FEATURED SPEAKERS

Dr. Amishi Jha, PhD is Director of Contemplative Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami. Prior to her current post, she was an Assistant Professor at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her B.S in Biological Psychology from the University of Michigan, her Ph.D in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) from the University of California–Davis, and her post-doctoral training at the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center at Duke University in functional neuroimaging. With grants from the Department of Defense and several private foundations, she leads research on the neural bases of attention and the effects of mindfulness-based training programs on cognition, emotion, resilience, and performance in education, corporate, elite sports, first-responder, and military contexts. In her laboratory at the University of Miami, she uses functional MRI, electrophysiological recordings and behavioral techniques to understand why our attention sometimes fails us, and if it can be trained for greater focus and less distractibility. She launched the first-ever study to offer mindfulness training tools to active-duty military service members as they prepared for deployment. What she has discovered is that without intervention, attention is compromised, and attentional lapses increase. Yet, with mindfulness training, attention can be strengthened and protected. In addition to her own published body of research, her work has been featured at TED, NATO, the World Economic Forum, the Pentagon, and the UK Parliament. She has received coverage in The New York Times, TIME, Forbes, Mindful Magazine, NPR, and more. In addition, she has been interviewed by Joe Rogan, Brene Brown, Russell Brand, Deepak Chopra, Duncan Trussell, Dan Harris, Sharon Salzberg, and many others. In her national bestseller, Peak Mind (Harper Collins), she shares her discoveries on how attention can be trained for optimal performance and well-being. You can find Dr. Jha at http://amishi.com.

Lieutenant General Mary K. Izaguirre is The 46th Surgeon General of the United States Army and the Commanding General U.S. Army Medical Command. She previously served as the Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Readiness Command, East and Chief of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. She is a Medical Corps officer and has commanded at every level from battalion and brigade to Medical Readiness Command. LTG Izaguirre is board certified in Family Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Her degrees include a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, Master of Public Health from the University of Washington, Master of Military Arts and Science from the Command and General Staff College, and a Master of Science in National Security and Resource Strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School of National Security and Resource Strategy. LTG Izaguirre is an Army Flight Surgeon, has earned the Expert Field Medical Badge, the Army Staff Identification Badge, and holds The Surgeon General’s 9A Designation. LTG Izaguirre is a member of the Order of Military Medical Merit. LTG Izaguirre and her husband Joseph Izaguirre remain grounded through the joy and adventures of parenting their five children.

Parneet Pal, MBBS, MS is a Harvard- and Columbia-trained physician/educator who teaches skills and communicates ideas to advance personal, workplace and planetary health.

As the Founder of Systematically Well Advisory Inc., she works with business teams and global organizations to address leadership, performance, wellbeing and sustainability using evidence-based strategies from lifestyle medicine, neuroscience, behavioral science and psychology.

Previously, she designed preventive wellbeing programs for Executive Health (including at the University of California, San Francisco), and led faculty, curriculum and content development as the Chief Science Officer of a health start-up scaling corporate mental wellbeing.

Parneet speaks about the connections between Health, Leadership and Sustainability at global conferences and guest lectures at several universities. She has been a TEDMED scholar, Harvard Business Review contributor and has been featured on the cover of Mindful magazine.

Ali Smith, Atman Smith, and Andrés González (“The A Team”) are founders of Holistic Life Foundation (HLF), an organization established through social entrepreneurship to address the need for mental health services in underserved communities in Baltimore. HLF’s unique programming offers a dedicated approach to fostering social, emotional, environmental, and physical improvements in the lives of children and adults. Through a comprehensive approach that incorporates yoga and mindfulness instruction, workforce development, teacher training, outreach, and education, HLF programs are making a direct impact for underserved populations across the country and throughout the world. 

HLF’s socioemotional behavioral curriculum is threaded with experiences that encourage youth and young adults to develop their inner lives through yoga, mindfulness, conflict resolution, teamwork, restorative practices, and self-care, and to appreciate the value of learning, community, and stewardship of the environment. HLF’s drive is to provide underprivileged youth with an opportunity to achieve optimal success and to create a path for a healthy, sustainable life. They achieve this by providing trauma-informed care, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques, yoga, and self-care exercises that facilitate regulating emotions. These tools have proven to improve memory and resolve learning issues while reducing chronic and toxic levels of stress, anxiety, anger, impulsive behavior, Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs, depression, emotion dysregulation, post-traumatic stress, and inability to focus.

Since its inception in 2001, HLF has facilitated yoga, mindfulness, and environmental-based programs for youth in schools, recreation centers, group homes, and the Baltimore Juvenile Detention Center. HLF also facilitates adult programs in many different settings, including drug treatment centers, mental illness facilities, colleges, senior centers, schools, and wellness centers across the nation. Work at HLF has been featured by CBS News, CNN, NBC Nightly News, “Making a Difference,” PBS, O, The Oprah Magazine, Forbes, The Washington Post, Upworthy, Mindful Magazine, Yoga Journal, Shambala Sun, and many other outlets.

