ABIDING HEART EDUCATION
Meditation and Contemplative Learning
We offer diploma programmes in Meditation and Contemplative Kindergarten and Primary to Early Secondary (age 6 to 14) Teacher Education courses, Meditation and Contemplative Foundation Studies, Contemplative Parenting workshops, The Heart Abides Study retreats open to all. This includes educators, teachers, parents, therapists, medical professions, carers, social workers and anyone caring for children, including our own inner child.
Abiding Heart Education™️ is a new approach to children’s education that embraces contemplative paths of inner development that are rooted in ancient wisdom. The aim of Abiding Heart is to educate towards inner freedom through a journey of re-discovering our innate goodness, our true nature. This unique approach is centred on experiential and contemplative learning, fostering a process of transformation and the development of wisdom and compassion.
The Abiding Heart Education™️ approach has been conceptualised and developed by Dr Meyrav Mor since 2000. Embedded in this approach is a method to create bespoke curriculums (for kindergarten to class 12) and teacher training courses that meet the specific needs of local communities around their world and their unique heritage. A working example of this adaptable approach is Abiding Heart's bespoke Experiential Buddhist Education for Buddhist communities around the world, which we developed and implemented since 2017 in the Himalayas.
Founded by Dr Meyrav Mor, Abiding Heart Education™️ fosters transformative learning. This education approach is a fusion of contemplative and meditative traditions that rest on the view of interdependence and fused together with contemporary learning approaches and developmental science. Contemporary developmental science is an interdisciplinary scientific field that brings together paediatric, developmental psychology, developmental neuroscience and neurodiversity, child development, the ecology of human development, sociology and anthropology. Over nearly 3 decades, Dr Meyrav Mor, with the aid of experts and teaching practitioners, have been conducting research that informs Abiding Heart's courses compositions and methodology as well as our children’s curricular content and learning approach.
"Love is the only cause of happiness. Its nature is all-pervasive like space. Love is the sunlight of the mind."~Garchen Rinpoche
In the Abiding Heart’s curriculum, for kindergarten through to class 12, all subjects taught are immersed within contemplative traditions that focus on developing wisdom and compassion. Our unique awareness and mindfulness meditations, and loving kindness and compassion contemplations are integral to each main lesson theme. These practices are also peppered throughout the day, embracing short times many times style, which is developmentally more suitable for children. Our curriculum content is also grounded in sense of place, nature and local heritage to foster another measure of wellbeing in children. Our learning approach cultivates a balance of the intellectual, affective, meditative and action or doing domains and how that informs our everyday life. In this wholesome education way, the aim of the Abiding Heart Education™️ approach is to nurture in children (and their teachers) the seeds of progressing on the path to freedom and re-discover their true awakened nature.
In the Abiding Heart approach, we celebrate our rich diversity and common humanity as a way of recognising that ,in essence, we all have the same wish, that is, to be happy and not to experience suffering. Therefore, through all our teacher training lessons, be it lectures, art and crafts, or curriculum preparation, we engage in a process of understanding, contemplating and meditating.
A Centre for Experiential Contemplative Learning
Our teacher training and other courses are taught by a team of acclaimed local and international academics and experts in education, pedagogy, contemplative studies, developmental science, neuroscience, movement, therapeutic education, healing practices, crafts and the arts.
Full-Time/Part-Time Diploma Courses:
This training is for existing teachers, aspiring teachers and educators.
This training is for existing teachers, aspiring teachers and educators.
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Full Time Paubha Painting (Thangka) Diploma Course
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Full Time Charya Nritya Buddhist Ritual Dance Diploma Course
Short Personal and Professional Development Courses:
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Human Development Course for educators, teachers, parents and anyone interested in deepening their understanding on nature of reality and human development
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Designing a Bespoke Waldorf Curriculum: Integrating sense of place, heritage and contemplative education in Waldorf schools. This course is open to Waldorf teachers only.
Parenting Workshops:
Becoming: A series of short Meditation and Contemplative Parenting Workshops
Retreats and Adventures:
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Personal Development Inner-Study Retreats: For anyone interested in personal development and enrichment.
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Teachers Matter: Caring for teachers through learning to be: This personal development retreat for teachers is sprinkled with arts, awareness and mindfulness meditation, loving kindness and compassion contemplative practices, sharing our life stories and meals, socialising, being in nature and rejuvenating. This course is beneficial for all teachers of all education traditions.
Our full time and short courses are a hybrid of online and in-person classes and self study. Our delightful study retreats are in-person attendance only. We cater our courses for local, regional and global communities.
Abiding Heart's Contemplative Education centre is located in Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway Scotland. Set in glorious, very rural, countryside, our centre is surrounded by pastoral land, enclosed in rolling hills and meandering rivers. This location is designed to help our students immerse in learning that engages the head (intellectual), heart (affective and meditative) and hand (doing and applying). This area of outstanding natural beauty also supports learning to let go and just be. This is an essential part of the transformative process of integration and embodiment.
Upcoming Courses
Full Time Contemplative Teacher Education Courses
1 Sep 2024
1 Sep 2024
1 Sep 2024
1 Sep 2024
Part Time Teacher Training Courses Route
The following 6 short courses form part of our full-time two-year teacher education
programmes and are offered also as stand-alone courses.
We are offering these courses for students who are unable, at this point, to commit to
our full-time teacher training or would like to try some of our courses first before
deciding whether to continue with the whole programme.
For more information or an informal chat, please contact our admissions coordinator admissions@abidingheart.education
Short Courses
1 Sep 2024
29 July 2024
30 Oct 2024
8 Aug 2024
We offer short courses in Scotland's Traditional crafts and Himalayan sacred art fused with contemplative ecology, awareness and mindfulness meditation...in celebration of our common humanity.
To learn more, please click on the links above and below.
World Heritage Learning: Charya Dance
(introduction course)
Dates TBC
On-going registration
15 May 2024
Study Retreats
On Tomlin Love and Relationship
This is an in-person retreat in Scotland.
This is an in-person retreat in Scotland.
This is an in-person retreat in Scotland.
Walking, Arts, Culture and Personal Development
Adventure in the Kathmandu
5 July 2024
19 July 2024
2 Aug 2024
19 Sep 2024
We are now offering a study retreat adventure in Kathmandu. You have the option to attend some or all of the study retreats below. If you are interested in attending 3 of our study retreats series in Nepal, we will offer 5% discount. If you choose to take all our autumn 6 study retreat series we will offer 15% discount.
Buddhist Kathmandu through Art
This is an in-person retreat in Nepal.*
A Walking and Compassion Retreat
This is an in-person retreat in Nepal.*
This is an in-person retreat in Nepal.*
19 Sep 2024
23 Sep 2024
29 Sep 2024
1 Oct 2024
10 Oct 2024
14 Oct 2024
22 Oct 2024
30 Dec 2024
25 Nov 2024
Workshops
We offer curated workshops for parents at each stage of their path of parenthood.
To learn more, please click on the links above and below.
I’m the Boss of Me: Loving-Kindness and Compassion
Puberty, age 11-13
Peaches and Cream: Joyful Beginning
Infants and Toddlers, birth to age 2
Say What you Mean, Mean what You Say: Everything is Changing
Adolescence, age 13-18
Under the Rose Apple Tree: Awareness Middle
Childhood, age 6 to 10
4 May 2024
24 May 2024
27 May 2024
28 May 2024
29 May 2024
30 May 2024
19 Aug 2024