My Story

My journey as an educator began in New York City, against the backdrop of September 11, 2001, when I was a Masters Student in Teachers College, Columbia University. I felt called to advocate for compassion and intergroup dialogue amidst rising religious and ethnic discrimination in my beloved New York. A few years later, I found my spiritual compass, in the form of my Guru, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Hindu spiritual and humanitarian leader. I embarked on a path of self-discovery and community engagement, shaping my approach to education. For over two decades, I have taught in diverse settings, including New York public schools, educational NGOs and schools in India, and higher education.

Before pursuing my doctorate, I led national research and impact efforts for a school-based initiative focused on breathwork, meditation, and social-emotional learning—the seeds of spiritual discipline. That experience—working with educators, researchers, and students—led me to see the profound impact of contemplative practices and the limits of current frameworks to fully grasp and communicate their potential. This work in the space of interdisciplinary research led me to pursue a doctorate, where I began asking deeper questions about education, intuition, and human flourishing.

My doctoral research at Teachers College focused on the identity and belonging of second-generation Hindu American teachers in U.S. public schools. My forthcoming book, Listen Without Prejudice, is based on an ethnographic study with Hindu American parents and youth. I explore how Hindu Americans are shaping—and being shaped by—the promises and contradictions of American public education, democracy, and citizenship. I also serve as the Director of Understanding Hinduphobia, a national initiative that I co-founded in 2021. UH supports K–12 and higher education institutions in addressing bias, improving representation, and advancing dignity for Hindu students and communities.

Today, my work is moving inward from identity, more deeply into the study of consciousness, intuition, and learning futures. After years of exploring identity, belonging, and contemplative practice in education, I find myself in a moment of profound emergence—one where the threads of research and lived experience are pulling me inward. I am turning toward the interior space of knowing to ask: What becomes possible when we design education from the ground of being itself? What are we missing when we marginalize intuition, awareness, and interior life as central to how we learn and become? This is not a departure from my past work, but its evolution. I am developing a new research project and launching Futures of Knowing, an investigative podcast that brings together educators, scientists, contemplatives, and futurists to explore the radical possibilities of education grounded in awareness, relationality, and wisdom—rather than information alone.

As a mother, educator, and seeker, I hold close the questions that shape our world—and the ones we leave unasked. This site is a home for all of that work: grounded in tradition, open to emerging science, and listening for what comes next—with a steady commitment to protecting the hope, wonder, and possibility our children carry into the future.

Jai Guru Dev

Victory to the Greater Consciousness That Guides Us