Dr. Richard Davidson

William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder & Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Founder and Chief Visionary for Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc.

Davidson received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Psychology in 1976. Davidson’s research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices. He has published over 440 articles, numerous chapters and reviews and edited 14 books. He is the author (with Sharon Begley) of “The Emotional Life of Your Brain” published in 2012 and co-author with Daniel Goleman of “Altered Traits” published in 2017. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017 and appointed to the Governing Board of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) in 2018. In 2014, Davidson founded the non-profit, Healthy Minds Innovations, which translates science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being.

Ven. Geshe Dorji Damdul

𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗿𝗷𝗶 𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗱𝘂𝗹’s passion is to help people gain a deep understanding of the Nalanda tradition of Buddhist philosophy and imbue that knowledge with the heart of Bodhichitta, so that practitioners can transform their own continuum into the path of enlightenment. Geshe la’s knowledge of science and interactions with world renowned physicist give him the unique ability to teach Buddhist philosophy with a modern twist which is highly appreciated by contemporary audiences.

Since 2011, Geshe La has served as Director of Tibet House, Cultural Centre, New Delhi. He has also lectured at Delhi University,presented several papers for National and International Conferences and has been translator to H.H. the Dalai Lama since 2005. Geshi La has co-authored & edited scientific, philosophical, Buddhist and secular books with prominent international professors, as well as with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

For more information please visit Geshe la’s website - http://bodhiwisdom.org

Mingyur Rinpoche

In his approach to teaching meditation, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche integrates traditional Buddhist practice and philosophy with the current scientific understanding of the mind and mental health – making the practice of mediation relevant and accessible to students around the world.

Born in Nepal in 1975, Mingyur Rinpoche began to study meditation as a young boy with his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, himself a well-respected Buddhist teacher. He spent many years of his childhood in strict retreat and completed the traditional Buddhist training in philosophy and psychology. In addition to extensive training in the meditative and philosophical traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Mingyur Rinpoche has also had a lifelong interest in Western science and psychology, which has led to many fruitful collaborations with neuroscientists and psychologists. Mingyur Rinpoche is the author of the best-selling book The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness, as well as Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom, Turning Confusion into Clarity: A Guide to the Foundation Practices of Tibetan Buddhism, and In Love with the World: A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying.

Sandy Dias Andrade

Sandy is the Founder-Director at Just Being and is a Mindfulness & Presence Oriented Psychotherapist. With over nineteen years of experience in the field, she is internationally certified in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) from the Center of Mindfulness, University of San Diego, California, USA. She has trained extensively in Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP), Cognitive Therapy, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST), Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing, Trauma Resolution work through Somatic approaches and EMDR. Her work is also informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS) and attachment work.

She established a helpline service for the Pune based NGO- Connecting, which is involved in mental health awareness and suicide prevention. She is invited as visiting faculty on many other courses where she teaches the applications of mindfulness. She has vast experience in designing and executing training for mental health professionals, educationists and others.

Leena Godiwala

Leena Godiwala Deubet, mother of two adult daughters, is passionate about the Emotional Health of Children, and despite being a trained and practicing Play Therapist for Children with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties, prefers to spend a large part of each day in service of Parents- helping them be more present to themselves, more attuned, responsive and sensitive to their children’s feelings and needs, so that children feel emotionally healthy, happy and self-reliant. She has been facilitating Parent Workshops based on the books: How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, Liberated Parents, Liberated Children and Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish for over a decade, and her training as an Expressive Arts and Dance Movement Therapy Practitioner helps her offer Personal Therapy for Individual Parents and Couples and Group Workshops for Parents using the Expressive Arts (music, art, drama, movement) to explore and sometimes work through to resolution- anger, anxiety, trauma so that Parents and Children can live together harmoniously, happily and collaboratively.

Before Leena found her calling in the Emotional Well-Being Of Children and Parents, she has in the past founded and managed a business organisation- a mail-order-house marketing gifts for 16 years, as well as founded and managed a not-for-profit for 6 years, that freed children from malnutrition, eventually handing it over, as it grew, to be run in a more professional manner.

Pooja Bhale

Pooja R Bhale (PRB) is a Conservation Biologist with an MSc Conservation from UCL, London and a BSc (Hons) Animal Biology & Conservation, UEL, London. She has previously worked with reputed wildlife organisations such as WPSI, Sanctuary-Asia, Elephant Family, Shamwari Game Reserve and Indian Herpetological Society. Her ancillary certifications include Leadership for Young Adults, Reiki, Telepathic Animal Communication and NLP amongst others.

