Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is a health psychologist teaching at Stanford University and specializing in the mind-body connection. Her work focuses on how we can translate neuroscience and modern psychology research into practical strategies for better health, happiness, personal success, and relationships. She is the author of The Upside of Stress, The Willpower Instinct. Her Ted Talk How to make stress your friend has reached nearly 20 million people.
James Baraz has been a meditation teacher since 1978. He created the popular online Awakening Joy course, which he has taught to thousands of participants since 2003. He is the coauthor of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness, the book based on the course, as well as coauthor of Awakening Joy for Kids. James is a cofounder and teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, and a guiding teacher for One Earth Sangha, a website devoted to expressing a Buddhist response to climate change. He has contributed blog posts to the Huffington Post and his course, Awakening Joy, has been covered on Oprah.com
Lori Schwanbeck, co-founded Mindfulness Therapy Associates, a San Francisco based coaching and psychotherapy practice. Lori began her career in consumer product marketing and grew from designing marketing campaigns into focusing on human flourishing. She is a senior teacher and program designer at the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (previously run by Google) and facilitates mindfulness and emotional intelligence trainings internationally in corporate, healthcare, education, and government settings. In addition, Lori facilitates programs for other organizations including: Wisdom Labs, Purpose Blue, and Mindfulness Rx.
Mark Coleman is a senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, and has taught insight meditation retreats since 1997 worldwide. Mark is passionate about nature and integrating meditation and natural world and leads wilderness retreats internationally through Awake in the Wild retreats. He is founder of the Mindfulness Institute and has brought mindfulness trainings, consulting and coaching to companies, healthcare and nonprofit organizations across North America.
A leader in the online meditation field, Mark has meditations with the NY Times Virtual Reality app, Whil.com online meditation platform and Grokker.com.
He is author of Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery and Make Peace With Your Mind - How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You From The Inner Critic.
He lives in Sausalito, California and likes nothing more than hiking biking and kayaking in the outdoors.
A leader in the online meditation field, Mark has meditations with the NY Times Virtual Reality app, Whil.com online meditation platform and Grokker.com.
He is author of Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery and Make Peace With Your Mind - How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You From The Inner Critic.
He lives in Sausalito, California and likes nothing more than hiking biking and kayaking in the outdoors.
Dr. Craig Hassed (MBBS, FRACGP) is a General Practitioner and senior lecturer at the Monash University Department of General Practice. His teaching, research and clinical interests involve mindfulness-based stress management, mind-body medicine, meditation, holistic healthcare, health promotion, complementary therapies and medical ethics. Craig has written and run courses on mindfulness-based therapies through Monash University, the RACGPs and other professionals groups since 1991. Monash is also the first university to introduce mindfulness training into the core medical undergraduate curriculum. He is regularly invited to speak in Australia and overseas on these issues, and has authored multiple books related to mindfulness and mind-body medicine.
Mirabai Bush co-founded the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. She is the author of Contemplative Practices in Higher Education and has written two books with Ram Dass: Compassion in Action and Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying. She was co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and served as Executive Director, founding board member of the Seva Foundation. For over 20 years, she has organized, facilitated and taught in retreats, workshops and courses on mindfulness and action. She has studied with many esteemed teachers including Neemkaroli Baba, Shri S.N. Goenka, Anagarika Munindra Pir Vilayat Khan and Tibetan Buddhist lamas Kalu Rinpoche, Gelek Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche and others.
Christina Feldman is an internationally recognised meditation teacher that began teaching in the west in 1975 after spending some years in Asia. She is a co-founder of Gaia House and has served as a guiding teacher of IMS since its early days. She is a co-founder of Bodhi-College, which is dedicated to the study and practice of the early teachings of the Buddha. She teaches Buddhist psychology in several university settings in Europe and has been involved in the evolving exploration of mindfulness in contemporary settings. She has written numerous books including Boundless Heart: The Buddha’s Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity and Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology. She lives in England and is a mother and a grandmother.
Christine Carter, Ph.D., is the author of The Sweet Spot: How to Achieve More by Doing Less and Raising Happiness. She is a sociologist and Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Centre, where she draws on scientific research to help people lead their most courageous, joyful, meaningful, and authentic lives. Dr. Carter has appeared widely in the media including on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Dr. Oz Show, the TODAY show, and been quoted in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Post.
Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. is a psychologist, co-founder of The Center for Mindful Living in West Los Angeles and creator of the 6-month program A Course in Mindful Living. He is author of Uncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Compassion, The Now Effect: How this Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life, Mindfulness Meditations for the Anxious Traveler and co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook. He has also designed the bestselling program Basics in Mindfulness Meditation: A 28 Day Program.
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D is an internationally acclaimed author, award-winning educator and a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is also co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational center devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy in individuals, families, institutions and communities. He is the author of many books including Aware, The Yes Brain, Mindsight and many more.