New contemplative studies major explores mind, body and consciousness

For centuries, humans have contemplated the meaning of life to better understand themselves and the world around them. The religious studies department is reshaping that ancient tradition for modern contexts by introducing a new contemplative studies major that invites students to look inward and explore humanity's oldest questions through an interdisciplinary lens.  

Faculty in religious studies, psychological sciences and the neuroscience program collaborated to create the new contemplative studies major, available beginning this fall. Offering a holistic and integrative approach, the new major encourages students to engage with ideas actively and experientially through practices like mindfulness, meditation and reflective injury. According to the faculty, “This program of study fosters rigorous intellectual formation as well as reflexive inquiry into how individuals develop awareness, empathy, and resilience — skills vital for leadership and success in a wide array of career fields. In addition to professional preparation, the contemplative studies major cultivates authentic self-understanding, ethical discernment and psychological well-being.” 

Mark McLaughlin, professor of religious studies, said, “It’s an exciting new field that bridges disciplines like neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, religious studies, education, and the arts to explore fundamental questions of self and one’s being in the world."  

To Patton Burchett, an associate professor in religious studies, contemplative studies can be taught with both narrow and broad lenses. For example, part of the curriculum focuses on different types of meditation and how it affects the brain, while other aspects provide a broader understanding of contemplative studies as a whole.  

What makes contemplative studies unique is that it requires a first-person perspective. “If you’re studying something that's about consciousness, then you need to not just study it from a third person perspective. You have to actually participate,” Burchett said.  

Diving into both science and religious studies classes — as well as one class at the Wellness Center — students are asked to engage directly with contemplative practices alongside their academic coursework. By approaching the subject from a first-person perspective, students “get to nuance and complexify what they’re learning in a way that’s going to make them better thinkers, and also more marketable in the job market in a variety of fields. There’s a real practical and pragmatic payoff," Burchett said.   

As a student interested in many different academic disciplines, Lucia Blackford ‘28 said the contemplative studies major caught her eye. “Since [contemplative studies] balances the technical approaches of neuroscience, the contexts and theories of psychology, religious studies, and the applications of all this learning through meditation labs, contemplative studies stands out to me as a particularly unique and creative approach to the study of the human mind,” Blackford said.  

While attending a contemplative studies program at Brown University in the summer of 2015, McLaughlin interacted with religious studies scholars as well as psychologists and epidemiologists, seeing firsthand how meditation could serve as a meaningful bridge between the humanities and the sciences. He returned to campus inspired, hoping to bring that same interdisciplinary dialogue to W&M. “I began to recognize this dialogue between humanities disciplines and the STEM disciplines, and how rare that is,” McLaughlin said. He noted that while scientists bring rigorous research methods, they sometimes lack the cultural and historical context needed to fully understand practices such as meditation, which is where religious studies come into play.  

Inspired by McLaughlin's experience, Kevin Vose, professor of religious studies, saw an opportunity to bring that same interdisciplinary approach to W&M. “When Mark got back, he asked if the department would be open to a contemplative studies course ... Mark's course [became] extremely popular,” Vose said. In fall of 2016, the course Meditation & Wellness was introduced. Following its success, and with support from Burchett, Vose and faculty in psychology and applied science, the department developed a contemplative studies major, with Meditation & Wellness as the core course.  

As an introduction to contemplative studies, the course surveys the interdisciplinary arc of the whole major. Describing the contemplative studies approach, a student shared, “The focus on experiential learning makes it even more unique ... What I mean to say is that this isn't about memorizing meditation definitions and histories and trying it out once in a while. It's about doing meditation, and understanding the definitions and histories through the lens of your own experience. You don't come out with a memorized list of fun facts, but with a new skill and drastically altered worldview."

Students pursuing the major will shift between STEM and the humanities, combining scientific inquiry with humanistic study in a way designed to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of contemplation itself. “I think W&M, with our emphasis on the ampersand and the importance of creating space for each of our many different interests, is a great place to offer this major,” Blackford said.  

To McLaughlin, this interdisciplinary major helps students “recognize how deep this integration is, helping them to critically develop their own mind and their own thinking skills. Their understanding of positionality in the world is the bedrock of the liberal arts education.”  

The new major also seeks to broaden the conversation beyond Asian religious traditions while teaching students to connect humanistic and scientific approaches to contemporary questions. “[The students] will solve human problems from a range of perspectives and integrate dimensions of human life that are usually kept in separate boxes. It’s an ideal liberal arts major,” Vose said.  

Beyond the major’s coursework, the department is also creating opportunities for students to engage with contemplative studies outside of the classroom. With support from the College of Arts & Sciences dean's office, the department introduced a speaker series, bringing scholars from across disciplines to campus. Harold Roth of Brown University, whose work helped inspire the creation of W&M's contemplative studies program, was among the first guest speakers to visit campus last fall.  

As the first cohort of students begin in the new major this fall, the religious studies department hopes contemplative studies will become more than a new academic pathway. By combining the humanities, the sciences and experiential learning, the program embodies W&M's liberal arts mission — encouraging students not only to examine the world from multiple perspectives, but also to better understand their place within it.