Managing Your Mind
Course Details
This workshop tackles work-life balance through managing your mind. The emphasis is on the need to maintain physical, mental and emotional health as a key to personal effectiveness through achieving concentration, clarity of mind and decisiveness in action.
In the morning three speakers will present different perspectives on links between the state of the mind, personal effectiveness and well-being. The talks will be followed by a questions-and-answers panel session with contributions from past participants who come from across university, and have attended Zen mindfulness and meditation 8 weeks long courses in the past.
Barbara Gabrys holds the post of Divisional Academic Advisor in the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division since 2007. This post combines academic, mentoring and administrative duties. She has substantial experience in exploring different science disciplines via research, teaching and learning activities. As Divisional Advisor she focuses on the development and support of early career academics, and conducts a cross-divisional seminar series ‘Building a successful career in the sciences’. She originally trained in Physics, and over the years has migrated into Materials Science. Since 2003 she is an Academic Visitor in Department of Materials where she conducts her research in polymer science. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is also a registered Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher.
Julian Daizan Skinner Rōshi is the first Englishman to go to Japan and become a full Zen Master in the rigorous Rinzai tradition. Having given up his job as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, he spent twenty years as a Zen monk and received Dharma Transmission in both Rinzai and Soto lineages. Currently based in London, he teaches Zen yoga at University College London. His Zen Buddhist teaching emphasises meditation, mindfulness and everyday practice. He focuses on the practical application of Eastern philosophy to the stresses and strains of modern Western life (Wikipedia page).
Dr Dimitrina Spencer is a social anthropologist and her current research focuses on the relational aspects of research and teaching and learning practices in higher education. Her most recent projects study ethnographically interdisciplinary science and pedagogy and affect – mostly, in scientific labs and in the science Doctoral Training Centres in the UK. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and she edits Teaching Anthropology: a Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
The panel session will be chaired by Professor of Experimental Psychology Maryanne Martin. Her research seeks to improve understanding of interactions between cognition and emotion.
The session will give participants plenty of opportunities for discussion and will be followed by a sandwich lunch, with further opportunities to talk to the speakers informally. In the afternoon, 2-4 pm, we will put theory into practice. Daizan Rōshi will lead a Zen yoga class.
Programme
11.00 Welcome and coffee
11.15 Barbara Gabrys “Mindfulness and meditation at work”
11.30 Dimitrina Spencer “Integrity and emotional awareness”
11.50 Daizan Rōshi “Dealing with emotional stress and anxiety”
12.10 Question and answers: Panel session with contributions from past courses participants
12.30 – 13.00 Mindfulness practice
13.00 – 14.00 lunch
14.00 – 15.30 Zen yoga
15.30 – Tea and close
Intended For
Postdoctoral researchers, contract research staff, and newly-appointed academic research staff in MPLS have priority, although this session is also open to the whole university.
Number of Places
60
Speaker(s)
Julian Daizan Skinner Rōshi, Dr Gabrys, Professor Maryanne Martin, Dr Dimitrina Spencer
Date/Time
Thursday 02 May 2013, 11.00 - 16.00
Venue
The Oxford Quaker Meeting House, St. Giles'
Booking
To register for this course please go to the module page in the Student Enrolment System (requires your Oxford Single Sign-On).