FRS 002C — Sec. 001 — (2 unit) — CRN 55894 — W 5:10-7:00pm — Wright Hall, Lab B
Creativity and Consciousness: Contemplation, Reflection and Action

Instructor: Barbara Sellers-Young, Department of Theatre & Dance, College of Letters and Science

Description: This seminar uses heightened states of conscious awareness to renew one’s engagement and dynamism in life through contact with a core of internal awareness. A fundamental tenet of the course is that knowledge is the result of the experience of the body/mind and thus an individual’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic being. The seminar is focused on a systematic experience of different methods of deep focus including sitting, walking, sounding, and internal imaging. The goal of the seminar is to heighten an experience of intrinsic self and bring increased focus, clarity, creativity and critical insight into the educational process. Each class will consist of a contemplative practice in combination with a discussion of weekly reading assignments.

Format: Text is a Series of Readings indicated in each week. Anticipated participation in each seminar and journal assignment that combines observations of learning the contemplation technique in the seminar and practice of the technique three times a week for 20 minutes outside of the seminar. The journal describes your experience in different modes of contemplation and reflects on the impact of the practice on your personal and educational life. Grading: The assessments are based on the following scheme: participation in seminar 20%; journal and individual practice 80%.

About the Instructor: Barbara Sellers-Young is a professor in the Theatre and Dance Department. She has been the recipient of a contemplation Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies to study the practice of contemplation and its relationship to creativity. She is the author of Breathing, Movement, Exploration (Applause Press, 2001), an approach to bodily practice that combines eastern and western conceptions of the body. She has presented workshops on breath and consciousness for the American Theatre in Higher Education and the International Federation of Theatre Research.