I am a native of Indigenous Nahua and Maya descent, born into a family of mystics, healers, poets, and explorers from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. I grew up with one foot in the wilderness and another in magical realism. My Elders’ songs and stories enthralled my childhood. They enhanced my mythic imagination and emotional intuition, which became the fertile soil where the seeds of kindness, play, and wonder dig their roots.

My research converges the vibrant threads of Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative science. I am interested in transdisciplinary approaches to how the experience of self-transcendence is embodied and enhances prosocial behavior (ethics, compassion, kindness, reverence, and a sense of awe, sacredness, and love) across Indigenous contemplative traditions worldwide.

I have developed a broader statement I call the “ethics of belonging,” encouraging awareness, intention, and relational well-being and actions toward planetary flourishing. Within this work, I examine how our personal stories relate to cultural accounts that can transform our identities and the social and racial injustices of our times. This ethos orients us toward an ever-expansive unfolding of a path of meaning and participation rooted in honoring Life.

My work at the United Nations supports international humanitarian efforts for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. My specific concentration is the advancement of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of Nature. The materials we create are distributed globally and reach vast audiences, from Heads of State, academic institutions, and the general public. I also established the first long-term mindfulness and compassion training workshop for UN staff in 2016.

I teach Indigenous epistemologies and spirituality and my work pioneered the Indigenous contemplative experience within contemplative studies. In addition, I lead workshops on prosocial practices (such as heartfulness, compassion, kindness, gratitude, etc.) from an Indigenous perspective. I emphasize cultivating a sense of reverence and ecological belonging, raising awareness of social and environmental justice and community-engaged practices, revitalizing Indigenous languages, traditional medicine, clean energy, and conservation.

I am affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of Psychology, where I am conducting research into how Indigenous Peoples psychologies are expressed through self-transcendent practices of contemplation, and developing my talents for laboratory science, including experimental design, physiological measurement, and the concepts and tools of social and cultural psychology. I am also a proud Senior Fellow at the Other & Belonging Institute (OBI) of the University of California, Berkeley, where I am engaging in bridging and belonging work to reclaim spaces for Indigenous Peoples and our Mother Earth.

I co-chair the Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), and I am part of the steering committee of the Contemplative Studies Unit.
I co-chaired the Indigenous Religions Unit and was the Women's Caucus Liaison to the Board of the Western Region of the AAR (2018-2021), where I previously co-chaired the Psychology, Religion, and Culture unit (2016-2019).

As an Indigenous woman and as a scholar, I have taken the quest to reclaim our Indigenous voices as holders of sophisticated systems of contemplative insight. I am committed to the reclamation, revitalization, and transmission of our Indigenous wisdom for social and environmental justice.