Dr. Stephanie Mines is the author of five books that reflect over three decades of research as a neuroscientist. She has investigated shock and trauma as a survivor, a professional, a clinical researcher, and healthcare provider. Her nonprofit The TARA Approach is instrumental in the systemic change she promotes as a Sustainable Health paradigm.

Dr. Mines also developed Climate Change & Consciousness to facilitate inner transformation for grounded climate action. Climate Change & Consciousness serves an international and intergenerational community of visionary activists.

An accomplished speaker and teacher, Nikki is an MBA, E-RYT500, Yoga Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Addictions Recovery Specialist, and Ayurvedic Specialist. Born from her struggles with addiction and work with countless students, Nikki is the founder of Y12SR, Yoga of 12-Step Recovery. Based on its theme ‘the issues live in the tissues’, Y12SR is a relapse prevention program that weaves the art & science of yoga with the practical tools of 12-step programs. 

Y12SR meetings are available internationally and the curriculum has rapidly become a feature of addiction recovery treatment centers.   Nikki’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Black Enterprise, The Huffington Post, Origin Magazine, CBSnews.com and countless podcasts.  She is honored to be a co-founder of the annual Yoga, Meditation and Recovery Conferences at Esalen Institute and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.  Nikki has been featured as a keynote speaker at the International Association of Yoga Therapist (IAYT) conference and the International Conference on Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  She was named a Yoga Journal Game Changer and is an honored recipient of the esteemed NUVO Cultural Visionary Award.

Sharon A. Suh is Professor of Buddhism at Seattle University and certified Mindful Eating-Conscious Living teacher. She received her Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University and is a 200 RYT who teaches in the areas of Buddhism, race, gender, mindfulness, and trauma healing.

Lorenz Christian Sell is the co-founder of Sutra.co, a platform designed around relational group learning experiences online. Sutra has supported programs at the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, the United Nations, the Presencing Institute, as well as many other organizations and individuals. Together with his partner, he created Transformational Teaching Online, a mentorship program that has helped hundreds of educators facilitate experiences that emphasize meaningful connection and conversation. He has spent almost two decades building technology companies and has a deep interest in how technology can be used to cultivate mutual support and shared understanding. He is a certified yoga teacher and received a degree in Computer Engineering from Tufts University.

Dr. Amber Elizabeth Lynn Gray, Executive Director of Restorative Resources LLC, The Kint Institute and her own planetary rights non-profit, Trauma Resources International, is an award winning dance movement therapist, a human rights psychotherapist, a long time practitioner and teacher of yoga, and an authorized Continuum teacher.  Amber has worked for 24 years with people who have survived human rights abuses, war and torture. Amber originated Restorative Movement Psychotherapy , the only framework for dance, movement, mindfulness  and creative arts therapies with refugees and survivors of torture, and Polyvagal-informed  Dance/Movement and Somatic Therapies for trauma,  based on a deep immersion into Polyvagal Theory. Amber provides training and consultation nationally and internationally on restorative treatment for survivors of relational, social, collective and ancestral trauma. She is an innovator in the field of staff care for first responders in disasters and complex humanitarian emergencies. Her expertise is the integration of creative arts and body-based psychotherapy into “mainstream”, multi-cultural clinical, psychotherapeutic and healing practices, often in low resource contexts. She is a regular conference presenter and keynote speaker, and has authored many peer-reviewed publications on movement therapies and trauma.  She regularly leads eco-somatic, “wild-zeness” retreats for survivors of trauma. 

Olivia Bareham is a Death Midwife, Interfaith Minister, Master Teacher and Founder of Sacred Crossings -The Institute for Conscious Dying and Alternative Funeral Home in Los Angeles. She was born and raised in England and received her BA in Education from the University of London and a bachelors in Natural Theology and Sacred Healing from the Healing Light Seminary in California. Olivia offers spiritual end-of-life counseling to individuals and their families and guides them to reclaim the healing ritual of a home funeral.  

