About Us

Kelley McCabe is the founder and CEO of eMindful. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, registered in the state of New York, and a hospital chaplain at the Indian River Medical Center. Kelley began her mindfulness practice in 1997 and has worked with mindful eating since 2002. Using mindful eating techniques, Kelley has lost over 50 pounds and has maintained her current weight without dieting. Kelley began her career on Wall Street, where she worked for 20 years as a senior executive in technology for such companies as Salomon Brothers, Lehman Brothers, and Citigroup. Kelley has an M.B.A. from New York University.

Larry Rosenberg, Ph.D., is the author of Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation and Living in the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Fully Alive. He is a senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the founder and resident teacher at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, also in Massachusetts. Larry received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Chicago and subsequently accepted a position in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Larry has practiced Zen meditation in Korea and Japan and is on the Board of Advisors at eMindful.

Ruth Quillian Wolever, Ph.D., is a clinical health psychologist and Director of Research for Duke Integrative Medicine. She is also eMindful's Chief Scientific Adviser. Dr. Wolever conducts research on the integration of mind, body, and spirit treatments into mainstream medicine. She has specifically explored such applications to improve sleep, eating behaviors, weight management, diabetes control, and cardiovascular risk factors, along with other health conditions. Much of this work centers on applying mindfulness to behavior in order to develop intrinsic skills and motivation.

Dr. Wolever's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and the Office of Women's Health), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and by GlaxoSmithKline.

William J. Sullivan - Bill has been in the investment banking and investment industry for over 25 years. He has been an effective leader in many facets of finance, capital markets origination, fixed income and equity trading, institutional distribution and corporate strategic projects. Bill most recently served as a Managing Director of Putnam Investments as Head of Fixed Income & Equity Trading, Capital Markets, and Institutional Product Management. Prior to Putnam Investments, Bill spent nine years at Swiss Bank Corporation in London and New York. He began his career with Chase Manhattan Bank in the Corporate Finance Training Program, spending three years as an analyst, then moving to London to work for Chase’s investment bank. Bill graduated with a B.S. in accounting from Providence College in 1982. Bill is married, has three boys and is an active triathlete.

Abbe M. Breiter M.S., R.D., L.D/N., is a registered and licensed dietitian in the state of Florida and offers more than 15 years experience in the weight loss and wellness industries. She received a B.S. in Exercise Physiology from Ithaca College in 1991 and an M.S. in Dietetics and Nutrition from Florida International University in 1996. Abbe has experience in clinical nutrition, food service, and clinical services management as well as long-term care, and most recently in bariatric nutrition. She continues to utilize her skills as an educator, not only at one of the largest bariatric practices in the country, but also as an instructor for both USBMI and the Endo-Surgery Institute, sharing her knowledge and experience with bariatric programs from all over the world. Abbe is past president of the Broward County Dietetic Association and in 1999 earned the Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year award. Abbe is on eMindful's Board of Advisors.

Dr. Michael Baime M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, is the Director of the Penn Program for Mindfulness and the Director of Mind-Body Programs for the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The Penn mindfulness-based stress management program has enrolled more than 6,000 individuals in a structured 8-week meditation-based training course since its inception in 1992. Dr. Baime graduated from Haverford College in 1977 and from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1981. He completed post-graduate training in internal medicine at The Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia in 1984, and served an additional year as chief resident. He is currently a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Baime was the recipient of the Appel award for student work in psychiatry in 1981 and the Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006.

Dr. Mark Bertin M.D., a board certified developmental behavioral pediatrician in Pleasantville, NY, studied at the UCLA School of Medicine and completed his training in general pediatrics at Oakland Children's Hospital in California. He was a general pediatrician for five years in Marin County, north of San Francisco, and later returned to the East Coast for fellowship training in neurodevelopmental behavioral pediatrics at the Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (Rose Kennedy Center) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Bertin is a frequent lecturer for parents, teachers and professionals on topics related to child development including literacy promotion, ADHD and autism, and also teaches mindfulness based stress reduction classes for parents. Along with Dr. Zylowska, he presented regarding "Mindfulness in ADHD Care" at CHADD's (Children and Adults with ADHD) 2008 international conference. They will be giving a related presentation at CHADD's 2009 event. He is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at New York Medical College and a consultant for Reach Out and Read, a national organization that promotes child development and literacy.

