Your Practice Field.
We offer these 12 Contemplative Practices to cultivate conscious leaders.
The 12 practices are organized in three vessels, each preparing learners to integrate wisdom into an interdependent awareness.
- Grounding Vessel – practices 1 through 4 – develops a foundation for the fullness of being human.
- Path Vessel – practices 5 through 8 – cultivates a practicing life to achieve direction.
- Fruition Vessel – practices 9 through 12 – deepens insights to co-create.
Key for each item below.
= Item with PRACTICE 
= Item without PRACTICE
1. AWARENESS.
This practice cultivates my attention so that I observe my experience – the perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and other causes, conditions, and contexts that influence me.
I react to events and circumstances, and I allow deadlines and tasks to determine my actions.
2. INTEGRITY.
This practice honors my word as whole and complete, and it affects my speaking, action, livelihood and agreements to cultivate trust.
My fragmented attention and casual speaking create incongruences between my words and deeds, causing confusion, uncertainty, and distrust.
3. INTENTION.
The practice of bringing conscious thought to the present moment. Being deliberate and responsible in my motivation, attitude, and direction, manifesting as mindful choosing, speaking, and action.
My reactions rest on sentimental wishes, wishful thinking, and my casual aims and heartfelt desires.
4. AUTHENTICITY.
With this practice, I take custody of my unified being – who I’ve been, who I am, and who I will become. My interactions reveal the possibility of being fully human.
My preoccupation with fitting in, adapting to norms and my self-image guides my priorities, concerns, and actions.
5. CONTEMPLATION.
This practice focuses my awareness of deepening concentration below the surface to gain insight.
I automatically react to events and tasks, skimming, and scanning communications. I am unable to delve below surface thoughts or emotions for a sustained period.
6. COMPLETION.
I practice reflecting on things as they are. I recreate others, acknowledge situations, and receive concerns from a foundation of wholeness and background of possibilities.
My split attention leads to stepping over items, ignoring details, and taking shortcuts. I learn to tolerate unnecessary missteps, which requires more time and energy.
7. DEEP LISTENING.
My practice of bare attention and receptive awareness allows things to be revealed — for me to be with others as they are and to receive their concerns fully.
I listen only for the information I need to manage my tasks and solve my problems.
8. COMMITMENT.
With my practice of devotional resolve – cognitively, emotionally, and volitionally – I find serene direction in surrendering to something larger than myself.
My life consists of obligations and perpetual, monotonous tasks that find me aimlessly drifting without direction.
9. IMAGINATION.
My practice of envisioning possibilities opens untapped potential beyond daily activities, problems, and what seems conceivable. This practice cultivates the openness, poetic mind, and possibilities for seeding the empathy to be with others’ experiences.
I am a practical and analytical problem solver and effortlessly discover solutions to resolve problems. Within a linear view, I am seduced by quick fixes and immediate results.
10. DISCERNMENT.
With the practice of rigorous focus and attention, I can cut through noise and distractions to recognize small details. I can accurately tell the difference between similar things, and choose wisely among competing needs, concerns, and priorities to gain clarity.
My indecisiveness has made me unable to scrutinize, evaluate, or penetrate the morass of choices and distractions. I lack observational skills to prioritize or discriminate between items that appear similar and have become inattentive to the quality of my output.
11. INQUIRY.
This practice cultivates living in the question. We explore situations with ontological humility to view things as they appear, and cultivate an unlearning that suspends certainty. We remain open to others’ perceptions and perspectives, and understand that any view is only part of a larger picture.
I reflexively seek out answers and solutions and stop questioning once I discover them.
12. COMMUNITY AS CONTEXT.
This practice ultimately determines what it is to be a person, because becoming a “self” happens in community. This practice expands my view of “self” and community as mutually dependent on causes and conditions – a point of view that unifies and views coherence in the flow of experiences.
I believe I am a discrete, fixed, and solid entity. I am an independent and individual identity to protect and defend.
= Item w/o PRACTICE