Her training program, ‘The Art of Death Midwifery’ is an intensive 3-level course that encompasses the roles of death doula, spiritual end-of-life counselor, home funeral guide and celebrant. It is unique, rich, deep and profoundly relevant today, more than ever. For more information visit: Sacredcrossings.com Sacred Crossings publishes The Death Care Directive - a planning booklet for your funeral and final disposition. To purchase, visit deathcaredirective.com

Julie Coren: A long-time lover of dance, the healing arts, and improvisational storytelling; Julie has studied expressive arts and movement with the Tamalpa Institute, Somatic Movement Arts, Continuum, Moving Theater, Dance Alive, Medicine Dance and has an MA in Creative Writing.  Her work is grounded in the body and desire -- their abiding and guiding force -- and informed by depth psychology, and the mythic realms.  Committed to the practice of movement, and to using the expressive arts as a means of evolving our lives forward, Julie integrates image, myth, sound, song, and story into her work.  She is an Expressive Arts Educator, Movement Explorer, Writer, and facilitator of Cultivating an Embodied Life: From Imagination to Manifestation.  She is currently completing coursework to become a Registered Drama Therapist.

TJ Woodward is a bestselling author, inspirational speaker, and revolutionary recovery expert who has helped countless people through his simple, yet powerful teachings. He was given the honor of being ordained as an Agape minister by Dr. Michael Beckwith, and is also the founding minister of Agape Bay Area in Oakland, which was the first satellite community of The Agape International Spiritual Center in LA. 

TJ is a featured thought-leader on wholehearted.org along with Brené Brown, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Gabor Maté, and Mark Lundholm. He is also the creator of The Conscious Recovery Method, which is a groundbreaking and effective approach to viewing and treating addiction.

TJ is the author of the bestselling books, Conscious Being: Awakening to your True Nature, Conscious Recovery: A Fresh Perspective on Addiction, and Conscious Creation: 5 Steps to Embracing the Life of Your Dreams, as well as the co-author of their accompanying workbooks. www.tjwoodward.com

“My life long dance training and passion for the healing arts has been my teaching foundation. My private work and classes develop awareness to facilitate healing the body/mind continuum through insight, transformation and integration.”

I am an accomplished dancer, teacher and choreographer who ran my own company, Rita Rivera & Dancers in Santa Cruz California from 1983-1996. I was the founding member and artistic director of the Santa Cruz Dance Gallery from 1993-2000, the first independent dance performance center in Santa Cruz, California. 

My investigation into the healing arts is my life’s passion. I have travelled into the high Andean mountain passes and to the shores of Lake Titicaca visiting and sitting in ceremony at sacred sites and temples with extraordinary medicine men and women. My journey took me to the Medicine-less Hospital” in China, where miraculous healings occur using the ancient practice of Chigong.

I received certification in the Alexander Technique in 1993 and have taught dance and the principles of the Alexander Technique at Cabrillo College, University of California Santa Cruz, San Jose State University and Sonoma State. I traveled to and received certification (1996), in Chi-lel Chigong from Qinhuagdao China. 

Katie Asmus is a Somatic and nature-based Psychotherapist, Ceremonialist, Coach, Mentor, Teacher and Rites of Passage Guide. Katie is in awe of the amazing inner wisdom, innate capacity to heal, and overall brilliance of human beings and draws great resource and guidance from the earth, her community as well as from the unseen world. Founder and director of the Somatic Wilderness Therapy Institute in Boulder, CO, (US), Katie describes her work as: bringing forth the innate wisdom within every-body, opening people’s minds and hearts to greater possibilities, and bringing more love and peace to the planet through tending the hearts and souls of the humans. With a Masters degree in Somatic Psychology, over 30 years leading individuals and group programs out in nature, and a lifetime of apprenticing to ceremony and rites of passage, Katie says the essence of her work is normalizing, celebrating and bringing compassion to what it means to be human.  

For the past 20 years, Katie has taught graduate students at Naropa University and Prescott College in the areas of Somatic and Nature-based Therapies. In addition, she currently facilitates both on-line and in-person trainings in Somatic Trauma work, Ceremony & Rites of Passage facilitation, and a wide variety of wilderness, adventure and nature-based therapy skills. Having sat with thousands of people from around the world and from all walks of life, Katie strongly believes in the medicine of following our deepest longing while simultaneously knowing/feeling our interconnection and belonging within the greater web of life.

Julie Martin teaches yogis around the world how to break free from linear yoga and invites you into a practice that embraces your individuality and curiosity. An EMBODIED Yoga based on a sensory experience, free from outdated dogma and limited linear structures.

Raised as a Vendatist, she grew up immersed in the philosophy of yoga. In her 20's she began to practice asana and research different ways of moving while studying the history of yoga. The resulting discovery is that yoga is EVOLVING and always has, so we have permission to explore these practices, challenge the myths, and move forward with knowledge and awareness. Her mission is to EMPOWER your practice. To help find your own pace, fluidity, and strength in a structure that is an invitation, not a rule. Tap into your curiosity and trust your experience to take charge of your practice on and off the mat.

