Jared Featherstone is the director of the Writing Center and an Associate Professor in the School of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication at James Madison University. He is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher for emerging adults through the Center for Koru Mindfulness. Studying with a variety of renowned teachers, Featherstone has over 20 years of experience practicing mindfulness meditation, Tai Chi Chuan, and Qigong.
Featherstone’s 2018 book chapter, The Mindful Tutor, details the integration of mindfulness meditation into tutor education at the James Madison University Writing Center from 2012-2017. His chapter, “Mindfulness Meditation and Service Learning: Complementary Ways of Knowing,” appeared in the 2013 book, Re-envisioning Higher Education: Embodied Paths to Wisdom and Social Transformation.
For eight years, Featherstone was a mindfulness meditation teacher for the Madison Meditates program at JMU and a founding member of the university’s Initiative for Contemplative Study and Practice. Additionally, he has been a facilitator for JMU’s residential Writing and Renewal Retreats since the program’s inception, offering meditation instruction and writing consultations to faculty. Beyond the academy, he facilitates meditation workshops and classes for organizations and individuals. His guided meditations can be found on Insight Timer and Soundcloud.
