Welcome to the online resources for the Stanford Compassion Cultivation for Physicians course. If you have any trouble accessing the resources on this page, you can email course instructor Kelly McGonigal at kmcg@stanford.edu.
You can also contact Kelly with questions and observations throughout the course.
Find more information about compassion research, practice, and local events through the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.
I look forward to seeing you in class and exploring these practices and ideas together.
audio meditation practices
One of the main aims of this course is to help you establish a daily meditation practice.
Below are guided meditation practices that can be streamed or downloaded. (Please be patient -- it may take a few moment for the audio file to load.)
Each week includes a full 30-min practice that builds on past meditations, as well as a 10-min practice that focuses on that week's new theme.
We will learn and discuss each new meditation in class, so I encourage you to wait until after class to try that week's new practice.
As the class progresses, feel free to practice previous week's meditations. You may also prefer to meditate on your own, without listening to a recording, as the practices become familiar.
Supplemental Readings
From scientific studies to philosophical essays, we'll provide at least one thought-provoking article each week. These readings are entirely optional. Short readings may be shared in class meetings.
Week 1 Introduction to Compassion & Mindfulness
The Doctor's New Dilemma (essay by physician Suzanne Koven in the New England Journal of Medicine)
Week 2 Lovingkindness & Compassion
Empathy and Compassion (brief scientific paper from Current Biology by leading compassion neuroscientists )
Compassionate Silence in the Patient–Clinician Encounter: A Contemplative Approach (article from the Journal of Palliative Medicine)
Week 3 Self-Compassion
The Five Myths of Self-Compassion (article from the Greater Good Science Center by self-compassion researcher Kristin Neff)
Week 4 Self-Kindness & Self-Care
‘Why Are We Doing This?’: Clinician Helplessness in the Face of Suffering (article from the Journal of Palliative Medicine)
Week 5 Common Humanity & Empathy
Why Physicians Need 'Right' Compassion (essay by physician Gavin Francis in the New York Times)
Choosing Empathy (transcript of a talk by Stanford compassion researcher Jamil Zaki) You can also watch the 30-min talk here.
Week 6 Compassion When It Is Difficult
G.R.A.C.E. for Nurses: Cultivating Compassion in Nurse/Patient Interactions (article from the Journal of Nursing Education and Practice)
Week 7 Active Compassion
Suffering Opens the Real Path (a Buddhist perspective on transforming suffering into hope, love, and meaning)
Tonglen: A Practice of Great Mercy (how this week's meditation helps us do so)
Week 8 Integration Additional Resources
The Fearless Heart by Thupten Jinpa is a wonderful book that introduces the CCT curriculum and discusses some of the science and philosophical underpinnings of this course.
I recorded a five-session audio program for Sounds True called The Science of Compassion. Each session includes a talk on the science of empathy, altruism, and compassion, as well as a guided meditation/self-reflection. The program also includes five bonus compassion meditations that complement but do not overlap with CCT meditations. (You can also purchase the set on Amazon and Audible).