Students and staff often spend their lives in cognitive overdrive. Contemplation By Design, one of Stanford Medicine’s Prevention Research Center (SPRC) programs, aims to teach these racing minds how to rest and reflect.
Through academic classes, meditation and yoga sessions, Contemplation By Design helps students, faculty and staff train their minds to foster mental well-being. The programming teaches contemplative lifestyle behaviors that facilitate the shift from the high productivity mindset of the sympathetic nervous system to the more restful state of the parasympathetic nervous system. These behaviors create harmony between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, thereby making sleep more effective and waking time more focused.
Contemplation By Design founder and director Tia Rich discovered her interest in contemplative practices as an undergraduate in 1981 after taking a quarter off to live at the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy. There, she became interested in how contemplative behaviors contribute to health and wellness, eventually leading her to create the Contemplation by Design program at Stanford.
“I became curious about how that realm of contemplative practices could become a part of a healthy lifestyle repertoire,” said Rich.
Within the program, Rich leads academic classes like “Applying Contemplative Practices.” Rich said that in her classes, she guides her students as they develop a “neurological architecture that allows them to have the agility to regulate what their nervous system is doing.”
“Being in a community of people who are also interested in cultivating health and well-being has really beautiful effects,” said Ashira Weinreich M.S. ’26, a student in Rich’s class working toward her master’s degree in community health and prevention.
According to Rich, since the program began several decades ago, contemplative practices have become more mainstream.
“Students are now becoming more and more interested in how to use contemplative practice to address the complexities of this time in history, rather than just to refresh themselves,” Rich said.
Weinreich expanded on the benefits of the course. “To be able to take skills and practices that we learn in class and translate that to larger settings within community spaces, I think could really benefit overall community health in profound ways,” Weinreich said.
Akash Shah ’26, who teaches a yoga class every Tuesday at 9 p.m. at the CIRCLE Sanctuary in Old Union, regularly leads his peers through similar contemplative practices.
Shah recommended bringing awareness to one’s breathing as a means of incorporating mindfulness into their daily routine.
“Breathe. Breathing is the most important thing. Just by making a conscious effort to breathe deeply, you will be able to train your mind to just take a step back,” Shah said.
On Wednesday, Stanford Medicine will begin its annual Contemplation by Design summit, spanning until Oct. 27. For those who might be skeptical about the program and its time commitments, Rich said she designed the summit to be low-stakes and accessible. The summit will provide short, succinct exposure to a variety of practice techniques from different contemplative traditions.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the summit would take place next week. It has been updated to reflect that the summit begins this week on Oct. 15. The Daily regrets this error.