The August 2021 ACMHE Contemplative Education Webinar

Integrative Environmental Spaces: Finding Settings to Inspire Your Contemplative Pedagogy

With Dr. Leonard Cruz
Wednesday, August 18th, 3-4pm EDT (12-1pm PDT)
Live via Zoom (Registration closes an hour before the event)

• Free for ACMHE members (join here)
• $25 for non-members
• $25 Access Grants available (apply here)

Register Here

One’s environmental space, whether it be at home, at work, or on campus, can play a huge role in one’s mental health and physical well-being.

For three years, from 2017 through 2020, I was the Health Promotion Expert and Integrative Health Coach at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. During this time, I was inspired to explore the diverse environments that existed throughout the main campus to not only inspire my students but also to enhance a course that I taught on Mindfulness, Meditation, and selected Somatic Methodologies. I took into consideration the landscape, architecture, as well as how much light, or noise, as well as different colors that were dispersed in these different environments.

I believe as teachers of contemplative pedagogy it is important to give some thought to how we can creatively explore our surrounding environments (especially throughout campus) that play a supportive role in one’s contemplative pedagogy.

Webinar Takeaways:

• Creatively explore and find environments throughout campus that support one’s contemplative pedagogy.
• Understand that incorporating diverse environmental spaces in one’s contemplative pedagogy can build on students’ mind-body-environment connection.
• Be familiar with potential nurturing spaces/environments that can promote relaxation, inspiration, and acknowledgement.
• Impart an understanding of how different spaces and environments may be more appropriate for different contemplative and somatic practices.
• Use a proposed perspective of integrative environmental spaces, to inspire possibilities for both teacher and students to live healthier, mindful lives in one’s environment, world, and universe.

Dr. Leonard Cruz (PhD in Urban Education with a focus on the Performing and Creative Arts) was born in Pampanga, the Philippines and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He started dancing at the age of four learning Filipino and Hawaiian Folk Dances. In 1983, he was the first Filipino American to be named Presidential Scholar. He has a B.A. and M.A in Dance from U.C.L.A., as well as an MFA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Cruz has worked with internationally renowned choreographers like: Robert Wilson, Kei Takei’s Moving Earth, Shapiro and Smith Dance, Sally Silvers, and five years with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Co. In Germany, he was a guest with Pina Bausch in Wuppertal and a member of the Folkwang Tanz Studio. He presently is an Integrative Health and Mindfulness Coach and is Director of Leonard Cruz Tanztheatre.