WHO
For TEACHINGS and COURSES, please check this link
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About
Since early childhood I have been fascinated by the questions: "What is reality?" "What is consciousness?" "What is a healthy mind?" My main interest is to understand the mind and the processes that lead to mental flourishing or dissatisfaction - all with the aim to help people find mental balance and wellbeing.
I dedicated over thirty years to external scientific research and internal meditative exploration of the mind and consciousness within their respective settings (ETH Zürich; Dialectic School IBD, India). For the purpose of sharing these years of experience and insights, I have developed the Wheel of Mental Balance to teach the tools and methods proven to realize mental balance.
Another area of keen interest has always been the relationship between mindset and performance: mental performance and physical performance. Accordingly, endurance sports have been an integral part of my learning and practice.
In order to deepen the mind’s capacity to develop healthy qualities, and depending on a person’s inclinations and capacities, I have acquired many coaching methods and I am a MCC (Master Certified Coach), together with other expert certifications like Personal Coaching (CPCC), Organization Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC), Red Team Coaching, and Team Performance Coaching (CTPC).
CV
I completed my studies in pharmacology at the Federal Institute of Technology, (ETH Zurich), specialising in psychopharmacology and addiction.
Throughout my life, I have been a high-level sports person: in my youth I have been Swiss champion in rowing multiple times, and participated in world championships, while in my later years I have been fascinated by endurance sports, particularly cycling: Haute Route (multi-day competitions like the tour de France for amateurs), and UCI Grand Fondos, finishing on the podium many times in my age groups.
Following my work with an aid project in Nepal, I lived in Dharamsala, India, for 11 years, learned Tibetan, and studied for 7 years at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in the Tibetan language. I have completed several silent, meditation retreats of several months, worked as an interpreter, translating Tibetan into many languages, and published several books. On returning to Europe in 2003, I taught widely, organised large events with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, such as the visits of H.H. to Switzerland (2005) and Hamburg (2007), and participated in research aimed at exploring the benefits of meditation as a long-term practitioner.
I am associated with and have worked for the Mind and Life Institute since the 1990s, as the Mind and Life COO from 2008 – 2012 in the USA, as co-founder of Mind and Life Europe, and as its director until 2014.
In 2015, I decided to concentrate on my main passion of teaching content and tools that build mental balance. I founded the “Institute of Mental Balance and Universal Ethics” (IMBUE), an interdisciplinary initiative, to develop and provide tools and programs that foster mental balance. Besides acting as the IMBUE’s Founding Director, I am also the institute’s principal teacher.
Since learning is never finished (and it’s my passion), I keep attending courses, workshops, and participate in collaborations. In the process I’m adding complementary methods such as Co-Active Coaching, Systems Work, Organisational and Leadership Development, Emotional Intelligence and Positive Psychology.
background
Teachings received
Over the past 25+ years, in Dharamsala, other areas of India, and internationally, I received innumerable formal teachings, both public and privately, from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, many other distinguished teachers from all four Tibetan Buddhist and Bön traditions, as well as teachers from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma. I continue to be inspired by learning from many teachers.
Coaching Formations:
International Coaching Federation: MCC
Certified Professional Co-Active Coaching (CPCC)
Organization & Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC)
Certified Team Performance and Diagnostics Coaching (CTPC)
Certified Positive Intelligence Coaching (CPQC)
ACE (Enhanced) with David Peterson and David Goldstein
Certified Brain Based Coaching (cBBC)
Red Team Coaching
Neuroscience of Change
For more detailed descriptions, click here.
Teachings given
Teachings on meditation include a variety of types, such as Shamatha, Vipassana, mindfulness programs, compassion training, attention control, open space awareness, loving kindness practices, and the Wheel of Mental Balance.
