Rick Repetti

Consistent, serious yoga and meditation practices started in 1973 subsequent to an out-of-body experience at the end of my first yoga class (on TV, Richard Hittleman's Yoga for health), during the deep relaxation. Shortly thereafter, I began taking hatha yoga classes at the Integral Yoga Institue and the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in NYC, I studied an intense form of ashtanga yoga with a student of Ram Dass, and I became a devoted member of a satsang (spiritual community) led by Hilda Charlton, Ram Dass, and Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati (then Joya) for several years. I learned vipassana (mindfulness meditation) around that time from Daniel Goleman, then a member of the satsang. I have had many great teachers since. I began teaching private yoga classes back in the late 1970s, and in 2000 I began to teach in public venues, such as continuing adult education programs in high schools, colleges, seniors centers, and wellness centers in the community. Shortly after Hurricane Sandy had a devastating impact on that community, I began to lead a monthly meditation in a yoga center in Rockaway, Queens (NY). I am also a full-time, tenured Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York, where I teach Asian philosophy, philosophy of religion, global ethics, and a philosophical problems course (God, Humanity and Nature) that I designed, and where I also founded and facilitate a weekly meditation group for faculty, staff, and students. I have published a book and several articles on Buddhism, mindfulness meditation and free will, as well as an article on my own and others' research on the positive impact of the use of meditation and related contemplative practices in the college classroom.