Arts and Mindfulness Education for Human Flourishing

This edited volume explores the role of arts and meditation within educational settings, and looks in particular at the preventive and developmental function of the arts in educational contexts through different theoretical perspectives. Encompassing research from an array of disciplines including theatre, psychology, neuroscience, music, psychiatry, and mindfulness, the book draws insights relevant to a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary fields. Chapters are divided into thematic sections, each outlining praxes and emphasising how educating within and through the arts can provide tools for critical thinking, creativity and a sense of agency, consequently fulfilling the need of well-being and contributing towards human flourishing. Ultimately, the book focuses on the role the arts have played in our understanding of physical and mental health, and demonstrates the new-found significance of the discipline in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With its interdisciplinary and timely nature, this book will be essential reading for scholars, academics, and post-graduate researchers in the field of arts education, creative therapies, neuroscience, psychology, and mindfulness.

Tatiana Chemi is Associate Professor of Educational Innovation, Department of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University, Denmark and Visiting Associate Professor, University of Chester, UK. Elvira Brattico is Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark. Lone Overby Fjorback is Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Danish Center for Mindfulness, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark. László Harmat is Associate Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Department of Psychology, Linneaus University, Växjö Sweden.

Part 1: THE CREATIVE MIND 1. A dual model of mindfulness and flow, shared neural substrates - with a specific focus on individual sports performance 2. Flow synchronization and shared emotions, towards understanding collective flow experience 3. Creativity and health: artistic experiences as wellbeing Part 2: THE SENSORIAL MIND 4. Music, mindfulness and meditation - A neuroscientific account 5. Music for Hedonia and Eudaimonia During Pandemic Social Isolation 6. The impact of orchestral playing on children's lives 7. Health Care, Incarceration, and Arts-Based Practices Part 3: THE EMBODIED MIND 8. Visiting Death and Learning to Live Through Theatre in Military Education 9. (Re)Centering the Body: Bodyography, Autonomy as Pedagogy, and Human Flourishing 11. Exploring the use of a visual model: Are we dancing together? Part 4: THE COLLECTIVE MIND 12 Literature for human growth through our own lense 13. The Neuroscience of Ethics - Does Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness Training Make you a Better Person? 14. Human Rights and Ethics as a Spiritual Practice 15. Arts as aesthetic education: understanding the challenges related to citizenship