About Mindful Awareness Practices

Janet N. Ahn, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at William Paterson University and the Director of the Motivation + Innovation Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University and completed her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from New York University. Her research investigates human goal pursuit and motivation. She has examined how people’s goal pursuit is affected by what they infer about others’ goals (via projection) and what they believe about others based on their attributes (via transference and stereotyping). She also creates interventions to increase high school students’ motivation and persistence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) fields as well as developing innovative technological tools to increase student retention in college. She has published over a dozen papers in peer-reviewed empirical journals and her work has been featured in various media outlets such as Women’s Health Magazine, NPR, American Educator, the Business Insider, CBS, and USA Today.

Janet Ahn, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Susan is a clinician, mindfulness teacher, researcher, and meditation practitioner, whose lifework integrates mindfulness practices and contemplative wisdom to foster well-being. A former bedside registered nurse and NIH funded researcher, Susan was the founding director of the Compassionate Care Initiative and Kluge Professor of Contemplative End-of-Life Care at the University of Virginia prior to her current role as president of the Mind & Life Institute. A Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and author of nearly 100 scholarly papers, Susan is also the author of a book for the lay public, Leaves Falling Gently: Living Fully with Serious & Life-Limiting Illness through Mindfulness, Compassion & Connectedness. For over two decades, she has been a teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and led resiliency retreats and workshops, particularly for individuals facing medical challenges and for professionals working in healthcare.

Susan Bauer-Wu, Ph.D, RN, FAAN

MAPs for Healthcare Professionals

Karen is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She co-created the curriculum Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens and wrote the The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens. She has been a mindfulness practitioner for almost 40 years and has 18 years of classroom experience.

Karen Bluth, Ph.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Alan is Director of Integrative & Co-Curricular Learning at Grace Church School in New York City, where he leads the school’s mindfulness programs for students, teachers, and parents. Alan also serves on the faculty of Mindful Schools, where he is a Lead Teacher and Curriculum Designer for the Mindful Teacher Certification Program.

Alan Brown

MAPs for Educators

Valerie transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career as a lawyer-lobbyist, representing educational institutions and nonprofits, to human-scale work with leaders and teams to foster trustworthy, compassionate, and authentic connections. She is an accredited leadership coach, international retreat leader, writer, and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Lead Smart Coaching, LLC, specializing in application and integration of mindfulness and leadership, and is a Co-Director of Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.

Valerie Brown, JD, MA, PCC

Multi-Program Contributor

Tara Cousineau, Ph.D, is a clinical psychologist, researcher and writer. She currently works as a staff psychologist at Harvard University’s Counseling Center. She is the author of The Kindness Cure: How the Science of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart and Your World and The Little Deck of Kindfulness. Dr. Cousineau is a mindfulness meditation teacher and on faculty at The Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA. She is a trained teacher in Making Friends with Yourself for adolescents and young adults, an adaptation of the Mindful Self-Compassion group program, based on the teachings of Drs. Christopher Germer and Kristin Neff. Dr. Cousineau is also a certified facilitator of the Daring Way Method™ in practices of courage and resilience, based on the research by Dr. Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW. She is a founder of KindMinds.co and host of the Kind Minds podcast, and is devoted to bringing “kindfulness” practices to individuals, schools and workplaces through speaking engagements and workshops.

Tara Cousineau, Ph.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Elizabeth is a mindfulness teacher and former attorney who practiced law for more than thirty years, specializing in law in the public interest, and has served as an executive at several organizations. Elizabeth has taught the eight-week MBSR class and mindful meditation in group settings and privately for over fifteen years and has also designed and led programs for educational institutions, bar associations, law firms, nonprofits and other organizations. She is the President of Mindfulness Solutions LLC and completed the sixty-hour Practicum in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Professionals at the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine. Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Swarthmore College, and is a member of the New York and DC Bars, and an emeritus member of the Georgia Bar. She is co-author of Commercial and Consumer Warranties (Matthew Bender 1987), and past president of the National Women’s Law Center.

Elizabeth Coleman, Esq., JD, MFA

MAPs for Legal Professionals

Dr. Jonathan Fader is a licensed clinical and performance psychologist. He is best known for working with professional athletes in the MLB and NFL, including The New York Mets and The New York Giants. Fader is the co-founder of Union Square Practice, a mental health center, and Sport Strata, a performance coaching group, located in New York City. Dr. Fader regularly works with athletes, performers, entrepreneurs, businesses, schools, physicians and with first responder groups such as The New York City Fire Department (FDNY). He speaks to groups on topics of mindfulness, motivational enhancement, improving performance, stress reduction, communication, and team building. Dr. Fader is a Motivational Interviewing trainer and is part of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). He is a co-author of Coaching Athletes To Be Their Best: Motivational Interviewing in Sport as well as his debut book Life as Sport.

