Meditation Room
The University of Redlands opened its Meditation Room in the Fall of 2007, inaugurating one of the first "contemplative classroom" spaces in the country.
Monday through Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
About the Meditation Room
The University of Redlands opened its Meditation Room in the Fall of 2007, inaugurating one of the first "contemplative classroom" spaces in the country. As an academic space, the Meditation Room facilitates the mental training and interior rigor implicit in the dictum "know thyself," a foundation of liberal arts education. Detailed information on the origin, purpose, and programming of the Meditation Room is found in our 10-Year Summary Report.
With flowing curtains, a high ceiling, and soothing colors, this serene space is invitational to mental calm and inner peace. The Meditation Room is equipped with 28 zabutons (square meditation cushions) and 28 zafus (round meditation cushions), 28 yoga mats, kneeling benches, folding chairs, and a cubbyhole at the door for shoes and back packs.
The space has three primary uses:
1. Private Silence:
The Meditation Room offers silent refuge during the day and the evening for all students, faculty, staff and townspeople during "Open Hours". All are welcome to come at those hours for their private practice and to enjoy the quietude. Please refer to the guidelines posted on the door.
Fall 2024 Open Hours:
- Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:15pm to 2:15pm
2. Academic Courses:
Several faculty members teach contemplative-based curricular courses in the Meditation Room. In addition, some faculty members use the Meditation Room for special "Contemplative Lab" sessions in academic courses, such as guest practitioner sessions for the World Religion course. Academic standing and formal course registration are required for these academic courses.
3. Free, Non-academic, Community Meditation Events:
The University offers community classes and events every week during the school year. The classes are free and open to all students, faculty, staff, and townspeople. Registration is not required, unless otherwise noted. A schedule of classes will be posted here and on the Meditation Room bulletin board for each semester.
*The Meditation Room is not available for the following uses: meetings, discussion groups, or any purpose other than contemplative practice and interior learning.
If you have any questions or would like to request this space for contemplative practice/classes, please email meditation_room@redlands.edu or by calling (909) 748-8345.
Free Community Classes
- Yoga with Pat Geary - Wednesdays at 8:30am
Community Events
- Please see our Newsletter with events for students, faculty, staff, and members of the Redlands community.
If you are interested in receiving announcements about our community classes and upcoming special events, please sign up by emailing meditation_room@redlands.edu.
(If you don't see our emails in your Inbox, you may need to add meditation_room@redlands.edu to your Contacts, and mark our email as "not spam or junk.")
Find us on campus
Larsen Hall, Room 210
Contact
More about the Meditation Room
The Meditation Room is not available for meetings, exercise sessions, discussion groups, or purposes other than contemplative practice and interior learning.
To begin the process, please submit the request to use the meditation room form no fewer than four weeks prior to the proposed event/class.
Once completed, please forward the form to the Meditation Room Contemplative Faculty Advisory Committee at meditation_room@redlands.edu or mail to:
University of Redlands
Meditation Room Staff, Larsen 207
1100 East Colton Avenue
P.O. Box 3080
Redlands, CA. 92373-0999
The Advisory Committee, comprised of faculty members who teach in the Meditation Room, will review your request. We can generally render a decision within 5-10 working days.
**If additional information is required to make a decision, you will be notified.
Thank you for your interest in the Meditation Room.
Please follow the guidelines for the Meditation Room. These guidelines are posted on the door to the Meditation Room located in Larsen Hall, room 210.
We encourage you to arrive early to secure a spot in the classes. If a session is in progress when you arrive, you are welcome to join quietly, **UNLESS you see the FULL sign on the doorknob. If the door is locked, please do not bang on the door for it simply means the class is full.
Before entering:
• Check the schedule-are you interrupting a class?
• Turn off ALL sound devices (including cell phones, IPods, ect.)
• Respect the SILENCE – Please refrain from talking, listening to music (including headphones), ect.
• Please remove shoes and place all personal items in a cubbyhole.
• Please do not bring food or drink into the room.
• Please do not remove anything from this room.
• Please do not use this room as a study hall (i.e., no reading, typing, text-messaging, writing, or other study activities).
• Absolutely no inflammables are permitted: no candles, no incense, and no open flames of any kind.
• For contemplative practices that involve chanting, email to; meditation_room@redlands.edu
Wednesdays, 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. PST via Zoom.
Beginning Wednesday, January 24, 2024.
In collaboration with the Office of Alumni and Community Relations.
This offering is free to the public. Registration required for security purposes.
The link to registration, and for more information, HERE
The University of Redlands opened its Meditation Room in the Fall of 2007, inaugurating one of the first "contemplative classroom" spaces in the country. As a unique academic program, we expose students to a variety of spiritual and secular inner practices that train students in self-awareness, concentration, compassion, soulfulness, mindfulness, and overcoming prejudice-lifelong qualities that improve their overall functioning in whatever career they chose.
The Meditation Room also offers free classes in yoga and meditation to the public. This goodwill offering has emerged a uniquely intergenerational and multifaith community. Detailed information on the origin, purpose, and programming of the Meditation Room is found in our 10-Year Summary Report.
We greatly appreciate your gift to support our mission: "Changing the world from the inside-out."
Thank you,
Fran Grace, Ph.D.
Professor, Religious Studies
Meditation Room Faculty Steward 2007-2023
IT'S EASY TO MAKE YOUR GIFT OF SUPPORT!
Our secure online giving site is the fastest and most convenient way for you to make your gift! Choose "other designations" and then write in "Meditation Room" in the space provided.
Give Now (click here)
There are thousands of published articles on the benefits of meditation, but the University of Redlands is conducting a unique study on the college students who are enrolled in its pioneering meditation curriculum. Lead investigators are Dr. Lisa Olson in Biology, Dr. Celine Ko in Psychology, and Dr. Fran Grace in Religious Studies.
