At Mindfulness Without Borders, we believe that every individual has the potential to thrive. That’s why we provide educational programs in mindfulness-based social and emotional learning that help individuals to flourish socially, emotionally, academically and professionally. Our core programs are offered in a variety of formats, such as in-school councils, in-person workshops and online learning. Since 2007, we have served more than 4,000 youth in 60+ schools and our professional development workshops have reached over 1,500 educators crossing eight international borders, including Canada, United States, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Israel, Jamaica, and Botswana.

We Teach Mindfulness Curriculum

Our primary focus is strengthening the essential skills and practices that enable young people, educators and professionals to connect with the present moment and use this awareness to bolster attention, regulate emotions and resilience to stress.

We Teach Social & Emotional Learning Programs

The essence of our work is creating cross-cultural conversations where people of all backgrounds can explore and build a repertoire of skills for enhancing their social and emotional awareness, their decision-making process and their overall health and well-being.

We Create Community

Our programs are based on building nurturing learning environments where people reach across the things that divide them — nationality, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and geography — to see possibilities for what they might create together as civically minded citizens –  to acknowledge, but not be obliged by past narratives, and to discover their fullest potential as contributors to a future, distinct from its past.

Our Team

Mindfulness Without Borders is led by an eclectic team of educators, practitioners and professionals from around the world dedicated to advancing knowledge and the practice of mindfulness and social and emotional learning in all walks of life.

Theo Koffler
Founder & Executive Director

Gary Diggins
Executive Program Advisor

Leah Gardiner
Director Operations & Development

Jasmin Zeger
Chief Innovation Officer

Daniel Rechtscaffen
Curriculum Advisor

Soren Gordhamer
Founding Curriculum Advisor

Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba
Educational Program Coordinator, Nigeria

Ronit Jinich
Educational Programs Advisor & Senior Facilitator

Mark Freeman
Program Facilitator

Kathy Kleinhans
Office Manager

Mee Wong
Accountant

Lucille Blainey
Editorial Consultant

Jerarde Felipe Gutierrez
Creative Consultant

Tarin Diehl
Creative Consultant

Hanna Hitomi Yokota
Creative Consultant

Emily Ray Baraf
Editorial Consultant

Board of Directors

From the onset, Mindfulness Without Borders engaged twelve trusted advisors that are passionate about mental health and well-being to lend their expertise and perspective on the direction of our work.

Dale Baumann
Certified Public Accountant

Dr. Lorna Jean Edmonds
Vice Provost for Global Affairs, Professor, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Ohio University

Adam Engle
Co-Founder, past Chairman & CEO, Mind and Life Institute

Cyd Jenefsky
Independent Consultant, Educational Innovations; and Special Advisor to the Provost, University of the Pacific.

Theo Koffler
Founder and Executive Director, Mindfulness Without Borders

Mee Wong
President, MFW Accounting Solutions

Advisory Council

Gina Biegel
Psychotherapist, Founder, Stressed Teens. Author: The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens (2009)

Peter Block
Consultant and Author: Community: The Structure of Belonging (2008)

Deepak Chopra, M.D.
Endocrinologist, Co-founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, and Author: Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine (1989)

Daniel Goleman
Psychologist, Lecturer, Journalist and Author: Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships (2006)

Susan Kaiser Greenland
Founder, The InnerKids Program and Mindfulness Together. Author: The Mindful Child (2010)

Charles Holmes
Founder, Connecting for Change, Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education

Raphael Ogar Oko
International Coordinator, Global Educators for All Initiative (GEFAI)

Risa Ryger
Clinical Psychologist, Consultant

Zindel Segal
Chair of Psychotherapy, Morgan Firestone; Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Toronto; Author: The Mindful Way Through Depression (2007)

Ralph Wolff
Former President and Executive Director of Accrediting, Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, Western Association of School and Colleges.

Betsy Zeger
Certified Coach, Mediator and Consultant