FALU
Falu is a Grammy award-winning, internationally recognized vocalist, composer, and educator known for her ability to seamlessly blend a signature modern inventive style with a formidable Indian classically shaped vocal talent. Falu’s career in the United States has led to a series of collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Wyclef Jean, Philip Glass, Ricky Martin, Blues Traveler, and A. R. Rahman, among others. She was appointed Carnegie Hall’s ambassador of Indian Music in 2006, and her shows at Zankel Hall have consistently sold out. Falu’s highlight performances include the 2022 GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony and former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s White House State Dinner. During Diwali in 2022, the Mayor of New York City Eric Adams awarded her a citation for successfully representing immigrants in the city. Later that year she received a proclamation by the NYC Council “for fostering greater harmony around the world.”
Described by the New York Times as “East and West, ancient and modern” and named one of the twenty most influential global Indian women by the Economic Times, Falu continues to record and perform globally, and she serves as the Board of Governor for the Recording Academy’s New York Chapter.
ALEX GREY
The Visionary paintings of Alex Grey articulate realms of psychedelic mystical experience, revealing interwoven energies of body and soul, love and spirit, that illuminate the anatomical core of each being. Alex’s artworks on the nature of life and consciousness have reached millions through his five books, including three monographs, as well as the exhibition and extensive reproduction of his artwork, social media, live-painting, and speaking appearances including a popular TED talk, plus his stage sets, animation, and Grammy award-winning album art for the rock band Tool. Alex and his creative and life partner, Allyson Grey, founded the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) as a heart center, sanctuary for Visionary Art, and sacred offering in the Hudson Valley town of Wappinger, New York.
ALLYSON GREY
Allyson Grey is a painter and social sculptor. The subject of Allyson’s paintings is an essentialized world view, the artist’s interpretation of the realms of Chaos, Order, and Secret Writing. Chaos represents the material world; Order, the interconnected realm of energy and light; and Secret Writing, the untranslatable language of creative expression. Allyson has been the creative and life partner of artist Alex Grey since meeting in art school in 1975. She has long been an art educator, organization developer, editor, and muse to artists worldwide. She has an MFA from Tufts University. The Greys founded the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) as a heart center, sanctuary for Visionary Art, and sacred offering in the Hudson Valley town of Wappinger, New York.
MARIE HOWE
Marie Howe is the author of four volumes of poetry: Magdalene: Poems (2017), The Kingdom of Ordinary Time (2009), What the Living Do (1997), and The Good Thief (1988). She is also the co-editor of a book of essays, In the Company of My Solitude: American Writing from the AIDS Pandemic (1994). From 2012 to 2014, she served as the Poet Laureate of New York State. She is the poet in residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
KIESE LAYMON
Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Kiese Laymon is the Ottilie Schillig Professor in English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi and author of the novel Long Division, the memoir Heavy, and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. He was recently named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.
CHELLA MAN
Chella Man is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work explores the continuum of identity by deconstructing binaries within and beyond disability, gender, race, sexuality, and morality. His expansive identities as a Deaf, Genderqueer, Trans-Masculine, Jewish, and Chinese artist inform a unique perspective that cannot be limited to one medium. Most recently, he curated a New York Times–featured show highlighting 14 disabled artists under the title Pure Joy at 1969 Gallery. He is the author of Continuum (2021), director of the award-winning film The Beauty of Being Deaf (2021), executive producer of Trans in Trumpland (2021), fashion designer for his collection with Opening Ceremony (2019), actor in the role of Jericho in Titans of DC Universe (2019), and former columnist for Them, Condé Nast’s first LGBTQ+ publication (2018). Man has also worked with institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, Powerhouse Museum, Performance Space New York, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, and Abrons Arts Center.
DR. LISA MILLER
Dr. Lisa Miller is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and her new book, The Awakened Brain. Dr. Miller is a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she founded the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program and research institute in spirituality and psychology, and she has held over a decade of joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School. Her innovative research has been published in more than 150 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including Cerebral Cortex, The American Journal of Psychiatry, and Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Miller is editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality, founding co-editor-in-chief of the APA journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice, elected fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the two-time president of the APA Society for Psychology and Spirituality. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her doctorate under the founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, she has served as principal investigator on multiple grant-funded research studies. Dr. Miller speaks extensively nationally and internationally on the science of spirituality in mental health and thriving.
