What would a typical teaching block involve?

At the end of every teaching block we ask all students to complete a short survey providing feedback on the teaching they have received during the few days they have spent in Oxford. We really appreciate any comments or suggestions, and we take everything into consideration, from seemingly minor issues, such as teaching rooms and meditation mats, to recommendations on guest speakers, suggestions on expanding the teaching of particular topics, or proposals for incorporating new material into the programme.

One of the aspects of the course which students consistently praise is the combination of the experiential and the academic, the variety of experience and learning contained within each teaching session. Each block aims to provide a balance between allowing students to experience MBCT from the inside, as participants, and providing rigorous theory on relevant themes, for instance on the clinical background of MBCT, current research in neuroscience, or embodied cognition in Buddhist psychology. 

A typical three-day teaching block in the first year would normally begin with an experiential day, during which participants have the opportunity to follow guided meditation practice and deepen their personal commitment to mindfulness meditation. Since there would typically be a break of six-eight weeks between teaching blocks, many students find this shared practice a very apt way to re-engage and focus on the fundamentals of MBCT. Feedback from current students has indicated that participants see these experiential days as not only an opportunity to cement their own practice, but also a chance to nurture themselves, a fundamental step in MBCT teachers personal and professional development. Students are encouraged to reflect on their own practice throughout the day, to be aware of their experience, and are also encouraged to keep a diary of their practice throughout the year, which will eventually form the basis for the reflective analysis, a written piece integrating personal experience of meditation practice with research and clinical principles covered in the course.

The second day would typically involve teaching from a guest speaker on a relevant topic, for instance on cognitive science. A recent visitor to Oxford to teach on the MSt in MBCT was Professor Norman Farb from the University of Toronto who presented a psychological model of mindfulness, speaking on A Practical Neuroscience of Mindfulness. During his visit to Oxford Professor Farb also presented his research at the Department of Psychiatry, speaking on Trajectories of Vulnerability and Resilience in Recurrent Depression. If you would like to get a taster of Norman Farb’s work, you can view his talk online below:

The third teaching day would normally cover a further specialist area, for instance Buddhist theory and philosophy. John Peacock, who is Co-Director of the Master’s Programme, is also our resident expert in this field, having been a Buddhist scholar and practitioner for thirty years. The MSt programme covers a wide range of topics from Buddhist theory, from embodied cognition, to the proliferation of thought in the construction of experience, to the concept of dependent origination. If you would like to listen to John Peacock on a range of topics, you can find podcasts of some of his talks available here.