Gina M. Biegel, MA, LMFT is a psychotherapist who teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in multiple settings. She adapted the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program typically for adults for a teen population, and created Stressed Teens using the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Teens (MBSR-T) program.  She conducted a Randomized Control Trial assessing the efficacy of this program with adolescents with very significant results (JCCP; 10/09).She conducts workshops and conferences on MBSR/MBSR-T with a variety of populations including professionals, teachers, parents, and teens nationally and internationally.  A more recent area of work is in bringing mindfulness into the California Elementary School system through her role as the Director of Research for Mindful Schools and is assessing the effectiveness of such a program.  A current replication of her study with adolescents in the school system in the United Kingdom is underway through her role as partner and Director of Research for the organization, The Mindful Community.  She is also exploring brain imaging work at Stanford University with adolescents who practice MBSR-T.  Her first book, a workbook, entitled, The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens: Mindfulness Skills to Help You Deal With Stress, is currently available as well as her audio CD, Mindfulness for Teens: Meditation Practices to Reduce Stress and Promote Well-Being.

Lisa Dale Miller, MFT, is a mindfulness-based psychotherapist in private practice in Los Gatos, CA .  Lisa teaches MBSR, MBCT, MBRP and has created a Mindfulness-Based Dialectical Behavior Therapy (MBDBT) program which integrates mindfulness meditation practices with DBT's cognitive-behavioral emotion regulation skills.

Lisa is a featured presenter at conferences on the clinical applications of mindfulness meditation.  Lisa has been a yogic and vipassana meditation practitioner for more than 30 years.

Matthew Daniell is trained to teach yoga in the Viniyoga tradition of Sri T. Krishnamacharya and T.K.V. and Kasthub Desikachar. He has studied many other styles of yoga, including Iyengar and Ashtanga, and holds teaching certifications in Sivananda and Kripalu traditions. Matthew has taught yoga and meditation around the country, including Tufts University, Omega, Kripalu, and the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the guiding and resident teacher at the Insight Meditation Center of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Jennifer Davis, M.S., L.P.C - Prior to joining Duke Integrative Medicine, Jennifer provided health psychology services for multiple programs at the Duke Center for Living, including Duke Executive Health Program, Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programs, and the Getting on Track Weight Management Program. She has been working in the field of health psychology at the Duke Center for Living since 1999. Jennifer's clinical and research work has focused on lifestyle change, multicultural and gender differences in body-image, the impact of spirituality on heart and lung disease, risk and rate of recovery from heart and lung transplant, and exploring meditation and mindfulness-based treatment for binge eating, compulsive eating, and the treatment of obesity. Jennifer received her Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999.

Julie Desch, M.D., is the founder of New Day Wellness, a 501 (3) (c) organization with a mission to coach and train wellness to people with chronic illness. She has been a wellness coach and personal trainer to people with cystic fibrosis for over five years. Julie has been a meditator for over 13 years, and credits this practice for helping her live a healthy and happy life with cystic fibrosis.

Bill Eager has a mantra: Share abundance in life. Bill knows the universe has plenty to offer each of us. Bill is a successful author and international speaker. He is passionate about teaching people how to live inspired, healthy lives.

Bill is also a certified yoga instructor, Reiki and energy healer. Bill co-founded the Life Goes Om project which helps cancer patients receive free yoga classes at studios around the world and has been featured in Yoga Journal, Yogi Times, LA Yoga and Shape. Bill has written numerous articles about the physical and philosophical aspects of yoga. In addition to presentations to yoga studio owners (Yoga Journal conferences).

Carolyn B. Ellis is founder of Thrive After Divorce, Inc. Her company is commited to providing success strategies for separated and divorced individuals. A Harvard University graduate, Carolyn is a Certified Master Integrative Coach, Teleclass leader, and the first Canadian to be certified as a Spiritual Divorce Coach. She is also a part-time staff member of the Institute for Integrative Coaching at John F. Kennedy University in San Francisco, CA, and has been trained personally by its founder, best-selling author Debbie Ford. Carolyn's book, The 7 Pitfalls of Single Parenting: What to Avoid So Your Children Thrive After Divorce, will be published in summer 2007. She is a member of Collaborative Practice Toronto, an interdisciplinary organization of family lawyers, financial planners, and mental health practitioners committed to collaborative divorce principles of dignity and respect.

