By Nichol Chase
A few days ago, something unexpected and deeply moving happened. I found myself sitting in circle at The Harmony House on Stanford University’s campus in Palo Alto, gathered with Chen Ling, Victor and Winnie Koo, and Yuki Imoto.
For months, we had been meeting together online—sharing practices, learning, and creating community across distance. And then, by chance, we found ourselves together in real time, in the same physical space.
Chen, Victor, and Winnie are part of the team at the social service platform Tianren Culture, and together with the Garrison Institute, we have been building a collaboration that gave rise to the Inner Transformation for Social Changemakers course, which the fall session from Oct. 20-Nov. 21 is now open for registration.
Yuki Imoto was one of the guest experts for this course. Wai Bok, another key partner with the Tianren team, has been instrumental in helping to shape this course, and even though she wasn’t there physically, her presence was felt.
This simple gathering was more than coincidence; it was a rare serendipity and a living expression of what we had been co-creating: a community of practice that bridges continents, traditions, and changemakers in service of inner and outer transformation.
At the heart of this work is a mission: to create support for social changemakers, to amplify one another’s gifts, and to provide contemplative-based resources for those who do not always have them—especially across Asia, where networks of care are still growing.
This is why we come together now, in this moment of global uncertainty and possibility. Contemplative practice has the power to awaken resilience, clarity, and purpose, fueling a sea change of positive impact in our societies.
In the Japanese tradition, there is the concept of Ma—the space in-between. Ma is the pause, the interval, the openness that allows new possibilities to emerge. This course is, in many ways, an offering of Ma: a space to breathe, to sit with difficulty and ambiguity, to rest in calm amidst uncertainty, and to rediscover the wellspring of creativity and courage that lives within.
I had the honor of co-creating this program with the Tianren team, whose vision and generosity continue to inspire me. Together we imagined not just a course, but a community: one where changemakers could connect in pod groups locally and then link up with the larger cohort online—creating a dynamic interplay between intimate circles and a global network.
As Arawana Hayashi beautifully described in the course, we are creating “islands of coherence”—small, resilient nodes of connection that, when linked, form a vast web of shared purpose across time and space.
This collaboration between Tianren Culture and the Garrison Institute came to life fully during the summer of 2025, when we embarked on the first journey together. Each week, we gathered for live sessions with guest experts who guided us through practices and reflections:
- With Kaira Jewel Lingo, we contemplated nature as a teacher and resource, learning to see ourselves and our world as an interconnected web.
- With Arawana Hayashi, we explored the wisdom of the body and the Japanese concept of Ma, discovering how pauses and presence in the body can give rise to the next authentic step.
- With Dan Siegel, we explored the mind both within and between us, and learned how practices rooted in focused attention, kind intention, and open awareness create integration and resilience.
- With Annie Carpenter, we turned to the breath as a source of vitality, clarity, and resilience, exploring how even simple practices can transform our way of moving through stress and complexity.
- With Yuki Imoto, we closed the journey by exploring what it means to be an integrated leader—living from practice, aligning inner transformation with outer action, and weaving presence into leadership.
Between these sessions, participants shared stories, insights, and questions in our online forum—ranging from reflections on belonging, to experiences of resilience in the face of burnout, to the quiet beauty of pausing to breathe in nature. Time and again, the themes echoed one another: presence, authenticity, community, and the courage to lead from within.
Participant reflections throughout the course highlighted the transformative potential of this work:
- “Contemplative practices create a pause, a space for realignment with our intentions and values, allowing us to reach our highest potential.”
- “Listening to my body and understanding its messages has become a compass guiding me through personal and professional challenges.”
- “Shared practices reinforce a sense of community and create safe spaces for growth, reflection, and deeper connection.”
- “Using the breath to anchor myself in the present moment has helped me navigate stress with calmness and clarity, while group breathwork builds collective resilience.”
- “By integrating these practices, I feel aligned with my purpose and more capable of contributing to positive change in my community and beyond.”
As we prepare for the next round of the course, our vision expands. Pod groups will anchor the work where people are—in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, and beyond—while still joining the larger community across Asia and the world.
These pods become places of intimacy, practice, and trust, while the larger gatherings remind us that we are part of something vast: a global movement of social changemakers cultivating resilience and clarity for the work ahead.
I am filled with gratitude for the Tianren team—for Wai Bok’s steady wisdom, Chen Ling’s visionary clarity, and Victor’s grounding presence. And gratitude too for all who joined us in this circle of practice and shared purpose.
In the end, what stays with me most is the feeling of being in circle—whether in Palo Alto, on Zoom, or in pod groups across Asia. In circle, we remember: we are not alone. We are held in connection, nourished by practice, and strengthened by one another.
This is the path we are walking—together, step by step, toward a future shaped by resilience, compassion, and clarity.
Inner Transformation for Social Changemakers: Clarity, Resilience & Purpose virtual course takes place from October 20 – November 21, 2025.
Nichol Chase, E-RYT 500, TSM, BM, serves as Garrison Institute’s Contemplative-based Resilience Experiential Education Advisor for Special Projects.
