What exactly is the human heart, beyond a blood-circulating pump? Science now tells us that it has neurons just like the brain; that it helps us connect with others near us, even without physical contact. Yet, how can we listen to the guidance of the heart, grow and educate the heart, and design for heart-to-heart connections? 

When asked about his greatest fear post-independence, Gandhi quipped: "Heartless intellectuals." Today's schools aim to cultivate the intelligence of the head and hands, but we have very limited spaces to grow our hearts. If we can tap into the intersection of hands, head and heart and even beyond, lead with our heart's intelligence, Gandhi felt that we would ignite the "law of love" that would work with just as much precision as the laws that govern gravity and electricity. 

In this unique call, a leading neuroscientist (Dr. Tracy Brandmeyer), a pioneer in Integrative medicine (Shay Beider), and a modern-day Gandhian techie (Nipun Mehta) will dialogue together on "Intelligence of the Heart." 

Dr. Tracy Brandmeyer

Dr. Tracy Brandmeyer is a neuroscientist who has studied the brains of meditators for over two decades. Currently, she serves as Chief Science Officer at Brainmind – a private community of top brain scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and academic institutions collaborating to accelerate impactful innovations in brain science research. She is also a research consultant at the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies and a scientific advisor to Lionheart Ventures and several early-stage startups in the neuroscience and biotechnology sector. As a young girl, she was profoundly influenced by dialogues with her grandfather, who introduced her to spiritual classics like Tao Te Ching, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, works of Alan Watts, and J Krishnamurti. That sparked in her a life-long spiritual and scientific quest to explore higher states of consciousness. As part of her doctoral studies, she has also spent many years amidst Himalayan Monks in India whose teachings she continues to actualize in her own life even today. 

Shay Beider

As a pre-med student at UCLA, Shay dreamed of being a paediatric surgeon. An ordinary college day saw her shadowing some doctors performing a surgery. Inspite of it being a minor surgery, she saw that the little girl undergoing the surgery was terrified, aloof, and trembling with fear. “I saw all her fear. And it went in me. And something in my soul said – NO. This can not be how we do this”. That moment changed the course of her life. Over the last two decades, she has done pioneering work in integrative medicine through her non-profit organization, Integrative Touch (In-touch) that enhances well-being, minimizes suffering and facilitates healing for children with special medical needs and their families. Shay’s approach to health and healing however upends the traditional paradigms of healthcare. Healing is not led by healer's protocols, but guided by the "inner intelligence" of the child who is in pain.  "Each human being has an inner wisdom, that has the capacity and knowledge that knows how to heal", she believes.  Further, she invites us to radically examine the very purpose of healthcare. “This (body) is not going to stay for very long. But given impermanence, how could we possibly hold the sacredness of what is inside each one of us?” She is also an internationally sought-after speaker and educator, a recipient of numerous awards, and host of “Conversations on Healing”, an inspiring podcast which centers on health and healing in the modern world. (Psst... A powerful past Awakin Call with Shay)

Nipun Mehta

Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, a global community at the intersection of technology, volunteerism and gift-economy. Most recently, ServiceSpace's pandemic response has showcased the unique beauty of its global ecosystem. Nipun has catalyzed a global social movement of community builders grounded in their localities and rooted in practices for cultivating love, nonviolence, selfless service, and compassion. The ecosystem has reached millions, attracted thousands of volunteers, and mushroomed into numerous community-based service projects as well as inspiring content portals. ServiceSpace harnesses the collective power of networks and our deeper interconnectedness to create a distributed social movement founded on small, local individual acts of kindness, generosity and service that ignite shifts in individual and collective consciousness. Nipun was honored as an "unsung hero of compassion" by the Dalai Lama, not long before former U.S. President Obama appointed him to a council for addressing poverty and inequality in the US. Yet the core of what strikes anyone who meets him is the way his life is an attempt to bring smiles in the world and silence in his heart: "I want to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly. That's me."

To join the dialogue between these inspiring, heartful leaders and changemakers, simply RSVP below.