Leilani Raashida Henry, licensed Educational Kinesiologist, is a game changer. Her transformative whole brain strategies bring lightening-speed results to tough personal, leadership and organizational challenges. Her lifetime experience in the performing arts is integrated into her unique approach to leadership, inclusion and transformation. Leilani is a demonstrated thought leader in the field of Organizational Development, as cited in several national publications and organizations such as Fortune, the Fetzer Institute and ‘new visions in business’.  FastCompany identified her as one of their RealTime Models and Mentors.

Formally Director of Training and Development with Jones Intercable and an Organizational Development specialist at Honeywell and Lockheed Martin, she is Founder and Chief of Joy & Excellence for Being & Living Enterprises, LTD. She was awarded a fellowship for her work in the field of Dialogue at Regis University’s and coaches Fortune 50 companies, international scientists and Ivy league universities. Leilani assists teams and talented leaders from non-profit boards to artists, to corporate leaders, and activists in their ability to transform and thrive. 

Her lifetime experience in the performance and healing arts is integrated into her unique approach to coherence. She’s created Brain Jewells® wearable art and healing system; The Leadership Vitality Checkup 360º assessment and authored “Navigating Conflict” a chapter, in the 1st edition of Management and Leadership Skills for Medical Faculty. 

Leilani graduated from Spelman College and received a M.A. from St. Thomas University. Her first book The Call of Antarctica: Exploring and Protecting the World’s Coldest Continent launched October 5, 2021. www.thecallofantarctica.com/

Sara is the Founder and President of Hartcom, a consulting company founded in 1996, which specializes in building effective groups, developing leadership excellence, and maximizing employee effectiveness.  In much of her work Sara focuses on the importance of developing a Thinking Environment™ in which we all can do our most creative and brilliant thinking. 

Dr. Hart earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern University and then taught at Queens College in New York City before joining Pfizer Inc.  During her 20 years at Pfizer, she was responsible for a wide range of HR activities, including building and managing the learning and development function for the research division in the US, helping to develop strategy for process redesign and launching the change within the organization.  She also was Head of HR at Pfizer’s research center in the UK.

Sara is a certified coach from the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, HeartMath Inc, and from the world-renowned Time to Think, Inc.  She is an experienced consultant to organizations and public speaker.

She is the author of two books: “The Upside of Downsizing: Getting to Enough,” and Prime Spark: Women Over 55, It’s Our Time!”  She lives in Los Altos, CA with her cat, Mr. Bu.

Stephen helps leaders find their voice, align with their values, and act on their aspirations. Through his shoulder-to-shoulder coaching style and by leveraging his decades of experience as a Conflict Resolver, he accompanies leaders as they explore what really matters so that they can achieve their most deeply-held leadership goals. 

His practice primary focuses on workplace disputes involving leaders/supervisors and those who report to them. At this nexus, he regularly encounters leaders who are deeply challenged by their circumstances and taken to the very edge of their leadership capacity. Stephen enjoys coaching these clients to uncover new opportunities for engagement and resources for support and development. Most importantly, he values the deep learning and insights they gain about the patterns they are ‘stuck’ in and the ways they can more effectively coordinate and take action with others. 

Stephen has parlayed his decades of experience in the Japanese martial art of Aikido and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to enhance his work as a Somatic Educator. For over two decades he has studied how embodiment can help us better manage conflict and is master embodiment teacher, Dr. Paul Linden’s senior student in Embodied Peacemaking.  Stephen is known for his practical, engaging and highly interactive teaching style and is sought out for his insight and innovative ways of tackling difficult disputes. He can be found at www.StephenKotev.com

For 13 years Nicole lived the dream, leading teams around the world for a multinational Tech company. Until one day she woke up burned out. And if that wouldn’t be enough, let’s throw a herniated disk on top of it, so she was not only rendered aimless, but motionless and somewhat speechless. 

She had to relearn to say YES TO HERSELF first. And creativity and movement taught her how to do that: How to connect with herself and others. How to let go of attachment, old beliefs and stories, and open her heart to new possibilities, without shame or guilt. 

Nicole is on a mission to support women to know and trust their head, heart, and body to transform limiting beliefs and create choices that will bring their lives and careers to new heights. 

Her international experience managing diverse teams at Google, along with her innate understanding of human behavior and motivation, has made her a sought-after manager and coach throughout her career.