Our ability to provide thousands of children in schools throughout Baltimore with training in yoga, mindfulness, and emotional self-regulation encourages community-wide peace. They teach their parents, siblings, neighbors, and friends. HLF is building a movement, and we thank our generous supporters in Baltimore and beyond.  

Ali Smith was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a graduate of the Friends School of Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park, where he received a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy with a biodiversity specialization. Ali started his journey with contemplative practices as a small child, learning meditation from his father and attending the Kriya Yoga-based Divine Life Church of Absolute Oneness run by Swami Shankarananda. He deepened his practice as a young adult, learning yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and breathwork from his teacher and godfather, Will Joyner. 

Ali has almost 20 years of experience teaching yoga, mindfulness, and meditation internationally to a broad demographic spectrum spanning seven countries on three continents. He has taught in schools, retreat centers, wellness centers, mental crisis facilities, detention centers, drug treatment centers, the corporate setting, as well as in private one-on-one sessions. He co-founded the Holistic Life Foundation in 2001, where his leadership as Executive Director helped grow HLF into an organization that employs more than 50 people and serves communities worldwide. He is a published author, has written several curricula, and is a pioneer in the fields of yoga and mindfulness in education, as well as trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness, developing best practices that are used around the world. Ali is also a co-host of the Look Again podcast and co-owner of the Involution Group.  

Atman Smith, a native of Baltimore, attended the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was a letter award winner for the University’s men's basketball team and graduated with a B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice. He is a co-author of the recently published book Let Your Light Shine. A co-founder of the Holistic Life Foundation, he served as Director of Youth Programming for 10 years, Director of Fundraising for five years, and the Director of Development for five years. Since 2001, he has been teaching yoga and mindfulness to a diverse population including underserved and high-risk youth in Baltimore City Public Schools, in drug treatment centers, and in wellness centers, colleges, and corporate America.  His work has been featured on Good Morning America, Steven Spielberg’s “Why We Hate” Docuseries, and in many other publications. In 2019 he helped found The Involution Group, providing high-quality products and services to enhance the human experience, using mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and other self-healing arts through books and curricula, apps and video games, speaking engagements and workshops, and life coaching.

Andrés González is a Puerto-Rican American teacher, author, and musician. He has taught yoga and meditation to diverse populations worldwide for 20 years and is a co-founder of the Holistic Life Foundation. He has partnered with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health and Penn State’s Prevention Research Center on a stress and relaxation study and is a published author in the Journal of Children’s Services. Andrés is a certified Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and maintains a B.S. in Marketing and an MBA from the University of Maryland. His teaching and music center around the liberation of marginalized individuals and communities through personal empowerment, healing, and love. Let Your Light Shine is his first book.

7 p.m. FIRESIDE CHAT
Dr. Amishi Jha, Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, with LTG Mary K. Izaguirre, Surgeon General of the United States Army, and Sara Flitner, Founder and President, Becoming Jackson Whole; Moderated by Jimmy Bartz, St. John's Episcopal Church

8:30 AM Coffee and Socializing (lobby)

9:00 AM A Moment to Arrive Mindfulness Practice with Morgan Jaoeun, Executive Director of History Jackson Hole

9:05 AM Becoming Jackson Whole | Conference Welcome/Overview with Sara Flitner, Founder and President, Becoming Jackson Whole

9:15 AM The Science of Peak Performance with Dr. Amishi Jha, Neuroscientist and Bestselling Author of Peak Mind

9:45 AM Where Mind Meets Matter: Observations from the Kelly Parcel Team with Leslie Mattson, President, Grand Teton National Park Foundation; Chip Jenkins, Superintendent, Grand Teton National Park; Jeremy Barnum, Chief of Staff, Grand Teton National Park; Erin Taylor, Taylor Strategies and Consulting; Moderated by Debbie Barker , Board Member, Grand Teton National Park Foundation

10:15 AM Practice

10:30 AM Break

10:45 AM Behavioral Health Community Survey: Results and Resources with Jeff Sollis, CEO, St. John’s Health  

11 AM Whole Health: A Conversation Between Our Inner and Outer Ecologies with Dr. Parneet Pal, Founder of Systematically Well; Introduction by Les Brunker, Advisory Board Member, Becoming Jackson Whole

NOON Sound Bowls with Christine Stevens, MSW, MA, MT-BC, Music Therapist and Founder, UpBeat Drum Circles

12:15 PM Lunch on Own

1:30 PM Making Mindfulness Work for You: A WORKSHOP with the “A Team” from Holistic Life Foundation with Ali Smith, Atman Smith, Andrés González; Introduction by Cecilia Herbert, Blackrock's iShares ETF Funds Trustee and Past Chair

3:00 PM Break

3:15 PM WORKSHOP con’t

4:15 PM Everyday Mindfulness: Inspiring Stories from YOU, the People of Jackson Hole; Facilitated by Sue Mason, Mindfulness Trainer and Board Member, Becoming Jackson Whole

4:30 PM Wrap up and thank yous along with a closing mindfulness practice and followed by social time and book sales (lobby)