)
Rosenthaler Str. 61
Sights (see separate map for destinations)
Berliner Dom (Main Protestant Church
in Berlin)
Am Lustgarten
Unter den Linden (Tourist Attraction)
Street extends from Pariser Platz at the
Brandenburg Gate and remains up to
the Schlossbrücke Bridge
Many sights along the way (Humboldt
University, Brandenburg Gate,
Deutsche Staatsoper, Neue Wache)
Kollwitzplatz (typical Berlin Square with
many Restaurants and Shopping)
Kollwitzstr. 59
Volksbühne (Theater-Salon)
Linienstr. 227
A Monsieur Vuong (Asian)
Alte Schönhauser Str. 46
B Good Morning Vietnam (Asian)
Alte Schönhauser Str. 60
C YamYam (Korean)
Alte Schönhauser Str. 6
D Cantamaggio (Italian)
Alte Schönhauser Str. 4
E Blaues Band (Cafe)
Alte Schönhauser Str. 7–8
Museumsinsel (various Museums on a
small Island of the River Spree)
Bodestr. 1–3
Berliner Fernsehturm (Birdseye View of
Berlin-Restaurant) and Alexanderplatz
(Central Square)
Panoramastr. 1
Area between Linienstr., Auguststr., &
Tucholskystr. (Galeries and High End
Shopping Boutiques)
Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin
(Centrum Judaicum- Synagoge)
Oranienburger Str. 28–30
Hackescher Markt S-Train Station
(lively Area with various Restaurants &
Boutique Shopping)