CML brings together the best of two worlds: an intensive training environment combined with a systematic, fully modern version of mindfulness.
Shinzen YoungCode Flow: Mindfulness for Programmers
More focus, more productivity, more fulfillment.
As a programmer, you have the newest, coolest job in the history of human civilization. Your skills are invaluable to the economy, and the technical challenges you face are mentally exhilarating. Not only that, but your work gives you the opportunity to experience what the psychologist and researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called “Flow.” This is an experience where you’re engaged in a challenge in a way that is focused, relaxed, and enjoyable. Flow is simultaneously pleasant and effective. Good news: Flow can be cultivated through practicing mindfulness.
Mindfulness can help you access flow more reliably when coding, and to stay with it even when interrupted, so you can maintain that state of pleasant focus and exceptional effectiveness. On top of that, mindfulness can help you to access this state of relaxed concentration with more ease, so that you can start getting into the zone in whether you’re at the keyboard, the gym, or at home.
This course will help you to develop a mindfulness practice that can bring you all of those benefits and more. You’ll get:
- a compact guide to mindfulness, including techniques for building a powerful meditation practice, and practical strategies for bringing mindfulness into your programming, work, and daily life [PDF / Google Docs]
- a guided meditation to give you a step-by-step walk-through of the techniques [MP3]
- an interview with CML Resident, Ruby programmer, and former IBM employee Danny Morris, detailing how Danny brings mindfulness into his work and code [MP3]
- an in-depth talk from Soryu Forall, head teacher at the Center for Mindful Learning, giving a big-picture overview of mindfulness theory [MP3 / accompanying transcript as PDF or Google Docs]
You can purchase this course now for the introductory, discounted rate of $29.95. Hit “Buy Now” to get started!
Every dollar spent on this course will go towards the Center for Mindful Learning’s vow to create a contemplative culture in the modern world. You can email Michael Fogleman (michael@centerformindfullearning.org) with any questions.
What is CML? Who is Soryu?
The Center for Mindful Learning is a non-profit devoted to creating a contemplative culture in the modern world. We’re intimately aware of how meditation can improve the world; in fact, we live it every day. We’re staffed by a team of residential “Modern Monks” who maintain a mindfulness practice around the clock while doing work full-time.
Soryu Forall is our head teacher. Soryu has been doing intensive mindfulness practice for twenty years, in a variety of wisdom traditions.
Danny Morris writes Ruby for our schools program, Modern Mindfulness for Schools. Before becoming a resident at CML, Danny worked at IBM as an electrical engineer. He began teaching mindfulness at IBM, where he sought to give engineers the tools to develop an innovative mind.
Why will practicing mindfulness help me?
Mindfulness is just like exercise. It can be tricky to build the habit, or to find the time, but it’s worth it. Regular meditation practice has a host of benefits, including an amplified ability to connect to a sense of engaged focus more frequently, for a longer period of time, and in more contexts.
What will I get? When will I get it?
You will get several digital files – a recording of a talk by Soryu, a document containing mindfulness techniques in connection to programming and flow, an interview with CML Resident and programmer Danny Morris, and guided meditations led by Danny. You’ll learn how meditation can help you make your coding and every-day life both more effective and more pleasant.
After purchasing the course, you will receive an email detailing how to download it. We are planning to develop future iterations, products, and services. Please email Michael (michael@centerformindfullearning.org) with questions and feedback. In the meantime, check out our other offerings, including upcoming events, free talks, and guided meditations.