about Satyana

mission

staff

consultants

financial support

board of directors

About Satyana
MISSION

The Satyana Institute is a non-profit service and training organization. Our mission is to support individuals, communities, and organizations to combine inner work of the heart with outer service in the world. The name satyana comes from two sanskrit roots: sat, which means truth or being, and also refers to action aligned or suffused with spirit; and yana, which means vehicle. So "satyana" means a vehicle for action infused with the grace of spirit.

Satyana Institute has two principal program areas: Power of Reconciliation and Leading with Spirit.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Will Keepin, Ph.D., President and Executive Director. Will co-founded the Satyana Institute in 1996, and has been developing its Power of Reconciliation work (formerly Gender Reconciliation) since the early 1990s. His training was originally in mathematical physics, and later in transpersonal psychology and eastern meditation disciplines. Will's professional background began in environmental science. He was research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) near Vienna, Austria where he became a whistleblower in a major international scientific research project that was biased to favor nuclear power. He published a full expose of this project, as resident scholar at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. He subsequently became Hewlett Fellow at Princeton University, then joined the Rocky Mountain Institute, and became consulting physicist to the Energy Foundation, whose founding documents he co-authored. Will's work on global warming and renewable energy influenced international environmental policy, and he presented testimony to the Parliaments of United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Australia, and the US House of Representatives.

Will has undergone intensive training in eastern spiritual traditions, and he began leading retreats in interfaith mysticism in India in 2003. He has facilitated many experiential workshops and taught graduate courses at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Holy Names College. He holds a PhD in applied mathematics, Master's degrees in East-West psychology and in physics, and he completed the three-year Grof Transpersonal Training. Will is primary author of the book, Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation Between Women and Men, published by Hohm Press, November 2007 that   He is also co-editor of the book titled Song of the Earth: The Emerging Synthesis of Scientific and Spiritual Worldviews.  Will has published over 30 articles and book chapters, and served as consulting editor for ReVision. He is profiled in the book, The Cultural Creatives, by Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson (Harmony Books, 2000).


PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Cynthia Brix, M.Div, MA. is Program Director for Satyana Institute, and was formerly Administrative and Training Coordinator from 2001 to 2003. She is an interfaith community minister and has served as the Unitarian Universalist campus minister at the University of Colorado-Boulder for United Ministries of Higher Education.

A long-time student of Eknath Easwaran's Passage Meditation, Cynthia has led meditation workshops at regional and national Unitarian Universalist conferences. Primary to her ministry is a contemplative life of prayer that infuses her activism in social justice, gender healing, and racial harmony. Cynthia's focus at Satyana Institute is toward expanding the Power of Reconciliation program, and supporting Maher, an interfaith refuge project for battered women and children in India. She is a contributing author of the book, Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation Between Women and Men.  Cynthia co-chaired the Race Relations Committee for the City of Muncie, Indiana, and recently developed an interfaith, multi-ethnic program to help address racial tensions at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is currently leading spiritual-service pilgrimages to India and Italy for young adults.

Cynthia earned a master's of divinity from Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado (2006) and a double master's degree in wellness management and applied gerontology from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana (1999). Cynthia earned a double master's degree in wellness management and applied gerontology from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.


CONSULTANTS

Nomfundo Walaza, MA is the executive director of Desmond Tutu's Center in Cape Town, South Africa. She is a clinical psychologist who has worked in the human rights field for 15 years.  She served for 11 years as Executive Director of the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture in South Africa, where she focused on empowerment and healing for victims of trauma and violence, many of whom suffered severely at the hands of the Apartheid government. Nomfundo is passionate about women’s issues, and restoring the dignity of those who have suffered as a result of human rights violations and abuses.  She is concerned about escalating violence toward the most vulnerable citizens including children, the elderly and disabled.  “In order to help my country heal from the legacy of segregation and discrimination, I believe it is critical to address racism, sexism, and homophobia and their impact on the lives of South Africans today.”
Karambu L. Ringera, PhD is the founder and President of International Peace Initiatives (IPI), an organization that supports grassroots organizations and leaders throughout Africa. IPI programs include the AIDS Orphans Education Fund and the Women's International Grassroots Peace Congresses. A native of Kenya, Karambu recently completed her Ph.D. in International Communications at the University of Denver.  She holds two Masters degrees from Natal University in South Africa, and the Iliff School of Theology in Colorado. Karambu convened a Women’s International Grassroots Peace Congress in Nairobi, Kenya in August 2005 that attracted over 200 people from Africa, Asia, Seychelles, Taiwan, Canada, and USA. She is organizing another IPI Women’s International Grassroots Peace Congress to be held in Kenya in August 2008. Karambu is also running for Parliament in 2007 (the only woman with 14 male opponents) and representing North Imenti, a region of 400,000. www.ipeacei.org

Honoring former co-founder of Satyana Institute

Satyana Institute was co-founded by Will Keepin and Jed Swift in 1996. Early initiatives included leadership development for social change professionals, training programs in ecopsychology, and intensive workshops in gender reconciliation. Jed gave tirelessly of his time and energy to lay the foundations of the institute on both programmatic and administrative levels. He founded the Earth in Mind training program in the nascent field of ecopsychology. In 1999 Jed moved to Naropa University where he continues his creative work as the Director of the ecopsychology program. 

Gratitude to our Financial Supporters

Satyana Institute was founded with a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which was renewed over a three-year period. This start up funding was central to the creation of the Institute.

Satyana Institute acknowledges with gratitude the following organizations for their past or present financial support:

• Charitable Gift Fund
• Compton Foundation
• Cunningham Family Foundation
• Fetzer Institute
• Further Foundation
• Giant Steps Foundation
• Global Environment Projects Institute
• Hidden Leaf Foundation
• Kalliopeia Foundation
• Rockwood Fund
• Roy A. Hunt Foundation
• San Francisco Foundation
• Selby-Fong Spirit in Community Fund
• Shaler Adams Foundation
• Sister Fund (on behalf of Maher project)
• The Philanthropic Collaborative
• Tides Foundation (Caritas Fund, Fred Moon Fund, and Star Fund)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Linda Cunningham
Co-Founder, Heller-Cunningham, Inc.

Seth Henry
Legal Counsel

Will Keepin
Satyana Institute

Ravi Ravindra
Dalhouise University

Jed Swift
Naropa University

Former Board Chair:
Frances M. (Kelley) Green
Southern Poverty Law Center
[deceased August 20, 2003]