Students at Florida International University, the nation’s largest four-year Hispanic Serving Institution, face chronic duress from living in an age of precarity. Recognizing this health crisis, and inspired by Lisa Napora’s call for systems-based institutionalization of contemplative practices, an interdisciplinary group of faculty is taking a “community organizing” approach to building institutional support. We have established a monthly workshop series where revolving facilitators practice and discuss contemplative pedagogies they have used. In a related weekly “contemplative practices laboratory,” facilitators share practices to support our own wellbeing and to consider what might be used in courses. Through these inclusive spaces, allies in other departments have emerged as “organizers” who can promote “buy in” among department colleagues.
After introducing our approach to participants, we will collectively explore the benefits and challenges of a community organizing approach to institutionalization.
