Oliver W. Hill, Jr., Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at Virginia State University. Dr. Hill is an experimental psychologist specializing in studying cognition. He received his undergraduate training at Howard University in Washington, DC, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Hill has been working in the area of barriers for minority students to careers in the STEM disciplines for over twenty years, and has been the PI or Co-PI on numerous research projects in this area, and has received over six million dollars in funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Institutes of Health. His current research looks at the efficacy of cognitive training to improve working memory functioning and reduce cardiovascular reactivity to stress in African American college students. Hill is also studying ways to improve mathematics performance in elementary and secondary school students. He is particularly interested in fostering the concept of quality education as a civil right for all students.

Hill is a former Fellow and current board member of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, and he has developed several courses infusing contemplative pedagogy into the psychology curriculum at VSU. Hill has been practicing meditation since 1970, and teaching meditation since 1972.

Zvi Ish-Shalom, Ph.D., is an associate professor of wisdom traditions at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and is the guiding teacher and founder of the Kedumah Institute. An ordained rabbi from a long lineage of Hasidic scholars, Zvi also holds a B.A. in classics from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Jewish mysticism from Brandeis University. His new book, The Kedumah Experience: The Primordial Torah, presents Jewish mystical teachings as a contemporary and universal path of contemplative practice.

A leading scholar-practitioner of Daoism (Taoism) with over twenty-five years of experience with holistic and integrated Daoist training, Louis Komjathy is an ordained Daoist priest of the Huashan 華山 (Mount Hua) lineage (26^th generation) of Quanzhen 全真 (Complete Perfection) Daoism as well as founding Co-director and senior teacher of the Daoist Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering authentic Daoist study and practice and to preserving and transmitting traditional Daoist culture. He earned his Ph.D. in Religious Studies (Boston University; 2005) with an emphasis on Daoism and the academic study of religion. He currently works as Associate Professor of Chinese Religions and Comparative Religious Studies at the University of San Diego. He has particular interests in contemplative practice, embodiment, and mystical experience. He received ordination in the Huashan lineage in 2006, after which he lived as a visiting Daoist monk in the monasteries of Laoshan and Huashan. As a Daoist priest, he endeavors to help individuals develop a root in self-cultivation and a personal connection with the Dao and to facilitate a tradition-based Daoist sense of community. His recent books include The Daoist Tradition: An Introduction (2013), the edited volume Contemplative Literature: A Comparative Sourcebook on Meditation and Contemplative Prayer (2015), Taming the Wild Horse: An Annotated Translation and Study of the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures (2017), and Introducing Contemplative Studies (2017). His life and work has been featured in Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality (2017).

Richard Freeman began studying yoga in 1968. After nine years in Asia studying yoga asana, Sufism, Sanskrit language, and Indian philosophy he began to work with B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois and numerous Buddhist teachers to draw insights into the interfacing of Buddhism and yoga as a reflection of life. Richard’s metaphorical, humorous, teaching style appeals to students of many backgrounds and nationalities.

Mary Taylor began studying yoga in 1971 while earning a degree in psychology. It was not until the early 1980s, when she moved to Boulder, Colorado and started studying yoga with Richard Freeman, that yoga became a central thread in her life. Before that, yoga had provided a means of relieving stress, and honing a sense of focus and well-being. In 1988, she traveled to India to study with K. Pattabhi Jois, and began to see the overlay of yoga with her interests in food, cooking, movement, anatomy, and art.

Taylor has authored three cookbooks, along with What Are You Hungry For? Women, Food and Spirituality, a book that explores yoga, meditation, and finding one’s personal dharma as a means of finding lasting meaning and happiness. As the Yoga Workshop’s director, she has attended all of Richard Freeman’s teacher trainings. She brings to her teaching a deep respect for the healing and calming effects of yoga. Her classes are engaging and fun, focusing on the flow of breath, steady movement, and the feeling of completeness that can be cultivated through a lasting practice.

Darnell Lamont Walker, Ph.D., is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, currently traveling and living around the globe collecting stories to share. He is a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, and a graduate of Bethune-Cookman University and Howard University, where he completed his degree in Communication and Culture. He’s found the intersection where his education and art meet. His first film, “Seeking Asylum,” explores safe spaces around the world for black Americans seeking to escape American injustice. Next, Darnell created “Outside The House,” exploring mental health in the black community. It is his goal to continue to develop and empower people and communities around the world.

Dr. Parks’ research focuses on self-help methods for increasing well-being via books and digital technology. She is Chief Scientist for tech startup Happify, which brings the cutting edge in research-based well-being interventions to large businesses and consumers. Her research spans across the whole spectrum of wellness, from non-distressed consumers to stressed employees, sufferers of chronic health conditions, and individuals with depression and/or anxiety. She works to pioneer new methodology in the study of internet interventions, especially when it comes to outcomes assessment. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and in addition to editing three books, she is also an Associate Editor at the Journal of Positive Psychology.