Center for Teaching & Learning

In this 5-session book group, we’ll read “The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness” (Rhonda McGee, 2019), exploring mindfulness practices that encourage us “to pay attention to our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in an open, nonjudgmental way … (in order to) increase our emotional resilience, recognize our own biases, and become less reactive when triggered”.  

Each session will include a discussion of the assigned reading, time for reflection and dialogue, and actual practices presented in the book. These practices will help us to lean into difficult conversations about race and encourage us to reflect on social identity, making connections to its impact on our relationships with colleagues and students.  Additionally, the practices described in the book will help us to cultivate intercultural competencies, such as building empathy, nurturing curiosity, and deep listening.    

Exploring our identities and our roles in creating a racially just world requires us to be vulnerable and to trust. Therefore, we ask that you attend at least 4 sessions, so that you can get to know others in the group.  

Those who can attend at least 4 sessions will receive a copy of the book. Additionally, the book is online via Howe Library.   

Session Dates 

All Sessions will be held in Howe Library 303.

Sessions will be facilitated by the Contemplative Practices Learning Community Coordinating Committee.  

We will meet every other Thursday from 1pm-2pm from February 6th – April 3rd. Each session will cover one section of the book: 

February 6th – Please note this session will include group members’ introductions and creating norms for our discussions. If you are unable to attend this session, please contact wverreib@uvm.edu (Grounding, 55 pages)  

February 20th – (Seeing, 64 pages)  

March 6th – (Being, 61 pages)  

Marth 20th – (Doing, 83 pages)  

April 3rd – (Liberating, 49 pages)

Registration

To join this book group, please register using the green button below. You only need to register for the initial event, afterwards you will automatically be notified about the subsequent sessions. If you are interested in joining this book group but are unable to attend the first session, please register here and contact wverreib@uvm.edu separately.

After registering, please block off the dates you plan to attend on your calendar. You will receive a Teams invite to all book club dates on the afternoon of  February 5th.