About
Image Credit: In Her Image Photography
Meet Margaret
Margaret Cullen is a licensed psychotherapist and a pioneer in bringing contemplative practices into mainstream settings. She was one of the first ten people to be certified as an MBSR instructor and has taught around the world. As a therapist, she facilitated psycho-social support groups for cancer patients and their loved ones for over 30 years.
She has led research studies on the impact of contemplative programs for a wide variety of populations across the US and co-developed the Compassion Cultivation Training with Thupten Jinpa at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Mindfulness-Based Attention Training for military spouses with Amishi Jha at University of Miami. She is the founder of Compassion Corps, a program which brings compassion programs to underserved populations around the world.
She also developed Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance and co-authored a book about it with Gonzalo Brito Pons. She was a Senior Teacher and Curriculum Developer for Humanize, a contemplative-based dyad program founded by German neuroscientist Tania Singer. Margaret is a Mind and Life Institute Fellow, on the advisory board of the Global Compassion Coalition, and has been a meditation practitioner for over 40 years.
Fun Bio
Margaret lives in Berkeley with her beloved husband and two beautiful cats: one brilliant and one neurotic. She is the proud mother of an adult daughter who never ceases to amaze her. An amateur photographer, many of the photos on this site are taken from her travels. She is obsessed with detective shows, preferably European, an avid Mah Jongg player, a wannabe salsa dancer, an ardent explorer/appreciator of the arts. Now in her seventies, high intensity exercise has given way to regular hikes in the Berkeley hills, yoga, and pilates.
