A Tibetan History of Mindfulness
This event is closed for registration. A recording of it will be available in April. Subscribe to stay informed of future releases.
A Virtual Community Education & Practice Space
This talk emphasizes the link between ethical mindfulness and decolonization.
Despite being integral to the development of mindfulness in the West, Tibetans have been all but erased from this multi-billion dollar industry. Weaving storytelling, history, and pop culture, trans Tibetan educator Dr. Tenzin Mingyur Paldron explains the idea of ethical mindfulness and invites guests to consider:
What would the practice of mindfulness look like if it were a genuine cultural exchange instead of spread through colonization, genocide, and capitalism?
Dr. Tenzin is joined in conversation by writer and facilitator Lekey Leidecker and decolonial yoga and embodiment teacher Penpa Dolma, who will synthesize the session in an experiential-healing practice of body, speech, and mind. A Q&A will follow.
Dr. Tenzin discusses the practice of ethical mindfulness in his dissertation (UC Berkeley, 2021).
”While many have a favorite tool for meditation or mindfulness, few are aware of the people and events that have led to these cultural phenomena. At this event, guests will learn how the neuroscience of meditation owes its investigative impulses to a colonized community.” —Dr. Tenzin Mingyur Paldron
This event will be recorded over Zoom, with audience privacy preserved (guests will be hidden from view).
Continue reading for speaker bios.
Speaker bios
Dr. Tenzin Mingyur Paldron (he/they/ཁོ་/ཁོང་) is a Tibetan and transgender artist-educator. He is the author of A Capacity to Change and the creator of the video exhibit Power, Masculinity, and Mindfulness. They have a PhD in rhetoric from UC Berkeley where they wrote the dissertation Tibet, China, and the United States: Self-immolation and the limits of understanding. @doctenzin / paldron.com
Penpa Dolma (she/we/མོ་/ང་ཚོ་) is a decolonial yoga and embodiment teacher. She is the co-founder of Innovative Yogis, an entity whose mission is to bridge ancient wisdom with modern culture and usher consciousness shift in these crucial times. She was born in Tibet and grew up as a Tibetan refugee in India before moving to Turtle Island/USA in her mid 20s. @yogaofinconvenienttruths / www.innovativeyogis.com
Lekey Leidecker (she/her/མོ་) is a Tibetan writer born and raised in Berea, Kentucky. Her family is from Pemako. She divides her time between New York City and London. Her poems and essays have been published in Yeshe, The Pomelo, Diaspora Baby Blues, ANMLY, Genre: Urban Arts, Rigorous, and elsewhere. Her first poetry collection, Learning Tibetan, debuted from Blackneck Books in 2023. ལེགས་སྐྱིད། See her availability and whereabouts here: www.lekeyleidecker.com