Laurie Hallihan
Mindfulness Instructors
Dana Rose Garfin, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the College of Health Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She has been researching stress and trauma for over 13 years and currently is Principal Investigator of a clinical trial examining MBSR for trauma in women and several studies examining the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stressors on our health. She is a mindfulness expert trained at the University of California, San Diego Center for Mindfulness and has studied mediation and yoga at various ashrams and centers in India. Her research is currently funded by the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation. She has authored over 40 scientific papers and her work has been covered in domestic and international outlets including the BBC, NBC, Psychology Today, The New York Times, US News and World Reports, Salon, the Observer, Parade, Inverse, Better Homes and Garden, Health Day, Voice of America, Orange Coast, Life Hacker, Men’s Health, and Breitbart.
Ruth Dease is a bilingual Senior Learning Consultant and Certified Diabetes Educator for the Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group. Her most recent venture has been becoming a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction instructor through the University of California San Diego, Center for Mindfulness. She has over 15 years of experience working in the field of health education, facilitating in-person and virtual workshops. Ruth’s interest in different parenting approaches led her to mindfulness 10 years ago. She finds that practicing mindfulness makes her calmer, less reactive, and better able to self-reflect. Due to our current times, Ruth has integrated mindfulness practices in her workshops. Participants have experienced greater awareness through their experiences. Ruth also volunteers her time offering drop-in guided meditations as an internal resource for her company’s employees.
In addition to her regular home practice, Ruth attends yearly meditation retreats that deepen her practice through self-contemplation, opening of the heart and self-compassion.