Mindfulness Classes

My passion for teaching mindfulness emerged from my firsthand experience as a woman of color overcoming cancer and chronic illness. With an emphasis on mindful movement (Dayan qi gong), I have taught mindfulness in organizations and at conferences and retreats for close to 30 years. Anchored in liberatory and feminist teaching practices, I create classrooms where there are many ways for students to “thrive” in learning. Drawing from my experience as a tenured full professor at the Claremont Colleges, I have written about accessible approaches to fostering inclusive and cohesive learning communities.

I am certified mindfulness facilitator who has spoken at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Trained at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) through the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior, I completed the year-long facilitator training at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center in 2018 under the direction of Diana Winston, Dr. Susan Smalley, Dr. Dan Siegel, Dr. Marvin Belzer, Dr. Michael Irwin, and Dr. Matthew Brensilver.  In addition to supporting students in the UCLA “Mindfulness in Psychiatry” course, I am an authorized affiliated MAPs Teacher, facilitating the signature MAPs I program for UCLA MARC and a certified teacher through the International Mindfulness Teacher Association.

As a public health researcher on health equity, I have spoken at the National Center for Bioethics, and I was the 2019-2020 Frederick P. Lenz Residential Fellow in Buddhism and American Culture & Values at Naropa University.  For the Spring 2021 semester, I was a visiting scholar at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) through the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior to explore contemplative practices addressing the epidemic of loneliness and insomnia in the context of social inequities.

The emerging field of mindfulness research is compelling in terms of mindfulness correlating to better sleeping, less stress, and neuroplasticity.  And, during in person and online classes, I am amazed and inspired by the power of mindfulness to ease our stress and anxiety and to awaken us to our strength and potential as a collective to foster equity.

WHAT ARE YOU INTERESTED IN?  Maybe you’re dealing with some of the challenges that come with living in this uncertain and ever changing world. Perhaps you are feeling stressed or anxious? Or maybe you aren’t sleeping well?

CALM AND CONNECTED:  Whatever brings you here, there are many ways to nourish feeling calm and connected when facing challenges. Through practicing mindfulness you’ll develop many new skills, like how to unwind stress, how to soothe yourself if your facing insomnia, and how to feel less isolated and linked to something larger.