Build your resilience and adaptability to navigate the ever-changing and often overwhelming world affairs.


This program provides practical tools to manage stress, prevent burnout, and renew your passion for life.


Learn to prioritize self-compassion while understanding the perspectives of others, and unlock your best human qualities through the transformative power of compassion.


Compassion Cultivation Training

Compassion Cultivation Training is an 8-week training course developed at Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) by principal author and Compassion Institute Co-Founder Thupten Jinpa Ph.D with contributions from CI’s Founding Faculty Margaret Cullen, Erika Rosenberg, Kelly McGonigal, Leah Weiss and Monica Hanson.

The evidence is compelling. While compassion is an inherent quality we all possess as human beings, research from neuroscience, contemplative science, and psychology show that it is an orientation and skill that can be cultivated and strengthened to increase the well-being of individuals, communities and society. 

What does Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) look like?

CCT is an 8-week course, including:

  • Weekly 2-hour class, with lectures, discussions, and interactive exercises

  • Meditation practices that progress from week to week

  • Real-world assignments for practicing compassionate thoughts and actions

What effects can you expect?

While everyone will have their own unique experience, research has shown CCT can lead to:

  • Support for your health, happiness, and well-­­being

  • Reduction of stress, depression, and anxiety

  • Improvements in relating to others and the world

Absence & Refund Policy

We understand that life happens and we want to work with you to make sure you’re able to get the most out of your class. Before registering, please consider the following:

  • Absences: For 8 week CCT, we recommend you attend at least 7 of the 8 sessions. If you need to miss more than 2 sessions during the 8 weeks we recommend that you wait to take it at a time when you can attend at least 6 sessions. This will allow you to obtain as much information as possible and get the most out of the course. 

  • Refunds: Unfortunately, we are unable to issue refunds or transfers for CCT classes.

Next 8-week CCT journey starting on october 2024

DATE: Thursdays, October 17 – December 5, 2024

10:30-12:30 am EST / 7:30 - 9:30 am PT

Click here to convert the time

Language of Instruction: English

Format: Live Online

““If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.””
— Dalai Lama

  • Basic skills are introduced to stabilize the mind and focus attention through the practice of mindfulness on the breath. This step is considered the foundation for other practices and is included in the subsequent steps.

  • We learn to recognize experiences of love and compassion when they occur naturally. Meditation and relational exercises in this step help to identify the physiological, emotional, and mental signs of feelings of warmth, tenderness, care, and compassion.

  • We learn to develop qualities such as self-acceptance, non-judgment, kindness, and care in relation to oneself. Connecting with one’s own feelings and needs, and relating to them with empathy and compassion, forms the foundation for developing a compassionate attitude toward others.

  • We learn to develop qualities such as warmth, appreciation, joy, and gratitude in relation to oneself. While the previous step focuses on self-acceptance, this step is centered on self-appreciation.

  • Embrace the perspective of shared humanity, developing appreciation and gratitude for others. We lay the foundation for compassion toward others by recognizing our shared humanity, appreciating others' kindness, and understanding how deeply interconnected we all are.

  • Building on the previous step, participants begin to cultivate compassion for all beings by gradually expanding their circle of compassion, starting from a loved one, then including a neutral person, a difficult person, and finally, all beings.

  • This step includes explicitly evoking the desire to do something about the suffering of others. In formal meditation practice, this intention is cultivated through visualization, where the practitioner imagines taking on the suffering of others and offering them all that is beneficial within themselves. This practice is known as "Tonglen" or "giving and receiving" in Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

  • The essential aspects of each of the previous steps are combined into an integrated compassion meditation practice that can be practiced daily by those who choose to adopt it as their regular practice.