Biography: Diana Winston

Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA Semel Institute’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) (www.marc.ucla.edu) where she is teaching mindfulness practices to the general public across the age spectrum to promote health and well-being. She is the author (with Susan Smalley) of Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness (www.fullypresentthebook.com She is a nationally known mindfulness teacher who has taught mindfulness since 1993 in a variety of settings including schools, hospitals, universities, retreat centers, and non profits. She has taught mindfulness to health professionals, leaders, teachers, activists, seniors, and adolescents in the US and Asia. She is one of the early founders of meditation programs for teens and young adults, and taught on the seminal mindfulness and ADHD research study at UCLA in 2005.   Her work has been mentioned in Newsweek magazine, the New York Times, and in a variety of magazines, books, and journals. She is the author of Wide Awake (Perigee Books, 2003) the CD “Mindful Meditations,” and has published numerous articles on mindfulness, Buddhism, and social change.    Diana is a member of the Teacher's Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (www.spiritrock.org)  in Northern California and was trained to teach vipassana meditation by Jack Kornfield. She is also the founder of the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) Program and former associate director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. She has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 1989, including a year as a Buddhist nun in Burma.