Currently she heads Protecterra Ecological Foundation (PEF), a non-profit dedicatedly working in ecological awareness, education and outreach. The Farm is PEF’s flagship project, an effort to reconnect people to the planet through love, awareness and learning. PRB lives at The Farm in a tent with her animals, nearly 40 of them. Spiritual ecology is the niche space in which The Farm, PRB and PEF operate. On her own time, PRB is a sportswoman and currently plays rugby on the Maharashtra team. She has also extensively travelled and worked in protected areas in South Africa, England and across India. Pooja is a light worker with a star seed past and is deeply involved in the spiritual realms of shamanism, bhakti and meditation.

Mandar Karanjkar

Mandar is a trained Hindustani vocalist, a self taught flutist and co-founder of Baithak Foundation, a not for profit organisation started to promote Indian Classical Music. Mandar is a practitioner of Naad Yoga and has taught Naad Yoga at various prestigious organisations like Sri. Aurobindo Society, Samskritam Auroville, Pune International Yoga Mahotsav etc.

Mandar is also a published author of three books including his second book - The Kabir Way: Actionable Insights for Organizations and Individuals which applies wisdom of Saint Kabir to business management. Mandar is also a director of Akshar Maifal, a fast growing Marathi Publishing House and works in the field of strategic communication solutions.

Dakshayini Athalye

Dakshayani is a kirtankar, an avid reader and a connoisseur of Indian Classical Music. She is the author of two books; her recent one being ‘Freddy’ a beautiful illustrated book about Pt. Firoz Dastur. With her academic understanding of Law, she continues to discover the essence of ‘Education’ even after pursuing Masters in Education from TISS, Mumbai. She is currently the CEO of Baithak Foundation, looking after an array of initiatives and programs.

Manoj Pavitran

Manoj Pavithran is an integral yoga practitioner coach living in Auroville since 1995. He has been following Sri Aurobindo’s integral yoga psychology and its transformational practices since 1989. He is passionate about individual and collective evolution and in Auroville he works in many areas like education, filmmaking and software development.

He has co-founded Purnam Centre for Integrality in Auroville to offer educational programmes based on the Auroville experience. He sees Auroville as an international university campus where life-long learning and research are seamlessly woven into daily work, relationships and social development in harmony with Nature.

His educational programmes can be found at https://aci.auroville.org and the films are available at www.sopanam.org.

Michelle Periera

Michelle Faye Pereira is a Counselling Psychologist inspired by the Indian proverb “A human being is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but, unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.” The psychotherapy and teachings are based on working with each of the rooms with the intention of healing and wholeness. She uses an integrative approach influenced by awareness-based techniques, Integral Somatic Psychology and Presence. Besides psychotherapy, she also teaches meditation. She runs two companies, ‘The Little Sanctuary’ which is her private practice that offers individual and couples therapy as well as meditation retreats and courses. ‘Simply Breathe’ her second company organizes nature holidays with the theme of compassionate living, meditation and scuba diving. The topic of love has been very close to her heart from a young age, in the quest for what it is to be pure love.

Sharing our Reflections

Shruthi Veena Vishwanath

Shruthi Veena Vishwanath is a singer, songcatcher, composer, curator and educator whose practice celebrates mystic music traditions from South Asia and beyond. Her work strives to bring lesser-known voices, especially of women poets to the fore, celebrating the multiplicity of language, form and thought of the region. Rooted in a folk-classical idiom, Shruthi has sung at festivals and venues across the world, spoken and taught at leading universities, and is currently leading an inclusive, online community for song and song-learning called Music in the Machan. www.shruthivishwanath.com

Judith Blackstone, PhD

Judith Blackstone, PhD, developed the Realization Process, a method of embodied psychological and relational healing and nondual spiritual awakening. She teaches throughout the United States and online, in workshops and teacher certification trainings. She was in private practice as a psychotherapist for thirty-five years. Before that, she was a professional dancer. She is a long-time student of both Buddhist and Hindu wisdom traditions. She is the author of Trauma and the Unbound Body: the Healing Power of Fundamental Consciousness; Belonging Here; The Enlightenment Process; The Intimate Life; The Subtle Self; and The Empathic Ground. An audio series of the Realization Process practices is available from Sounds True.

www.realizationprocess.org

Lisa Clark

Lisa Clark, is a Senior Teacher of Body-Mind Centering®, an Infant Developmental Movement Educator, and Registered International Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist, with over 40 years of teaching experience.

