Contemplative Practice in Public Health Pilot

The evaluation of the 9 week Contemplative Practice in Public Health pilot I conducted with fellow public health practitioners is complete and available here.  What is of interest to me is how much the formal study and evaluation of something that is "alive" loses its freshness when you seek to quantify, categorise, or label it.  The evaluation is very positive overall but it does not really capture the richness of the informal feedback shared in hallways and over lunches.  We will continue the program this year with a slightly longer program of about 12 weeks - participants felt they needed more time on more challenging issues such as interdepence and considering our own mortality (who doesnt!).  Another interesting piece of feedback was that participants wanted to continue the focus on active contemplation of ethical or moral challenges rather than passive meditation - which aligns with the programs theme of "examining reality - not relaxation".