Keynote Presentation

Being Well, Together: Mindfulness-Supportive Ethics and the Cultivation of Compassionate Communities in Challenging Times

Dr. Rhonda Magee
Professor of Law, University of San Francisco

Despite the wider acceptance of personal practices of mindfulness and the ideal of wellbeing in public settings over the past decade, we have simultaneously witnessed increased polarization and “othering” in the interpersonal and social realms. Might cultivating the ethical foundations of mindfulness be key to bringing the qualities of compassion and cooperation more deeply into the social realm? In this keynote presentation, Professor Rhonda Magee will discuss scholarship uncovering traditional foundations of engaged mindfulness, and offer practices and reflections that have been shown to support us in deepening our ability to work together across a range of diverse perspectives, and to alleviate the suffering we all face in the social and political worlds.

About the Speaker

In addition to teaching law, Professor Magee is a longtime mindfulness teacher, scholar of contemplative education, and scholar of mindfulness from multiple traditions. She is also a thought and practice leader on integrating mindfulness into higher education, law, and social justice and has a strong interest in social identity-based bias. Professor Magee is the author of the book The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness. She received her J.D. and M.A. degrees from the University of Virginia.