Jonathan Fader, Ph.D.

MAPs for Athletes

Dr. Fulwiler is board-certified in Psychiatry with additional certification in Addiction Medicine. He completed his residency in psychiatry at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School and obtained his PhD in Neuroscience from Harvard University. He has held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School, Tufts Medical School and is Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is currently Director of Strategic Initiatives and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Training at Cambridge Health Alliance. He provides supervision and mentoring in mindfulness-based individual therapy and MBCT to other mental health clinicians, and conducts professional trainings in MBCT. He has lectured and conducted workshops and trainings widely throughout the U.S. and internationally on topics related to mindfulness-based approaches to wellness, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and wellness and resilience for healthcare professionals.

Carl Fulwiler, MD, Ph.D.

MAPs for Anxiety & Depression

Chris is a clinical psychologist and lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is a co-developer of the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, co-author of The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, and (forthcoming) Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. He teaches and leads workshops internationally on mindfulness and compassion.

Christopher Germer, Ph.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Sarah is a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher, receiving her MBSR-QT letter of completion from the professional training program at the renowned University of Massachusetts Medical School. She also teaches the 8-Week Mindful Self-Compassion course, having been trained in the official curriculum through the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion by Dr. Kristen Neff, Dr. Cristopher Germer, and Dr. Steve Hickman. Sarah is a registered yoga instructor through Yoga Alliance, completing her 200-hour teacher training (RYT-200). She has advanced training in special movement yoga for patients with Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and in Cardiac Recovery.

Sarah Gouveia

Workshops & Retreats

Itzel Hayward is a compassionate and fierce advocate for love. After serving as a public policy lawyer for 13 years, Itzel left her legal career and founded Attuned Living, a mindfulness and wellness organization that helps individuals heal the sense of separation they feel from others — or even from themselves. Her unique work — based on the teachings of yoga, mindfulness, and compassionate communication — ranges from promoting social justice work within organizations and communities to guiding individuals on their search for personal and professional fulfillment. Today, Itzel holds retreats, classes, trainings, and private one-on-one sessions online, over the phone, and in person with people from all over the world. Her mission is to gently remind you of your individual wholeness and your interconnectedness with others and all of life.

Itzel Hayward, JD

Multi-Program Contributor

Lynne Maureen Hurdle, author of the best seller, Closing Conflict for Leaders, is a conflict resolution strategist, facilitator, TEDx speaker and coach with over 40 years of experience. Lynn is known as The Conflict Closer, not just because she helps leaders gain the skills they need to dig deep and finally close the door on those conflicts that have been plaguing their life for too long, but also because she helps leaders bring conflict closer. By helping bring conflict close enough to examine the roots of it, the fruits of it and the long-lasting effects it has on business and life, Lynn makes conflict less scary by helping to actually see it, get to know it, and be in relationship with it. Over her forty year career, Lynn has helped people from Harlem to Hong Kong transform through a mix of different styles and methods. She brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and her special Lynnergy to every client.

Lynne Maureen Hurdle

MAPs for College Prep

Cheryl Jones is a wellness expert who has been helping people to thrive in body, mind, and spirit for over 30 years. Her background includes undergraduate and master’s degrees in health education and exercise science, and for nine years she worked at the Fortune 50 Company, Aetna, as Director of Mindfulness and Wellness Strategy Lead. Cheryl received the Chairman's Leadership Award as well as the Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking for integrating mindfulness into corporate culture, and has been recognized as one the “12 Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement”. She has also authored two books: Thriving When Your Cosmic Egg Is Cracked: A Mindful Journey and Mindful Exercise: A Bridge Between Yoga and Exercise.

Cheryl Jones

MAPs for Workplace Wellness

Catherine is a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher(MBSR-QT), completing the professional training program from The Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She also teaches the 8-Week Mindful Self-Compassion course, trained in the official curriculum developed by Dr. Kristen Neff and Dr. Cristopher Germer, through the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. Catherine has over 20 years of experience as a Mindfulness practitioner and holds a certificate in Positive Psychology (CIPP), trained by Dr. Tal Ben Shahar. She is also the published author of Living in Flow: The Key to Unlocking Your Greatest Potential.

Catherine Krame

Workshops & Retreats

Susan Larson is a Physical Training Instructor for the Bergen County, New Jersey Police Academy and a certified trainer in Cop2Cop Suicide Prevention. She is also a Conditioning Coach for select athletic teams working on performance improvement and conditioning, nutrition, and mental resilience, and has a thriving personal training business focusing on athletic preparation for select events and sports. Susan is an Adjunct Professor at Ramapo College teaching Stress Management and Mindfulness, Health and Wellness, and various athletic classes. She holds a MS from Iona College in Organizational Development, a BA from Old Dominion University in Communication Arts and Marketing, and is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine in personal training, performance improvement, and fitness nutrition.

