Meena Srinivasan

Meena Srinivasan/True Seal of Peace (she/her) is a lay Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism and has been an active member of the community for nearly two decades. She serves on the working board of the Thích Nhất Hạnh Foundation, is a founding board member of the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing and is a resident of Simplicity Hamlet at Deer Park Monastery. An internationally recognized leader in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and mindfulness in education, she is a former public school administrator and National Board Certified Teacher.

Meena is the author of Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom and SEL Every Day: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning with Instruction in Secondary Classrooms, named one of the best books for educators by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. She also authored the Integrating SEL into Every Classroom Quick Reference Guide.

A Hemera Foundation Contemplative Education Fellow, Meena serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Social and Emotional Learning, the leading journal for SEL policy, research, and practice. She teaches graduate-level SEL courses at UC Berkeley and is a sought-after keynote speaker.

Her TEDx talk, “Unlocking the Secret Powers of Tenderness,” sharing the story of her first encounter with Thich Nhat Hanh, became one of the most-watched TEDx talks of 2024 with over two million views. Meena is the Founding Executive Director of Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL), where she pioneered a fellowship for educational leaders that centers personal growth as a catalyst for systemic change. She was honored as one of Mindful magazine’s Ten Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement and recognized by Educational Leadership magazine for insights into mindful leadership and the benefits of meditation for school leaders.

Learn more at meenasrinivasan.com.