About CCCS

​CCCS provides comprehensive, holistic professional training in Buddhist-informed contemplative creative therapy and related specializations. We offer a range of public workshops, continuing education courses, and programs tailored for mental health professionals, healthcare providers, and contemplatives seeking to deepen their practice.

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Contemplative Creative Science is informed by both Buddhist and Western psychologies. It draws on the latest research in Buddhist psychology, contemplative science, and meditation-based interventions for the embodied mind. It is driven by a shared mission to address and transform global mental health and wellness challenges.

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Emma JM. Ates is the founder and director of CCCS and the Contemplative Creative Therapy (CCT) model, as well as several CCT specializations, including Contemplative Photo Collage (CPC), Contemplative Photo Therapy (CPT), and Contemplative Brushwork (CBW). Ates’s work integrates Buddhist psychology, Dharma art, and Miksang contemplative photography with art therapy, contemplative science, embodied creativity, and research on the perception of reality, cognitive processes, emotions, and behavior. This approach forms the foundation for transformational clinical work with clients.

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Mission

At CCCS, we aim to integrate the insights of contemplative Buddhism and Western science to promote knowledge, practices, and lifestyles that foster liberating patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior. These transformative patterns help individuals break free from the cycles of pain and suffering, guiding them toward empowering and healing paths.

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Through our workshops and courses, we aim to nourish the body, mind, and spirit by making accessible the timeless wisdom that has transformed lives for millennia in both Buddhist traditions and Western psychology. Our ultimate goal is to help cultivate ways of living that are in harmony with oneself, others, and the planet.

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Definition

Loizzo (2023), during the opening of the Embodied Philosophy's conference on "Embodied Brain - Yoga, Neuroplasticity, and the New Scientific Paradigm," said: I think something fascinating is happening in the convergence between science and spirituality or science and contemplative practice that's allowing us, finally, to approach the mind in a much more robust, and authentic way (p.1-13). [This is a] new multidisciplinary science of mind, the meeting between contemplative or experiential approaches to the mind and modern science.

 

Contemplative Creative Science (CCS) is a branch of Contemplative Science and Psychotherapy, according to the Nalanda Institute and Mind and Life Institute and Research. Contemplative creative science is a discipline of first-person, subjective internal and external inquiry (CCR 2021*) into the embodied mind and its multiple layers of reality experience and interdependence with other beings, life on this planet, and beyond.

 

CCS utilizes multimodal contemplative, creative, and bio-based methods and practices to cultivate attention, mindfulness, compassion, insight, and introspection. It observes cognitive functions, content, and projections directly and their impacts on functioning in relationship with self, other humans and beings, the planet, and the universe at large (Ates, 2022).

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*Center for Contemplative Research (2021), What is Contemplative Science? Retrieved from: https://centerforcontemplativeresearch.org/contemplative-science/what-is-contemplative-science/

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CCT Approach

The Contemplative Creative Therapy (CCT) model and its specializations offer innovative, embodied mind interventions that integrate Buddhist and Western psychologies, contemplative arts, art psychotherapy, and bio-psycho-spiritual approaches. CCT focuses on re-training the embodied mind, transforming a reactive system into one that is conscious and adaptable.

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The CCT approach expands the understanding of the embodied mind’s functions, content, and processes, cultivating a broader consciousness that empowers both clients and practitioners. This expanded awareness offers greater choice over one’s conditions and circumstances, ultimately supporting clinicians in their psychotherapy practice.

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The integration of Dharma teachings, Buddhist psychology, contemplative arts, and embodied creativity in CCT serves multiple purposes. The primary goal is to provide a set of embodied mind training techniques (psychosomatic practices) grounded in first-person inquiry, which fosters the development of insight, wisdom, and compassion.

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