ESRI Young Researchers Fund

This summer MLE is launching a crowdfunding campaign with a special focus on young researchers wishing to attend ESRI 2022. To support the next generation of young researchers and scholars at ESRI, we need your help. This year, we’re trying to raise €15,000 to help young researchers attend ESRI and we’d appreciate any support you are able to offer. Your donation will go towards funding 50 of these young researchers who otherwise would not be able to attend ESRI. You can learn more about our campaign by clicking the link below or watch the video here on the MLE YouTube channel.

>> Support our young researchers and donate now!

Partnership Event with Tergar Meditation Community

On August 11th, we'll be jointly hosting a hybrid event in Nuremberg, Germany. The event consists of a panel discussion entitled 'The Natural Qualities of the Mind' with Mingyur Rinpoche, Dr. Marieke van Vugt, and Dr. Antione Lutz, moderated by HolgerYeshe. There will also be an exclusive film screening for in-person attendees.

Click here to find out more

Click here to find out more

Les Colloques de Cerisy 2022

From August 13- 19th we will be partnering with Les Colloques de Cerisy for their annual summer program on Francisco Varela.

This year's program is entitled: "Francisco Varela: A Current Thought: Autopoeisis, Enaction, and Phenomenology"

Register here to attend

Learn more here

Varela International Symposium 2022

We're pleased to be able to share the complete recordings from the Varela International Symposium, which took place from May 28th - 29th, on the MLE YouTube channel.

This program was produced in collaboration with Upaya Institute and Zen Center (US), Nirakara (Spain) and L'Association pour le Développement de la Mindfulness (France).

We would like to extend our gratitude to the wonderful faculty, facilitators and audience who made this event possible.

Find out more about the program here.

Watch now

Mind and Life Europe acts as catalyst for human flourishing

Understanding the mind and cultivating the heart

Every day, we support vital work that transforms our scientific understanding of the human mind and its capacity to develop positive mental states. We believe that when contemplative wisdom and practices are fully integrated into modern day science it has the power to act as a catalyst for human and societal flourishing. This is the promise of what we call contemplative science.

The main message, to me, is the importance for human beings to learn how to become experts on their own mind. -- Francisco J. Varela

Together with the world's leading scientists, contemplative scholars, and healthcare, educational and management practitioners, we create an open and interdisciplinary dialogue between modern sciences and contemplative practices and share our findings with the world.

MLE Programs

MLE Friends Community

MLE Friends is a community for people who seek to foster human flourishing in connection with the science and wisdom traditions.

As an MLE Friend, your benefits include exclusive interactive webinars and an exclusive webcast series on a range of intriguing topics in the form of short videos.

Learn more here!

Become an MLE Friend!

Varela 20/30

In 2021 MLE paid tribute to two anniversaries: the 20th of Francisco's passing in 2001 and the 30th of the publication of The Embodied Mind.

Our program series was titled: Embodiment and Enaction - Varela & Friends 20/30.

In this series we intitated several public programs: 'Francisco & Friends' webinars, 'Ouroboros' Seminars and more!

Find out more!

Standing at the Edge

In 2022, the metaphor of “Standing at the Edge” has emerged as a possible framework for the questions that will be explored, enacted, and unpacked through the year’s programs and events. This year, we have been exploring this concept through our pre-exisitng programs such as 'MLE Friends' webinars, the MLE Retreat and 'Mind Matters' webinars.

Learn more about the concept here.

See all events in this series

Previous Events

ESRI 2021 (online)

In August 2021, we held the second online European Summer Research Institute (ESRI).

This year's program was themed: "Care for life: Enacting knowedlge in an interdependent and uncertain world." ESRI 2021 is the second part of a 3-year thematic arc dedicated to the theme of "Knowledge".

Learn more!

Webinar with The Dalai Lama (June 9 2021)

On June 9, MLE hosted a wonderful webinar with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama titled: "Dialogue for a Better World - Remembering Francsico Varela".

The special friendship between The Dalai Lama and Francisco Varela led to the creation of Mind & Life and its groundbreaking work in the field of contemplative science.