Kelly Schwartz – Founder and North Star Gazer

Kelly Schwartz

Karuna (Kelly Schwartz) has over a decade of experience in nonprofit management and brings unique insight to Mind Oasis from running nonprofits varying in budget size from 250k – 13 million. Her passion is bringing the timeless benefits of meditation to practitioners worldwide, and her Masters in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University coupled with many years experience as a Director of Development and Executive Director make for a powerful intersection in leadership of philanthropy and wisdom.

Mohit Goyal – Board Member

More info coming soon about our wonderful friend Mohit Goyal of Austin, TX.

Joan Rudnitzki – President

Joan has been accredited as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) since 1996. The CRFE accreditation is considered to be a premier designation in the fundraising and development fields. Joan has achieved and maintained this status by combining 30 years of philanthropic experience with formal education in business management in order to utilize the best practices from both fields.

Throughout her long career, Joan has worked with not-for-profit organizations in furthering their missions while ensuring the public trust. As a development executive, Joan has raised millions of philanthropic dollars for not-for-profits whose areas of focus include the environment, social service, higher education, and arts and culture.

When she lays down her “making the world a better place” cape, she takes up books, toys, and imaginative play with her grandbabies!

Joseph Schwartz – Secretary

Joseph Schwartz

Joseph feels meditation can heal the world — especially considering the aspiration of world peace starts with ourselves. When we find peace within then we can radiate out to each person with whom we interact.

Joseph believes that Mind Oasis creates the opportunity for more people to discover the inner potential of self-discovery. Self-discovery and becoming the observer is a process by which to heal ourselves and our world.

Kinesiologist Joseph Schwartz, Founder of Movement Mantra, is the Developer of The 5 Primary Kinetic Chains, the Applied Anatomy Blog, Dynamic Neuromuscular Assessment Seminars, and The Spiral Engine of Locomotion™.

He is a kinesthetic visual learner whose exploration and study in the somatic field has led him on a 30+ year journey of finding joy being in the body. His passion is to give people a movement experience that creates a shift in perception. His inquisitive nature continually asks him to look deeper at why different practices have different physiological effects, such as how the tangible and the non-tangible interface with this vehicle we call the body.

Joseph’s meditation modality of choice is walking meditation complemented with sitting and lying.

Autumn Righino – Board Member

Autumn is a wanderer, inspire-er, and life-long learner. She believes meditation can help every person access their enough-ness and be the best version of themselves. Autumn likes to keep things simple and focus on physical sensations and then provide inspiration from varying sources – from Pema Chodron to Winnie the Pooh, life honors us with lessons.

When not meditating, Autumn is adventuring, moving her body, learning, traveling, being in nature, visiting farmers markets, or eating. Life has prepared her well to be a meditation guide, along with the Mind Oasis Intensive.

Due to several health issues, Autumn has survived a few close encounters with death. She has channeled those experiences into energy to remind her to focus on what’s truly important and live each day to the fullest.

Michael McSwain – Board Member

Michael is a New York City advertising executive turned meditation teacher and astrologer.

He believes anyone that can meditate (which means everyone, without exception) can find a more meaningful experience of life. He opens each meditation session with check ins to see what’s happening with participants, either on or off the cushion, and then generates a practice to address what’s happening in the field on personal, collective, and astrological levels.

Michael has been studying meditation and dharma since 2016 under the guidance of Dr. John Churchill. He’s completed a 300-hour teacher training with Michael Hewett and Gina de la Chesnaye (2018), a 200-hour teacher training with Hector Marcel and Coco Korniczky (2019), 50-hour retreat trainings with Alan Wallace (2018) and Rose Erin Vaughn (2019), and the entire 18-course Asian Classics Institute dharma training with Hector Marcel (2018-2020).

When he’s not guiding meditation, he loves to ride a bike up and down the East River while listening to music. Travel, writing, reading, swimming, and exercise keep him sane. Michael currently lives in the East Village of NYC with his cat, Jason Catpaw. You can follow his musings on dharma and astrology on instagram @mikemcswain.

Lisa Frinzi – Board Member

TBD