Berzin Archives, Berlin, Germany

Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Barre, MA, USA

ANDREW OLENDZKI, PH.D. is the executive director of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (dharma.org/bcbs) in Massachusetts, USA, and is editor of the Insight Journal. Having studied at Lancaster University in England, the University of Sri Lanka at Perediniya, and at Harvard University, he has taught at numerous New England colleges, including Harvard and Brandeis. He served as the executive director of the Insight Meditation Society for several years, is a member of the Insitute of Meditation and Psychotherapy, and has published various chapters and articles on mindfulness and Buddhist psychology. He has a particular interest in the integration of academic study and meditation practice, and in the application of Buddhist teachings to the challenges of the modern world.

Center for Mindfulness, Copenhagen, Denmark

ANTONIA SUMBUNDU is a clinical psychologist and specialist in psychotherapy with private practice in Copenhagen, Denmark. Antonia has been interested in cognitive therapy, mindfulness meditation and buddhist psychology for many years and she teaches MBCT and MBSR in a number of settings, lead´s meditation retreats and is training and supervising health and mental health professionals nationally and internationally. Currently Antonia is responsible for the MBSR intervention in a RCT for women with breast cancer and she is also researching mindfulness among Tibetan meditations masters.

Menla Contemplative Healing

PHIL WEBER, MD has taught on the spiritual approach to healing at Naropa University for 18 years. He has practiced medicine for 30 years. Currently, he is a family physician in private practice in Boulder, Colorado with a particular interest in the integration of Western and Tibetan medicine.

Board Certified: Family Practice

Member: American Academy of Family Physicians
Positions: Senior Adjunct Faculty at Naropa University
Clinical instructor in Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Medical Center, Medical Consultant to the first N. I. H. task force for alternative medicine in Washington D.C.

Co-chair –  The Integrative Medicine Committee, Boulder Community Hospital.
Special interests: integration of western and Tibetan medicine, especially regarding the role of perception and awareness in healing, Medical acupuncture.

(University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Associazione Italiana per la Mindfulness, Milan, Italy)

Menla Contemplative Healing

CHRISTOPH KLONK, MD is a family physician in the Cologne, Germany area for 23 years, and has trained in Tibetan Medicine and Contemplative Psychology. In addition, he has also served as translator for Tibetan Doctors.

Registered and licensed for: Family practice
Member: Nordrhein-Westfälische Ärztekammer
Further Graduation: certified three-year training Contemplative Psychology
Special skills: Training in Tibetan Language Translation since 1977
Translator for and cooperation with Tibetan Physicians
Special interests: Integration of western and Tibetan medicine, especially regarding the role of perception and awareness in healing.

University of Northern Virginia, Prague, Czech Republic.

As a learning facilitator and university lecturer, Dennis develops managerial trainings and change paths for personal, managerial and institutional growth. He is a founding member of CFAN (Change Facilitation Associates Network) – a new global professional network of change consultants, coaches and trainers founded on the three pillars of earning, learning and serving the greater community'. Recently elected to the Board of Association, he is responsible for areas concerning diversity and social responsibility. Through his Living Awareness program, he provides reflective opportunities for personal integration and for a more conscious understanding of one's self and one's world.

Institute for Mindfulness and Stress Reduction, Bedburg, Germany.

LINDA LEHRHAUPT, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches (IMA) in Bedburg, Germany. The IMA offers professional training programs in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), as well as other mindfulness-based approaches. A specialist in education and meditative bodywork and its clinical applications, Dr. Lehrhaupt has been an educator for almost 40 years. She began teahing MBSR in 1993. She is also a Supervisor for MB-Approaches teachers and a consultant to institutions and other programs. She is an assistant Zen teacher and has practicing Zen since 1979, leading retreats in Zen and Mindfulness since 1992. She is the author of Tai Chi as a Path of Wisdom (Shambhala, 2001, Stille in Bewegung (2007).

Psychoimmunology Institute, Warsaw, Poland.

