Dr. Cortland Dahl

I'm a scientist, author, translator, and meditation teacher. My true work is using ancient wisdom and modern science to help people flourish.

That interest began in the early 1990s, when social anxiety as a college student led me to meditation, psychology, and then Asia. I spent time in a Japanese zendo, on retreats in Thailand and Malaysia, and earned a Master's in Buddhist Studies at Naropa University. I then lived for eight years in Tibetan refugee settlements in Nepal and India.

Under Chatral Rinpoche, Khenpo Sherab Sangpo, and Mingyur Rinpoche, I studied classical Buddhist philosophy and meditation and spent more than a year on solitary retreat in the Himalayan foothills. I became fluent in Tibetan and published twelve volumes of translations, with a particular focus on Dzogchen.

In 2001 I met Mingyur Rinpoche. In 2009 we co-founded Tergar International, a network of meditation groups and centers on six continents, and the Joy of Living program. I remain Executive Director.

In 2010 I met Dr. Richard J. Davidson. I moved to Madison and completed the first Ph.D. in Mind, Brain, and Contemplative Science awarded by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in 2016. I am a contemplative scientist at the Center for Healthy Minds and Chief Contemplative Officer at Humin.

I am the lead architect of the Healthy Minds Framework, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and created the Healthy Minds Program app with designers at IDEO. It has been downloaded more than a million times, and studied for depression, teacher mental health, and dosage.

With Richie I co-founded Dharma Lab and co-authored Born to Flourish. I am also the author of A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism. I live with my wife Kasumi between Madison, Wisconsin and northern Minnesota, and teach widely.