Spiritual Competency Academy

Gary Buck, PhD is a graduate of Meridian University’s Doctor of Psychology program and also holds a bachelor’s degree in Religion from Princeton University. He is a licensed psychologist and has participated in trainings led by Zindel Segal, PhD in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, by Richard Miller, PhD in Yoga Nidra/Integrative Restoration, and completed an internship with Saki Santorelli in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the U. of Massachusetts Medical School. A Buddhist meditator of nearly 50 years, he currently practices in the Vajrayana tradition where his main interests are Mahamudra and Dzogchen. He is a former Buddhist monk in the Thai Theravadan tradition. Gary is a former Managing Director and Board member of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and a former Associate Director of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County. He is currently a psychotherapist in private practice in San Rafael and Petaluma, CA, where he sees child and adult clients.

I first began my own practice of mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition in the mid-1970s and have had a regular daily practice of mindfulness and other Buddhist meditation practices ever since. I have personally found it to be especially useful to participate periodically in intensive Buddhist mindfulness retreats. I first studied secular applications of mindfulness when I was trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 1995 at Jon Kabat-Zinn’s program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. Then in 1999, I began my graduate studies of Psychology leading to my doctorate and licensure as a psychologist. Since then, I have been trained additionally in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Integrative Restoration (iRest/Yoga Nidra), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I have also been trained by Mindful Schools in Oakland, CA, in their curriculum for teaching mindfulness to elementary school children. I have taught that curriculum in several elementary schools and have adapted it to my clinical work with children, as well. Lastly, I am authorized to as a Buddhist teacher of mindfulness in the lineages of Jack Kornfield, PhD.

I teach specific ways of using mindfulness to work with emotions. These might include exercises from the MBSR tradition like S.T.O.P. or R.A.I.N., which was popularized by Tara Brach, PhD. For clients for whom it is appropriate, I also introduce Integrative Restoration (iRest/Yoga Nidra) practices. Later in my work with clients I often find it useful to teach them complementary practices such as lovingkindness or mindfulness-based self-compassion.

David Lukoff, PhD is a licensed psychologist and co-author of the DSM IV and DSM 5 diagnostic category Religious or Spiritual Problem which increased awareness of  spiritual issues in clinical practice. He has published over 80 articles on spirituality and mental health, and is an active workshop presenter internationally on spiritual competency, grief, death, recovery, and spiritual crises. He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA and previously served on the faculties of Harvard and UCLA. He is co-founder of the Spiritual Competency Academy which offers training programs on mindfulness, forgiveness and spiritual assessment.

I first used meditation in my clinical work in the late 1970s in a multimodal holistic health program for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia at a state psychiatric hospital. I used a secular version of TM mantra meditation that was developed by Herbert Benson which allows people to choose their own mantra term. Acknowledging that it is important to have personal experience with a practice prior to utilizing it with patients, I did maintain a daily mantra meditation practice during the 2 years I was leading these groups. 

Then 6 years later as a psychologist at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, I continued to lead meditation groups with patients who had substance abuse problems, PTSD, HIV, and life-threatening illnesses, and often used pre-recorded guided practices. I have also used moving mindfulness practices such as qigong and tai chi in my clinical work with veterans. In addition, with patients in my private practice, in workshops with mental health professionals, and with graduate psychology students in my courses, I have also made use of many Youtube videos of mindfulness practices.

Cassandra Vieten, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist, mind-body medicine researcher, author, consultant, and public speaker. She is Executive Director of the John W. Brick Foundation, Associate Research Scientist at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and completed her research training in behavioral genetics at UC San Francisco. She has authored three books, published numerous articles in scientific journals, and is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and workshop leader.

Dr. Vieten has developed and tested the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions, having been the author of and lead trainer for mindfulness interventions for alcohol and nicotine dependence relapse prevention, mood and behavioral disorders, and pregnancy and post-partum. Results have been published in multiple academic articles, as well as the book Mindful Motherhood. She also teaches mindfulness for well-being in online and in-person courses, includes mindfulness practices in her workshops, and integrates mindfulness into her clinical work as a psychotherapist.