Embedded and Enactive Cognition in Contemplative Learning

Using the framework of 4E cognition, this study focuses on how processes of learning to meditate are both embedded and enactive. Drawing on ethnographic data from participant observation and structured, in-depth interviews with hospital chaplains (n=20) in a Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) program, this study describes how participants' prior knowledge of devotional practices constituted important social and cultural context for learning. Likewise, this study documents how learners enactively adapted the postures, durations, and mental exercises of the CBCT protocol when incorporating it into their regular habits of practice. In learning this standardized contemplative intervention, chaplains were not passive recipients but instead actively and creatively tailored and even hybridized CBCT to meet their needs and pursue their goals. The embedded and enactive aspects of contemplative learning reveal valuable resources that shape how contemplative practices are adopted and adapted into practitioners’ lives.