School for Compassionate Action

Jill Satterfield

Founder & Director of the School for Compassionate Action

Jill also founded Vajra Yoga & Meditation www.vajrayoga.com , an intuitive synthesis of yoga and Buddhism that combines meditation, yoga and visualization practices . An artist by nature and training, Jill turned to yoga thirty years ago in an effort to heal from a debilitating physical condition coupled with acute chronic pain. She has been practicing ever since and teaching for the past twenty – one years. In 1992, she began to extend her exploration of the integral relationship of the mind and body through the study of Buddhism. Through combining the two disciplines — yoga and Buddhism — she healed beyond her own expectations and all medical prognoses — and in the process discovered her life’s work. For the past 18 years, Jill has been traveling and teaching Vajra Yoga with some of the most respected Buddhist teachers of our time. SCA’s model and workshops are being presented around the country.

Jill is on the faculty of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindfulness and Yoga Training and Kripalu Institute’s Integrative Leadership Program for young adults. In 2005 Jill was the scholar and teacher in residence at the Kripalu Center. Jill’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Tricycle Magazine, MORE, Shambhala Sun, Crains, Self, Fit Yoga, Yoga Journal, amongst others. Shambhala Sun Magazine named Jill one of the “four leading Buddhist and Yoga teachers in the country”.

To invite Jill for a speaking engagement, or for information on hosting a SCA workshop in your community, please write to info@compassionateaction.com. To set up a private session please read about privates: http://www.vajrayoga.com/vyprivates.htm

Spiritual Advisors

Venerable Ajahn Amaro

Venerable Mingyur Rinpoche

Roshi Enkyo O’Hara

Board of Directors

Stuart Carduner

Founder and creator of Ashoka, an online Buddhist study center, and DharmaNet, a Buddhist informational portal. For 18 years he was an instructional design consultant, creating classroom and online training programs for clients such as Apple Computer, IBM, and Lotus. Prior to that he taught at the elementary, high school and university levels and directed the New Hampshire Children’s Museum.

Sophie Crichton Stuart

Sophie Crichton Stuart is founding director of the contemporary visual arts exhibition program, Mount Stuart Trust, Isle of Bute, Scotland www.mountstuart.com, a charitable trust founded 1989 to preserve, conserve and maintain the historically significant Victorian Gothic house, its collections, gardens and archives. Sophie is a board member of Public Art Fund New York, Location 1 New York and Fruitmarket Gallery Edinburgh. She is a student and supporter of SCA through her special interest in cancer care, and the integration of yoga and meditation into the medical community – patients and professionals – and into the wider community.

Jason Kessler

After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Jason earned an assistant position in NASA’s Legislative office. In just five years he was running the Legislative office’s Outreach Division as its Director and managing the staff’s interaction with Capitol Hill. By 2000, his hard work was further recognized when he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of NASA and awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

While in his various positions at NASA, Jason was exposed to all sides of the organization. Whether he was revamping existing processes within the NASA organization or conceiving a CD-ROM for NASA’s 40th Anniversary, Jason honed his ability for identifying areas of opportunity, thinking out-of-the-box and being hands-on. This unique combination of strategic planning while simultaneously managing day-to-day details set him up well for the next part of his career: entrepreneurship.

Eric Swanson

A graduate of Yale University and The Julliard School Eric Swanson is the co-author, with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, of the New York Times bestseller The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness and the follow-up book, Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom. After formally adopting Buddhism in 1995, Swanson co-authored Karmapa, The Sacred Prophecy, a history of the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. His second book on Buddhism, What The Lotus Said, is a graphic description of his journey to Tibet as a member of a team of volunteers developing schools and medical clinics in rural areas occupied predominantly by nomadic populations.

Wendy Barron, PhD.

A clinical psychologist at Gouverneur Healthcare Services, part of New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. For the past 15 years she has focused on working with adults who have a combination of medical and psychiatric problems and has developed a specialty in working with patients with chronic pain. She has worked with trauma populations including veterans, domestic violence and abuse survivors, and patients impacted by the events of 911. Dr. Barron works with a combination of interpersonal/dynamic psychotherapy and training patients in ‘mind/body’ techniques including hypnosis, meditation, muscle relaxation, and yogic breathing. As part of her work, she also strives to understand and integrate the cultural and spiritual traditions and beliefs of her patients with their therapy.

Advisory Committee

Stacey Engels

A writer and Founder/Artistic Director of rEvolution Arts & Integration (www.artsandintegration.org). She completed her SCA in 2009, and co-teaches a women’s chronic pain group at Gouverneur Medical Center with Jill Satterfield. She teaches Relaxation and Meditation classes for the elderly and yoga to middle school students through Bent On Learning. As a writing teacher and creativity coach, she often incorporates elements of yoga and meditation into her work.

Mark Hyman M.D.

Shireen Qadri

A partner at Pilot Advisors L.P., a New York-based investment firm. Prior to helping found Pilot Advisors in 2002, Shireen was an equity analyst at Glickenhaus & Co. since 1998, and spent two years at Goldman Sachs & Co. in the research department focusing on the cable and broadcasting industries since 1996. Shireen also serves on the Board of Directors of Child Nurture and Relief (CHINAR), a non-profit organization focused on the psycho-social rehabilitation of children of conflict areas. Shireen received her BS in Business Administration and her MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Douglas H. Ruest, LCSW

Doug has an MSW from New York University, where he specialized in play therapy, and is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of New York. In addition, he has post graduate certificates in individual psychotherapy from Hunter College School of Social Work and in group therapy from Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society where he is an active committee and former board member. Doug is also a member of the Association for Play Therapy and the Society for Clinical Social Workers. Doug has a diversified background in working with homeless people with HIV and AIDS as well as with children both in the foster care system as well as his current position as a staff psychotherapist with Gouverneur Diagnostic and Treatment Center where he divides his time between the Child and Adolescent Clinic and The Corlears Complex which is a middle and high school in the neighborhood of Gouverneur. Doug continues his training at The New York School for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and continues group training with the Center for Group Studies. He has maintained a private practice since 2001. Doug has been practicing yoga since the early 1990s and has studied meditation and Buddhism at the Shambahla Center in New York City. He finds that yoga and meditation are vital components of his work as a psychotherapist.

Diana Slattery

Diana Slattery, OTR/L, RYT, is a certified yoga instructor through Yoga Alliance at the 500 hour level. She has also worked as an occupational therapist for over 15 years, specializing in the rehabilitation of adults with neurological deficits. An engaging speaker, Diana has provided lectures and workshops to several Occupational Therapy programs, including Dominican College, Mercy College, and The New York Institute of Technology. Her workshops often focus on integrating the best of western and eastern medicine to optimize health and healing. Diana fully embraces the powerful ways that we can impact our own physical and psychological wellbeing through the multi-layered gifts of yoga. She completed her training with Jill Satterfield’s Vajra Yoga Social Action Teacher Training in 2009. Through this program, she is working to bring the benefits of yoga and meditation into healthcare settings for those who suffer from chronic pain and illness. Her classes emphasize self reflection and compassion towards oneself to allow an intelligent and mindful deepening of our yoga practice.