BLI in Japan

Students exploring how mindfulness can enable them to lead with compassion, generosity, and cultural humility to promote peace and harmony in their communities.

ALA 370: Mindfulness and Peace Global Leadership

May 6-27, 2025

This spring, ten students joined BLI Director Ram Mahalingam for a three-week course at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities (JCMU) in Hikone, Japan, with excursions to Hiroshima and other noteworthy locations. ALA 370: Mindfulness and Peace Global Leadership explores mindful leadership through an interdisciplinary lens to develop a holistic perspective on Global Peace Leadership.

The learning and living community setting at JCMU offered unique opportunities to learn an array of contemplative, creative arts of Japan. It is an ideal academic setting for students to learn culturally embedded mindfulness practices to cultivate a deeper awareness of the interconnected nature of our lives. Students took inspiration from East Asian Buddhist contemplative practices and three notions of Japanese aesthetics (Mono no aware, Wabi-sabi, and Ma), providing a strong foundational understanding of mindfulness from a cultural and Humanities perspective.

The main goal of this course is to provide a critical interdisciplinary perspective for mindful leadership, drawing from mindfulness research in psychology, creativity, and humanistic management. Students develop a holistic perspective on Global Peace Leadership to navigate the leadership challenges of an increasingly disconnected and divided community around the globe.

Students gained insight about current research on mindful leadership while learning several mindfulness practices with a specific goal of cultivating interconnectedness at three levels: intrasectional (deeper connection to one’s emotions, thoughts, and feelings), intersectional (deeper connection to others who embody different social identities) and ecological level (deeper connection to nature). Building on these foundational practices, students learned about engaged mindful leadership, exploring how mindfulness practices can enable them to be more authentic, open, and engaged mindful leaders who lead with compassion, generosity, and cultural humility, promoting peace and harmony in their communities.

2025 cohort