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This time last year, Russia’s Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine. As is often true in times of turmoil and humanitarian crisis, people banded together and helped those most in need. This is what sanghas in Washington DC and in the Czech Republic did. Jindra Cekan/Ova and Mitchell Ratner, two members of that effort, will talk about their work with refugees from Ukraine and civilians affected by war in Ukraine.

ABOUT JINDRA CEKAN/OVA

Jindra Monique Čekan/ova, Ph.D. has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh’s since 1996. She took the 5 Mindfulness Trainings in 1999 (named Awakened Joy of the Heart) and the 14 Mindfulness Trainings in 2011 (named True Collective Maintenance). She is on a life-long journey to foster equanimity in herself and inter-being with others and live her teacher Thay’s message that “true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion.”

She also has 35 years of experience in international development in 27 countries. She has worked for non-profits, donors, and for-profits and in the last decade she has focused on ex-post-project sustainability evaluations and how we can foster lasting results. She is also a mother, manages a family forest in the Czech Republic and loves giraffes.  Contacts: Jindra@ValuingVoices.com, +1202-848-4783

ABOUT MITCHELL RATNER

Mitchell Ratner, Ph.D., is the founder and senior teacher of the Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center, a network of meditation groups in the Washington, DC, area. His teaching and publications focus on developing mindfulness meditation as a nourishing and joyful spiritual path. He believes that as one develops stillness and self-knowledge, the energy of mindfulness enters naturally into one's work, one's relationships, and one's responses to the inevitable difficulties and challenges of life.

Mitchell became a committed practitioner of mindfulness in 1989 after a short stay in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand helped him alter his habitual ways of thinking. Shortly thereafter he became a student of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, attracted by Thich Nhat Hanh's calm and penetrating presence, social activism, and teachings on mindfulness in everyday life. In 2001 Thich Nhat Hanh invited Mitchell to receive the Dharmacharya (Meditation Teacher) transmission and encouraged him to teach mindfulness more widely and to cultivate communities of practice. Mitchell holds graduate degrees in sociology and social anthropology. He researched and evaluated social programs for government agencies and non-profits from 1981 until he became a full-time Dharma teacher in 2005.

Please support this effort to help those affected by war in Ukraine. Donate HERE.