Susan Larson

MAPs for First Responders

Dr. Mark Leary is the Garonzik Family Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and his doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Florida. He taught previously at Denison University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Wake Forest University, where he served as department chair. Leary has published 14 books and more than 250 scholarly articles and chapters on topics dealing with social motivation, emotion, and self-relevant thought, including The Curse of the Self: Self-awareness, Egotism, and the Quality of Human Life. He has also recorded two courses for the Teaching Company:Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior and Why You Are Who You Are: Investigations into Human Personality.

Mark Leary, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Darryl is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over a decade of experience where he has practiced in multiple sectors within the behavioral health and psychiatric industry. As a clinician, researcher, educator, and developer, Darryl has gained knowledge and expertise in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Positive Psychology to create and provide services that meet the behavioral health and psychiatric needs of a large range of cultural, social economic, and age diverse populations. He is the co-founder and co-leader of the Crimson Mind and Body Program, whose mission is to support the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of all identities and roles of the student-athlete population and provides mental health education and consultation to students, coaches, and staff at Harvard Athletics. Darryl has served as an expert in developing educational materials and workshops in the areas of diversity, inclusion, belonging, and mental health.

Darryl Lemus, MA, LMHC

MAPs for College Prep

Dan is a clinical instructor at New York University, teaching positive psychology and peak performance to almost 1,000 students each year in “The Science of Happiness,” the most popular elective course at NYU. Dan co-authored UThrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life). Dan works with students, established and high-potential performing artists, athletes and numerous Fortune 500 companies and executives around the world to help them manage stress and anxiety, achieve well-being, and uncover their core strengths.

Dan Lerner

Multi-Program Contributor

Dr. Monica Lewin is an expert in the neuropsychology of optimal learning strategies. She holds a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from NYU, and a B.S. in Psychology from UMass Amherst. As Faculty of Arts & Sciences NYU, she created the original course entitled, "How We Learn." In this course, Dr. Lewin trains NYU students to apply the science of learning and memory to their own study habits. Dr. Lewin also serves as an expert resource to NYU faculty, training them in research based strategies for creating memorable, engaging learning experiences. Her expert teaching prompted her to be selected for a Golden Dozen Teaching Award nomination. Dr. Lewin is driven by her passion for helping her audiences live optimally by letting them in on the secret science behind everyday life.

Monica Lewin, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Liv Massey is a Mental Performance Coach and Mental Health Counselor in New York City. She received her Master's degree in mental health counseling with a specialization in sport and performance psychology from Boston University. Liv was a 4-year NCAA Division I Track and Field athlete who competed at Bucknell University. Liv is currently a member of the Manhattan-based coaching group, Sport Strata, where she works closely with Dr. Jonathan Fader to deliver performance coaching and counseling to individual clients and groups. Liv has specific expertise in the delivery of mindfulness-based interventions that help performers develop abilities in attentional control, metabolizing mistakes, mental preparation and optimizing their mindset to be able to perform at their best and enjoy their lives more fully. Liv has coached performers across a variety of settings including NCAA Division I & III programs, the New York City Ballet, Team USA, elite youth performers, entrepreneurs, first-responders and more.

Liv Massey, M.ED, LMHC

MAPs for Athletes

Crystal is a yoga and mindfulness educator, speaker, and writer. She has practiced yoga and mindfulness for 20 years and was a middle school teacher for 5 years. Crystal consults for research studies on yoga and mindfulness at CUNY Hunter and serves on the Yoga Alliance Committee for Diversity, Accessibility and Inclusion.

Crystal McCreary

Multi-Program Contributor

Florence is the Program Director at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health and serves as a Global Ambassador to the Global Mindfulness Collaborative, a network of MBSR teacher training institutes, world wide. She is a leading contributor to the development of the MBSR curriculum, teacher training programs, materials and best practices for teacher training in the growing field of MBSR and MBPs. Florence trained directly with Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD and Saki Santorelli, MA, EdD. and for more than four decades has taught mindfulness and meditation to adults, youth, clinical populations, and professionals in the fields of education, medicine, psychology, and business. A student of wisdom traditions for more than 40 years, she is a student in the Siddha Yoga tradition, a practitioner of Insight meditation for 25 years, and a senior Insight Dialogue teacher.

