Heather Fester, Ph.D.– I’m an assistant professor of English with a background in linguistics, rhetoric, and writing, and I have been teaching writing classes on the college level for ten years, the last five of which have been at a small open-admissions institution in Missouri. In part, my scholarship efforts have focused on broadening the established connection between the university and the public who funds and participates in it. Through this public-institution dialogue, new forms of scholarship are emerging as a response to the changing needs in the lives of teachers, students, and the greater community.

My path into spiritual practice has been an integral one, steeped in the Western traditions of creation spirituality, contemplation, poetry, storytelling, philosophy, depth psychology, and textual study, and I’m truly a mystic at heart. My current practices incorporate both emptying and fullness, including yoga, qi gong, chant, post-tribal shamanism and other subtle practices in the tantric and mystical traditions, evolutionary prayer, and writing as meditation.

For the Center for World Spirituality, I have fulfilled the roles of board member, dharma student, volunteer, and editor. I’ve been passionate about this work of bringing the world traditions into conversation since I was a young, and I agree with the Dalai Lama that when the world’s traditions come together in friendship, real conversation about change is possible. CWS is a place where this is happening, a place where I see the ritual beauty and depth of the traditions preserved and honored while the integral conversation emerging among them is given space to unfold gracefully. CWS provides a space where art in spiritual practice is nurtured. And, CWS based on integral principles also represents a more embodied approach to spiritual life that does not just transcend and include ever-evolving stages of development, but does so lovingly, while helping people ground their practices and improve their lived realities–at the root–inviting them more fully into their spirits, bodies, minds, social networks, and hearts.