Lisa is Program Director for the School For Body-Mind Centering® Yoga Immersion Series, and Educational Director for the Body-Mind Centering® Somatic Movement Educator Program in Taiwan. As well, she has been faculty for the SME Program in Brazil, Uruguay, and USA. Her Workshops have been presented in China, Taiwan, India, South America, Europe and the USA.

You can read more about Lisa Clark at www.lisaclarkyoga.com

Sandy Dias Andrade

Anupama Thakare

Satyen Khashu

Trishna Panchal

Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo

Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a specialist in Buddhist studies, has taught at University of SanDiego since 2000. She offers classes in Buddhist Thought and Culture, World Religions, Comparative Religious Ethics, Religious and Political Identities in the Global Community, and Negotiating Religious Diversity in India. Her research interests include women in Buddhism, death and dying, Buddhist feminist ethics, Buddhism and bioethics, religion and politics, Buddhist social ethics, and Buddhist transnationalism.

She integrates scholarship and social activism through the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and Jamyang Foundation, an innovative education project for women in developing countries, with 15 schools in the Indian Himalayas, Bangladesh, and Laos.

Zia Nath

Zia is a paramedical therapist specializing in Craniosacral Therapy (BCST RCST), Somatic Intelligence™, Trauma Support, Mother-Infant Birth Trauma & Mindful Nutrition. She founded her clinic Quanta Health Care Solutions in 2001 and has been supporting individuals & families with a healthcare system that is natural, holistic and non-invasive.

As a dancer Zia has been in the study and performance of Sacred Dances for more than two decades. Zia has always been intrigued by the body as a form of art and an instrument of healing and this led her to develop Realms of Dance™ & Whirling Mandala™ presenting Sacred Dances of ancient esoteric cultures as a therapeutic model and for deeper explorations of our consciousness.

“Our body is an instrument of evolving consciousness. In our body, science meets spirituality”- Zia Nath

www.zianath.com

Dhammachari Jinarakshita

Dh. Jinarakshita, (Dr. Jayaram N. Chengalur) is a Buddhist practitioner and a Distinguished Professor at National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He has been writing and lecturing about the intersection between Buddhism and Science for some years, including as part of the programme on Socially Engaged Buddhism at the Department of Pali, Savitrabhai Phule University. In addition, he has many years of experience in introducing Buddhist meditation to, as well as leading meditation retreats for, a wide cross section of people.

Sujata Nerurkar

Educated in Engineering and Management, Sujata found her calling in the field of Yog. She has dedicated more than 2 decades to this field. Her 12-year experience in the corporate sector gives her the unique capability to be logical and process-oriented in running the organisation while her passion for Yog combined with a flair for teaching has taken her students beyond the limits of asana technique.

As a student of Yog since 1998, Sujata learnt that there can be no single approach to teaching Yoga. Her learning has been diverse and deep because of the many teachers she has learnt from. Therefore, as a teacher too she continues to learn from various schools to broaden and deepen her own understanding. Since 2006, Sujata has trained about 600+ teachers. She has keen interest in understanding and sharing Yog sutra wisdom, as she believes it’s the art of harmonious living.

Sujata is also a trained psychological counsellor. In that capacity, she conducts one-on-one counselling sessions. She has also worked with suicide prevention programme through Connecting, a Pune-based NGO. and helps people in emotional distress. In doing so, she utilises her expertise in Mind management aspect of yoga, REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy) , EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), Non-violent communication and Interplay (movement as therapy). Sujata’s passion for Yoga is apparent through her students’ progress both in asanas and in their personality. Indeed, she derives satisfying smiles from her students’ eureka moments – physical, mental, and emotional.

Nithya Shanti

Nithya Shanti is an internationally acclaimed teacher of joyful and conscious living. He completed an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur and worked in the corporate world. He then went on to live as a forest meditation monk for six years. He now shares his learnings through retreats and talks with organizations and audiences worldwide.

He has been invited to share his insights around the world by leading universities, corporate and non-governmental organizations, he coaches CEOs, senior government officials and school teachers, and taught these principles at international conferences, forums such as TEDx and also in prisons. He is on the Advisory Board of Axialent, an international consulting firm specializing in enabling a more conscious culture in business.

www.nithyashanti.com
www.facebook.com/spreadinghappines
www.youtube.com/nithyashanti

KB Jinan

Jinan considers himself a victim of modernity, cognitively rewired to understand the written word instead of the real world. As an activist concerned about cognition, his basic concern has been to explore the cognitive crisis of modern men who with their so-called education have become anthropocentric and turned against life itself. He considers cognitive right the most fundamental right which modern society brutally takes away right from childhood.

