Editor’s Note: Carmel Shalev and Ayda Duroux were the co-facilitators of the new MBEL online course, which was offered from September to November this year.
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The Mindfulness-Based Ethical Living (MBEL) online pilot course emerged from a shared aspiration: to explore how mindfulness and dharma practice can support ethical engagement in everyday life. The curriculum is grounded in the wisdom of the dharma — impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and our interdependence within the interwoven fabric of life.
Rather than offering mindfulness as a technique for coping with stress or depression, MBEL invites a broader understanding of mindfulness as a way of relating to our self, others, and the world. It offers an ethic of kind and responsible care that brings awareness to the self in-context and in-relationship. The MBEL course brings a new perspective on the practice of mindfulness for those with experience in the dharma, but it is designed for mindfulness practitioners who are relatively new to the practice.
The course draws inspiration from Stephen Batchelor's ELSA model which reformulates the four noble truths as four tasks[i] on our path in the world - Embracing life; Letting go of reactivity; Seeing its passing; and Acting mindfully. The curriculum integrates four correlated dimensions of mindfulness practice — existential, therapeutic, contemplative, and relational.
MBEL encourages participants to recognize reactive habits of mind that are harmful, allow them to unfold without suppression or avoidance, and respond to the situation at hand with clarity, care, and awareness. This supports the cultivation of what we call response-ability when we bring mindfulness off the cushion and into our actions and relations in the daily life.The ten-week program of the MBEL course unfolds gradually. After an introduction, two sessions explore each of the first three tasks. These are followed by three sessions devoted to the fourth task of acting with wise care — ethical action, the middle way, and meaningful social engagement.
Each session opens with a brief breathing space for arriving and concludes with a pause of gratitude and appreciation. Over the weeks guided meditations progress from mindfulness of the breath to awareness of the body, feeling tone, equanimity, and finally a practice of mettā (boundless friendliness).
Besides mindfulness practice, the meetings include talks, listening circles and dialogue. Recommended home practice is to bear in mind questions and lessons from the session, and apply them in daily life. In the pilot course we also shared guided meditations to support home practice in between the sessions.
How the Course Was Developed
The MBEL online course is the product of three years of collaborative work. The development team formed after studying online with Stephen Batchelor during the Covid pandemic, and continued meeting beyond that shared learning experience. As the curriculum took shape, the team worked in subgroups, each focusing on one task of ethical mindfulness. Together we compiled a text of background readings for each of the sessions.
Participant Experience and Feedback
Sixteen participants joined the pilot. Two discontinued during the course. At its end nine participants gave feedback through an anonymous online questionnaire. The overall response was strongly positive. The course objectives, readings and talks were clear and the flow of the sessions easy to follow, participants felt safe, and home practices were helpful.
In freehand comments participants shared that the course was meaningful in the way it integrated the wisdom of the dharma, meditation, ethical reflection, and application in the day-to-day. They described gaining a deeper understanding of the dharma and mindfulness in the day-to-day:
“A deeper appreciation of the four noble truths as tasks — lived through modes of mindfulness.”
“The focus on how mindfulness relates to ethical engagement was deeply meaningful.”
“True freedom begins in the pause before reaction.”
“Having the theme present for ten weeks — through sessions, reflection, readings and community — was transformative.”
They appreciated the diversity and experience of their fellow participants. One wrote that "the group of kind, authentic people" was the most meaningful aspect of the course. There was a sense that a community had formed, and all those who responded wanted to continue meeting in a community forum.
Suggestions for Development
Participants also offered thoughtful reflections on how the course might evolve. Themes included:
- more time in small-group dialogue
- additional real-world examples of mindful ethical action
- exercises to deal with strong emotions related to social activism
- simpler website navigation
One participant noted: “I would have appreciated more concrete examples of ethical mindfulness in action, and more time in smaller breakout groups.” Another felt likewise that the course was too theoretical.
On the other hand, one of the participants commended the not-knowing and open-minded questioning that was the spirit of the course, and requested more philosophical openness in the background readings: “The reading material on the website appeared rather dogmatic… they should acknowledge more the complexity of ethics.”
These reflections will help refine future MBEL development.
Lessons Participants Are Taking Forward
We asked participants about the main lessons they took from the course. These are some of the replies:
“Ethical living starts in the very small aspects in daily life.”
“Ethical behaviour is dependent on [being] aware of one's deeper beliefs and motivations, and mindfulness practice supports this awareness bringing more skillful choices.”
“Not knowing, bearing witness, awareness and being able to decide, there's where true freedom begins.”
"To be grounded in embodied awareness … being situationally sensitive, and the ethics of uncertainty."
"To disidentify with emerging thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations, while holding them with friendliness, and to then respond in light of my ethical values."
“The capacity to pause before reacting is the doorway to ethical possibility.”
"My perspective shifts more and more away from self-centeredness to the feelings and needs of others."
In conclusion, one participant wrote: "It seems to me you are offering something original and of great value."
Looking Ahead: Ethical Mindfulness Platform
The pilot course marks the beginning of a larger secular Buddhism initiative: building an online home for ethical mindfulness, where future MBEL courses, community gatherings, and resources will be offered. The intention is for this platform to serve all those drawn to mindful social engagement:
- mindfulness facilitators and teachers
- dharma practitioners
- activists and caregivers
The platform will facilitate a community of friends who come together in a venue where inquiry, contemplation and action meet — and where mindfulness becomes a lived, relational, ethical practice.
If you are interested about learning more about the MBEL course and being notified when new courses will open, click here.
With Gratitude
We offer our sincere gratitude to the many friends who contributed to designing and developing the MBEL curriculum. And we thank all the pilot course participants for their presence, curiosity and authenticity.
The pilot course confirmed a growing wish to explore how mindfulness can support ethical living, relational awareness, and wise and compassionate engagement in our daily lives. We look forward to continuing this journey — together.
[i] Stephen Batchelor, After Buddhism (2015), chapter 3