Psycholog, psychoterapeuta, trener i doradca biznesu, współzałożyciel Laboratorium Psychoedukacji. Od 2005 roku założyciel i dyrektor Instytutu Psycho-immunologii –IPSI. Autor wielu książek z pogranicza psychologii, antropologii kultury i duchowości. Współtwórca programów telewizyjnych popularyzujących wiedze i refleksję z obszaru psychologii egzystencjalnej. Jego rozmowy, felietony i eseje publikowane są m.in. w pismach takich jak ; „Zwierciadło", „Wysokie Obcasy", „Polityka", „Więź", „Życie Duchowe". W pomaganiu odwołuje się do koncepcji terapii integralnej, która oprócz psychiki bierze pod uwagę także ciało, energię i duchowość człowieka.

Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders, St.Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, New York City, USA; Psychology Department, Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, New York City, USA

ANDREW TWARDON is a clinical psychologist practicing in New York City. He is a graduate of Warsaw University, Psychology Department (M.A. Clinical Psychology, 1980) and the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research. (Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, 1993) Dr Twardon specializes in assessment, diagnosis and psychotherapy of personality disorders, depression, anxiety, addictions, relational / marital and family problems. He offers training and supervision in individual and group psychotherapy to psychologists and psychiatrists as well as mentoring and coaching in psychological and interpersonal competence for individuals, teams and organizations. He has practiced Zen Buddhism since 1978, including formal koan study in the Sanbô Kyôdan tradition at the Zen Mountain Monastery where he also received Jukai and Dharma name Nyoun. Since 1981, Dr Twardon has been affiliated with several mental health and academic institutions in New York City, including the New School for Social Research, Cabrini Medical Center, New York City Department of Mental Health, St. Barnabas Hospital, HIP New York and St.Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. He is the Director of the Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders at the Department of Psychiatry of St.Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Psychology, Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research in New York. He is a member of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders and the founder of Twardon Group (www.twardon.org) - a study group dedicated to the research of psychotherapy, Buddhist meditation and personality disorders.

Brooklyn Psychiatric Center, Downtown Clinic, New York City, USA; Apres-Coup Psychoanalytic Association, New York City, USA.

ANNA TWARDON, M.A., is a psychologist and a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City. She is a graduate of the Jagiellonian University (1995) and the New York University (2005). Before leaving Poland in 2001, she had completed three years of postgraduate training at the "Laboratorium" Institute for Training and Psychoeducation in Warsaw. In New York, she trained in psychotherapy of addictions at the Outreach Project and in intensive, brief psychotherapy of acute psychiatric emergencies, inpatient and ER, at the Department of Psychiatry of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Currently she is a participant at the Apres Coup Psychoanalytic Association and a Lacanian "analyst in formation". She has been practicing psychotherapy since 2001, both in a private practice office in Manhattan and in outpatient clinics. She specializes in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy of mood and anxiety disorders, personality disorders and identity / Self problems related to bilinguality. Her main professional interests are J. Lacan's psychoanalysis and the function of language in the formation of Self and its role in the in the analytic cure. She has been practicing Iyengar Yoga since 1992 and is a member of The Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York.

Harplands Hospital, Stoke on Trent - part of the North Staffordshire University Hospital, Staffordshire, UK.

KISHORE CHANDIRAMANI was born in India from where he did his medical graduation and postgraduate training in psychiatry. He is a consultant psychiatrist and has been working in the UK for the past twelve years. He specialises in treating anxiety and stress disorders He has used the principles of mindfulness meditation and existential psychotherapy and has incorporated mind-body therapies including biofeedback treatment in his clinical practice. He practices Vipassana mediatation, a form of mindfulness meditation that he learnt in India from Mr S N Goenka. He has conducted research and published numerous articles on the efficacy of Vipassana meditation in the treatment of psychiatric disorders and in prisoner rehabilitation. He enjoys cooking, reading, country music and travelling.

Amida Trust, UK

CAROLINE BRAZIER is the course leader of the Amida Trust Psychotherapy Training Programme based in the UK. She is author of Buddhist Psychology (Constable Robinson 2003); The Other Buddhism (O-Books 2007); Guilt (in press, O-Books 2009) and Listening to the Other (in press O-Books 2009) and numerous other papers and articles on the subject. She offers training and workshops internationally on Buddhist Therapeutic Approaches.