His exploration began with issues related to decolonization, especially of the aesthetic sense. His life with illiterate communities helped him to expand this exploration to include knowledge creation, ‘do-nothing parenting’, and to shift the focus from sociological aspects to the biological roots of cognition and the formation of our sense of beauty.

His understanding further sharpened and clarified once he stopped reading- this helped him regain his biologically rooted cognitive system which is what all non-literate people have been using through eons. Another fundamental shift that brought in more clarity was shifting his enquiry from how to teach children to how do children learn. This question revealed the connection between our biological potential and the contextual dictates- between the world and the word, one of awakening and the other of conditioning.

He believes that in order to understand the modern crisis we will have to revisit childhood studies and the biological roots of cognition. For this we have to first address the biases and cognitive framework and also study children who are functioning in autonomy, free from coercion and control.

Currently, Jinan is involved in enabling people to explore and experientially recover their natural cognitive system damaged by schooling. The aim is to sensitize adults so they can provide the most conducive environment for their children to unfold naturally to their true potential.

Ajay Rastogi

Ajay Rastogi is co-founder of the Foundation for Contemplation of Nature and Director of the Vrikshalaya Himalayan Centre based in Central Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India.

Over last 14 years, he has been working towards mainstreaming values of deeper connection with nature. One of the major initiatives is a residential offering, ‘Mountain Resilient Leadership’ that aims to share the first-hand experience of foundation’s 3 core principles of Resilience; The Dignity of Physical Work, Inter-connectivity and Interdependence. It helps participants in bridging inner and outer resilience. This progamme run in association with Women Self Help Group in Majkhali has been awarded international Mountain Prize in 2020 for transformative education.

Ajay also facilitates Contemplation of Nature sessions in office/ group settings or offers side events in conferences/ workshops. Known to provide personal health and wellbeing benefits, mindfulness is also proving to be effective in cultivating empathy and compassion for better team work. In the past, sessions have been arranged at FAO HQ in Rome; World Parks Congress in Olympic Park, Sydney, Planeto Sostenible in Santiago the Chile, CBD COP event in Hyderabad; International Ethno-biology Conference in Bhutan etc.

Ajay is a member of the Association of Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE) since 2010. His work has been translated and published in Spanish titled ‘Contemplacion de la Naturelza’. Ajay’s formal education is in the fields of Agriculture, Agro forestry, Environment and Ethics.

He is recipient of several awards: South Asian Youth Leader (1991); Erasmus Mundus European Union Fellow (2007) and Nehru Fulbright Environmental Leadership Fellow (2010).

Podcast on deep ecology https://nordicbynature.transistor.fm/

Website: www.foundnature.org

Dr. Nikhil Mehta

Dr Nikhil Mehta has done his MBBS in 1991. Fortunately in 1991 he came in contact with the age old wisdom of Ayurveda. He got attracted to the simplicity, the clarity and the practical approach to this science that he started learning this science under various Ayurvedic Doctors. In 1998 he decided to start his own practice where he used the wisdom of Ayurveda along with his own practice.

In his experience with the patients he learn that some small mistakes in lifestyle and food creates most of the health issues. So he focused on guiding on those mistakes, making his patients aware about this mistakes and he got the results using very minimum medicines. He then realised that his patients coming out of certain mistakes makes some other and lands up with some another health issue.

Then he decided to give complete knowledge including all the aspects of health to his patients and started teaching his patients through small workshops that helps common man to understand what is the problem, what are the reasons behind that and how to balance it. He emphasises on taking the charge of the treatment in one’s own hand as we are the best Doctors for oneself. He is only the helping hand in the journey of healing.

He has treated patients having issues with digestion, chronic constipation, headaches, body aches, chronic fatigue, arthritis, skin issues, allergies, weight issues, children’s health issues, various vitamin deficiencies, hormonal imbalance, thyroid, hypertension, diabetes and so many other day to day issues.

Sharing our Reflections

Ananda Sangha, Mumbai

Patricia Meadows

Patricia Meadows, MS, RN, SEP is a holistic nurse counselor and trauma therapist with Master’s Degrees in Community Health Nursing, as well as in Community Mental Health/Clinical Counseling. Also, she completed six years of doctoral studies in East/West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, with a specialization in Adult Psycho-spiritual Development.

