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 20 + 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”.

Read about Jill’s illness and healing in the chapter called “Twisted” in Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind: Writings on the Connections Between Yoga & Buddhism edited by Michael Stone, Shambhala Publications “Is Yoga only for the body and Buddhism only for the mind? The contributors to this anthology respond with a chorus of “no!” The sixteen essays contained in Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind explore in-depth the connection between Yoga and Buddhism to show how they share origins, methods, goals, and values. Each of the two traditions can offer valuable insight into the other, and they can be combined into a unified practice that leads to insight and compassion. Contributors include some of the most prominent contemporary teachers of both Buddhism and Yoga, among them Ajahn Amaro Bhikkhu, Chip Hartranft, Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Mu Soeng, Eido Tai Shimano Roshi, Jill Satterfield, and Sarah Powers.