Much research has shown that meditation is one of the very best ways to cultivate the brain states of self-awareness, calm and inner peace, lovingkindness, mindfulness, and happiness – as well as strengthen the immune system and nurture other health benefits.

Join guest teacher sujatha baliga for a live-streamed weekly meditation, talk, and discussion. sujatha is a long-time Buddhist practitioner and internationally recognized leader in the field of restorative justice. A former victim advocate and public defender, she’s spent the past 18 years helping communities across the nation implement restorative justice alternatives to youth incarceration. sujatha’s restorative justice work is inspired by the personal advice she received when she was 24 years old from His Holiness the Dalai Lama about becoming a public survivor and about the forgiveness of seemingly unforgivable acts. Today, she’s dedicated to finding restorative justice responses to intimate partner violence and sexual abuse. She’s a lay member of the Gyuto Foundation, a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Richmond, CA, where she leads secular meditation on Monday nights. sujatha has been named Soros Justice Fellow, an inaugural Just Beginnings Fellow, and is currently a MacArthur Fellow. She is working on her first book.

sujatha earned her A.B. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and has held two federal district court clerkships. sujatha’s personal and research interests include the forgiveness of seemingly unforgivable acts, restorative justice’s potential impact on racial disparities in our legal systems, and Buddhist notions of conflict transformation. She makes her home in the East Bay, CA, with her life-partner of 26 years, their 17-year-old child, and their sweet, sweet dog.

sujatha’s been studying and practicing Tibetan Buddhism since 1996. Her teachers include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Chöden Rinpoche, Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa, Geshe Thubten Sherab, Geshe Ngawang Dakpa, Geshe Kunchok Tenzin, S.N. Goenka, and. Ven. Antonio Satta.

These teachings are offered freely, at no charge. And if you like, you may wish to participate in the age-old tradition of generosity through making an offering yourself – called “dāna” – to support Diana and Rick’s Wednesday Meditations. Generosity itself is a beautiful practice that opens and gladdens the heart, relaxes the contraction of “self,” and ripples out into the world to touch many people – and perhaps, eventually, even oneself.