Kaira Jewel Lingo blends spirituality, meditation, and social justice. She grew up in an ecumenical Christian community and spent 15 years living as a nun in a Plum Village Buddhist monastery. Becoming a Zen teacher in 2007 through the transmission of Thich Nhat Hanh, she also teaches Vipassana Insight through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Today, she sees her work as a continuation of the Engaged Buddhism and the work of her father with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on desegregating the South. Now based in New York, she teaches and leads retreats internationally, provides spiritual mentoring, and interweaves art, play, nature, racial and earth justice, and embodied mindfulness practice in her teaching. She feels especially called to share with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as activists, educators, youth, artists, and families.

She imparts accessible advice on navigating difficult times of transition, drawing on Buddhist teachings about impermanence to help readers establish equanimity and resilience in her book, We Were Made for These Times: 10 Lessons for Moving through Change, Loss, and Disruption.

In this era of global disruption, threats to our individual, social, and planetary safety abound, and life can become quite overwhelming.  Kaira’s book, and her approach, offer powerful ways to meet the considerable challenges of this moment with wisdom, resilience, and ease.  Based on time-honored teachings that assist in developing presence, compassion, and stability in daily life, Kaira can help us spiritual directors and companions release the fear, doubt, and resistance that hold us back!