I graduated from Foundations in Contemplative Care in 2011.

I didn’t go on to be a chaplain or work in palliative care but what I learned during my nine months of training with Koshin and Chodo and the NYZC team has stayed with me and profoundly informed my life and relationships since then.

Through my weekly rounds on a surgical stepdown floor at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, I saw and met so many patients and families; I  supported staff, nurses, orderlies and doctors and I learned how to hold my seat and keep my heart open in what could be chaotic and challenging situations.

I remember sitting with a man who removed his bandages to show me his recent surgery scar and his intestines bulged out of the hole in his stomach.

“I had a conversation with a young woman who interrupted our talk by saying, “I’m going to have a seizure. Don’t leave.” I stayed by her as alarms attached to her monitors went off and a team of nurses rushed in to attend to her as she convulsed.

I had so many tender moments and stories like these that constantly rise to the surface as daily life reminders to appreciate each moment.

I found the brilliance of the Foundations program is in how it combines practice, training, real world application, and deep reflection and processing with teachers and peers.

Students come together each month as a group to learn practices and train with experienced teachers, and then take what they’ve learned “into the field” and directly apply that newfound knowledge into their work. They then come together again with peer groups and assigned mentors to process and unpack whatever insights or challenges that might have come up from the students work.

This is a radical and extremely powerful approach to learning.

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To learn more about this groundbreaking program, click here or sign up for a free online info session.