David Nichtern + Ethan Nichtern + Michele Tugade

Father David and son Ethan Nichtern have each had a profound impact on the meditation community in the United States. In this Brainwave talk they discuss the perspective that mindfulness can bring to our unsettled political climate and in particular how the image of the Wheel of Life can be used to make sense of an uncertain future.

A book signing will follow the program.

Brainwave is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

About the Speakers

David Nichtern is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage. He was one of the initial American students of renowned meditation master Trungpa Rinpoche and studied closely with him soon after his arrival in the United States in 1970. Nichtern has been co-director of the Los Angeles Shambhala Center and Karme Choling Meditation Center in Vermont as well as Director of Expansion for Shambhala Training International and Director of Buddhist Practice and Study for OM Yoga. His new bookAwakening from the Daydream: Re-imagining the Buddha’s Wheel of Life, was released by Wisdom Publications in October 2016. He has several online meditation workshops available through CreativeLive.com and a DVD/CD package OM Yoga & Meditation Workshop, created in conjunction with yoga teacher Cyndi Lee. Nichtern is also a well-known composer, producer and guitarist. He has won four Emmys and been nominated twice for a Grammy.

Ethan Nichtern is a Shastri, a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, studying primarily under Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He has also studied Theravadan and Soto Zen Buddhism and is an avid yoga practitioner. He is the author of The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path, which was recently selected as one of Library Journal’s “Best Books of 2015” and one of Tech Insider’s “9 Books That Define 2015.” He is also the author of One City: A Declaration of Interdependence and the poetry collection Your Emoticons Won’t Save You. He founded, and is now a board member, of the Interdependence Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to secular Buddhist practice and transformational activism and arts. For the past fourteen years Nichtern has taught meditation and Buddhist psychology classes and workshops around the United States, including at the Rubin Museum.

Dr. Michele Tugade is a professor of Psychology at Vassar College, where she directs the Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory. Her research focuses on positive emotions in the coping process and the mechanisms that promote resilience in the face of stress and adversity. She investigates how emotion-related processes like mindfulness and cognitive attention are associated with health and well-being.

Tugade received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health and is an elected member of the International Society for Research on Emotions. She has published numerous scientific articles and is the editor of The Handbook of Positive Emotions.