Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher and visionary cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, leading corporations like Google and Apple Inc., and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. Frank is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

He has accompanied over 1,000 people through the dying process and trained thousands of healthcare clinicians and family caregivers around the world. His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

(deceased) Angeles Arrien, PhD (1940 – 2014) received her master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and her doctorate from the California Institute for Integral Studies. Dr. Arrien’s teachings bridge the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and comparative religion, while focusing on universal beliefs shared by humanity. She lectured and led workshops internationally on cultural anthropology and transpersonal psychology at colleges, corporate settings, and personal growth facilities. Her books include The Four-Fold Way, The Second Half of Life, and Living in Gratitude, and her audio-learning programs include Gratitude, Gathering Medicine, and more.

Norman Fischer is a poet, author, and Zen Buddhist priest. A former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, he is founder and teacher of the Everyday Zen Foundation (www.everydayzen.org), a network of Zen communities and programs. His latest Buddhist title is When You Greet Me I Bow: Reflections from a Life in Zen. His Training in Compassion has become a spiritual classic. His Selected Poems 1980-2013 is available from Chax Press in Tucson, Arizona. Norman is married to Zen priest Kathie Fischer. They live in Muir Beach, California, above the sea, and have children and grandchildren in Brooklyn.

Charles Garfield, PhD, Founder of Shanti Project, Clinical Professor, UCSF Medical School, Board Member C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Author of many books, including Sometimes My Heart Goes Numb: Love and Caregiving in a Time of AIDS, Peak Performers, and Life’s Last Gift: Giving and Receiving Peace During the Dying Time.

Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, is founder of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness and a Professor of Family Medicine at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in Ohio. She’s also a Clinical Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine at UC San Francisco School of Medicine, that’s where she developed “The Healer’s Art,” her course for medical students. Her beloved books include Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings, and The Birthday of the World: A Story about Finding Light in Everyone and Everything.

Co-Director End-of-Life Practitioner Program. Integral Psychotherapist and coach specializing in working with issues of life-threatening illness, death and dying, grief and loss, and caregiving. Former Clinical Director Cancer Support Community.

(deceased) Ram Dass (Richard Alpert), was one of America’s most beloved spiritual figures, making his mark on the world giving teachings and promoting loving service, harmonious business practices, and conscious care for the dying. His spirit has been a guiding light for four generations, carrying millions along on the journey, helping free them from their bonds as he has worked his way through his own.
Best selling author of several books including: Be Here Now, How Can I Help, Be Love Now, Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying, and Compassion in Action, One Liners: A Mini-Manual for the Spiritual Life.

(deceased) Rabbi Alan Lew was the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco for over a decade and was the founder of Makor Or, the first meditation center connected to a synagogue. He was also the author of Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life; One God Clapping: The Spiritual Path of a Zen Rabbi, The co-founder of Makor Or, a center for Jewish Meditation and one of the nations’ leaders in the revival of Jewish meditation practices. He was also the first chaplain of the Jacob Perlow Hospice of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.

(Deceased) Frances Vaughan, Ph.D. is a psychologist, educator and author of books, chapters and articles on psychology and spirituality. Her books include Awakening Intuition, The Inward Arc: Healing in Psychotherapy and Spirituality, and Shadows of the Sacred: Seeing Through Spiritual Illusions. With her husband, Roger Walsh, she is co-editor of Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision, and Gifts from A Course in Miracles, including Accept this Gift, A Gift of Peace and A Gift of Healing. Her books have been translated into eight languages.
As a pioneer in transpersonal psychology, Dr. Vaughan was a founding faculty member of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Later she joined the clinical faculty at the University of California Medical School at Irvine.
Dr. Vaughan has served as President of both the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and she is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. She is a trustee emeritus of the Fetzer Institute. 
Dr. Vaughan holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and has been a practitioner of meditation since 1972. She has studied and practiced Buddhist, Sufi and Hindu spiritual traditions in addition to deepening her understanding of Christian mysticism.