Bessel van der Kolk is a Boston-based Dutch-American psychiatrist, author, researcher and educator.

Kristin Neff, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and a pioneer in self-compassion research, having conducted the first empirical studies in the field. She is the author of Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself (William Morrow, 2011) and co-founded the nonprofit Center for Mindful Self-Compassion (CMSC).

The 14th Dalai Lama was recognized at age two as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. Following the 1959 Tibetan uprising, he escaped into exile in India, where he lives as a refugee. He has authored works including two autobiographies — My Land and My People (1962) and Freedom in Exile (1991) — as well as The Art of Happiness, a landmark book in the field of positive psychology.

Casandra Brené Brown is an American academic and podcaster who is the Huffington Foundation's Brené Brown Endowed Chair at the University of Houston's Graduate College of Social Work and a visiting professor in management at the McCombs School of Business in the University of Texas at Austin..

James Nestor is an author and journalist who has written for Outside, Scientific American, Dwell, National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Men's Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, and others.

Melanie Lee Robbins is an American author, podcast host, and lawyer..