Edward Federici, LMFT, has over twenty years experience as a mental health care professional providing group, individual, couples and family psychotherapy to diverse populations in private practice, residential and hospital settings. Fourteen of those years have been spent as a marriage and family therapist, helping people transform negative behavior patterns into happier, healthier living. Ed utilizes proven researched techniques to help people create the changes they desire. Beyond research, Ed integrates the wisdom offered through twelve years of individual and group meditation practice-- along with practical lessons from life as a husband, father and therapist-- to help others create a happy, fulfilling life, based on who they are and what they want.

Steve Flowers, MS, MFT - is the director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic at the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California. Steve has been teaching the MBSR course for over 10 years. In addition, he has a private practice as a licensed psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of stress related conditions.

Lu French, Pharm.D., RYT, KYTA - Lu is a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher, having studied at Kripalu Center in Stockbridge, MA with Master Teachers Devarshi Steven Hartman, Stephen Cope, and Megha Nancy Buttenheim. She is also nearing completion of her 500 hour certification in Prana Vinyasa Flow with renowned teacher Shiva Rea. Lu is owner of Breathing Room Yoga in Manchester, Vermont and teaches at both Breathing Room and at Living Yoga in Vero Beach, Florida. The first 4 years of her practice were focused on the precise alignment of Iyengar Yoga before discovering the joyful spirit of Kripalu and the graceful power of Vinyasa Flow. Now Lu enjoys all forms of yoga and meditation and has found deep healing for her Fibromyalgia and Grave's Hyperthyroid Disease through these amazing practices. To her yoga classes, Lu brings 12 years of experience as a yoga practitioner as well as 12 years of experience as a clinical pharmacist with an intuitive and academic understanding of anatomy and physiology. Her style is soft spoken yet powerful. Her classes are meditative, informative, filled with creativity, music and love.

Laura Friedland, CPCC, ORSC, RN, BSN is a graduate of The Coaches Training Institute, an internationally recognized coach training school, accredited by the International Coaching Federation. She is a certified professional Co-Active Coach with advanced training in relationships and organizational systems. She has 14 years of experience as a registered nurse and graduated from Thomas Jefferson University. She is a teacher, coach, and professional speaker. Laura is co-founder of The Relationship Development Company and of Global Corporate Coaching. She has written and co-faciliated leadership development programs for executives, at-risk youth, holistic practioners, and artists. Both of Laura's companies are dedicated to dissloving conflict through peaceful communication and deep understanding. Laura has her own individual coaching practice through which she coaches others in improving relationship to self, others, and to our planet.

Dr. Jackie Gardner-Nix, MB.BS., Ph.D, MRCP(UK) graduated from London University, UK as an MB.BS. (British equivalent of M.D) and Ph.D (biochemistry), and obtained membership in the Royal College of Physicians of UK in Internal Medicine. Currently, she is a Chronic Pain Consultant, Department of Anaesthesia, Pain Clinic, St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, and Dept of Anaesthesia, Pain Management Program, Sunnybrook Health Services Centre, Toronto. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anaesthesia, University of Toronto.

In 2002, Dr. Gardner-Nix founded the Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management (MBCPM) program at St Michael’s Hospital, where chronic pain patients learn more skills for managing pain through meditation and mindfulness. She has extended MBCPM classes to distant Ontario communities via telemedicine (see website www.painspeaking.com), at first from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and later also from St Michael’s Hospital. Her book, The Mindfulness Solution to Pain: A Step by Step Guide for Working With Chronic Pain, describes the MBCPM program.

Libby Gill, served for 15 years as Senior Vice President at Universal Studios; Vice President at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting; and was the branding brain behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show. She then worked her way down the corporate ladder to coach others to success. After deciding she needed to completely re-balance her life, Libby left the corporate world and founded Libby Gill & Company. As she was reinventing her professional life, Libby's personal life also underwent a major transition. She chronicled her journey of overcoming the self-perceived limitations left behind by a family legacy of alcoholism, divorce and mental illness in her bestselling book TRAVELING HOPEFULLY. Now an executive coach, bestselling author, and columnist for the Dallas Morning News, Libby has shared her success strategies on the Today Show, the Dr. Phil Show, CNN, National Public Radio, Fox News, CBS Early Show, The Hour of Power, and in Time Magazine, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, O Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Self and many more. Libby will be teaching personal growth and motivational classes for eMindful.