She has over 45 years experience in healthcare, education and mental health, with the last 20 years in private practice. She facilitates a psycho-spiritual inquiry-based, and process-oriented approach to healing, transforming and being/living authentically in the world. She is trained in and integrates multiple approaches to working with diverse forms of trauma, including: developmental trauma (neglect and abuse); prenatal, birth and perinatal trauma; attachment/relational trauma; family and intergenerational trauma; medical/surgical trauma; and shock trauma.

Also, her work is informed by long-term spiritual practice and participation in the Diamond Approach, a path of realization. She is a teacher of the Diamond Approach.

Sandy Dias Andrade

Anupama Thakare

Satyen Khashu

Trishna Panchal

John J. Prendergast, PhD

John J. Prendergast, Ph.D., is the author of The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (2019) and In Touch: How to Tune in to Your Inner Guidance and Trust Yourself (2015). He is also the senior editor of The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy (2003) and Listening from the Heart of Silence: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, Vol. 2 (2007). He is the co-founder of the Conference on Nondual Wisdom and Psychology (2000-2018) and founder and editor of Undivided: The Online Journal of Nonduality and Psychology (_2012-2018). He is a retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he taught and supervised masters level counseling students for 23 years. He has also recently retired from being a psychotherapist in private practice since 1986. He studied for many years with the European sage Jean Klein as well as with Adyashanti, and now offers teachings and retreats in the U.S. and Europe, as well as online.

Website
YouTube Channel

Mandar Karanjkar

Mandar is a trained Hindustani vocalist, a self taught flutist and co-founder of Baithak Foundation, a not for profit organisation started to promote Indian Classical Music. Mandar is a practitioner of Naad Yoga and has taught Naad Yoga at various prestigious organisations like Sri. Aurobindo Society, Samskritam Auroville, Pune International Yoga Mahotsav etc.

Mandar is also a published author of three books including his second book - The Kabir Way: Actionable Insights for Organizations and Individuals which applies wisdom of Saint Kabir to business management. Mandar is also a director of Akshar Maifal, a fast growing Marathi Publishing House and works in the field of strategic communication solutions.

Sensei Sandeep Desai

Sensei Sandeep Desai is a lifelong warrior and a yogi. He is a Master of T’ai Chi, Yoga and Martial Arts having several international Accolades to his name. He is credited with introducing the original Chen style T’ai Chi Chuan in India. He has trained arduously and extensively in Chenjiagou village, the birthplace of T’ai Chi in China. He enjoys the unique distinction of acquiring 5th Dan Black Belt in Okinawa, Japan and also becoming the only Indian to successfully finish the advanced ‘The Full Time Training’ in China under the strict supervision Chen Zhonghua, the Standard-bearer of the Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan Practical Method . His journey began with karate in the 1970s, when he was in his teens. In his pursuit of perfection and purity in the martial arts, the Sensei has travelled to Japan, Germany and China to learn directly from grandmasters. His teachers were known not only for their exacting standards but were also part of a lineage – keepers of the highest traditions in their respective arts. His name has spread to the far and wide corners of the world. He has been featured in all the major television networks and the leading publications. He has taught some of the poorest of poor and some of the the richest of rich people across the country. He has been felicitated by Shri Narendra Modi for his stellar accomplishments and for introducing T’ai Chi to the people of Gujarat in 2011.

Zia Nath

Zia is a paramedical therapist specializing in Craniosacral Therapy (BCST RCST), Somatic Intelligence™, Trauma Support, Mother-Infant Birth Trauma & Mindful Nutrition. She founded her clinic Quanta Health Care Solutions in 2001 and has been supporting individuals & families with a healthcare system that is natural, holistic and non-invasive.

As a dancer Zia has been in the study and performance of Sacred Dances for more than two decades. Zia has always been intrigued by the body as a form of art and an instrument of healing and this led her to develop Realms of Dance™ & Whirling Mandala™ presenting Sacred Dances of ancient esoteric cultures as a therapeutic model and for deeper explorations of our consciousness.

“Our body is an instrument of evolving consciousness. In our body, science meets spirituality”- Zia Nath

www.zianath.com

Sri Prashant S Iyengar

Sri Prashant S Iyengar, Director of Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute is a scholar on yoga and its philosophy. He learnt yoga under his father and Guru, Yogacharya BKS Iyengar and extensively studied the yogic texts and scriptures. He teaches the ancient wisdom in the classical texts of yoga through his practical classes, his books and discourses.

