(Image from my self-compassion and compassion lectures - please add the YouTube videos to your watch later or liked video lists, and add your comments after you've had a chance to watch - thanks!!) A busy April-July surrendered to a quiescent and contemplative August, from which synapses were convened to begin a lecture series, which continues through the end of October. I've had an intimate audience of about 8-10 people on average, and am definitely working on my teaching game :) progressing from reading not ...Continue Reading

In this email: Lecture series announcement, blog roundup, and a poem :) Hi all, Announcing a free/by donation fall lecture series in Japantown! Hope you can come to one or more lectures. The venue is small, so please reserve a space, but it will be first-come, first-seated. I decided to offer these instead of the Compassion Cultivation Training, which I hope to offer in January-February. Each presentation will be about 30 minutes long, followed by discussion or experiential exercises (in the case of the self-compassion ...Continue Reading

Hello all, First off, I'm offering a Compassion Cultivation Training course September-October. Compassion Cultivation Training with Dr. Ravi Chandra 8 consecutive Mondays 6:30-830 pm in the Union Bank Hospitality Room Beginning September 9th, 2019 Sliding scale $0-$395 depending on need Write to sflovedojo@PROTECTED for details and sliding scale, and see website for more information. This 8 week compassion training course was initially developed at Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Resea ...Continue Reading

Dear all, I'm not the first person to be flamed for their writing - but wow did I get a big dose a couple of weeks ago! I was working with the recent Hollywood Asian American romcoms, and that got me thinking about gender relations in the Asian American community. I linked the two topics. I didn't really realize quite how hot this topic was in our community. My bad. I posted my initial blogpost to an Asian American media activist group, and the blog was instantly misread, and someone who I thought was a friendly a ...Continue Reading

The times are tense...and blame and anger are in the air every day. There's a lot of pain and anguish, and deep wounds surfacing, but I keep trying to dig deeper, to get to the bedrock of common humanity and our connection with each other, the planet, and all life. Maybe that's why I've suddenly found myself with an occasionally racing heart, but a seemingly calm mind, and no ascertainable physical cause. My heart is tuned into some message, which my mind has somehow rationalized or suppressed, I think. If it's so ...Continue Reading

(Photograph taken by me in Hiroshima, 2007; words from Dacher Keltner's The Power Paradox) Dear all, It's been a busy month! Mimi Chan of CultureChat podcast had me on for another show, this time focusing on Asian American identity, mental health, compassion, and gun culture, near the time of the anniversary of Parkland. Also - here are three Psychology Today blogposts since 2019: Year of the Pig, Year of Compassion! Northam and the Mentalization and Empathic Deficits of Power : Drawing on the work ...Continue Reading

image by John Hain, at Pixabay Happy Year of the Pig! Here's the latest from my blog on Psychology Today - 2019: Year of the Pig – Year of Compassion I was recently on NBC Asian Pacific America with Robert Handa, talking about Social Media with a focus on Asian Americans. You can watch the 5-minute clip online! Let me know what you think, and please share with your community. Dr. Ravi Chandra on Asian Pacific America _Compassion Cultivation Training_ For 8 consecutive Mondays beginning March 4th, 2019, I will be teachi ...Continue Reading

Hi all, I'm looking forward to teaching Mindful Self Compassion! These skills are essential for mental health, building resilience, and preventing burnout, and are backed by over 1200 research articles. When: 8 consecutive Mondays beginning January 7, 2019 from 6:30 - 9 pm. Where: Union Bank Hospitality Room (East Mall of Japantown Mall, east of the Peace Pagoda and near Daiso) Additional half-day retreat TBA Cost: $500 - But discounts (even pro bono) available for need, especially for those working in community o ...Continue Reading

(The new logo for my compassion cultivation organization - I will be offering the full 8 week Mindful Self Compassion workshop beginning the second week of January, in San Francisco. If you are interested, reply to this email or sign up for my list at sflovedojo.org) This week brought us a new low - attempted political assassinations, African Americans gunned down in a grocery store in a hate crime, and Jewish Americans murdered in a synagogue. All on the backdrop of what psychiatrist Bandy Lee and colleagues called th ...Continue Reading

(Sorry - my image wouldn't upload! - please see here for the image I wanted - "Darth Turned by Yayoi Kusama!") I'm sure many of us here in the U.S. have been stewing in the news over the last few weeks. Regardless of your political persuasion, the trauma of hearing the stories of survivors of sexual violence, and the psychological violence of feeling that those stories were dismissed, devalued and minimized by a significant, and victorious, segment of our government leaves me with a great deal of disappoi ...Continue Reading