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July 30, 2020. This edited video contains only Dr. Ravi Chandra's remarks at a 90 minute Mindful Self Compassion Teacher' Forum, sponsored by the Center for Mindful Self Compassion (https://centerformsc.org). The last segment includes the poem 'mudfire', written about one month after the police murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. 'mudfire' was supported by a Individual Artists Commission grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission. Note: I did accidentally leave out one example of our international philosophies of interdependence - the Ubuntu proverb from Africa, "people become people through other people." Video at https://youtu.be/j1AjD22JSlo May all merit from these remarks go towards the alleviation of suffering, and to the transformation of the web of trauma into a web of healing. Words: Jeong - 'just as the mind is not separate from the body, so the self is not separate from other selves' (Korean) (also imbued with a sense of permeating love, compassion and connection for and with all beings) Han - a deeply felt sense of collective suffering and oppression (Korean) Umami - the fifth flavor, making food more tasty and delicious. (Japanese) Here, the "extra ingredient" of love, friendliness and compassion that make inner life and relatedness more "tasty and delicious". I continue to cultivate umami with Mindful Self Compassion, Compassion Cultivatiion Training (https://www.compassioninstitute.com) and practices from the Buddhist tradition. More on Ravi Chandra at https://ravichandramd.com, and more on his compassion organization at https://www.sflovedojo.org

Tokyo Crows. See the movie Tokyo Waka by John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson http://www.stylofilms.com/tokyowaka.html and the book Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks for more on crows. https://www.facebuddha.co

A recording of birds in Usuki, Japan, on repeat.

July 22, 2020. Dr. Ravi Chandra is interviewed by graduate student Maud Hu on whether racism should be considered a mental illness. The corresponding blogpost in Psychology Today is "After Charlottesville: Is Racism a Mental Illness?" from August 15, 2017. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-pacific-heart/201708/after-charlottesville-is-racism-mental-illness For more on Dr. Chandra, see www.RaviChandraMD.com and www.sfpsychiatry.com, and for more on his compassion organization, see www.sflovedojo.org

July 16, 2020. Dr. Ravi Chandra leads a guided meditation on working with the distress of these troubled times, from the grief and distress of COVID-19, to the surfacing wounds of racism. Working on these with the tools of mindfulness, compassion and relationship. For more videos see www.sflovedojo.org. For Dr. Chandra's writing, see www.RaviChandraMD.com. Leave a comment and please share if you like. @going2peace on Twitter. “We’re all on our own journeys in life. May our journeys touch in fruitful ways.” — Ravi Chandra, M.D.

July 11, 2020. Dr. Ravi Chandra speaks at an event organized by the Oakland Asian Cultural Center and Eastwind Books of Berkeley. More at https://ravichandramd.com and https://www.sflovedojo.org/videos/. This video presents only Dr. Chandra's portion. The complete panel should be available at Eastwind Books website or YouTube channel soon.

Dr. Ravi Chandra discusses some psychological and historical reasons racism particularly impacts Asian Americans, and some possible remedies. For more on Dr. Chandra and to subscribe to his newsletter - https://ravichandramd.com For more videos - https://www.sflovedojo.org/videos/

Dr. Ravi Chandra discusses some psychological and historical reasons racism particularly impacts Asian Americans, and some possible remedies. For more on Dr. Chandra and to subscribe to his newsletter - https://ravichandramd.com For more videos - https://www.sflovedojo.org/videos/

April 25, 2020. Dr. Ravi Chandra discusses coping with loneliness during COVID-19. For more on Dr. Chandra, see https://ravichandramd.com, and for the video versions and more publicly accessible material, see https://www.sflovedojo.org/videos/

April 25, 2020. Meditation session with Dr. Ravi Chandra (https://ravichandramd.com). For video, see https://www.sflovedojo.org/videos/

April 11, 2020. Dr. Ravi Chandra leads a brief lovingkindness meditation. More videos at https://www.sflovedojo.org/videos/. More on Dr. Ravi Chandra at https://ravichandramd.com.

March 28, 2020. What's the difference between empathy and compassion? How to work with the contagious anxiety that health care providers might feel when treating patients? Also, a description and guided meditation for active compassion, or tonglen (Tibetan). For more videos and to sign up for future Zoom or in-person sessions, go to https://www.sflovedojo.org

March 28, 2020. A brief discussion of using the vulnerability and uncertainty of these times to develop compassion. Includes a mindful self-compassion break and a framing of exploring emotions with kindness to understand needs. Sign up for a newsletter to hear about future Contagious Compassion Zoom Sessions or in-person compassion workshops at https://www.sflovedojo.org

March 28, 2020. A brief guided meditation on settling the mind and transforming the breath. Sign up for a newsletter to hear about future Contagious Compassion Zoom Sessions or in-person compassion workshops at https://www.sflovedojo.org

Dr. Satsuki Ina was born in the Tule Lake Segregation, a maximum security American concentration camp during WWII. She says she was born "doing time." She has dedicated her career to understanding and healing the effects of this collective and historical trauma on Japanese Americans. She is a co-organizer of Tsuru for Solidarity (https://tsuruforsolidarity.org and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TsuruForSolidarity), which is working to end detention sites and to support front-line immigrant and refugee communities that are being targeted by racist, inhumane immigration policies. The vulnerable people in detention sites are likely to be heavily affected by coronavirus, and Dr. Ina also reflects on how infectious disease affected incarcerated Japanese Americans. She was interviewed by Dr. Ravi Chandra (https://ravichandramd.com) by Skype on March 25, 2020. (Photo credit: Kiyoshi Ina.) Related blogpost at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-pacific-heart/202004/dr-satsuki-ina-migrant-detention-racism-and-covid19

The Brown Club of Greater San Francisco hosted Professor Rose McDermott on March 4, 2020 to discuss “Leadership and the Strategic Emotional Manipulation of Political Identity.” McDermott is the David and Mariana Fisher University Professor of International Relations at Brown University and a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She works in the areas of political psychology, and has published many research articles and three books, on political psychology, risk-taking by leaders, and the effects of presidential illness on decision-making. Ravi Chandra, M.D. moderated a Q and A after her talk.

September 16, 2019. Dr. Ravi Chandra speaks about maintaining compassion in difficult times. "Compassion is how we do human!" Video of lecture series at https://ravichandramd.com/portfolio/sf-love-dojo-2019-lecture-series/ Anyone can be a friendly, compassionate neighborhood webslinger to turn the web of trauma into a web of healing.

October 28, 2019. Dr. Ravi Chandra delivers a talk on narcissism, relatedness, technology and power in the American psyche. Complete lecture series available as audio here, or as video on YouTube at https://ravichandramd.com/portfolio/sf-love-dojo-2019-lecture-series/

October 21, 2019. Dr. Ravi Chandra delivers a talk on cyberbullying and youth mental health. Complete lecture series available as audio here, or as video on YouTube at https://ravichandramd.com/portfolio/sf-love-dojo-2019-lecture-series/

October 14, 2019. Dr. Ravi Chandra delivers a talk on Internet Addiction. Complete lecture series available as audio here, or as video on YouTube at https://ravichandramd.com/portfolio/sf-love-dojo-2019-lecture-series/