Life Skills for Young Scientists (LiSYS)

A yearlong mentorship program, March 2023—March 2024

This page is for participants in the 2023 LiSYS program and anyone else who would like to follow what we are doing. An audio recording from a portion of each month’s meeting will be made publicly available, while Zoom meetings, video recordings, and retreats are for participants only. If you wish to be informed when registration for the 2024 program opens, kindly sign up for the mailing list at the bottom of this page.

Logistics

Class meetings will be on the first Wednesday of the month from 11 AM to 1 PM Eastern Time at this Zoom link for which you will need the password which was sent to you by email. Alternatively, you could use the direct link which was sent to you and which is also on the calendar event. Please note that it is required that you be logged into Zoom.

In addition, there will be quarterly weekend intensives at the above Zoom link at the following dates and times (all given in US Eastern Time):

  1. Sunday March 12th, 11 AM – 3 PM. Half-day meditation retreat with Stephen Snyder of Awakening Dharma.
  2. Sunday July 9th, 11 AM – 3 PM. Half-day meditation retreat with Ven. Dhammadinna of Bodhiheart Sangha
  3. Saturday October 28th, 11 AM – 3 PM. Half-day meditation retreat with Tina Rasmussen of Luminous Mind Sangha
  4. Saturday & Sunday January 13th & 14th, 11 AM – 3 PM. Two-day workshop with conflict specialist Dana Caspersen

Kindly make sure these times are blocked out on your calendar. For those who are in time zones such that they would not normally be awake during the retreat times, recordings will be available online within six hours of the retreat end, so please block out a suitable time slot as soon as is reasonably possible after that time to participate asynchronously.

Monthly Videos, Homework, and Podcasts

Videos and homework assignments for each month are posted here as they become available. The entire collection of videos can be found on Vimeo. To access these, you will need the password which was sent to you via email.

For those not participating in the program who are interested in the material, an excerpt from each month’s meeting is distributed as a public podcast. The full set can be accessed on Anchor or Spotify or via RSS.

  1. Introduction to Meditation, March 2023. Video Homework Podcast
  2. Half-Day Meditation Retreat with Stephen Snyder, March 2023. Video
  3. Meditation and Mindfulness, April 2023. Video Homework Podcast
  4. The Importance of Self-Kindness, May 2023. Video Homework Podcast
  5. Cultivating Self-Kindness, Neutralizing Self-Criticism, June 2023. Video Homework Podcast
  6. Internalizing Self-Kindness with Metta Meditation, July 2023. Video Homework Podcast
  7. Half-Day Meditation Retreat with Venerable Dhammadinna, July 2023. Video
  8. Connecting with Assertiveness, August 2023. Video Homework Podcast
  9. First Steps with Assertiveness, September 2023. Video Homework Podcast

Reading List

We will read all or parts of several books during the course. You will be informed at least a month ahead of the time you will actually need each book. While you are welcome to check these out of your local library, these are all excellent resources and it is suggested that you consider purchasing them in hardcopy.

  1. The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer
  2. The Long Road Turns to Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
  3. The Assertiveness Workbook by Randy Paterson
  4. The Set Boundaries Workbook by Nedra Glover Tawwab
  5. Changing the Conversation: The 17 Principles of Conflict Resolution by Dana Caspersen

Note that there are minor changes from the list in the LiSYS Booklet so please refer to the list given above.

About the Name

The acronym LiSYS is pronounced like the Greek word lysis, which in medicine has the meaning of the gradual decline of an illness—a fitting allusion. However, a former student, who speaks Greek, told me that lysis means something else in everyday use that is even more fitting: it means simply “solution”.