He has been teaching at RIMYI since its inception in 1975 and leads and guides the entire Iyengar Yoga fraternity spread over 85 countries. He is an author of 20 scholarly works on various aspects of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. He is currently providing online education in yoga through a series of over 100 talks on youtube in English as well as Marathi. He has received the PM’s first Award, on behalf of RIMYI, for its immense contribution to the promotion of Yoga.

Harini Raval

Harini Raval is a Mindfulness & Presence Oriented Counselor. She is trained in “Mindfulness Based Listening with Embodied Presence” from Just Being Center in affiliation with St. Mira’s college for girls, Pune and is currently pursuing an advanced course in ‘Presence Oriented Psychotherapy’ from Just Being Center Pune, in affiliation with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is a part of the center as a counselor and an assistant course facilitator. Harini also works in the area of strengthening leadership in education and child development. Her educational background includes a Master’s degree in Social Work from ‘College of Social Work Nirmal Niketan (Automomous)’ and a Doctoral Degree in Education from ‘University of Twente, Netherlands’.

Kishore Khairnar

Shri Kishore Khairnar was born at Jalgaon in October 1954. He did his schooling at Nasik, Jalgaon and Pune. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, Mumbai on scholarship from Government of India leading to M. Sc. in Engineering Physics. He then worked briefly in an electronic & engineering company in Mumbai before starting his own firm providing non-destructive testing services to various industries all over India.

In 1974 while studying in I.I.T. he happened to read a book of J. Krishnamurti: Commentaries on Living, which made a deep psychological impact on him. In the following years, he continued reading J. Krishnamurti’s books and attended several of his public talks in Mumbai. Right from childhood he was spiritually inclined and as a child, he used to accompany his mother to various spiritual and religious discourses. As he grew in his childhood he became more and more interested in science. By the time he entered IIT, science and spirituality became the central interests of his life.

In 1981 he came in personal contact with J. Krishnamurti and decided to wind up his business and join the Rajghat Education Centre of K.F.I. (Krishnamurti Foundation India) at Varanasi. Since then he has had a 30 years long career of dedicated work with the Krishnamurti Foundation. He taught physics, mathematics in the school and looked after a students’ hostel. This gave him ample opportunity to experiment with Krishnamurti’s approach to education. His time at Rajghat brought him closer to Krishnamurti through personal meetings, participation in Krishnamurti’s talks with staff and students and doing audio recordings of his meetings.

After the passing away of Krishnamurti in 1986, he undertook the development of Study Centre at Rajghat, Varanasi - this was the first Study Centre in India after Krishnaji’s death.

From 1990 to 1996, he visited Brockwood Park School of the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust England to help the computerization of complete published works of Krishnamurti and worked as the chief archivist at Brockwood Park Archive, where he helped with the preservation and documentation of the original manuscripts of Krishnamurti’s works.

During 1998-2011 he was In-charge of the Krishnamurti Study Centre Sahyadri, Pune. For a period of 13 years he conducted regular study workshops on Krishnamurti’s teachings whichbenefited thousands of people. He is the editor for the books: ‘Science for Teenagers’ and ‘Dialogue for Teenagers’ and a co-editor for J. Krishnamurti’s book focussed on teens called “What are you doing with your life?” He is also the co-author of the book “Understand Your Self”.

He has held several dialogues on human problems including education in the light of J. Krishnamurti’s teachings. Currently, he is working with Krishnamurti Education Centre, Pune which organizes study workshops and gatherings in order to explore the application of J. Krishnamurti’s Teachings in daily life. Currently he is conducting two Krishnamurti Study Workshops every month – one in English and one in Hindi or Marathi. Presently these are held on-line only.

Rajyashree Ramamurthi

Initially, Rajyashree trained as a Ballet and then Odissi dancer, having also practiced intermittently martial art forms such as Shotokan Karate, Kung Fu and Sourikai. While studying dance with visual art in the UK, she studied certain post modern and western contemporary dance and choreographic techniques. Upon teaching dance, her focus shifted over time from teaching set sequences of movement to moving with certain principles in more open ended explorations where individuals would be able to explore their own body language rather than adhere to particular styles of movement.

Her own practice and teaching approach reflects her ongoing exploration into somatic practices such as experiential anatomy, Body Mind Centering, working with our breath and cultivating an embodied awareness.

Prof Mahesh Deokar

Prof Mahesh Deokar is the head of the department of Pali at the University of Pune. He is a well-known scholar and has published a number of papers on Buddhist philosophy and has actively promoted the learning of Buddhist Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University.

Sharing our Reflections

Gratitude & Taking it forward

Sandy Dias Andrade

Anupama Thakare

Satyen Khashu

Trishna Panchal