The Team
Michael Fischman
Executive Director
Michael Fischman is a leader in the field of personal development, the host of Back to the Source podcast and the author of the award-winning memoir, Stumbling into Infinity. He was a founding member and long-serving president of the U.S. Art of Living Foundation, a global non-profit educational and humanitarian organization. A former advertising executive with Ogilvy & Mather, Michael is an inspiring speaker who travels the world leading personal-development seminars that bring greater peace, awareness, and fulfillment to daily life.
Jill Klimpel
Director SKY Recovery Community Program
Jill Klimpel directs the International Affairs Scholars Program at the Ohio State University. She is also a SKY Breath Meditation Instructor who has worked actively to bring SKY Breath Meditation to the recovery population in the greater Ohio community. Jill received a grant from the OSU Center for Clinical and Translational Science and the Opioid Innovation Fund to conduct research on SKY Breath Meditation and she now teaches this program in her hometown of Ashtabula, Ohio and also in Columbus and Delaware, Ohio. The success of her work is evident in that many of the participants have now become meditation facilitators in recovery facilities and affected communities.
Rob Feeley MD
Medical Director
Dr. Feeley is passionate about incorporating holistic therapies for the treatment of mental health, especially to treat substance use disorders. He completed his Psychiatry Residency and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine and is board-certified in Addiction and General Adult Psychiatry. Rob has been practicing and teaching SKY Breath Meditation to his patients to connect them to a deeper part of themselves and reclaim peace of mind which he believes is integral to recovery.
Jagpreet Chhatwal, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Jagpreet Chhatwal, PhD, is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and the director of Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Technology Assessment. His research aims to inform health policy to reduce substance use disorder and associated mortality. Dr. Chhatwal’s work has provided important data for reducing disease burden in the wider community as well as in marginalized populations including people in corrections and with addiction. He also teaches SKY Breath Mediation workshops in different settings. Dr. Chhatwal’s work has been featured in several leading media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and National Public Radio. He has published 100+ articles in peer-reviewed journals. His work has been used by the White House, World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to inform health policy.
Priya Narayanan MD
Psychiatrist
Dr. Narayanan is an advocate for the role of alternative modalities of healing and promotes the role of yoga and meditation as adjuncts to conventional psychiatric treatment. She completed her Psychiatry Residency at NYU and heads a Community Treatment program in Los Angeles serving the needs of people with severe and persisting mental illness. Dr. Narayanan is a senior faculty member with the International Association for Human Values and teaches meditation and self-development workshops with a focus on addressing burnout and increasing resiliency among health care professionals.
Christine Martin
Instructor
Christine Martin has been a SKY Breath Meditation Teacher since 2018, and has over twenty-five years of meditation practice and experience. Christine was born in Toronto, Canada, and studied art and communications in Montreal at Concordia University before moving to New York City where she graduated from New York Law School. Her varied academic accomplishments and real-world experience have given her a uniquely thoughtful, practical, and creative perspective, and a deep appreciation for diverse communities. Christine currently lives in Barryville, New York, in the Western Catskills, where among other pursuits, she continues to teach meditation, and tend to her garden.
Bonnie Dipasquale
Program Administrator
Bonnie Dipasquale is a strong advocate for multiple and holistic pathways to recovery. After working 15 years as a software engineer, she took a break from the tech industry to dedicate herself to reaching those struggling to overcome addiction. Bonnie currently juggles her full-time work in tech with teaching SKY Recovery. She is a 1,000-hour certified SKY breath teacher.
The Founder and Foundation
SKY Breath Meditation Is a Project of IAHV
The International Association for Human Values (IAHV) is a 501(c)(3) educational and humanitarian Non-Governmental Organization, committed to programs of personal development that culture the expression of human values in everyday life. These include such values as a sense of belonging to a common humanity; respect for all people, cultures, and traditions; respect for the natural environment; an attitude of non-violence; and an ethic of social service.
IAHV upholds the conviction that the integration of such human values into all aspects of life will ultimately lead to a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.
The Founder
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader, and an ambassador of peace and human values. Through his life and work, Sri Sri has inspired millions around the world with a vision of a stress-free, violence-free world.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has created courses that provide techniques and tools to live a deeper, more joyous life. He has established nonprofit organizations that recognize a common human identity beyond the boundaries of race, gender, nationality, and religion. His goal is to uplift people around the globe, reduce stress, and develop leaders so human values can flourish in people and communities.
Reviving the ancient wisdom of yoga, breathing, and meditation, Sri Sri has contributed widely adopted techniques for personal and social transformation. These include a powerful technique called Sudarshan Kriya, or SKY Breathing Meditation, which has helped millions of people find relief from stress and discover inner reservoirs of energy, peace, awareness, and joy. Through his programs, people in more than 150 countries have experienced a profound transformation in their lives and have come to a deeper understanding of themselves.
©2020 International Association for Human Values