Amy Edelstein, author, educator, and public speaker is a powerful communicator of ideas that can help us transform ourselves and the culture we live in. She teaches how to view our experience in a vast context, taking into account the cosmos’ evolutionary history, the development of culture, and the mystery of numinous insight. Her programs support individuals and groups to discover deeper fulfillment, joy, and purposefulness in life.

Engaging, sensitive, and insightful, Amy’s mission is to support as many people as possible to grow beyond their own expectations.

Amy is the founder and Executive Director of Inner Strength Education, a non-profit organization that supports youth development. Its innovative teen mindfulness and systems-thinking program has empowered 17,000 high school students in under-resourced schools in Philadelphia. This trauma-informed methodology helps students cultivate calm, curiosity, and care, by teaching a unique blend of evidence-based mindfulness tools for well-being, evolutionary neuroscience for an understanding of the brain, the adolescent brain, the science of large-scale cultural shifts and how that impacts us, and the art and science of relationship. The curriculum has been shown to improve self-regulation, self-compassion through a peer-reviewed research study conducted by Syracuse University. In recognition of the impact of Inner Strength’s work in violence reduction, Amy was awarded a Philadelphia Social Innovators’ Award.

Amy is also the co-founder of Emergence Education Press, which is dedicated to bringing insightful and transformative ideas to the fore so that we can create a more compassionate and inspired world.

A Cornell University College Scholar, Amy has more than forty years experience of contemplative practice, including a background in both Western and Eastern spiritual traditions, as well as in evolutionary spirituality, a contemporary philosophical perspective that connects personal growth with our world’s ancient history and with a deep sense of responsibility for our collective future.

Amy is the author of six books, including the IPPY award-winning educational bestseller The Conscious Classroom, and a new memoir Adventure in Zanskar. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband philosopher Jeff Carreira. She loves this “city of brotherly love” and its visionary roots, and spends a lot of time walking its historic streets, inspired by America’s founders to think creatively and optimistically about ways to refashion our social, educational, environmental, and cultural frameworks to support the the fulfillment and well-being of all.