Sessions Every Weekday
Free Live MeditationKyoto Mindful Leadership Programme 2024
The Ancient Wisdom and Modern
Science of Mindfulness Meet in Kyoto
This 5-day, in-person programme held in Kyoto, Japan, will offer a unique opportunity to explore mindfulness according to its deepest roots in ancient wisdom traditions, most advanced sciences, and best applications for leaders in the 21st century.
September 24-28, 2024
Ranzan Hotel, Kyoto, Japan
Booking deadline: 16th July, 2024
This programme will provide the essential psycho-education and practical training for cognitive control or attention mastery, self-awareness, and emotion-regulation. It will follow the course Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World, which was originally developed by the University of Oxford’s Mindfulness Centre, and will be delivered by OMF’s experienced teachers.
The programme will be conducted while being fully immersed in Kyoto’s mindful culture, arts, architecture, and garden design, in the most inspiring place of Arashiyama. Such integration of mindfulness training and cultural experience will be articulated according to the pedagogy developed by the Mindful Living Research Group at Kyoto University, a world-class academic institution located in the cultural heart of Japan.
In this way, mindfulness will be presented as a core life skill, or vital compass in order to lead one’s life, work, and organisation, in skillful response to various challenges, with greater resilience, clarity, and creativity. By blending ancient wisdom with modern science, Eastern and Western resources, this programme will thus enable participants to strengthen their leadership skills by better aligning with their own deeper values.
Programme Leaders
Ruth Baer
Teacher
Ruth Baer is the Director of the Master of Studies in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy at the University of Oxford, a mindfulness teacher and trainer for the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation, and a member of the University of Oxford Mindfulness Centre Curriculum Development Group. She is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Kentucky, where she conducted research on mindfulness and taught and supervised evidence-based mindfulness programmes in a doctoral programme in clinical psychology. Ruth has published many papers and books on mindfulness-related topics and is among the most widely cited researchers in the mindfulness field. She has practiced mindfulness since the late 1990s.
Masaya Komeda
Tea Ceremony Master
Masaya Komeda has been practicing and teaching chado, or Japanese Tea Ceremony, for more than 17 years in one of the main traditional schools of Japanese Tea Ceremony, Urasenke, which has a history of over 350 years. After graduating from Kyoto University Faculty of Economics in 2007, he enrolled into the Urasenke Professional Training College for Tea Ceremony and graduated in 2010. He has been serving the Urasenke school in its headquarters at Kyoto since then. In the past, he has taught tea ceremony in the contexts of HR development and university classes.
Leonie Schell
Teacher
Leonie Schell is a Trustee, teacher, trainer and supervisor at the OMF. She also has a private coaching practice, supporting leaders and organisations dedicated to bringing about positive change to unfold their full potential using mindfulness, cognitive therapy and hypnotherapy-based methods. Leonie teaches a range of standard 8-week mindfulness courses as well as shorter, more innovative and advanced courses to workplaces and the public. During Leonie’s time as management advisor for Big Four firm Ernst & Young, she founded an Employee Mindfulness Network, which continues to be a thriving global community to this day.
Manabu Noda
Ikenobo Central Training Institute Professor
Ikenobo is the founding school of Ikebana, or Japanese Flower Arrangement, and the roots of this school dates back to the 15th century with ties to the Rokkakudō temple in Kyoto. Professor Noda received a master's degree in Asian Studies from the University of Illinois in 1984, and since 1993, he has been dispatched by the Ikenobo school and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan to Europe, North and South America, Asia, Middle East, and Australia to hold workshops and demonstrations of Ikebana. He continues to teach Ikebana both locally and globally to this day even after becoming a lecturer at Ikenobo Central Training Institute in 2000.
Marc-Henri Deroche, PhD
Lecturer
Marc-Henri Deroche is Associate Professor at Kyoto University, Japan, where he teaches Buddhist studies and supervises the Mindful Living Research Group, a transdisciplinary graduate seminar integrating Asian wisdom traditions, Western philosophy, and cognitive psychology. Born in France, he holds master’s degree and PhD in East Asian Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne, Paris). He has trained in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with the University of Oxford’s Mindfulness Centre and the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation. He has lived in Kyoto since 2008 and has travelled extensively in the Himalayan and Tibetan cultural world.
Ryotaro Kusumoto, MPhil
Translator
Ryotaro Kusumoto, MPhil (Kyoto University), is a PhD student at Kyoto University GSAIS, and also has trained as a teacher in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life with Oxford Mindfulness Foundation. His research has previously elucidated traditional Japanese Buddhist educative frameworks (published in Religions), and been presented, among others, at the conferences of the International Society for Contemplative Research, and the Comparative and International Education Society. His doctoral thesis aims at re-articulating and implementing mindfulness in higher education and life-long learning.
Evidence has proven mindful leaders have:
- Increased transformational and authentic leadership style
- Enhanced effectiveness and performance
- Increased effective task management, self-care and self-reflection
- Decreased behaviours that are indicative of avoiding responsibilities and decisions
Programme Schedule
| Day | Morning | Afternoon | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 24th September, 2024 | 9:00-10:30 Welcome and General Introduction Tea Break 10:50-12:20 Finding Peace Session 1 (OMF Team) | Lunch | 13:30-15:00 Finding Peace Session 2 (OMF Team) Tea Break 15:20-16:50 Kyoto’s Mindful Culture 1: Lecture – By Professor Marc-Henri Deroche, Kyoto University 16:50-17:00 Closing Practice |
| Wednesday 25th September, 2024 | 9:00-10:30 Deepening Practice Tea Break 10:50-12:20 Finding Peace Session 3 (OMF Team) | Lunch | 13:30-15:00 Finding Peace Session 4 (OMF Team) Tea Break 15:20-16:50 Kyoto’s Mindful Culture 2: Ikebana Performance – By teacher from Ikenobo Kadō Association 16:50-17:00 Closing Practice |
| Thursday 26th September, 2024 | 9:00-10:30 Short Museum Tour at Saga Arashiyama Museum of Arts and Culture; Deepening Practice Tea Break 10:50-12:20 Finding Peace Session 5 (OMF Team) | Lunch | 13:30-17:00 Kyoto’s Mindful Culture 3: Guided excursions in Arashiyama, formal and informal practices |
| Friday 27th September, 2024 | 9:00-10:30 Deepening Practice Tea Break 10:50-12:20 Finding Peace Session 6 (OMF Team) | Lunch | 13:30-15:00 Finding Peace Session 7 (OMF Team) Tea Break 15:20-16:50 Kyoto’s Mindful Culture 4: Lecture – By Professor Marc-Henri Deroche, Kyoto University 16:50-17:00 Closing Practice |
| Saturday 28th September, 2024 | 9:00-10:30 Deepening Practice Tea Break 10:50-12:20 Finding Peace Session 8 (OMF Team) | Lunch | 13:30-15:00 Kyoto’s Mindful Culture 5: Tea Ceremony – By Masaya Yoneda, Urasenke Konnichian Tea Break 15:20-16:50 General Conclusion 16:50-17:00 Closing Practice |
Image Gallery
Included in the programme fee:
- Mindfulness teaching from Curriculum Director Alison Yiangou and Workplace Advisor Leonie Schell (Oxford team)
- Lectures from Professor Marc-Henri Deroche (Kyoto University)
- Lunch
- Refreshments
- Japanese cultural experiences
- A professional certificate of attendance will be delivered at the end of the programme
