about susan
Susan is a mindfulness educator and author, specializing in distilling global wisdom traditions and scientific research into straightforward everyday practices. In the early 2000s, she helped pioneer the introduction of secular mindfulness into classrooms through her Inner Kids model. After decades of working with children and adults, and writing two bestselling books, Susan’s latest work has culminated in a new book called REAL-WORLD ENLIGHTENMENT. With 50 short, powerful tools, it shares the lessons she’s learned as a mindfulness innovator, educator, and leader as well as insights from psychology to Buddhism and everything in between. Written for modern seekers, it offers time-tested tools that serve as an antidote to the pressures of modern life while fostering meaningful connections in our relationships, all without needing to go on some two-week silent meditation retreat, or start up a three-hour morning routine.
bio
Susan is a bestselling author, globally recognized mindfulness innovator, and leader. Her book Real-World Enlightenment: Discovering Ordinary Magic in Everyday Life is a practical guidebook to mindfulness and an antidote to the pressures of modern life. Drawn from wisdom teachings around the world, and informed by her lifetime as a seeker and distiller of wisdom, the book provides 50 tools and insights to help readers navigate the complex challenges of our times, in bite-sized pieces.
Her trademark approach to activity-based mindfulness is featured in her first book, The Mindful Child. Her second book and accompanying card deck, Mindful Games, expands on her library of activities and offers simple explanations of complex concepts, methods, and themes for children and their caregivers. Mindful Parent, Mindful Child, is an audio collection of brief guided meditations for parents and caregivers. Her books have been translated into 11 languages. Her guided meditations can be found on Insight Timer, Ten Percent Happier, and other apps.
As a trailblazer in bringing mindfulness to children’s classrooms, Susan developed the Inner Kids model, a hybrid of classical mindfulness and meditation practices adapted for children. One of the first mindfulness programs in education, Inner Kids has played an instrumental role in bringing secular mindfulness to schools and community-based programs since 2001. Research on the Inner Kids elementary school program was published in the Journal of Applied School Psychology.
Susan is a respected speaker and mentor, having appeared widely at prestigious institutions and meditation centers across the United States and abroad. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Tergar Schools Project, under the direction of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and she is a Mind & Life Fellow. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, podcasts, and other media, including The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Lifehacker, The LA Times, Ten Percent Happier, Mindful.org, Los Angeles Review of Books, and many others.
Susan spends time in Los Angeles, CA, and Brooklyn, NY with her husband. They have two grown children.
Connect with Susan by joining her email list, following her on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, or by adding one of her meditation playlists on Spotify (coming soon).
A lightbulb moment
Countless adults—parents, caregivers, teachers, clinicians— have come to mindfulness and meditation through their attempts to help the kids in their lives, and then got hooked themselves. Many had previously tried to meditate but couldn’t connect with it until they learned the simple, yet insightful mindful games for children. Through these activity-based practices, caregivers got a taste of mindfulness and meditation for the first time. For these adults, it was the aha moment they needed to bring more presence into their lives!