HALEY NAHMAN
Haley Nahman is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor covering modern life and culture. She is especially interested in self-delusion, cognitive bias, mass media, and how our lives are shaped by all three. Nahman writes most regularly for her weekly newsletter, Maybe Baby, which was written up in the New Yorker, and her work has appeared in New York Magazine, The Guardian, and the New York Times.
NIGEL POOR
Nigel Poor is a visual artist whose work explores the various ways people make a mark and leave behind evidence of their existence. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in various museum collections including SFMOMA, de Young Museum, and Corcoran Gallery of Art. She is also a professor of photography at California State University, Sacramento. In 2011 Poor got involved with San Quentin State Prison as a volunteer teacher for Mount Tamalpais College (formerly the Prison University Project). She is the co-creator and co-host of the Pulitzer Prize–nominated prison-based podcast Ear Hustle and the co-author of This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life.
YONGEY MINGYUR RINPOCHE
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a recognized tulku of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, a teacher, spiritual leader, and bestselling author. He possesses the rare ability to present the ancient wisdom of Tibet in a fresh, engaging manner. His profound yet accessible teachings and playful sense of humor have endeared him to students around the world. Rinpoche’s teachings weave together his own personal experiences with modern scientific research in relation to the practice of meditation. He has authored several books including two bestsellers: The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness, which has been translated into over 20 languages, and In Love with the World: A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying. His recent TED Talk is titled “How to Tap into Your Awareness—and Why Meditation Is Easier Than You Think.” Rinpoche teaches extensively around the world and oversees dharma centers, including three monasteries in Nepal, India, and Tibet, and the Tergar Institute in Kathmandu; Tergar meditation communities on six continents; numerous schools in Nepal; and social engagement projects related to health, hunger, hygiene, the environment, and women’s empowerment issues in the Himalayas.
SEBENE SELASSIE
Sebene Selassie is a writer and teacher who guides people to trust the mystery and power of cosmic belonging. She offers courses, workshops, and retreats online and in person. She is trained as a meditation teacher, an integral coach, and as a practitioner of Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy. She is also a devoted student of mystic traditions including astrology. Selassie is a four-time survivor of Stage III and IV metastatic breast cancer. Her first book, You Belong: A Call for Connection, was published in 2020.
DR. JILL BOLTE TAYLOR
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroscientist. At the age of 37 she experienced a severe stroke that wiped out the left hemisphere of her brain. She completely rebuilt her brain over the course of eight years. Her memoir, My Stroke of Insight, spent 63 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and her most recent book, Whole Brain Living, helps people find their own mental wellness. In 2008, Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, and she was the premier guest on Oprah’s Soul Series.
MICHELLE TEA
Michelle Tea is the author of countless books, including the Lambda Literary Award–winning Valencia and the PEN America award-winning Against Memoir. She has been awarded honors from The Rona Jaffe Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation for her writing. As creator of Drag Queen Story Hour she has been honored with awards from the California Library Association and Logo Television. After curating imprints with City Lights Publisher and The Feminist Press, in 2023 Tea created DOPAMINE Books, an independent press.
DR. KAY TYE
Dr. Kay Tye earned her bachelors from MIT, majoring in brain and cognitive sciences, and her PhD for thesis work with Patricia Janak at the University of California San Francisco, focusing on how the amygdala undergoes plasticity for reward learning. She did her postdoctoral training with Karl Deisseroth at Stanford University, where she pioneered the use of projection-specific optogenetic manipulations, a mainstay of circuit neuroscience, and used this approach to dissect anxiety circuits in the amygdala. She started her own lab at MIT in 2012, investigating the neural circuit mechanisms of emotional valence. In 2017 she won the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award to study social homeostasis, a conceptual framework she formalized in 2019. Dr. Tye moved her lab to the Salk Institute in 2019 and became Wylie Chair Professor of the Systems Neurobiology Laboratory. In 2021 she became a Howard Hughs Medical Investigator and continues to investigate the neural bases of emotional valence and social homeostasis on the circuit and systems level.
SPRING WASHAM
Spring Washam is a meditation teacher, author, and visionary leader based in Oakland. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and her newest book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman Awakening from the Underground. Washam is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based healing practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founding teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center. Washam received extensive training by Jack Kornfield, is a member of the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California, and has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism since 1999. In addition to being a teacher, she is a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices since 2008. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, an organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom in South America. Her writing and teachings have appeared in many online journals and publications such as Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, and Beliefnet. Washam has been a guest on many popular podcasts and radio shows. She currently travels and teaches meditation retreats, workshops and classes worldwide.