Mindfulness and Compassion Grand Rounds at Harvard Medical School will be held about twice monthly, live online via Zoom, and is open to those within Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), and members of the CMC community, for free. Our Grand Rounds series has 3 main aims:

• Disseminate information about new cutting edge science and impactful clinical research findings

• Highlight best practices for enhancing the efficacy, accessibility, and safety of mindfulness and compassion delivery and applications for population mental health

• Provide opportunities for healthcare provider self-care and burnout prevention

Not able to attend live over Zoom? All registrants will receive a link to the recording.

2025/26 Academic Year

Subject of Lecture - Mindfulness and its Allies

Date: Monday, January 26, 2026
Time: 1-2pm (ET)
Presenter: Christina Feldman

Topic Description: What is mindfulness beyond a technique or temporary state? Is mindfulness a technique, a state or a particular way of seeing or is it more than all of these. This talk will focus on the extended family of mindfulness and what it is that clouds the mind’s capacity for spaciousness, clarity and understanding. The presentation explores mindfulness as part of an interconnected family of contemplative qualities that work together to cultivate mental clarity, spaciousness, and genuine understanding. Drawing on over 50 years of teaching and practice experience, Christina Feldman examines how mindfulness is supported by its "allies"—including concentration (samadhi), equanimity (upekkha), compassion (karuna), and wisdom (panna)—and how these qualities work synergistically to transform our relationship with experience.

The talk investigates what clouds the mind's natural capacity for clarity and openness, exploring the Buddhist understanding of mental hindrances and habitual patterns that obscure spacious awareness. Christina Feldman will illustrate how mindfulness, rather than being a standalone practice, is woven into a broader contemplative framework where each quality supports and deepens the others. Participants will gain insight into how authentic mindfulness practice extends beyond simple present-moment awareness to encompass ethical understanding, concentrated attention, and the cultivation of heartful qualities that lead to genuine transformation and liberation from suffering.

This session bridges ancient Buddhist psychology with contemporary mindfulness applications, offering a richer understanding of how mindfulness works and why it is effective across diverse settings—from clinical interventions to personal practice.

Presenter Bio: Christina Feldman

Christina Feldman is a pioneering figure in bringing Buddhist meditation to the West. She is a co-founder of Gaia House (UK) and a guiding teacher at Insight Meditation Society (Massachusetts). She has been teaching insight meditation retreats internationally since 1976 and is a core faculty member at Bodhi College, dedicated to the study and application of the early teachings of the Buddha. Feldman teaches Buddhist psychological foundations of mindfulness in postgraduate programs at the University of Exeter, Radboud University (Netherlands), and other European institutions. She is the author of numerous books, including Boundless Heart: The Buddha's Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity and co-author with Professor Willem Kuyken of Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology (Guilford Press, 2019)

Learning Objectives:

1. Differentiate between mindfulness as a technique versus mindfulness as part of an integrated contemplative system, including its relationship to concentration, equanimity, compassion, and wisdom in Buddhist psychology.

2. Identify the factors that cloud the mind's natural capacity for spaciousness and clarity, including mental hindrances and habitual patterns, and explain how mindfulness practice addresses these obstacles.

3. Analyze how the "extended family" of mindfulness qualities work synergistically to support psychological transformation and well-being, drawing connections between traditional Buddhist frameworks and contemporary mindfulness-based interventions.

Continuing Education Information -

• For those seeking CE credit, the link to a feedback form will be sent during the live lecture in the Zoom chat. This must be filled out to receive CE; credits are processed at the end of the academic year in June 2024 for the entire Grand Rounds series. CE certificates are issued after that time.

• Although these sessions are recorded, we can only offer CE to those who attend live.

• The Harvard Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Harvard Medical School designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

• Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This program offers 1.0 continuing education credits.

• Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 5444. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. This program offers 1.0 continuing education credits and is also applicable for Commonwealth of Massachusetts Counseling/Allied Mental Health accreditation for 1.0 credits.

• As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Harvard Medical School is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 1 clinical continuing education credit.

• An attendance attestation form will be shared during each event.

Further Reading -

Kuyken, W., Warren, F. C., Taylor, R. S., Whalley, B., Crane, C., Bondolfi, G., ... & Dalgleish, T. (2016). Efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in prevention of depressive relapse: An individual patient data meta-analysis from randomized trials. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(6), 565-574.

Haakonsen, J. M. F., Furnham, A., & Cuppello, S. (2024). Personality correlates of the five hindrances: a pilot study. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 27(6), 545–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2024.2440487

Sparby, T., Eilinghoff-Ehlers, P., Lewandovski, N., Pachernegg, Y., Schnitzler, L., & Edelhäuser, F. (2024). Meditation Hindrances and Breakthroughs: A Multilevel First-Person Phenomenological Analysis. Religions, 15(7), 865. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070865

Tseng, H. W., Chou, F. H., Chen, C. H., & Chang, Y. P. (2023). Effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder with Multiple Episodes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 20(2), 1555. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021555

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