Opening Space Through Contemplative Practices: How Educators Foster a Field of Collective Learning

Using grounded theory, this research investigated how educators at the annual Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership summer program used Eastern contemplative practices to create a learning environment conducive to transformative learning for individuals, within group settings. Data were collected through an online survey and 190 interviews with 31 participants involved in creating the learning environment at the summer program. The grounded theory of opening space to foster a field of learning describes four consecutive sets of practice illustrating how the educator creates an external environment conducive to emergent group learning. The first set of practices describes how educators create a container that defines the learning space and holds the learners. Occurring in the middle of the week, the second set of practices describes how educators hold the learning space open to a diversity of genuine experiences. Towards the end of the week, educators engage in a third set of practices that involve the educator fading away to allow the group to connect to each other within the collective space. Finally, the last set of practices involves the educator fostering a global field of learning amongst learners, after they return to their home communities. In addition to opening space in the external environment, this research demonstrates the importance of educator's ability to cultivate an internal sense of openness. This ability is strengthened by a regular contemplative practice such as sitting meditation or embodied arts to enhance awareness of all the senses in addition to habits of mind.