Swami Atmarupananda is a renowned scholar, teacher, and Monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India, a monastic organization dedicated to the teaching of Vedanta. He joined the Order in 1969 and spent many years in India engaged in monastic, scholarly and spiritual training. He combines a contemplative and mystical approach with a extraordinary scholarly training and a good sense of humor that are helpful in explaining subtle concepts of Hinduism to Western students.

Ed Bastian, Ph.D. is President of the Spiritual Paths Institute. His Doctorate is in Buddhist Studies and Western Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Bastian studied for nearly a decade with Buddhist Monks in monasteries in the U.S., India and the Himalayas. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied Indian philosophy at Banares Hindu University and translated Buddhist scriptures from Tibetan and Sanskrit sources. At the Smithsonian Institution, Bastian served as Director of programs on BioDiversity and Intellectual History, where he taught courses and moderated conferences on Buddhism, world religion, and Tibetan human rights. He has lectured, presented scholarly papers and his films in the U.S., England, Japan and India. Bastian is the Executive Producer of television programs on Asian religion for the BBC, PBS, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Shaikh Kabir Helminski is a Shaikh of the Mevlevi Order, which traces back to Rumi, and is the Co-Director of the Threshold Society. He holds a Masters Degree in Transpersonal Psychology and an honorary doctorate from Selcuk University in Konya, Turkey. He has translated many volumes of Sufi literature, including the works of Rumi, and is the author of Living Presence, The Knowing Heart, and the Beliefnet Guide to Islam. Kabir teaches widely throughout the world and is also a renowned musician, and educator.

 

Shaikha Camille Helminski is a gifted musician and author of Women of
Sufism: A Hidden Treasure, Book of Character, Book of Nature. She collaborated with Refik Algan on a translation of Ahmet Hilmiʼs classic, Awakened Dreams, and was the first woman to translate a substantial portion of the Qurʼan in her book The Light of Dawn. She has collaborated on several translations of the works of Rumi, as well as a CD of Sufi music.

Orion Pitts is Music Director at First United Lutheran Church and a student of the Spiritual Paths Institute. He has a BA in Music Education from Lenoir-Rhyne University and an MFA in Acting Performance from Rutgers University.

 

In addition to serving as a pianist for the U. S. Navy Band, and performing and teaching in professional and college theater, he has been actively involved in liturgical music for over 35 years.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Ph.D. is widely regarded as one of the most creative voices in contemporary American Judaism. An award winning poet and essayist, his liturgies are used in prayer services throughout North America. He has written over a dozen works of poetry, liturgy, short story and non-fiction including: Open Secrets, The Jewish Prophets, Proverbs, The Wisdom of Solomon, Minyan, Ten Principals for Living a Life with Integrity, Last Breaths, Open Hearts, Open Minds, and The Divine Feminine. Rabbi Shapiro is a graduate of Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, and holds a doctoral degree in religious studies from Union Graduate School.

Mary O’Hara Wyman, a practitioner of Centering Prayer for 18 years, is a devoted follower of Thomas Keating OCSO and student of the Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault. Mary is currently Chapter Coordinator of Contemplative Outreach of San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and San Mateo Counties, an organization dedicated to teaching and supporting Centering Prayer. She has focused especially on formation of meditation teachers, Centering Prayer Prison Ministry in jails and prisons and making Centering Prayer available to those in 12 Step Programs as an 11th Step practice. Mary holds a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in English Literature and Philosophy from St. Louis University. As an education, curriculum design and independent management development consultant, Mary has worked for numerous corporations worldwide; she recently retired from US Department of Labor as a Program Manager for the Job Corps federal young adult training program.