Tucker Center Mindfulness Groups

The Student Mindfulness Group is a student led organization where Dartmouth students, both undergraduate and graduate, from diverse religious (or non-religious), spiritual, and cultural backgrounds can learn different techniques for cultivating mindfulness. This group does not subscribe to any particular religious or spiritual practice, but rather aims to provide students with a space for contemplative practices such as mindfulness meditation. In addition to regular mindfulness practice, students will have the opportunity to listen to different speakers, participate in yoga practice and other mindful exercises, enjoy community meals, and go on mindfulness retreats.

This group is designed for both experienced meditators and for students who have no prior meditation experience. Its ultimate goal is to create and foster a community of mindful individuals at Dartmouth.

Join the Student Mindfulness Group for a guided meditation every Sunday and Thursday evenings, from 8:30-9:30 pm in the Tucker Meditation Room (201 NORTH Fairbanks Hall).

All are welcome - loose, comfortable clothing recommended.

For more information, please contact the Dartmouth Student Mindfulness Group.

The Mindfulness Practice Group for faculty and staff meets weekly from 8:00-9:00 am every Wednesday virtually. The group meditates together for 30 minutes each week and then discusses a chapter from a relevant book or questions and issues related to meditation practice. All are welcome. Anyone interested is encouraged to join.

For more information, email tucker.center@dartmouth.edu or Adam.J.Knowlton-Young@dartmouth.edu.

The Tucker Center also supports the on-campus efforts of the student Zen Practice Group which meets on Wednesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 in the Tucker Meditation Room (201 NORTH Fairbanks Hall).

Zen is Buddhist practice, an investigation into the nature of "self," suffering and the resolution of suffering. The Dartmouth Zen Student Group welcomes all comers regardless of religious affiliation or meditation experience. Students are encouraged to take leadership roles in the group and to assist in planning an annual Spring seminar, involving teachers from both academic and practice backgrounds. The group is led by Gendo Allyn Field, founder of the Upper Valley Zen Center.

For more information, contact Gendo Allyn Field.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, founding Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, writes in his groundbreaking book Full Catastrophe Living:

"Simply put, mindfulness is moment-to-moment awareness. It is cultivated by purposefully paying attention to things we ordinarily never give a moment's thought to. It is a systematic approach to developing new kinds of control and wisdom in our lives."

In 2011, Kabat-Zinn gave two public presentations at Dartmouth to introduce mindfulness meditation and how it is being incorporated into a wide range of clinical programs in medicine and psychology as well as in personal lives. The presentations, hosted and sponsored by the Tucker Foundation and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, included a lecture titled "The Healing Power of Mindfulness: Living as if Your Moments Really Mattered" and an all-day retreat in Rollins Chapel entitled, "A Day of Mindfulness Practice and Dialogue."