Global Compassion Community Gathering

Welcome! Our global community gathered on September 29, 2022 from nations around the globe to align, inspire, and ignite our collective hearts and minds to birth a more compassionate world.

We were delighted to welcome Sará King, MA, PhD, as our guest presenter and practice leader. Dr. King is a mother, a neuroscientist, political and learning scientist, education philosopher, social-entrepreneur, public speaker, and certified yoga and mindfulness meditation instructor. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Neurology at Oregon Health Science University, a Garrison Institute Fellow, and a core member of Google’s well-being think tank “Vitality Lab.” She is also the founder of MindHeart Consulting, leading the field that intersects neuroscience, social justice, and art to heal intergenerational trauma. Dr. King is also the Co-Director of the Embodied Social Justice Certificate Program alongside Rev. angel Kyodo williams and Dr. Rae Johnson. She has been invited to create trauma healing circles, curated meditations, keynote speeches and scientific lectures for Nike, the Jordan Brand, Google, Mobius, Dr. Dan Siegel’s The Mindsight Institute, UCLA, Oxford University, UCSF, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley and Harvard Medical School, among many others. In 2021, she made the November cover of Yoga Journal Magazine as a “Game Changer” for her award-winning work bridging neuroscience, social justice and contemplative practices. In 2022, she was also named one of the "10 Most Powerful Women in Mindfulness" by Mindful Magazine.

Dr. King introduced us to The Science of Social Justice (SSJ) framework for research and facilitation, which explores how well-being and social justice are one and the same – especially when we re-define "justice" as "loving-awareness-in-action." It asserts that we cannot effectively work towards social justice in our communities without compassionately taking care of our hearts, minds, and bodies, and vice versa to "lovingly-disrupt" the ways in which we experience violence and trauma. The Science of Social Justice is an interdisciplinary field of study, using neuroscience, anthropology, and education science to uncover the complexity of the impact of the psychological (mental), embodied (physiological), and relational (relationship-based) trauma that has resulted from centuries of systemic and institutionalized oppression for marginalized populations here in the U.S. and abroad. Together, we explored why utilizing science, contemplative practices, art, and music can support a return to holistic health for individuals and communities, and help us redefine how we understand embodied leadership.

Following our time with Sará, we headed into small breakout rooms for connection, reflection, and inspiration from peers. This intimate time with like-minded compassion advocates from around the world is cited as our community’s favorite aspect of these events.

The event was co-hosted by Laura Berland, founder of the nonprofit Center for Compassionate Leadership, and Monica Worline, PhD, co-author of Awakening Compassion at Work and Research Scientist with Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.

We were so fortunate to gather from all corners of the globe to share our intentions for bringing compassion to all who long to heal and flourish. Most importantly, it is not just the external systems that require compassionate care, it is each and every one of us who can benefit from the inner work of self-compassion to rest, restore, and return to wholeness. Only then can we activate this change from the inside out.