B. Alan Wallace is president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. He trained for many years as a monk in Buddhist monasteries in India and Switzerland. He has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976 and has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including H. H. the Dalai Lama.  He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, and the interface between science and religion. He talks to Ellie Duke about Buddhism, the difference between Buddhism and secular mindfulness, and attention.

Before October 2013, Mindfulness First Founder and executive director Sunny Wight felt that a crucial component of child development was absent from the curriculum of central Arizona elementary schools: the concept of mindful awareness and social-emotional learning. Luckily, that month was the turning point — by the end of the year, the nonprofit Mindfulness First had kicked off its campaign of shifting the area’s educational standards toward an approach that favors the “whole child,” shaping kids to be more well-rounded, emotionally mature, and self-aware. Almost four years later, by the summer of 2017, Mindfulness First has achieved far-reaching, well-documented success in the Balsz school district of Phoenix, and this is just the beginning of a promising future, not only for the organization but also for students across Arizona.

Amidst those cold Wisconsin winters, Kelly Petrie brings warmth and energy to her practice of mindful education, bringing out the inner exuberance in all of her students. Before getting her Master of Arts in Contemplative Education from Naropa University, Petrie worked in education as a support person for children on the autism spectrum. She brings the awareness of and attention to inclusivity fostered in her previous career to her work as a mindfulness educator. Petrie strives to create a welcoming community in her workshop spaces, with a particular interest in creating an inclusive environment for students on the autism spectrum, and for transgender and gender nonconforming students. Interviewed by Eleanor Duke.