Introduction to science for monks, in Tibetan, Dharamsala, 2000-03
Individual teachings to private individuals and groups, in Switzerland and abroad (USA, Bahamas, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal) ; 2003 – to present
Teachings for Business people (individual and in groups)
Volkswagen, Autostadt, Wolfsburg
ZfU (Zentrum für Unternehmensführung), Thalwil
Mountain Wisdom, Mountain Wisdom Summer Summit, Mountain Wisdom Forum, MW Deep Dives gatherings
Regular teachings at Felsentor, Villa Unspunnen, Ganden, Switzerland
Teachings to Family Foundations
Teachings in Buddhist Centers (USA, Switzerland, France, Germany, Indonesia)
Teachings to Yoga students, Europe and USA
Lassalle Haus, Switzerland
TEDx Taipei
Solar Impulse - Pilot André Borschberg
Teachings to Swiss-Tibetan Community
Teachings in English, German, French, Spanish, Tibetan
Moderator at panels and conferences
For more details, see Teachings
Academic Lectures given
University of Zurich, Geneva, and ETH Zürich
Universities of Oxford, King’s College, England
University of Vienna, Austria
Multiple lectures at Universities of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, India, USA, Canada
University of Arhus, Denmark
IABS (International Association of Buddhist Studies), 2014
Work experiences
Translations and interpreting from Tibetan into English, German, French and Spanish
Organizing large and complex events (up to 150’000 people) in India, Europe, USA
Build and run not-for-profit Organizations (ML Europe, DL in Switzerland, DL in Hamburg)
Build and run for profit organizations (Pharmaceutical Company, Pharmacy, Restaurant)
TV Programs and Interviews (Hamburg, Germany, and Ziischtigsclub, Switzerland)
Collaborations
Worked closely with many world-renown individuals, authors and researchers:
The Dalai Lama, India
Dan Goleman, Author of Emotional Intelligence, USA
Matthieu Ricard, Buddhist Monk and Author, Nepal
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness Pioneer, USA
Richard Davidson, Neuroscientist, USA
Tania Singer, Neuroscientist, Germany
Richard Ernst, Nobel-Prize Winner
Olaf Blanke, ETH Lausanne
and others
Publications
Books
Tibetan-German Version of the Buddhist classical text Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, (Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) OWBarth Verlag, 2005
Tibetan-German Version of Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika (Verses on the Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way)
Co-translated and co-edited Tibetan-German translation of Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas
Compassion Training, 2 Chapters, e-book, Max Planck Institute, 2013
Co-edited ‘Caring Economics: Conversations with the Dalai Lama’, with Tania Singer and Matthieu Ricard, Picador, 2015
Neuroscience of Compassion: Challenges and Opportunities, Dharma Drum Journal of Buddhist Studies, no 16, 2015
The Purpose of Business is not business - it is flourishing; Chapter in Sustainable Financial Innovations, edited by Karen Wendt, CRC Press, 2018
VIDEO RECORDINGS
Compassion Conference Berlin 2011: Raising Compassion (English)
TEDx Talk Taipei 2013: The Emergence of Contemplative Science (English)
Lecture Lisbon 2016: The Science of Meditation, or Meditation as Science? (English)
Universitätsspital Basel 2017: Warum Empathie nicht Mitgefühl ist (Deutsch)
FONDATION BEYELER 2020: The Art of Meditation (English/Deutsch)
FILM COLLABORATIONS
Franz Reichle’s ‘Das Wissen vom Heilen’ 1997, and ‘Monte Grande’, 2004; Ulrike Koch’s ‘The Saltmen of Tibet’, 1997
Several contributions to articles and publications (Tibet und Buddhismus, Kalachakra Graz 2002)
Articles/Chapters
Tibet und Buddhismus, 2009
KGS, KörperGeistSeele, Hamburg, 2008
Tibet Aktuell, 2006
Kalachakra Graz, Brochure, 2002
INTERVIEWS
Scaling4Good 2017: How does the mind work?
The Meaning Quotient 2019: In Dialogue