President of Polish Transpersonal Forum, Warsaw, Poland

TANNA JAKUBOWICZ-MOUNT, MA is a psychologist and a psychotherapist. She is a graduate of Warsaw University, Psychology Department (M.A. Clinical Psychology, 1970).

Postgraduate courses:

1976-1977 USA training programme in Gestalt therapy, Reichian and Neoreichian therapy, Psychosynthesis, Bioenergetics/

1987 Gestalt Therapy Certificate given by GTILA,

1980-1995 several courses led by American and western psychotherapists in: Biosynthesis, Radix Therapy, Voice Dialogue, Transpersonal Therapy, Shamanic practices.

Professional experience:

1970-1976 Organising and leading new therapeutic centers e.g. OTIRO - The Center of Therapy and Personal Development, individual and group therapy, art therapy.

1981-1982 USA - conducting several workshops for local communities, school teams, abused women.

1982-1992 Laboratory of Psychoeducation, Warsaw, Poland - advanced group therapy.

1993-2000  Founder and President of the Polish Transpersonal Association and Holistic Training Centre for University Students together with practicing psychologists with the focus on the theory and practice of transpersonal psychology and psychotherapy.

1995-1999 Vice President of EUROTAS.

1997 - Organising 4th European Transpersonal Conference in Poland- Warsaw. Contributing to EAST-WEST Exchange of Therapist Programme.

Plenary presenter in European Transpersonal Conferences: Warsaw (1997), Assisi (2000), Lisabon (2001), Luxemburg (2002), Moscow (2005) and France (2006), Freiburg (2007), New Delhi (2008) and Barcelona (2008).

2000-2008 leading Polish Transpersonal Forum which purpose is to: prepare the ground for the reunion of man with himself, with other people and the Whole of Creation. Leading therapeutic and educational workshops based on her own approach called “therapy and growth through initiation”. Practicing buddhism and shamanism.

Warsaw Medical University (2nd Psychiatric Clinic, Psychotherapy Centre), Lecturer at Warsaw School of Social Psychology, Poland

Paweł Holas, MD, specialist in psychiatry, Cognitive-Behavior (CBT) psychotherapist and supervisor, co-founder of the Polish Association for Cognitive-Behavior Therapy; interested in mindfulness meditation and Buddhist philosophy for many years, currently he practices Vipassana meditation; leads mindfulness and acceptance based cognitive therapy group and individual interventions mainly for anxiety problems.

Apart from mindfulness his prime scientific and therapeutic interest lies in anxiety and its disorders, understanding of cognitive mechanisms that underlie vulnerability to them and their maintenance and in development of effective treatment. He is an affiliate member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies (ICACS)

Pawel is involved in sport psychology (mental training mainly for tennis players). He has been practicing yoga for many years. The president of the Polish Mindfulness Association.

Max Planck Institute, Leipzing, Germany.

After I received my PhD in anthropology and social psychology, I have been a researcher at several international research institutions (International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden, NL, Royal Netherlands' Academy of Science in Amsterdam, NL, and currently Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, D) for the past eleven years. Besides, I have been a practicing Buddhist since 1979 (student of Taisen Deshimaru Roshi, Lama Yeshe and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche) and am currently participating in a two-year personal and professional training trajectory of the Wisdom @ Work Institute, founded and led by Irini Rockwell (former faculty at Naropa Institute in Boulder and student of, among others, Chögyam Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche).

Institute of Psychology, Gdansk University, Poland

JOANNA RÓŻYCKA: Working in Institute of Psychology on Gdansk University, interested in social and cross culture psychology, specially in Buddhism Psychology. Because of looking for the Source of Buddhism philosophy, she was traveling to India, Tibet, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand where she get the opportunity to live with the original masters, monks and nuns. All the time trying to built the bridge between eastern philosophy and western psychology, in case to create more effective psychological support’s methods.