Giant maneki-neko "lucky" cat in Oita, Japan. Try! Dear all, Have you felt more anxiety, frustation, or other forms of distress in the last few days? The prospect of another endless war and violence became palpable after the killing of Qassem Suleimani on Friday. As I discussed in a recent lecture, available online, executive power has been unchecked for years, enabling perpetual war. By cultivating a connection to our true selves, limiting destructive influences and enhancing positive influences, we can brea ...Continue Reading

Giant maneki-neko "lucky" cat from Oita, Japan. Try! Dear all, Have you felt more anxiety, frustation, or other forms of distress in the last few days? The prospect of another endless war and violence became palpable after the killing of Qassem Suleimani on Friday. As I discussed in a recent lecture, available online, executive power has been unchecked for years, enabling perpetual war. By cultivating a connection to our true selves, limiting destructive influences and enhancing positive influences, we can br ...Continue Reading

Dear all, Thanks for staying on the journey :) I just returned from 12 days in Japan ... had a great time, riding the bullet and local trains, seeing the fall colors, visiting friends, and being immersed in an interdependent culture. Perhaps it was because the relatively homogenous culture is a bit more curious about me as a brown man (and I perhaps a bit curious about them), but I felt a subtle awareness and acknowledgment of my presence. Occasionally, eyes would meet. Sometimes, there would be a slight nod of the head ...Continue Reading

In this newsletter: Breaking news and samples of previous work for all my new subscribers! Happy November! As we all prepare for our holiday seasons, anticipating perhaps either joyous times with family and friends, or the stresses associated with relationship, perhaps this 2017 blog post on Navigating Difficult People and Opinions During the Holidays will be helpful. And perhaps you'll have time to binge-watch  some or all of my recent lecture series. I spoke about self-compassion, compassion in difficu ...Continue Reading

(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