Nirmal Govindaraju led and conducted professional research on nanomaterials and wide bandgap semiconductors for 13 years in the US before moving to India in 2017 to work on science and math education for low-income children and adults.

Along the way, he has experienced, first-hand, the critical importance of social-emotional well-being for children to learn and thrive. He believes that humans are built to learn “naturally” when provided safe and supporting environments. Also, he has often found that tapping innate intelligence of individuals and communities leads to sustainable change and development. He also has a passion for science and math and is working on demonstrating that students, especially those often branded as “slow” or “poor” learners, are adept at constructing and applying science and math conceptual understanding when given structured and scaffolded learning environments with scope for exploration. 

He holds a PhD in materials science and engineering from North Carolina State University, USA.

Yuria Celidwen, PhD, is of Indigenous Nahua and Maya descent from the highlands of ‎Chiapas, ‎Mexico. Her research examines the experience of self-transcendence in Indigenous ‎contemplative traditions wide-reaching, and how its embodiment enhances prosocial behavior towards what she suggests is an “ethics of belonging” (ethics, compassion, kindness, reverence, and a sense of awe, ‎love, and sacredness).‎ This work is grounded in an Earth-based identity to ‎encourage relational well-being, purpose, and actions toward planetary flourishing. Her interdisciplinary ‎approach intersects Indigenous studies, cultural ‎psychology, and contemplative science to bridge Indigenous and Western methodologies for ‎epistemological equity. She ‎emphasizes the reclamation, revitalization, and transmission of Indigenous wisdom and the ‎advancement of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of Mother Earth. ‎ She is a senior fellow at the Other & Belonging Institute of the University of California, Berkeley, where she works toward bridging and belonging, reclaiming spaces for Indigenous wisdom into Western Academia and society. In her professional career at the United Nations her work supports the international humanitarian efforts for the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, with a concentration on the advancement of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of Nature. She co-chairs the Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit and is a member of the Contemplative Studies Unit steering committee of the American Academy of Religion.

Romuald Adili Amani is an independent researcher, based in Goma, in the eastern North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who has worked for many local and international organizations such as Pole Institute (Intercultural Institute in the Great Lakes region), International Alert, Concern Worldwide, and Vivo International. Adili has studied philosophy and public health, worked as a counselor for women and girl survivors of rape, and volunteers with helping a group of street children. Apart from his research and community work, Adili founded a tour and travel company called Ubuntu Voyages, which directly resulted from participating in Mind & Life events that supported the African philosophy of Ubuntu. The mission of Ubuntu Voyages is to offer opportunities for people from different cultures and backgrounds to meet and connect, to strengthen and spread the philosophy of Ubuntu through tourism; and to go beyond psychological and geographical barriers between people for common interest of happiness in living and working together for a sustainable development; and finally to promote African values, among them solidarity and hospitality. With living in a region that has experienced cycles of violence for decades, Adili has, for many years already, had to cultivate his own resilience and capacity for compassion through the use of mindfulness techniques, even though it isn’t readily available in the DRC. Currently he is working within his community to implement programs that foster mindfulness and contemplatives practices as inner resources to cope with trauma, and to promote a culture of peace in his community, country and the Great Lakes Region in general.  

Indie Folk band Høly River is founded by multi-instrumentalists Laney Sullivan and Jameson Price. Fusing together the pulse of drone pop, worldly instrumentation, this experimental music would best be described as a landscape, as a biome all its own. This musical phenomenon has come to be known as, Earth folk, a type of music inspired thematically by the natural environment: flora, fauna, soil, stars, and the human experience. From harmonium engulfed melodies to mouth-harp stomp grass, Høly River taps into an embodied and innate celebration of internal and external worlds, attempting to bring them closer together with each beat. On record or in-person, a listener is entranced in the soaring vocal ballads bathed in the moonlight of dance beats and folk-inspired roots. The music of Høly River carries the message of humanity’s need for reconnection with itself and the earth. Mystically political and wholeheartedly grassroots this DIY band finds themselves playing on large festival stages as well as backyard fire pits of intentional communities around the world.

Find out more about our work: www.holyrivermusic.com

Where to download our music: https://holyriver.bandcamp.com/album/courage

Community Garden we founded in Richmond, Virginia: https://www.instagram.com/fonticellofoodforest/?hl=en

Our home in Richmond, Virginia: https://www.instagram.com/earthfolkrva/?hl=en

Father Adam Bucko is one of the leading voices in the movement for the renewal of Christian Contemplative Spirituality. He co-authored Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation and The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living and co-founded the Reciprocity Foundation, where he spent 15 years working with homeless youth living on the streets of New York City. He currently serves as a director of The Center for Spiritual Imagination in New York.

Resources:

Center for Spiritual Imagination

Books:

Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation

The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living

Films:

Invisible: Diaries of New York Homeless Youth

The Power of Community: A Dialogue between Adam Bucko and Roshi Joan Halifax

Wen G. Chen serves as Branch Chief of NCCIH’s Basic and Mechanistic Research in the Division of Extramural Research at National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), NIH, overseeing fundamental science research, translational research, intervention optimization research as well as methodology and technology development related to all complementary and integrative health approaches.  Dr. Chen received her PhD in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology from Harvard University. She also earned a master’s degree in medical sciences as part of the Harvard-Markey Medical Scientist training program at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chen did her postdoctoral training in proteomics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prior to joining NCCIH, she worked as a scientific editor at NEURON, a program coordinator at the National Institute of Mental Health, and a program director at the National Institute on Aging, overseeing the research portfolio on sensory and motor disorders of aging.

Roman R. Williams, Ph.D. is a visual sociologist who studies religion and spirituality in everyday life. Roman directs the Interfaith Photovoice Initiative (interfaithphotovoice.org), is a research fellow at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute (Grand Valley State University) and serves as the executive officer of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. After a career in higher education, he started a consultancy in 2020 that focuses on participatory research and cultural innovation. More about Roman and his work is available on his personal website at roman-williams.com.

Veronica Selzler is a director at Hattaway Communications, a strategic communications firm that helps visionary leaders and organizations use strategy, science, and storytelling to achieve ambitious goals for people and the planet. She partners with foundations to get to know the values at the heart of their work, and uses qualitative and quantitative research to better understand the identities, motivations, and aspirations that inspire their audiences to take action. Before joining Hattaway, she managed communications and grants at Venture Philanthropy Partners and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

Dr. Molly Crockett is an Associate Professor at Princeton University’s Department of Psychology and University Center for Human Values. Crockett’s lab investigates moral cognition: how people decide whether to help or harm, punish or forgive, trust or condemn. Their research integrates theory and methods from psychology, neuroscience, economics, philosophy, and data science. Crockett’s recent work has explored moral outrage in the digital age and trust in leaders during a pandemic. Outside the lab, Crockett is a practitioner and teacher of Samatha meditation.