Dr. Roger Jahnke, OMD, has 30 years clinical practice of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. He is a health systems futurist and inspiring lecturer and CEO of Health Action Synergies, a consulting and training company specializing in comprehensive design, modeling and implementation of programming in wellness and complementary and integrative medicine -- with a basis in health maximization. Roger is a key spokesperson for empowerment based practices of Tai Chi, Qigong – Mind-Body Practices – the fusion of exercise and meditation.   He has taught mindfulness and presence focused practice to thousands at the Omega Institute, Esalen Institute, Institute of Noetic Sciences, the Mind Science Foundation, the National Wellness Institute and the wellness committee of the American Medical Association. Dr. Jahnke is the author of bestsellers The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi as well as numerous chapters in books on holistic and integrative medicine. His research alliances with the U. of AZ and U. of IL have assisted in building the evidence base for Integrative Mind-Body Medicine.

Cheryl Jones-Reardon, CEO of The Mindful Path, LLC holds a Master’s degree in Exercise Science from the University of Connecticut and a Certificate in Spirituality from Saint Joseph College. She has completed extensive training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Cheryl is a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Health Careers at Manchester Community College and is the author of Mindful Exercise.

Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., is the author of Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications). He is a licensed psychologist—doctorate in the state of Vermont and a lecturer in psychology for the University of Vermont and a Clinical Instructor in Medicine for the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Dr. Kozak received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University and his doctoral degree from the University at Buffalo. He completed his internship as a Clinical Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. He has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1989 and yoga since 1983. Arnie has a longstanding interest in metaphors for clinical change and he has taught metaphors for mindfulness in his mindfulness-based clinical practice, The Exquisite Mind, at the University of Vermont, in workshops to health care professionals, and in consultation with athletes and corporations.

Dr. Joel & Michelle Levey have devoted their lives to exploring extraordinary human potential and the integration of the profoundly practical wisdom of the contemplative inner-science traditions into our complex modern lives. Over the past 40 years, Michelle and Joel Levey have been fortunate to engage in intensive study and practice with many of the world’s most revered contemplative teachers. They have applied what they have learned through rigorous psychophysical research, clinical practice, and teaching to diverse audiences of thousands of people in hundreds of leading organizations around the globe including: NASA, National Institute of Health (NIH), World Bank, M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center, Clinton Global Initiative, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Shell Oil, Petro Canada, Miraval, Boeing, Phillips, NOAA, U.S. Army Green Berets, West Point Military Academy, Stanford Research Institute International, and MIT. The Leveys served as Chairpersons for the Center for Corporate Culture & Organizational Health at the Institute for Health & Productivity Management, and were honored by the Institute of Noetic Sciences as leading "teachers of transformation." For more information please visit WisdomAtWork.com.

Jack Lu, LICSW, has practiced clinical social work for five years, working with a variety of client issues like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and substance addiction in various settings including outpatient counseling center, inpatient substance rehabilitation and private practice. His formal training within spiritual and meditative practices began with his passion for and study of martial arts seven years ago. He continues to incorporate compassionate balanced action within his life on a daily basis.

Frederic Luskin, Ph.D. is director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project and an associate professor at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. He has completed nine research projects on the training and measurement of forgiveness therapy. Dr. Luskin’s research demonstrates that learning forgiveness leads to increased physical vitality, enhanced optimism, and improved conflict resolution skills. His research also shows that forgiveness lessens the physical and emotional toll of stress while decreasing symptomatic hurt, anger, depression, and blood pressure. Dr. Luskin is the author of the San Francisco Bay Area best-seller Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness and Stress-Free for Good. Currently Dr. Luskin serves as co-chair of the Garden of Forgiveness Project at Ground Zero in Manhattan. Dr. Luskin’s work has been featured in Time, O, Ladies' Home Journal, U.S. News and World Report, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, U.S.A. Today and the Wall Street Journal.

