Mindfulness in the Academy: Practices and Perspectives from Scholars

Description

This book focuses on the way academics understand, embrace and enact the concepts of mindfulness in approaching their work in demanding and dynamic contemporary higher education environments. It examines how they implement formal and informal mindfulness practices that increase the capacity to transform mind and body states by drawing on concepts such as compassion, kindness, gratitude, curiosity, self-awareness and non-judgemental stances. The book provides insights into and highlights the struggles of scholars through their experiences and perspectives in relation to their identities, practices and job enactment. Each chapter author explains their mindfulness practices and their motivations for implementing them, and explores how mindful ways of researching, writing, learning and teaching, leading, and engaging with others leads us to self-awareness and engagement in the present. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Mindfulness in the Academy: An Examination of Mindfulness Perspectives (Sharon McDonough, Narelle Lemon)....Pages 1-21 Front Matter ....Pages 23-23 Doormats and Boulders: Uncovering Mindfulness Traits and Wise Discernment During Stressful Experiences in the Academy (Rosemary Chang)....Pages 25-40 Emerging into Authentic Academic Life: Anxiety, Masks of Selves, Mindful Observation and Perfectionist Performance (Anat Wilson)....Pages 41-56 Front Matter ....Pages 57-57 Mindful Networks? Navigating and Negotiating Life and Work in Academia (Katy Vigurs)....Pages 59-70 Mindful Practice as Professional Identity Work (Chad M. Morrison)....Pages 71-82 Exploring Mindfulness in Teaching–Learning Scholarship Through a Reflective Conversation (Marni J. Binder, Jennifer Martin, Jasna K. Schwind)....Pages 83-96 Front Matter ....Pages 97-97 Tending to Ourselves, Tending to Each Other: Nurturing Feminist Friendships to Manage Academic Lives (Monica Taylor, Emily J. Klein)....Pages 99-111 It is About Fun Stuff! Thinking About the Writing Process in Different Ways (Megan McPherson, Narelle Lemon)....Pages 113-127 I am not Playing the Academic Hunger Games: Self-awareness and Mindful Practices in Approaching Research Collaborations (Narelle Lemon)....Pages 129-154 Front Matter ....Pages 155-155 Ko Wai Au (Who Am I)? Authentic Leadership and Mindfulness in Higher Education (Kim Tairi)....Pages 157-171 The Role of Mindfulness in Managing HRM Challenges for Senior Higher Education Learning and Teaching Leaders (Nina Fotinatos)....Pages 173-185 Front Matter ....Pages 187-187 Mindful Care and Compassion in Higher Education: Cultivating Communities of Practice (Helen M. Correia, Karin Strehlow)....Pages 189-202 Yoga and Pedagogical Mindfulness in Higher Education (Jane Bone)....Pages 203-215 Casualisation, Mindfulness and the Working Lives of Academics (Sarah Pinto, Kirstie Close)....Pages 217-230 Front Matter ....Pages 231-231 The Right Kind of Ambition (Tseen Khoo)....Pages 233-245 A Glitch in the Machine or a Glimmer of What Could Be? Mindfulness as Resistance in Higher Education (Sharon McDonough)....Pages 247-258 Mindfully Living and Working in the Academy: Continuing the Conversation (Narelle Lemon, Sharon McDonough)....Pages 259-283 Back Matter ....Pages 285-294