•
Start by taking a good look at your partner’s face and notice every detail, including eyes,
eyebrows, the shape of the cheeks and jaw, the color of the skin, the hairline and so forth.
•
Now close your eyes and simply notice how you feel. Open your eyes, and while remaining
silent, consider how your partner feels being seen, being the object of your attention right now.
Now close your eyes and simply observe what you feel.
•
With your eyes still closed, consider that the person seated right in front of you, a fellow human
being, has had many highs and lows in life, just like you. Consider that this person wishes to be
free from confusion, angst, pain and loneliness, just like you. This person wishes to be free
from anger, hatred and jealousy, just like you. Now open your eyes and really see your
partner. Now close your eyes and notice what you feel.
•
With your eyes still closed, gradually generate the intention, “
May you be well, happy, content
and balanced. May you find the sources of love, openness, freedom and mental clarity.
”
•
Open your eyes, look at your partner, and continue to offer the partner your wishes for his or
her well-being. Close your eyes and notice what you feel.
•
Now open your eyes and thank your partner in this exercise.
•
Take a couple of minutes to discuss with your partner your experience of this exercise.
•
Finally, the teacher facilitates a group discussion about what people observed during this
exercise.
Generic Courses and Population-Specific Applications
As described above, the CCT protocol was created as a collaboration among an interdisciplinary
team. CCT was developed as an interactive process, it was revised in the wake of having taught it
and having learned from the experience of participants. It is important to note that we see this
program as a generic version, and anticipate that it will be adapted to meet the needs of specific
populations over time. Based on our experience thus far, we see potential for robust versions in
healthcare
-
, for teachers in K-12 educational domains
, for workplace leadership
, for trauma survivors
and for couples work
, among other applications.
CCT has been taught in its entirety twenty-one times at the time of writing this chapter. The course
has been offered at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Google, the Cancer Support Community,
Sharp Healthcare in San Diego, the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System for Healthcare Providers, the
VA Palo Alto Healthcare System on the Residential PTSD Unit, and the Redwood City Veterans
Center.
We also have developed shorter modules of compassion training derived from the eight-week
course that are packaged in 1-hour, 2-hour, daylong and weekend modules. These shorter
offerings have been taught at the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System, Kaiser Permanente for
Behavioral Health Staff, Esalen Institute and at Stillheart Insititute, among other settings. In the
upcoming months CCT will spread to an array of other areas by way of the teachers we are
training in our teacher training program.
Teacher Training Program
In the fall of 2012 will commence CCARE’s new Compassion Cultivation Training Teacher
Certification program, which is a part-time, 12-month training for professionals who want to deepen
their ability to share the science, philosophy and pedagogy of compassion. This cohort is
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