Elise Mahovlich is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor. Elise's class structure includes centering, warm-ups, vinyasa (posture flow), relaxation and meditation. Each class is designed to improve flexibility, strength, balance and coordination for a whole-body workout. She is the founder and director of Living Yoga in Vero Beach, Florida, serving the community with a variety of classes and workshops dedicated to the pursuit of happiness, health and well-being. Elise has over 2,000 hours of classroom teaching experience and is a certified Prenatal Yoga instructor. In addition, she is a Third Degree Reiki practitioner.

"Even after fifteen years, yoga still amazes and delights me every time I come to the mat with its mystery and power, its elegance and simplicity. I am passionate about making yoga accessible to people of all ages and all walks of life." For more information visit www.LivingYogaStudio.com or contact Elise elise@eMindful.com.

Suzanne Matthiessen teaches empowering, mindfulness-based approaches to everyday life to individuals, groups and businesses, and specializes in bringing mindful strategies to human conflict and communication challenges via Mindfulness-Based Conflict Resolution (MBCR). During her professional practice over the past three-plus decades, Suzanne has successfully employed self-directed neuroplasticity and proactive secular mindfulness tools and techniques to help individuals and teams strengthen attention and focus, shape positive and productive thoughts, choices, actions and behaviors, reduce anxiety and stress internally and externally, and build empathy, compassion and interconnection. Suzanne is certified in hypnotherapy, is trained in the transformative model of conflict resolution via the ISCT, and is a member of the Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California. Suzanne writes a monthly column titled "Living Mindfully" for Atlanta-based Oracle Magazine, and composes a daily proactive mindfulness mediation practice called The Mindful Minute™ available by e-subscription and via her TypePad blog of the same name. She is available to present keynotes, workshops and in-house and online trainings and both one-on-one and team telephone and web-based coaching on Wholistic Mindfulness, Mindful Communication, and Mindfulness-Based Conflict Resolution (MBCR). Please visit Suzanne's website living-mindfully.com for more information.

Rebecca Mclean has been working in health care and holistic since 1974 -- in occupational therapy, stress management, multidisciplinary health teams. She co-founded Health Action in 1983, a wellness company involved in comprehensive clinical health care, wellness education and health coaching.

Rebecca is the author of The Circle of Life, and founder of the health and wellness coaching system fostering a continuous life and health improvement process through group-based life skills enhancement. She is the director of training for the Circle of Life process which is utilized in businesses, hospitals, support groups, churches, agencies, schools, and individual coaching.

Drew Overholser, M.A., has been involved with yoga and mind/body fitness for ten years. He is a certified hatha yoga instructor and the founder of Rishi's Crossing Yoga studio in Lakewood Colorado. Drew's teaching style combines alignment cues, safety, breath awareness, flowing movements, and strength building. Drew's classes provide just the right amount of challenge that leaves participants feeling strong, balanced, centered, and more alive. Drew has a master's degree in educational psychology. He is the author of the book "Foundations: expanding your possibilities for life-long wellness". In addition to yoga, Drew loves teaching, writing, golf, skiing, travel, and long walks with his dog Sophie.

Elana Rosenbaum, MS, LICSW, Elana is a leader in the clinical application of mindfulness meditation to cancer care. She is founder of Mindfuliving and co-founder of Retreats to Renew. She has authored Here for Now: Living Well with Cancer through Mindfulness, the basis of many workshops, and created audio-CDs with guided meditations. In 1995 she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and subsequently underwent stem-cell transplantation. Her ability to thrive and embody mindfulness in the face of adversity led to the development of a mindfulness-based intervention for bone marrow transplant patients at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and Dana Farber Cancer Institute where she consults and teaches meditation. She is adjunct faculty at the renowned Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where she was a senior teacher for 18 years and is currently teaching medical students. Elana has a private practice in psychotherapy in Worcester, Mass and is a sought after teacher, speaker, workshop leader and research consultant.

