Melissa Moore has offered Contemplative Psychology (CP) training for over 30 years in Karuna Training; Karuna means compassion in Sanskrit. Karuna Training draws on the ancient teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and integrates those teachings through the Western Psychological process in a community of practitioners.

Practitioners of Contemplative Psychology become skilled in identifying their own and others' intrinsic health, sometimes called brilliant sanity, a personal resource that can be drawn on for resilience and nervous system regulation in our daily lives.

Intrinsic health is unconditioned by the circumstances of our lives, diagnosis, or the limitations we experience in our bodies, relationships, or mental states. Unconditioned health can be accessed through meditation practice and other contemplative awareness-raising practices that support our resilience through life’s challenges. 

This community conversation will explore the foundational principles of contemplative psychology and the role that ritual plays in tapping our intrinsic health in daily life. Melissa will explore the topic both didactically and experientially. Please come prepared to experience meditation and participate in an exercise that involves personal sharing. 

This event is produced in partnership with Emerald Integrative Health, formerly known as Minds In Motion.

About the speaker

Melissa Moore, Ph.D., has stewarded Karuna Training in North America since 2014 and co-founded Karuna Training in Europe in 1996. Melissa has her MA in Contemplative Psychotherapy from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and her Ph.D. in Psychological Anthropology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Melissa is a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner who has studied Chogyam Trungpa's teachings since 1979. She was the founding Director of the Felton Institute for Research and Training in San Francisco (2006–2016). She has been involved in community-based research for the most marginalized populations in California, trained front-line providers in mental health in evidence-based practices, and then researched the outcomes. Melissa is the Executive Director of Karuna Training and a lead faculty. She has taught Karuna Training in nine countries and in four states in the U.S. She lives in Denver with her cat and husband.