What are the benefits for students when they are in a holistic learning environment that includes meditation and other methods for inner inquiry in the academic training? Since we are one of the first Universities in the country to have a meditation-based sub-curriculum, we have a unique opportunity to study the effects on college students.
This research is made possible by a grant from the Trust for the Meditation Process, a charitable foundation encouraging meditation and contemplative prayer." www.trustformeditation.org
Summary of Our Research and Publications Related to Contemplative Education
Our groundbreaking curriculum is highlighted in publications by other researchers, such as the book published by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, based on its 10- year study of universities nationwide: Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students’ Inner Lives, (Jossey-Bass, 2010).
Our faculty and students have published and presented many different scholarly works about our curriculum. Below is a sample listing. Professors Lisa Olson (BIOL) and Celine Ko (PSYCH) have done extraordinary work to train undergraduate researchers and mentor them to give presentations around the country. (*denotes undergraduate author)
BOOKS
Meditation and the Classroom, F. Grace and J. Simmer-Brown (State University of New York Press).
JOURNAL ARTICLES
- C. Ko, F. Grace, G. Chavez,*, S. Grimley,* E. Dalrymple,* L. Olson. "Effect of Seminar on Compassion on Student Self-compassion, Mindfulness and Well-being: A Randomized Controlled Trial," The Journal of American College Health. 537-545.
- F. Grace, “Learning is a Path not a Goal: Contemplative Pedagogy – Its Principles and Practices,” Teaching Theology and Religion, Vol. 14, No. 2 (April), 99-124.
- F. Grace, “Contemplative Pedagogy: FAQs,” with Thomas Coburn, Anne Carolyn Klein, Louis Komjathy, Harold Roth and Judith Simmer-Brown, Teaching Theology and Religion, Vol. 14, No. 2 (April), 167-174.
- F. Grace, Guest Editor, “Spirituality in Higher Education: Problems, Practices, and Programs” in Journal of Religion and Education, 36:2 (Summer).
- F. Grace, “A Pedagogy of Reverence,” Journal of Religion and Education, 36:2 (Summer), 102-123.
- F. Grace, “Breathing in Suffering, Breathing out Compassion,” UCLA Spirituality in Higher Education Newsletter, Volume 5, Issue 2 (May), 1-10.
- F. Grace, “A Contemplative Response: The Part IS the Whole,” with Judith Simmer-Brown, Journal of Religion and Education, 36:2 (Summer), 150-152.
BOOK CHAPTERS
- F. Grace, “Spirituality within Higher Education,” Our Breath Within: The Heart of Spirituality, ed. Michael Brannigan, (New York City, NY: Rowman & Littlefield).
- F. Grace, “A Semester Within,” in Learning Journeys with the Labyrinth: Creating Reflective Space in Higher Education, edited by Jan Sellers and Bernard Moss, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan).
- F. Grace, “The Power of Meditation in College Learning,” in Embodied Pathways to Wisdom and Social Transformation, edited by Jing Lin, Edward Brantmeier, Rebecca Oxford, (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing).
- F. Grace, “From Content, to Context, to Contemplation: One Professor’s Journey,” in Judith Simmer-Brown and Fran Grace, eds., Meditation and the Classroom (SUNY Press), 47-64
- F. Grace, “Meditation in the Classroom: What Do the Students Say They Learn?” in Judith Simmer-Brown and Fran Grace, eds., Meditation and the Classroom, (SUNY Press), 237-250.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
- *Acevedo M., *Alford Z., *Anigbogu E., *Brown A., *Dalrymple E., *Ellingwood L., *Espinoza M.-A., *Grimley S., *Hawkins G., *Kammer K., *Krause K., Grace F., Ko C, and Olson L.E. International Symposium for Contemplative Studies, San Diego, CA. Some unexpected relationships between self-compassion, anger, and binge drinking.
- *Brown, A and Olson L.E. 41st West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference, Point Loma, CA. Using heart rate variability to test the effect of self-compassion, trait forgiveness and prayer on anger recovery in college students.
- *Cuomo S., Ko C.M., and Olson L.E. Western Psychological Association Convention, Long Beach, CA. An exploration on self-compassion and disordered eating.
- Ko C.M., Olson L.E., and Grace F. Society of Behavioral Medicine, San Antonio, TX. An exploration of the effects of a seminar on compassion on student psychological outcomes.
- *Schenker, L., Ko, C.M., Olson, L., Grace, F. Western Psychological Association 95th Annual Convention. Las Vegas, NV. Stress and body dissatisfaction in first generation students.
- *Chavez G.N., *Dalrymple E., *Grimley S., and Olson L.E. 40th West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference,San Diego,
CA. Psychophysiological impact of meditation on stress. - . *Chavez G.N., *Dalrymple E., *Grimley S., and Olson
L.E. 22nd Annual Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research, Fullerton, CA Psychophysiological impact of meditation on stress. - Grace F., Ko, C.M., and Olson L.E. American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2014. Mindful teaching and learning: contemplative studies in the university setting.
- *Heuerman A.C., *Chavez G.N., *Green M.C., *Huerta M., *Ov J., *Overton- Harris P.L., Grace F., Ko C.M., and Olson L.E. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2013. Use of a modified Trier Social Stress Test to assess an undergraduate meditation course.
- Olson L.E. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. An interdisciplinary, experiential, one-month course on the neuroscience of meditation.
- *Hernandez, M., *Gannon, C., Ko, C.M., Olson, L., Grace, F. Western Psychological Association 93rd Annual Convention. Reno, NV. Impact of one-day mindfulness intervention on mindfulness and state anxiety
DOCUMENTARY FILM
A Semester Within, 50 min., directed by Fran Grace and co-produced with Richard Spencer.