Together, we can provide access to mindfulness for all who need it

Why Mindfulness?

Because it has the power to transform lives.

The average human attention span is just eight seconds — shorter than a fish! That’s likely because increasingly in the US today, our attention and time is highly sought after, often commoditized and often spread thin. Where you focus your attention is your superpower, so we’ll keep this introduction to who we are brief.

So, WHAT DO YOU DO?

Our Core Programs

**Mindful Tool & Neuroscience Training Workshops** for students and adults
**Nonprofit/frontline staff Training** to build resilience that sustainably addresses burnout, vicarious trauma and empathy fatigue
**Free & open to public Meditation Sessions** live in public libraries, via Zoom or dial-in
**ADDITIONAL LIMITED SERVICES**
**Mindful, nonviolent communication training** and coaching for select partner and foundation leaders
**Trauma-informed and neuroscience-backed training** for select partner affiliates and diverse set of facilitators

Sessions & Workshops are

**Inclusive, trauma-informed & open to anyone.**
Appropriate for people with any level of experience, including first-timers.
Secular and science-based with guided facilitators certified and rooted in multiple trainings.
Accessible in English and Spanish with transcripts available to those with hearing impairment.

Uh Huh, ok. Who IS BEHIND THE SCENES?

Our Advisory Board

Our Founding Advisory Board launched in 2024 is serving two-year terms to lend their time, insights, and advice to help us navigate complex issues addressing the mental health crisis and support the growth of our impact to ensure we can reach our vision where mindfulness is a broadly distributed, community-based skillset.

Our Day-to-Day Team

Our staff, founders and facilitators have collectively been trained in many evidence-based mindfulness programs including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindful Self Compassion, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindful School’s curriculum, Cultivating Emotional Balance and Mindfulness in Schools Project's .B program, Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Certification Program (Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield) and Deep Play for Kids, among others.

Ella Saunders Crivello, Executive Director

Julia H., Program Manager, Facilitator

Erika Long, Co-Founder, Board Member, Facilitator

Lucy Ball, Board Chair

Ricky Belizaire, Facilitator

Kathy Hayes Bloch, Facilitator, Advisory Board Member

Jackie Carizzo, Facilitator

Dr. Jeanne Castelluci, Facilitator

Christina Dufour, Facilitator

Asha Ghosh, Facilitator

Will Heins, Co-Founder, Board Member

William Polanco, Facilitator

Leslie Santiana, Facilitator

Michelle Seaver, Co-Founder, Board Member

Carol Shear, Facilitator

Lisa Sheehan, Facilitator

Melissa Slattery, Facilitator

David Smith, Board Member

Tyler Tinsworth, Facilitator

This is all interesting and impressive, but why does it matter?

The Science of Mindfulness

Numerous studies strongly support the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, which include improved emotional regulation, focus, resilience, compassion, and mental and physical health.

Mindfulness and regular practice of meditation have been indicated to lower and reduce levels of anxiety, fear, depression, OCD, stress, and more. And this is proven for community members aged 5 to 105.

Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to reduce blood pressure and inflammation, and help with chronic pain, psoriasis, Type 2 diabetes, and fibromyalgia. improve sleep, and there's even early research on how it can help protect against Alzheimer’s.

What does community mindfulness mean, then?

We can't control the waves, but we can teach each other to surf. We have a loneliness epidemic in America. Loneliness can cost us an estimated 15 years of life expectancy. When we come together to support each other as a community, we are more connected & ever more resilient. We prioritize our initiatives on counterbalancing the overwhelming lean towards isolation that recent advances in technology and the pandemic have exacerbated. When we meet community members at their work, school or in public places that bring them together with their friends, family and others they can find connection with, the spaces become conducive to advancing positive relationships, identifying common needs and challenges, and gratitude.

Why community partnership?

Meditation and mindfulness have been linked through decades of research to physical and mental health benefits. Additionally, there are many emotional and social benefits which support community resiliency.

Despite the fact that the mindfulness tools that we share are portable, affordable and flexible, they have not historically been accessible to all.

Barriers historically have reduced accessibility to mindfulness, including:

Language: historically predominantly in English, and often in language that can culturally feel “othering”
Physical ability: encouraged or assumed must be seated on the floor
Time: taught on multiday retreats that require time away from work and caregiving obligations
Cultural considerations: taught in a religious tone despite it’s secular nature
Financial resources: fees for access to sessions and travel/housing for retreats
Transportation: offered in remote, hard-to-access locations

We have prioritized community partnerships with local organizations to reduce these barriers certain communities are facing to access critical healthcare resources.

But working within systems differs from changing them. We love this quote from Desmond Tutu, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” We are inspired to work with our community partners to find the root causes of these barriers, and help create sustainable structures that reduce suffering over the short term and long term.