Amy Saltzman M.D. is a holistic physician, mindfulness teacher, wife and mother. She has been teaching Mindfulness for over 14 years. Her passion is sharing Mindfulness with children and adults. She is currently conducting two research studies through the Stanford Department of Psychology- evaluating the benefits of teaching mindfulness to child-parent pairs, and to children in elementary school. She is trained in Internal Medicine, director for the Association of Mindfulness in Education, a founding diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine, and a founding member of the Northern California Advisory Committee on Mindfulness. Before establishing a private practice in Menlo Park she served on the Board of Trustees of the American Holistic Medical Association, and as medical director of the Health and Healing Clinic, at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Dr. Saltzman offers lectures and courses for schools, parenting organizations, education and medical conferences. She also provides individual mindfulness instruction and holistic medical care to children and adults.

Michael Silverman Ed.D. is a licensed psychologist in private practice since 1983 in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. His counseling experience in the community mental health system began in 1973 with treatment of adolescents. Dr. Silverman has taught the following courses at Temple University: Group Psychology, Human Development, and Counseling & Psychotherapy. He currently teaches these classes at LaSalle University in Graduate Psychology: Counseling Principles, Group Processes, and Psychopathology. In addition, Michael is a Management and Training coach/consultant with more than 25 years experience in the private and public sectors. He has provided programs for such organizations as Independence Blue Cross, Rohm & Haas, Penn Mutual Life Insurance, and The Philadelphia Zoo.

Paul Sugar, a health-care management professional, has founded and operated a number of highly successful service-related businesses in the medical and dental fields. Beyond combining management, financial, and marketing skills to maximize the growth of these organizations, Paul has applied the principles of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Peak Performance. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in 1969, Paul began his pioneering exploration in the fields of stress reduction and performance enhancement. Paul has taught his programs in the health care, private, and corporate sectors for more than 35 years.

Chef Michelle Sugiyama is the founder of Wellconnect, Inc., a wellness teaching service, and Mindful Eating, a personal chef service that focuses on health and nutrition. She holds a Masters Degree in Chemistry from the Ohio State University and worked in the chemical industry for ten years before following her passions, cooking and teaching.  Michelle became a top honors graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and interned under a Master Chef in Avignon, France.  As a volunteer, she helped create St. Paul Public School’s Wellness Policy, effective in 2007.  Michelle’s personal and professional mission is to make a positive impact on people’s lives.

Doug Worthen currently teaches a mindfulness course at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts. He has completed the MBSR teacher training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is a student in the Sprit Rock CDL (Community Dharma Leaders) training program. As a two-time cancer survivor (B-cell and T-cell lymphoma), which involved a stem cell transplant in 2007, he has experienced firsthand the healing power of mindfulness. Doug began practicing meditation in 1999 to enhance athletic performance as a member of the UVA national championship lacrosse team and has been a dedicated practitioner ever since. He is on the board of iBme (Inward Bound Mindfulness Education) and the Practice for a Cure Foundation.

Alysa Zalma, M.D. is a Board Certified Psychiatrist by The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology who has been studying and treating men, women, adolescents and children with challenges relating to eating and eating wellness since 1993. She has worked and studied in inpatient and outpatient eating disorder treatment centers, in outpatient psychiatry clinics, and in her own obesity and eating disorder outpatient psychotherapy treatment groups on two coasts, through Tufts New England Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Oregon Health and Sciences University and through her own private practice in Portland and Lake Oswego, Oregon. Alysa received her M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1997. She completed her Internship at Harvard Medical School in 1999.

Alysa has a newly released CD, BodyImagery, which is a collection of three 19-minute Guided Imagery Music Meditations designed to transform the listener's relationship with his/her body and food. (http://cdbaby.com/cd/alysazalma) She is the Director of The BodyImagery Project (www.bodyimagery.org), whose mission it is to treat obesity and eating disorders within a multidisciplinary framework.

Lidia Zylowska, M.D. is a psychiatrist who completed her medical training at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and her psychiatry training at UCLA. Currently she is affiliated with the UCLA Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Center for Psychoneuro-immunolgy and the Center for Neurovisceral Sciences and Women's Health. During her residency training, Dr. Zylowska became interested in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and consequently completed a fellowship at the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine and worked as a chief resident of the UCLA Behavioral Medicine Clinic where she piloted a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for anxiety. In 2003, Dr. Zylowska was awarded the UCLA Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program Fellowship during which, in collaboration with the UCLA Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, she developed Mindful Awareness Program (MAPs) for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Her current research focuses on the investigation of MAP for ADHD in teens and adults as a model of a self-care approach in mental health.