She is the creator and teacher of corporate and public workshops: The Wisdom of Saying No / Yes - Honor Yourself First, Wellbeing@Work, Emotional Wellbeing in Uncertain Times, Uniquely You.

Michelle James, founder of The Center for Creative Emergence, is a whole-brain, whole-body creativity coach and catalyst who has been using universal creative principles and the process of emergence as the basis for her work with thousands of people - individuals, organizations, and communities - for over two decades.

Michelle developed the Creative Emergence Process, Principles and Practices - which is both a framework and integrative approach for creatively unfolding what's next. Known for her original and richly textured dynamic and imaginative learning environments, Michelle presents at learning and creativity events internationally. She’s is one of the pioneers in Applied Creativity, Applied Improvisation, and Somatic Creativity - using the body as a creative resource - in the workplace.

She is a CoreSomatics™ Movement and Bodywork Master Practitioner, and weaves body-centered practices into all of her programs and her coaching. Michelle performed full-length improvised plays with Precipice Improv for 10 years and was in Playback Theater for 3 years, where she further learned how important the body is in creativity and transformation.

Michelle sees the body as an essential pathway for generative creativity, energy, and aliveness. Her websites are https://www.creativeemergence.com and https://creativeemergencecoaching.com.

Hiie Saumaa (PhD, Columbia University) is a dancer, writer, educator, and movement artist. She teaches classes in somatic dance and somatic strength training. She writes about somatics, health, creativity, and somatic choreography in international dance and alternative therapy journals. She's currently finishing a book on the creative process of the choreographer Jerome Robbins. Hiie is originally from Estonia, studied and lived in the United States for over a decade, and is currently based in Paris, where she is teaching dance and movement courses in person and online.

Kim Sales is an intuitive artist and creativity coach in Minneapolis, MN. She’s worked for advertising, publishing & retail companies in various creative positions throughout her career. In 2020 she took the leap to follow her heArt and started her online art business KimSales.com that features, original work, everyday art products, prints and creativity coaching to help people ignite their creative spark and start creating again! 

The artists paintings are mix media using mainly acrylic, watercolor & oils. She uses bright colors, lots of texture and layers to evoke a feeling of discovery that invites the viewer to explore and find new details each time they look at a piece. She holds a BFA from MCAD, and spends time in her studio creating everyday - it’s her happy place!

Margaret Nash (Peggy) Rubin is founding director of the Center for Sacred Theatre in Ashland, Oregon. Primary activities of the Center include the creation of workshops in Living Life as Sacred Theatre, and Sacred Studies of the Divine Feminine. Since 1987 she has also been the principal teaching associate of Jean Houston, Ph.D., in Dr. Houston’s worldwide multicultural transformational work and in her schools of spiritual studies, as well as a member of the core faculty of the School for Social Artistry, an intensive leadership training program. Working with Jean Houston, Peggy Rubin has presented classes, workshops and trainings throughout the United States, and in Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Sweden, Greece, Egypt, The Netherlands, India, West Africa, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Jamaica, and on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme, in Albania, St. Lucia, Barbados, Kenya, and the Philippines.

Before joining Dr. Houston’s staff in 1987, Peggy was for 14 years the Public Information and Education Director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, one of the largest classical repertory companies in the United States. Before that she was a bank executive for First Western Bank in Los Angeles. She has also been a teacher of English, a freelance writer and editor, and an actor.

She holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Texas, and has taken courses, primarily in Economics, at the University of California at Los Angeles, and in the Environment at Southern Oregon University. She has studied extensively with Elaine De Beauport, Ed.D., founder of the Mead Institute, leading teacher of humanistic and behavioral applications of current brain/mind research; and with William Emerson, Ph.D., pioneer in the field of pre- and peri-natal psychology, and its importance in understanding human development. In 2019, Peggy was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Meridian University. 

Acting roles, spanning 50 years and more:

“Peggy’s presence onstage is fierce and committed. She is determined to bring emotional truth to whatever role she has been assigned or on which she is working; she also has an all-too-rare charismatic, luminescent quality that makes her portrayals seem lit and guided from within.” 

–Paul Barnes, Founding Director of the Great River Shakespeare Festival.

Cheryl Pallant, PhD, is a published author, poet, energy healer, somaticist, dancer, and teacher. Her recent book is the poetry collection Her Body Listening and the nonfiction book Writing and the Body in Motion: Awakening Voice through Somatic Practice. She leads her Writing From the Body workshops internationally, is a Reiki and Healing Touch practitioner, and teaches dance and writing at University of Richmond. Her ongoing interests include embodiment, consciousness, meditation, sustainability, contact improvisation, bicycling, and yoga. She sees somatic practices as an essential component in awakening our body in interdependent relationship with the Earth as the way forward in this pivotal moment on the planet. 