Florence Meleo-Meyer,

MS, MA, LMFT

MAPs for Active Adults

Cory is a former monk, mindfulness advisor for the Dr. Oz show, and bestselling author. He has taught Mindful Leadership at Columbia University, is an instructor of Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and for the last ten years has offered mindfulness workshops and retreats around the world. Named by Dr. Oz as one of the nation’s leading experts on mindfulness, his meditations have been heard more than 10 million times in over 100 countries. Cory is the host of the top ranked podcast, Practicing Human, host of the mindfulness app and platform, Mindfulness.com, and author of the bestselling book, Stop Missing Your Life: How to Be Deeply Present in an Un-Present World.

Cory Muscara, MAPP

Multi-Program Contributor

Kristin is Associate Professor Human Development and Culture, Educational Psychology Department, University of Texas at Austin. She conducted the first academic studies on self-compassion. Along with Chris Germer, she developed Mindful Self-Compassion, an 8-week program to teach self-compassion skills.

Kristin Neff, Ph.D.

MAPs for Educators

Laura is a certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher and health and wellness coach. She has taught more than 20 MSC classes to adults with her co-teacher since 2015. She completed the Integrative Health Coach Professional Training at Duke Integrative Medicine and was in private practice for more than five years.

Laura Prochnow Phillips

MAPs for Educators

Daniel is a marriage and family therapist and author of The Way of Mindful Education: Cultivating Well-Being in Teachers and Students and The Mindful Education Workbook. Daniel is one of the global leaders on teaching mindfulness in k-12 classrooms.

Daniel Rechtschaffen, MFT

MAPs for Educators

Amanda is the Co-Creator of Mindful Birth® and is a registered prenatal yoga teacher through yoga alliance, RPYT®, a certified doula through doulas of North America, CD(DONA), is a certified HypnoBirthing® The Mongan Method Childbirth Educator, HBCE and is a Mindful Birth® Educator. Her passion lies in supporting and educating women through their pregnancy and birth. Her ultimate goal is to help women to birth without fear and to feel empowered by their birth choices. The day she gave birth to her son was the day she realized her true calling in life as a birth doula and childbirth educator.

Amanda Roosa, CD(DONA),

HBCE®, PTA

MAPs for Maternity

Alan is a clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Medical Center and the director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Services at Bellevue Hospital Center. Along with Dan Lerner, Alan teaches “The Science of Happiness” at NYU. In both of his roles, Alan studies how people overcome mental illness and how healthy people develop their strengths. Using the best science that we have, he works to foster behaviors and thoughts that might help prevent mental illness.

Alan Schlechter, M.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Tim Urdan has been a professor at Santa Clara University since 1996. He was an assistant professor at Emory University in the Division of Educational Studies for two years before moving to Santa Clara University. Dr. Urdan received his Ph.D. from the Combined Program in Educational Psychology at the University of Michigan, his Ed.M. at Harvard, and his B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research areas include academic motivation, adolescent development, cultural and ethnic identity, and adaptive educational environments. He lives in Berkeley with his two children.

Tim Urdan, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Dr. Jo Ellyn Walker is a licensed clinical psychologist who believes diversity without inclusion is an incomplete and ineffective stance, and that diversity/inclusion work is everyone’s work. Having developed a passion for social justice early, Dr. Walker has worked for years to address health disparities, and other forms of oppression through various roles in student and academic affairs; as well as community agencies. She engages in individual and institutional level interventions to support healing, thriving, and foster the empowerment of marginalized communities. This multimodal work has included: providing group and individual therapy, providing training and consultation regarding crisis management and mental health referral, conducting and presenting research that emphasizes intersectionality in health and higher education contexts, and collaborating to enhance campus/organizational climate. Dr. Walker holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and Master’s in education from Texas A&M University; as well as a Bachelor’s in psychology from Northwestern University. She currently works as a Staff Psychologist & Wellness Director at Georgetown University.

Jo Ellyn Walker, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Jennifer is the Co-Founder of Avalon Wellness Center & Mindful Birth®, offering classes and wellness services to educate and empower pregnant and postpartum women. She is a registered prenatal yoga teacher through yoga alliance, RPYT®, a certified doula through doulas of North America, CD(DONA), is a certified HypnoBirthing® The Mongan Method Childbirth Educator, HBCE and is a Mindful Birth® Educator. Jennifer has three beautiful children and has given birth three very different ways, including one natural vaginal birth after cesarean section, VBAC. She has survived both antepartum and postpartum depression (different pregnancies), and has been able to help others because of these unique experiences. The balance, spiritual growth, and inner peace that yoga and mindfulness provided her during these challenging times inspired Jennifer to alter her life’s course and use her experiences to educate and empower other mothers-to-be.

Jennifer Watt, RPYT®,

CD(DONA), HBCE®

MAPs for Maternity

Our Mission

Let’s get started on your custom