Dr. Rachel Allyn is a licensed psychologist focusing on the intersection of mind-body medicine and relationship & sexual health. As a certified yoga teacher, she incorporates the body into her sessions and leads yoga therapy workshops and retreats. She just released a book called “The Pleasure Is All Yours” on the same topic as her 2019 TEDx talk, focusing on body-based methods (including her method of bodyfulness) to help clients have more healthy pleasure in their lives.

Lane Arye, PhD is a senior trainer in Processwork (developed by Arnold Mindell) and a founding faculty member of the Process Work Institute. Whether teaching, working in private practice, facilitating community and organizational conflicts, or learning & training alongside social justice groups, Lane partners with people to help create more inner and outer freedom and wholeness. He co-led a six-year UN funded project in the Balkans that brought together Serbs, Croats, and Muslims after the war to work with ethnic tension, post-war trauma, and build sustainable community.

 He lived in Warsaw, training the first generation of Polish Process Workers. Lane developed Unintentional Music, a way of working with musicians, non-musicians, and creators of all types to help them transform their music, their art, and themselves.

 He does a lot of training and inner work around race, whiteness and resilience, and is a member of the Racial Justice Collaborative, a black led, multi-racial, multi-generational team of facilitators, educators, and activists. He is the author of Unintentional Music: Releasing Your Deepest Creativity; "The Vicious Cycle of White Centrality" (in Kenneth V. Hardy’s The Enduring, Invisible, and Ubiquitous Centrality of Whiteness); and co-author of "Transforming Conflict Into Community: Post-war Reconciliation in Croatia" (in The Politics of Psychotherapy: New Perspectives). Lane lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two teens, who grow his heart every day. He loves to play music, meditate, and follow the mystery. Pronouns: he/him/his. www.ProcessWorkLane.com

Todd Norian, E-RYT 500, internationally acclaimed yoga teacher, author of Tantra Yoga: Journey to Unbreakable Wholeness, and founder, seeks to awaken others to their inherent potential for healing and joy by integrating the body, mind, and heart through yoga and meditation. Believing that yoga is a gateway for self-discovery and spiritual growth, Todd founded Ashaya Yoga® in 2012 to guide his students through an alignment-based, heart-opening practice that builds strength and flexibility while giving them access to the universe of power within. A student of yoga since 1980, Todd brings therapeutic, biomechanical knowledge, Tantra philosophical teachings, and an unapologetic sense of humor to his online workshops and trainings. As a classically trained jazz musician, Todd created several music albums for yoga and relaxation, including Bija: Soothing Music and Mantras for Yoga and Meditation. Practice with Todd online at www.ashayayoga.com, facebook, youtube. 

Mark Andreas lives in Boulder CO, where he runs a private practice offering NLP Change Coaching to individuals around the world. Meeting both in-person and over video conference, Mark helps people resolve limitations and achieve life-goals using NLP, Core Transformation, the Wholeness Work, Metaphors of Movement, and other methods for personal transformation and development (www.markandreas.com). Mark also trains NLP internationally, including the Advanced Core Transformation course, and the Core Transformation Coach Certification course, both of which he co-designed with his aunt Tamara Andreas in 2020 (www.AndreasNLP.com). Mark is author of the books “Sweet Fruit from the Bitter Tree: 61 stories of creative and compassionate ways out of conflict,” and “Waltzing with Wolverines: finding connection and cooperation with troubled teens.” Email Mark at: wovenwords@gmail.com

PAUL LINDEN PhD is a body awareness educator, martial artist, and author.. He holds a BA in Philosophy and a PhD in Physical Education. He has been practicing and teaching aikido for 50 years and is a sixth degree black belt in the art. He holds a, a first degree black belt in Karate and a certificate as an instructor of the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education. He has developed a rapid and explicit way of communicating body information and has applied that in areas such as sports, computer use, attention disorders, trauma recovery and conflict resolution.

He has had Parkinson's for 18 years and has found ways to work with it. His particular passion right now is saving the planet, so his grandchildren will have someplace to live. People who are numb, afraid, angry and powerless cannot face the task. Through body awareness education people can create the power and courage and love they will need. His upcoming book is titled: 

It's all the same except for the differences — body awareness, wholeness, peace and sustainability — 50 years of martial arts training.